Pet Hair

[mkyl428]

I have 2 dogs and I keep them gated in one area of the house to avoid hair all over my house. Last night I was bottling, I bottle my beer in my hallway that is on the other side of my small 2 bedroom house, normally I Swiffer the floor before I bottle but I just did it 2 days ago and it was late so I skipped it this time.

I usually make every attempt to keep dog hair out of, and away from my beer, well last night near the end of bottling I noticed a couple of stray hairs on my bottling wand and in my bowl of sanitizer & bottle caps...

I have no idea if any hair made it into my beer or not, nothing I can do about it now anyway...... I am not super worried it will ruin my beer if it gets a hair in it or anything I just don't like it. I don't think it looks good if someone pours a beer I made and a hair comes out in their glass......

I feel like I am always fighting hair in every stage of my brewing & my pets don't get near my equipment, never fails I pull a hair or 2 out of my mash water before I dough in though, even though I rinse all my equipment before I use it to rinse off any possible dust/pet hair.....

Does anybody else feel like they are constantly battling pet hair trying to keep it out of their beer? What are some of the things you find yourself constantly having to do to keep the hair out of your beer?

I love my dogs but sometimes I wish I could shave them lol....

 

[kyle187]

My dog sheds so much i don't know how she isn't bald. Every now and then I see a hair around my brewing stuff, I am guessing it comes off of my clothes tho since i clean and sanitize everything before using it.

 

[feinbera]

I have yet to experience a boil or iodophor bath without a couple dog hairs floating on top...

I've made the executive decision that pet hair cannot infect boiling wort or sanitizer baths, as to do otherwise would require choosing between homebrewing and continued sanity. Otherwise, I try to keep things covered (lid loosely set on top of fermenter when racking from kettle, caps set loosely on bottles between filling and sealing) or upside-down (sanitized bottles awaiting filling; the racks from your oven are the perfect size) and hope for the best.

 

[Vedder014]

I have an Alaskan Malamute mix so the house is always covered in hair. On brew day I make sure the floors have been vacuumed and swept and he is banned from the kitchen because one shake could spell disaster. As for bottling, that is done in the basement where he isn't allowed to go so hair is not an issue.


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[mkyl428]

Hahaha I'm glad I'm not the only one..... It seems like no matter how many times I rinse everything off I end up with a hair in there somewhere... Especially this time of year

Funny thing I don't think I've ever seen a hair in my glass. I'm guessing they drop out with the proteins & yeast b/c there is no way I actually keep it all out of my beer, I bet there is at least a hair or 2 in every batch.

 

[brew_ny]

call it hair of the dog

 

[guitarguy6]

I know how you feel. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats. I brew in the kitchen so I'll section it off from the pets and sweep the floor/dust and then spray down all the counters with star san. So far I've been lucky and have not have any issues. I switched to kegging my beer so I don't have to worry about it during bottling.

 

[motleybrew]

My cats have added a few to a number of my brews. No ill effects yet

 

[Kealia]

In my house dog hair is considered a condiment. I am shocked when I don't have dog hair on/in things.

 

[flars]

My Starsan spray bottle began failing to put out a good spray. Took the nozzle apart and found it clogged with kitty hairs. No infected beers though, or hair in a bottle, that I noticed.

 

[MetalMan2004]

2 dogs, 2 cats and a snake at my house. No problem with the snake (he sheds in the cage about once a month), but the other animals definitely have had hair show up in the boil. It must be pretty hard for it to get through the racking cane though because I've never seen it show up in a glass before.

 

[BrewTech117]

well .... Dogfish head makes unusual beers out of random things .... maybe you found the next strange beer " Dog Hair IPA " ? lol

I get the same I have a old yellow lab that covers the house no matter what we do, Shaved or not they are in the air and eventual find a way into the food and beer.

 

[jfr1111]

My cats have added a few to a number of my brews. No ill effects yet

I first read that as "my cats have added a few number two to my brews"...