What's YOUR bug limit?

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theDeutscher

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So I cracked open my grain from Austin Homebrew and gave it a taste. It was crunchy/toasty/fresh/whatever you want to explain for fresh malt. Well, I BIAB and noticed a little bug crawling around near my bag. I looked into my Golden Promise and Crystal Malt and saw a few more crawling around. 5 minutes later, this is what rose to the top of my grain. I was 2 seconds from throwing this batch out, but I said f&@" it. You're the only ones I'm going to tell about this. This stays between us. Wort tastes great. Boiling now and all critters filtered/drowned/torched in my mesh grain bag. Ok, go ahead.

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my limit is much less than that. Call them and let them know you are sending pictures to them, they should give you a free kit. will the beer be fine, probably. did the recipe call for 80 bugs, no.
 
Well played, If it were me on a brew day with no backup plan, I am pretty sure I would just say "**** it, its gonna boil" and proceed onward.

Although I still may at least shake the bag out pretty well.
 
Looks to me by the way the bug legs are pointing that they are on the outside of the bag.

It's actually a picture with the camera pointing into the bag. There were a lot that escaped to the outside. It's like when I mixed my malts together, they were getting smothered and trying to escape. Some of the made it outside the bag, but they did seem to enjoy the mesh. They didn't want to leave. I picked all the ones on the outside and threw them in some water in the sink. They drown within seconds. The rest got mashed. It's my secret ingredient. Funny thing is, I named this recipe beforehand - SECRET SILAS. Coincidence?
 
Had a 50 lb bag of Breiss 2-row with them critters in it and another 50 lb bag of Rahr 2-row with no critters. The grain was the same age (6 Months) in the exact same storage containers. Why do some grains have bugs and some don't?
 
Boy, if you only knew the amount of bug's legs, mouse bodies, and foreign matter (rocks, sticks, etc) that were incorporated into the foods you eat, you'd probably die of starvation.
 
broadbill said:
Boy, if you only knew the amount of bug's legs, mouse bodies, and foreign matter (rocks, sticks, etc) that were incorporated into the foods you eat, you'd probably die of starvation.

But I don't know. And that's why Chicken McNugget's taste so GOOOOOOOOD.
 
Boy, if you only knew the amount of bug's legs, mouse bodies, and foreign matter (rocks, sticks, etc) that were incorporated into the foods you eat, you'd probably die of starvation.

Slipped into the food? I thought that was the food. Figured the grain was just there as packing material.

The seller needs to know before they wind up with a bunch of grain spoiled by vermin and vermin excrement. And the crap that grows on their crap.
 
theDeutscher said:
But I don't know. And that's why Chicken McNugget's taste so GOOOOOOOOD.

Then stop brewing... them buggers are unavoidable. Just saw a few crawling around in the grains I milled for brewing tomorrow morning. They'll die in the mash and help with a good lauter ;)
 
I would be pretty pissed off at that supplier If that's how they send your grains and other items no thanks.
 
I went to the LHBS a while back to get some ingredients for a cream ale. They told me they were out of flaked corn but I really needed it for the recipe. After a bit of discussion about it he said he was waiting for a new shipment because the flaked corn that he did have had bugs in it. I had a look and said I would take it anyway, put it in a seperate bag and froze it when I got home to put the bugs to sleep.

Two things - first, props to the LHBS for having some integrity and not just passing it along - and second, if you think that all of the commercial beer that you have had has been made with 100% bug free grain, you are just wrong.
 
My level depends on the kind. Flys, spiders, ants no biggie. One time I forgot to check the catch bucket on my mill and went to mash. Cockroach crawled out. Thought no biggie just one. Then 8....... Them suckers are gross. Dumped the batch.
 
Way to resurrect the thread. Good read. I occasionally get a dead fly/gnat/whatever.....beer is still good. We probably inhale more of those things than me realize.
 
