Keeping wild stuff out of boil kettle

[Bobcatbrewing42]

I brew with keggles. In spite of being very careful with sanitation, I once had a batch get contaminated with a wild yeast that produced a "phenolic" taste. I had to pour it out. My boil kettle, with chillers, is open to the air and that seems to be the only point in the process where the wort is vulnerable and potential contamination is uncontrollable. I have a simple solution that seems to have worked fine so far. After flameout and final hopping (if any) I just drape a cotton cloth soaked in Star San and wrung out, over the entire keg and chiller assembly. I have a thermometer with a long probe that I just poke through the cloth. I use a racking cane to transfer into the fermenters, so after sanitizing that, just slide it in to the keggle with the wet cloth around it. Even if dust is getting kicked up, my beer is protected. So far, so good.

 

[poptarts]

If I do anything i just prefer the lid to my pot personally.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I usually have the lid on the BK until it reaches the boilover stage, take it off and leave it off for the entire boil, and put it back on during the cooling stage. Never had a problem. You might have a high count of naturally occuring yeast in the area you brew. Try putting a small amount of cooled wort into several petrie dishes in various spots that you could brew, leave them open for the same amount of time, then cover them with a sanitized lids, leave them in a warm place for a few days and brew in the spot that yielded the cleanest plate.