Brewing during pollen season

Fellow brewers, as I approach my 1 year anniversary of this hobby; I've come to wonder if brewing outdoors when the pollen count is abnormally high increases the risk of an infection. I live in GA, so the pollen is thick in the air this time of year.

I was planning on brewing a pliny clone this weekend but I'm worried I might be running a high risk of infection during the chilling phase. I use an IC so my lid doesn't fit perfectly on the brewpot.

Anyone had success (or failures) during high pollen season?

Put the lid on the best you can when your cooling. Other than that I wouldn't over think it. I brew outside all year, even when the cars are yellow with pollen. No worries.

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Most places have pollen counts of 100ppm. Georgia is like 5000ppm. I think it's something to be wary of. Obviously, hot side you don't have to worry about it (<140*ish, if I recall). Definitely keep it covered while cooling and get it indoors as soon as possible.

Nothing says spring in Ga like pollen as deep as snow storms

So I ended up brewing and all appears to have gone well. I took the brewpot inside after chilling and did my transfer there. Having to be extra careful due to the pollen is not likely something I'll try again even if it turns OK, it threw off my 'rhythm' enough to make the brew day uncomfortable.

Pollen is just a protein. It will not hurt anything. I would be more worried about mold and spore counts. The sort of warm, wet weather that is good for mold and spore production is also good for bacteria production. Even then a small crumb of crud that you missed during clean up and has set in a humid environment in your fermenter will have a much larger population of bacteria than the few that fall in from air while you chill.

I would not sweat it too much. Make sure to pitch plenty of yeast so your yeast get a good start and can out complete any nasty.

I'm on board with it being protein and not over thinking (which I'm notorious for at all times).

I'm watching the yellow dust storms roll around the parking lot right now, and will be brewing on my porch tomorrow, so I guess I'll find out.

But I'm going to go with RDWHAHB or something like that...

Live in GA, brew year round. Never had an issue with pollen.

Brewed last weekend in the yellow storm, just made sure I took my allegra before I got out there in it. Batch is going well in Primary.

Kept everything covered when i could, Hopefully we get more rain to knock it all down in the gutters again, tired of itchy eyes and sneezing.

Why not just use the no-chill method during high pollen days? You are pumping just below boiling wort into airtight sealed containers with small openings. The odds of getting stuff in there is extremely small when compared to the large surface area exposed during chilling.

Brew on man! I have terrible allergies and here in northern ca... This is some of the worst in the country!

As the ^^ other poster said... No chill is awesome and I do it all the time so I can get it put away a lot quicker.! I always worry about shi#% flying into my brew in the warmer weather so I try to move it to my shed the minute I cool it down.


Cheers!

I lived outside of ATL for a decade, people don't know what pollen is until they're in the South in spring.

I think if you keep the lid on during cooling, you're just fine.

If you don't like an open container of chilled wort, you can shell out some bucks for a pump and a plate chiller (and maybe add a spigot to your kettle). Re-circulate hot wort through the chiller and pump (with cooling water off) for a few minutes to sanitize the lines, then turn on the chiller and knock-out the hot wort straight into your sanitized fermenter. There's very little exposure of your chilled wort that way (but it do cost $$).

I'm from Georgia, I think the worst is finally over with. I think it's mainly when all the pines are in bloom when it's the worst.

Oh yeah, I brewed that weekend and it went alright. I put the lid on while chilling and it bubbled away for three days in carboys. I split the batch between two carboys to do two different yeasts. Haven't sampled or anything yet but I'll letchya know.

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