Boy, if you only knew the amount of bug's legs, mouse bodies, and foreign matter (rocks, sticks, etc) that were incorporated into the foods you eat, you'd probably die of starvation.

So true. Most people aren't aware of this.

A few extra bugs are just free protein!
 
During the Civil War, the ubiquitous hard bread (called "hardtack" in the Eastern theators) was a flour and water cracker that sometimes sat in wooden boxes for who knows how long at train stations. By the time it got to the men, it was crawling with weevils, in some cases. Instead of tossing it (which they simply couldnt do sustainably) techniques for bug removal included NOT removing the bugs (eating in the dark), placing on a rock in the fire (weevils would scamper out to their deaths), and the most common method was to boil the entire cracker in coffee. The bugs would float to the top, be skimmed off with a spoon, and the coffee and bread would be eaten together. Problem solved. No flavor was reportedly imbued upon either the crack or the coffee.

My point? Eh... OP's brew should be fine.
 
So true. Most people aren't aware of this.

A few extra bugs are just free protein!

Well, there is various contaminants from food processing, but then there is the stuff that your food is exposed out while growing out in the field.

Think about it: A field full of lettuce somewhere in sunny California. A group of migrant workers are out there harvesting the lettuce....one of them needs to take a dump....where do you think he does it? (Hint: Mr. Farmer doesn't set out port-of-Johns for the help). :)
 
I look at the shape of the grain more than the bug count. How much meat is left?
 
Had a bald faced hornet kamikazee into my boil kettle Friday. Died instantly. I fished it out and carried on.
 
Growing up on a dairy farm, the bugs do not surprise me.

Grain has mold, fungus, feces, urine, bugs, weed seeds, dead animal carcases (rat, mice, racoon, possum, etc...), maggots from rotting carcases, (grease, oil, fuel from farmers machinery), foreign grain seeds, animal vomit, viruses, rotting grain, crickets, grasshoppers (live), bird sh**, etc... you name it, it's probably in there.

It's some of the dirtiest stuff you can imagine... then it's "cleaned" (more like sifted) by the combine and a fanning mill.

There are certain limits of these things that will be tolerated when the farmer sells their grain at the market or mill.

Of course it's suppose to be stored under sanitary conditions. The "grainery" we had was well over 100 years old and had about 2 feet of rotten grain onto which we placed each years new harvest. Of course each years harvest contributed to that rotten layer on the bottom.

When entering the grainery, one could here rats, mice and racoons scattering and see the signs they left sitting on top of the grain.

The working conditions were really poor, (no one should have to breath dust from these things)...

I remember going to load straw at an old timers farm. He spotted a racoon in the straw mow and grabbed a pitch fork, repeatedly driving the pitch fork through the animal until it was dead. Now a racoon is a fierce creature but that didn't stop this old timer. I had never heard an animal screech and snarl so loud. Of course he threw the dead carcass next to the pile of oats in his "grainery" saying he would get rid of it after loading the straw.... This was called "forkin' 'coon" and even Little House on the Praire has a reference to it when Chuck Ingalls, carrying a pitch fork, says to his wife, "I'm going to fork 'coon!"

So yea, good times on the farm.
 
I once found a whole bunch of ants in my mash tun after boil started. I kinda freaked out until I realized that I had set the tun on the patio close to the grass. No bugs in the boil. :)
 
My daughter helped me brew a batch of Belgian wit last summer by zesting some oranges for me. A little bit of finger skin found its way in due to her zealous use of the grater. That batch became "Ellie's Sacrifice" and tasted just fine.
 
I had a tiny leak in one of the corners of a bag of DME and a bit spilled out onto the bottom of the big Rubbermaid container I keep supplies in. A bunch of ants found their way inside and were clustered around the powder, having a nice little picnic.

I now double-bag that stuff.
 
Hi everybody. Just glad I store my grain in sealed 5-gallon buckets. Eww, I hate bugs. :(
 
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