pollen beer

soooo im cooling my wort yesterday...and I use a immersion chiller...right before I'm done a piece of pollen from an oak tee flies in there. I didn't want to stick my hand or anything in there as I didn't have anything clean and sanitary to get it out with...what do you guys think my chances for infection are? btw...its been about 16 hrs and no activity yet. I oxygenated but did not make a starter...OG 1046. I had a great brew day... then this happened.

Oh, man, that's rough! Do you know (roughly) what temperature your wort was at? Given what you said above, I'm assuming it was relatively low, which reduces the chance that the potential contaminate got pasteurized and killed. Honestly though, I don't think there's anyway to surely calculate your chances of contamination at this point. Given the fact that you are introducing an sanitized and formerly living foreign entity, there's obviously a chance at contamination. I don't think this would effect your fermentation start time, though. I just had a 24 lag in fermentation start time on a beer I created re-using 001 California Ale yeast, so 16 hours (without a starter) doesn't seem that bad. My advice is to just ferment away and hope for the best. There's a decent chance your beer will turn out fine and contamination free (perhaps with even a bit of polleny accents)!

well...thanks for the optimisum...i just checked it ...there is a little foam...but like a filmy look to the wort...the yeast too is clumpy, and looks to be on the sides of the carboy...this isn't looking good. the wort was in the high 70's at the pollen addition...

You may be creating a new strain of yeast.

the x men of yeast

do a search on here about "does this look infected" that should put your worries to rest.

your fine

you say you didn't use a starter, but how much yeast did you pitch? One vial? One dry pack? Was it an ale or lager? I seem to think that the more of the brewers yeast you added, the less likely a foreign yeast or other bug would be able to take root.

I used a smack pack of 1272

davefj40 said:

your fine

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fj40 = best vehicle ever = I trust you

Can't remember who said it or where but yeast are homicidal little b*****ds youll be fine

ok...i just checked it this morning and the airlock is slowley bubbling. 36hrs since pitch, very small layer of yeast and foam...hope this doesn't give he a bunch of off flavors...the yeast was fresh, manufactured in feb. , I didn't make a starter because I wasn't 100% sure if I was going to brew that day. I figured the gravity seemed low enough. I'll let you guys know. thanks for every ones help so far.

dry yeast doesn't need a starter. liquid yeast benefits from it, but i've done them without starters and the beer was still great. yours will be good too

and the foam is called Krausen. it normally does happen (but its ok if it doesn't too)

It sounds like it's going to be fine to me. I'm a pretty new brewer (done about 10 all grain batches), but have had similar things happen with no negative repercussions.

yeh it was the second AG batch for me and it's totally taken my infatuation with the hobby to a new level. I've noticed alot of times when your beer gives you a scare it just needs sometime...

I've got krausen now...about half an inch...i referred to it as foam before because I still believed it to be leftovers from aeration. there is wort moving and a bubble every so often. I'm excited.
I used 1465 last time with great results. I'm trying an american strain to see the difference.

oh. sorry. enjoy the beer!

rycov said:

oh. sorry. enjoy the beer!

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oh no worries!
you were just trying to help.