Grain Weevils in Bottles of Beer

[riddell999]

Hey guys,

So, I made a hefeweizen for some friends, and one of them sent me this series of pictures of what I suppose are grain weevils from a bottle of my beer.

I've looked for information about people finding them in the actual beer, but all I can really find are discussions about them in the wort or before brewing.

How common is this? Is there any chance I overlooked the cleanliness of the bottle, and it already had the larvae in it?

So far, this is the only bottle that we've found larvae in (over half the beer has been consumed). Is this just luck of the draw when I order my grain as to whether I'll get bugs or not?

I keep DME in a Glad sealable container for yeast starters, and I've had the same bag in there for months. Would/could the bugs find their way into that over time?

Thanks for any help or comments in advance!

 

[IXVolt]

I'd say they were from the bottle. No way they could live from the grain, through the mash then through the boil. At least they died happy.

 

[beersk]

That's bizarre! I doubt they made it in there through the brewing process. Was this bottle infected? By the size of the foam and the foam in the bottle, I'd guess it was. I'm bettin' you didn't clean the bottle out good enough at bottling.

 

[riddell999]

Thanks for the replies! Yeah, during bottling I generally check to make sure the bottles are clean. There were a couple I caught and threw out, but it's quite likely I forgot to look at a bottle or two during the process.

 

[Paradigm]

How do you sanitize your bottles? Nothing should be able to survive the sanitation stage. I boil all my bottles for 20 minutes. Pretty hardy weevils if they survive that!

 

[Spartan1979]

I'd be surprised if they came from your grain. I would expect them to get filtered out in the mash.

 

[FourSeasonAngler]

Those are fruit fly egg, larvae and pupa.

Your bottles were stored uncleaned and fruit flies laid eggs inside your bottles.

Been there done that.

 

[pjj2ba]

Those are fruit fly egg, larvae and pupa.

Your bottles were stored uncleaned and fruit flies laid eggs inside your bottles.

Been there done that.

Yup. Fruit flies!

 

[TheSmithsEra]

dude i'm not trying to cast judgement from mount high, but seriously...come on!

 

[Temptd2]

Mmmm, extra protein!

 

[Taranis]

In homebrewing you must always choose the lesser of two weevils.

 

[Danno355]

In homebrewing you must always choose the lesser of two weevils.

Hahahahahahaha!!!!

This thread just reinforced Cleaning and Sanitizing with visuals!

 

[Wingnutt73]

EWWWWWWW..... But yes I'm with the other guys them be Fruit Fly in that bottle. Always make sure your bottles are dry all the way before you store them. Put them in the dishwasher and blast um with the Hot dry cycle or whatever its called. Fruit Flies like the moisture.

 

[Toga]

I just gotta know................did you drink it?

 

[fearwig]

Fruit fly eggs stick to the side of a container like an emmeffer. I had some in the reservoir of an upholstery vac once, where I couldn't scrub. No cleaning did the trick.

If you just star san and bottle, I bet they could survive long enough to hatch (and immediately die). I expect a dishwasher cycle might have killed them, but you'd still have crap inside your bottles.

 

[Hello]

Good god that is gross! Makes me want to go clean every bottle I have sitting around from neighbors.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm unfortunately very familiar with our weevil friends. Those are not weevils. Like the others said, those are fruit fly larvae.

 

[Randy64]

Hey you want to try my homebrew? No thanks! I had another guy give me some once and it had a bunch of bugs in it.

 

[BesteBrew]

Yea I had an airlock dry up on me and they got into the fermenter that way once. Got through half the batch before I started to notice them. I never had the courage to drink them knowing they were in there but did drink half a batch before finding out. I suggest throwing away any bottle with them in there. They can be a giant pain in the ass to scrub out.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[jbaysurfer]

Did you shake the hell out of 'em screaming "Spit it out ya BASTARD!"

I would've.

 

[day_trippr]

I just threw up in my mouth a little...

Aaaand it might be a long time before I drink anyone else's home brew from a bottle again.
So thanks for that, too...

 

[hou_me]

Dang

 

[Puddlethumper]

yup, those guys arr right.

They are fluut fries ...errr
froot fries ...errr
frlout frujes ..

ahh Hell! .... Drosophila melanogaster larvae

 

[jbaysurfer]

I just threw up in my mouth a little...

Aaaand it might be a long time before I drink anyone else's home brew from a bottle again.
So thanks for that, too...

What, it's hard to see bugs in a bottle? LOL...