Bees in my beer.. or maybe wasps

Since I moved production outside, the last 5 batches I guess, these guys keep finding me and swarming when I try to brew. Mass bee/wasp suicide as they jump into the boiling wort. A mesh cover to keep them out, that was suggested, and maybe a bee suit for me? Imagine what the neighbors would think, good thing I don't have neighbors. Outside in my bee suit trying to brew a batch. That would get attention.

Yellow jacket Ipa?

I tried to pick most of them out, and all 5 batches have been IPAs or American pale ales. Tasted one of the recent batches and now my throat is swollen and I lost my voice. You'd think that once the stingers go through the boil they'd lose their potency. That's what it is? A yellow jacket? Should have known that. My throat hurts after drinking the bee beer.

No.

Yeah, that's a yellow jacket. They're quite attracted to sweet aromas. We always noticed swarms of them in the fall, quite eager to get into a soda can or whatever fruit you might have.

I think the wasps have joined forces with the possum.

Bobbi has the best luck with brewing.

That is crazy, are you allergic? I dont see how your throat would swell up otherwise.

Those are evil creatures. I'm very allergic and they are very aggressive. They suck.

BobbiLynn said:

I tried to pick most of them out, and all 5 batches have been IPAs or American pale ales. Tasted one of the recent batches and now my throat is swollen and I lost my voice. You'd think that once the stingers go through the boil they'd lose their potency. That's what it is? A yellow jacket? Should have known that. My throat hurts after drinking the bee beer.

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You might want to get an epi-pen if you had that kind of reaction drinking the finished beer. If you get stung by one of those you could have a much worse reaction.

I have the same problem. As soon as the boil starts they come out of nowhere. It seems like every batch we are slapping the yellowjackets away.

I had bees/Yellow Jackets show up on last Saturday's Brew in Atlanta. It was 61 F here. I am afraid of them getting in the wort as/after cooling with IC and infecting the beer. Tough to seal/net a keggle with and IC in it.

BobbiLynn said:

I tried to pick most of them out, and all 5 batches have been IPAs or American pale ales. Tasted one of the recent batches and now my throat is swollen and I lost my voice. You'd think that once the stingers go through the boil they'd lose their potency. That's what it is? A yellow jacket? Should have known that. My throat hurts after drinking the bee beer.

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Yep, it's a yellow jacket. They bite, too, and will come after you for the sweat on your skin in a dry summer. I'm not a fan of them and they can sting repeatedly. They nest in papery nests both above and below ground and should probably be sought out and exterminated if you can find them.

My Wife is highly allergic to wasp venom and has an epi-pen for emergencies in her purse. I'd advise you to take a couple of benadryl and get to an emergency room as a precaution. If your airway swells closed, you'll be in some serious trouble. Don't mess around with wasp stings!

It's unlikely they left any stingers or venom in the beer unless you have an abdomen or whole bug parts in the wort. Unlike bees, they don't have any barbels on their stingers, so they don't lose the stingers when they sting. They can sting you repeatedly as often as they'd like. The workers are highly aggressive and LOOOOOVE sugary sweet liquids, rotting fruit, and meat. Another reason for them to bite is so they can get at some blood. This is a tactic they take with any animals they come across when there's nothing else easy to eat.

Set out some sugary juice of some sort, observe them feeding on it and track them down to their nest from a safe distance. Use a spray insecticide for yellow jackets that sprays a good 20 feet or so and hose down the nest in the early morning hours, when all of them are huddling around the next to conserve heat. Cold wasps aren't nearly as capable as being aggressive and you should be able to kill them all at this time without suffering too many stings. Again, get someone that isn't allergic to them to do the spraying.

As a tip, if you find yourself with a wasp or some other flying bug you don't like in your home and have run out of bug spray, use hairspray. A high hold hairspray (think aqua net) will solidify the little buggers mid-flight.

I don't know if it's related to the yellow jacket beer or not, or just a bug(no pun intended) going around. I did take some benadryl and a couple ibuprofen, and chloraseptic, feels like I swallowed razor blades. Need to go lay back down... I actually did worry about my throat closing up but thought I was just being paranoid.

If you find the nest... put some gasoline in a milk jug and hang it/set it near them... a day or two later you'll find it full of dead bees/wasps... i had a nest between my siding and apartment (and they burrowed their way into my apartment)... did that for a week or two and no more problem once they were all dead.

Time to get some mosquito netting for the brew area!

Dang Bobbi, you made anaphylactic ale. I hope your other batches aren't like that, you've been brewing a lot lately.

BobbiLynn said:

I don't know if it's related to the yellow jacket beer or not, or just a bug(no pun intended) going around. I did take some benadryl and a couple ibuprofen, and chloraseptic, feels like I swallowed razor blades. Need to go lay back down... I actually did worry about my throat closing up but thought I was just being paranoid.

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I remember you mentioned a beer that made your mouth numb or tingly a little while ago. Did you have any bees in that batch?

I hope I get feeling better soon because now I've got a wasp nest to seek and destroy and still have a possum to catch.

SharonaZamboni said:

I remember you mentioned a beer that made your mouth numb or tingly a little while ago. Did you have any bees in that batch?

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I don't remember bees getting in that one, but everyone did seem to think it was an allergic reaction. Reminds me, I need to taste that one again, but not today. Ended up bottling it and just setting it in the corner of the shed.

And I do have a full body mosquito net, pants, jacket and a hood. Been put up for the winter but looks like time to get it out. I have been brewing a lot lately, hopefully the other batches will be fine. Probably though, the sore throat has nothing to do with the beer, next time just a very small sample and see what happens.

I got a roll of screen material (for windows) and cut a piece to lay over my boil kettle. I have a similar problem, but with flies. It keeps them all out and let's the steam escape.

Benadryl or another antihistamine is what saves you, the adrenaline shot just buys you some time to get the antihistamine in you. I'd dump the beer and get an epipen and some more benadryl.

Having my throat swell shut is pretty high up the list of unpleasant experiences I've had and not something I'm eager to repeat.

TNGabe said:

Benadryl or another antihistamine is what saves you, the adrenaline shot just buys you some time to get the antihistamine in you. I'd dump the beer and get an epipen and some more benadryl.

Having my throat swell shut is pretty high up the list of unpleasant experiences I've had and not something I'm eager to repeat.

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Not gonna dump it without knowing if the throat thing was even related, or just a coincidence. But will pick up an epi-pen and be sure to have benadryl handy before trying any more of it!! The one brew day with the wasps, I thought I did get stung on the hand and I was fine, but didn't actually see it sting me, just noticed my hand hurting and saw a little red dot. Could have been something else, not sure. While I am outside brewing, I'll pull the weeds from my plants so that could have been a fire ant bite, which happens a lot when weeding.

Seems like lately I've had to dump a lot of batches, but brewing so much, plus trying out new things, more chances for something to go wrong.

Yellow jacket stings hurt like hell. I think you'd know it. They aren't as bad as hornet stings, but they're worse than red wasp stings.

Ask me how I know...

I find yellow jacket traps you can buy in any hardware store work really well, especially early in yellowjacket season. You put a sugary solution in them and put the trap away from your home. Caught over a 100 yellow jackets each of the last 2 years.