Rain Water In Wort After Cooling

I was chilling my wort outside. I went out and it was lightly raining into my kettle with the wort around 75F. Any thoughts on whether this can/will cause bacteria issues. Thanks.

Well....can't do much about it now!

Seriously, yeah that obviously raises the chance of bacteria issues compared to rain NOT falling into your cooled kettle....but, there are plenty of people here who have had all sorts of crazy stuff fall in their kettles without ill effect. Might be the best Rainwater Brew you ever manage! Relax, and have a brewski. Just my 2 cents.

TippleToper2 said:

I was chilling my wort outside. I went out and it was lightly raining into my kettle with the wort around 75F. Any thoughts on whether this can/will cause bacteria issues. Thanks.

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I would not worry about it at all. More than likely some tiny bit of bacteria got into your wort, but the yeast should be able to easily overwhelm it. Our wort is probably almost never completely 100% free of contamination. This is one reason why it is a good idea to pitch a generous amount of healthy yeast. This gives you a leg up on the bad guys. Now then, relax etc and don't do that again!

+1 to not worrying about it. There is probably just as much bacteria flying around your brew space. I know that I routinely stand over my brew pot as it cools and probably breath all kinds of crazy stuff into the brew (H1N1 stout and Bird Flu Pale Ale anyone???). I guess that if the rainwater was pouring off your dirty roof you might have grounds for concern.

I pulled a wasp and and half a dozen flies out of a cooling batch once, with no infection. You are probably good to go. If not, it happens.

My last batch had dripping rain off the trees while chilling. Also had an unsanitized digital thermometer fall into the chilled wort. Things happen when you teach a new brewer ya know. Covered the BK with foil when I started chilling to keep the rain from dripping in. Hey don't take the foil off while I get some things organized ok. He answered OK, came out and his face was looking in the kettle. He said, " I couldn't help it, it smells so good." Not the first time things have fallen in the chilled wort and all have been fine.

I've had various types of precipitation fall into cooling/cooled wort.. nothing bad happened.