Pollen season brewing

I have always brewed in my garage. However,with the nice weather finally here I plan on taking everything outside to my patio. The major drawback I see is the pollen spores starting to float around. Does anyone here in the South East have any tips on keeping as much of the pine pollen out of the wort as possible?

I brew on my covered patio when the pine pollen starts flyin!

A fine mesh screen keeps almost everything out. Go to your local hardware store and buy a small window screen kit.

I wondered the same thing living in Raleigh. I boil outside with a burner but carry the wort inside to cool in the sink with an immersion chiller. I dont worry too much about the boil outside with the pollen just because of the heat generated would kill anything like that. Maybe when you do your cool down you can cover the pot with a piece of tin foil? Should offer fair protection against all this green stuff.

I've got the same problem here in Murfreesboro. The pine pollen is worse than I ever remember it this year. I was going to brew this weekend but I don't think I will. I can wipe off the table outside and in 30 minutes it's completely covered again. The air actually has a yellow / green tint to it.

I hear you guys and believe this is the worst I've ever seen it, as well. It reminds me a lot of Korea when it is yellow dust season there's so much in the air.

So far as keeping it out, I'd suggest NOT covering the pot while cooling. I've found this takes MUCH longer to cool than leaving it even slightly open. I believe David has a point and putting a mesh screen over it may be the best alternative. At least at first, it is going to be steaming and keeping most things out. As it gets cooler, I'd suggest putting a lid partially over the screen to keep more pollen out. Add your yeast as quickly as possible to keep any wild yeast from getting any kind of foothold.

And, good luck!

I do not miss having my truck covered in pine pollen one bit! I lived in NWFL for 5 years and when the wind blew it was a new cloud over and over.

As for keeping it out you could get some felt maybe instead of a window screen or maybe even an air filter for your hvac if you have forced air. Depending on how big your pot is you can just set the filter on top or if you do the felt you can just drape it over the top and tie it off while it's cooling. That should do the trick.

I would think that the boiling wort would knock out any effect the pollen would have. In SC it has been a pretty bad year as well but I have had no ill effect from brewing outdoors however, I do my cooling indoors.

I better buy a screen myself tommorow. The pollen count is 5700 here this morning. Hopefully the rain tommorow will knock it down before I brew saturday.

I brewed Saturday and used a mesh screen over the kettle during the boil and the cooling. We shall see how it turns out.

Can I call my brewery "Pollen Season Brewing"?

Ah! Go ahead and let the pollen fall in the boiler. It will ferment.

david_42 said:

A fine mesh screen keeps almost everything out. Go to your local hardware store and buy a small window screen kit.

Click to expand...

+1.

I got a fiberglass replacement screen-door screen at one of the big national home improvement stores for about $5. Fiberglass is easy to cut with scissors and heat-resistant.

I cut two circles out a bit bigger than my brew kettle; on each one I left about a 2" wide, 8" long strip on opposite sides. Kinda shaped like this:


I can tuck those strips through the handles (or tie them off) if I'm worried about wind blowing the screen around.

SumnerH said:

+1.

I got a fiberglass replacement screen-door screen at one of the big national home improvement stores for about $5. Fiberglass is easy to cut with scissors and heat-resistant.

I cut two circles out a bit bigger than my brew kettle; on each one I left about a 2" wide, 8" long strip on opposite sides. Kinda shaped like this:


I can tuck those strips through the handles (or tie them off) if I'm worried about wind blowing the screen around.

Click to expand...

Hmmm...I just happen to have a roll of fiberglass screen...

Anyway it looks like we'll get some rain here in NC to knock some of this stuff down so it might not be an issue come Saturday or Sunday.

I'm more worried about flies, and gnats, and wasps, and other flying bugs.

As long as the boil is going strong, the heat and steam keeps them away. As soon as I start cooling, they come after the maltose, big time.

I need to cut some screen to fit over my keggle mouth, but with cutouts for my IC.

Haven't had any bugs in the wort yet this spring, but had some gnats buzzing around a measuring cup of wort I had cooling to take OG.

also check out splatter screen for cooking or frying. it's an already framed screen made to go over pots.


granted finding one large enough for some of your brew pots could be a challenge but they are relatively cheap and require no DIY work to make them work.

Grimm said:

also check out splatter screen for cooking or frying. it's an already framed screen made to go over pots.

granted finding one large enough for some of your brew pots could be a challenge but they are relatively cheap and require no DIY work to make them work.

Click to expand...

I use those to skim hot break.