Beer and Roach Spray

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Beerbeard

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Hello everyone,

I hope my title isn't too misleading - NO this is not a recipe thread for a specialty beer made with bug spray :drunk:. Rather, I wanted to see if any of you fine homebrewers out there have found yourself in the predicament I now find myself in.

Basically, we're getting our house sprayed for roaches. Not fumigated - there's no tent involved, just an exterminator going around spraying certian parts of the house where the buggies may be hanging around.

Unfortunately, although we haven't seen any roaches in our basement/ my homebrewery this year, it's getting sprayed just in case.

Naturally, I moved almost all of my homebrewing stuff into a room that wouldn't be sprayed. All I left in the basement were a few cases of homebrew, basically capped bottles in 24-pack boxes with the cardboard flaps closed.

Of course in my infinite paranoia I'm worried that some small amount of bugspray may have dripped onto the boxes, and possibly onto the bottles themselves. Would a solid rinse of each bottle take care of this, or even be necessary? Has anyone ever had to deal with something like this?

Thanks.
 
I have had my home exterminatated twice for roaches and ants since I started brewing. Let me also say that I am a clean person, but the spring time in Georgia really brings out the critters.
Since I rent, I had no say over when the Orkin man showed up, but much to my delight it turned out he was also a homebrewer and had about as many questions for me as I did for him.

His used a biodegradable spray that becomes neutral after a few weeks (my initial concern was for our pets), but he did this only after I expressed a concern about it. Apparently its also used in pre-schools...

I don't think it would pose a threat to your beer, as long as it's enclosed in a bottle. I assume you are pouring into a glass?
Point being, ask your exterminator, and if he doesn't know, tell him to find out.
 
What about your Kitchen? Or how about your pantry?

Even if you don't spray those rooms you've probably always been exposed to these pesticides a lot more than you stop to think...

No worries. Pour in to a glass and enjoy your beer.

Cheers!
 
I'm a bit confused as to why your worries about your beers should be any more or less than your worries about absolutely anything and everything else.

Yes, rinse your bottles (And dust your T.V. and books.) just as you would if your bottles were exposed to dust, car exhaust, spilt milk, etc.
 
I'm definitely worried about everything else, but as a homebrewer I gotta have my priorities ;).

I think I'll just give every bottle a rinse, and drink them in a glass like I always do. Yeah the pantry is definitely a problem too, but we took the necessary precautions for that.
 
God I love these forums....."we're getting sprayed for roaches and I'm worried about my homebrew" :rockin::rockin::rockin:
 
Check what kind of pesticide is being used. Most of the stuff on the market today is pretty safe to humans and pets. If they are using Pyrethrin based stuff, you don't have much to worry about, unless they doused the boxes and bottles with the stuff. It's easily broken down by the stomach acids of mammals, so in low doses, it's pretty harmless. They shoudl be able to provide you with all the information you need about the product, including MSDSs. So basically, I don't think you ahve much to worry about if this is a one off kind of thing. You could always cover the boxes with plastic bags, if it really worries you.
 
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