bee in fermenter

On The second day of fermenting I noticed a bee floating in my wort. Will this contaminate it. I can't believe it.

Nothing you can do but wait, probably gonna be ok though.

Don't worry about it - he won't drink much.

I was teaching a friend to brew, and he wound up with a couple of acorns in his. He loved the beer (an oktoberfest) and it was not contaminated.

If it finishes out and smells good, I think you're home free. Worst case he'll barf and you'll have a honey-something or the other.

You're probably ok, just let it ferment out and smell & taste it.

According to Palmer, if it doesn't have fur, you'll be (NPI) ok. I've had a few yellow jackets in brews without any problem.

Could be a bit hazy from the extra protein though:cross:

There's a fruit fly in my carboy full of Apfelwein. It's been about 3 weeks since pitching and still no signs of infection or anything so I'm not really concerned.

I found a bee in my primary while racking to the secondary. I took a hydrometer reading and drank the sample...not too bad! definitely hazy and has a little bit of a funky smell but I'm dry hopping in the secondary so hopefully the hops will win in the end.

Put him to work and get some mead out of it.

Tell the little thief to spit it out, and don't be comin' around yer beer no more.

Let's see ... it needs a name.

Was it an IPA? "Hop Stinger"
A wit? "Hoernetgaarden"
A BMC clone? "Fizzy Yellow Jacket"

Any others?

david_42 said:

According to Palmer, if it doesn't have fur, you'll be (NPI) ok. I've had a few yellow jackets in brews without any problem.

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Bees are kinda furry though. I'd fish him out with a steralized spoon or something.

pyth said:

Bees are kinda furry though. I'd fish him out with a steralized spoon or something.

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I think he was referring to mammals, even though lots of "bugs" have "fur" on them.

I would take the opportunity to name your beer in honor of the bee that so happily gave his wee life to inoculate your home brew to certain perfection.

...reminds me of a joke. three guys walk into a pub & order a pint. Flies land in all three beers,& the first guy pulls it out,tosses it aside,& keeps drinking. The second guy demands another beer. The third guy,an Irishman,picks the lil fly out buy his wee wings & yells "Spit it out!"...

Sounds like a good name for your home brewery "Drunk Bee Brewery"

Buzzed brewery
Busy Bee Brewery
Maybe Busy Bee Brewery with the Navy seabee in the logo?...

dudester said:

On The second day of fermenting I noticed a bee floating in my wort. Will this contaminate it. I can't believe it.

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I believe insects can carry acetobacter which is no bueno but you might be alright only time will tell. I read somewhere on here that a guy found a band-aid he had on his finger from a fresh cut on brew day that somehow ended up in the fermenter and the beer did not get infected.

BUCKNUTS said:

I read somewhere on here that a guy found a band-aid he had on his finger from a fresh cut on brew day that somehow ended up in the fermenter and the beer did not get infected.

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That's because bandaids are meant to prevent infection.

Sems to me it was fruit flies that carry acetobacter?

unionrdr said:

Sems to me it was fruit flies that carry acetobacter?

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Fruit flies are the debbil! Evil, dirty, infection carrying little monsters that corrupt fermenters both far and wide.
Avoid at all costs!

unionrdr said:

Sems to me it was fruit flies that carry acetobacter?

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Fruit flies and bees both and other insects to if I recall correctly. I read somewhere that scientists had isolated over 50 different strains of bacteria including acetobacter on bees

BigPerm said:

That's because bandaids are meant to prevent infection.

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Lol good point