A Brewing Hat for Cleanliness?

[beretta]

Am I the only person who wears a brew hat while brewing? In most kitchens and commercial food plants, basic kitchen etiquette calls for wearing hats, hairnets, beardnets, a gloves. Why not during brewing? I'm not a santitation nut ( at least not before the boil is over) but I see loads of youtubes, commercials, "Brewmasters", etc... where nobody seems to be wearing a cap. Does anybody else get grossed out by the Sam Adams commercial with the dude with the narly beard dumping hopps in the brew kettle?

 

[kpr121]

I do, but thats only because I always have a hat on anytime I am not at work.

The grossest thing I have ever seen when it comes to food preparation was at a pizza shop I worked at in high school: Very hairy man who stirred the pizza sauce with his arm in a 5 gallon bucket. I don't know how many times I had eaten that pizza before I saw that but I know I didnt anytime after that while he was working there! GROSS!!! Sorry for the side track...

 

[crash1292]

I think every one of my batches has one or two dog hairs in it

 

[BreckBastion]

I'm in the military and my hair is short. if I had long hair like before the military, I probably would wear a hat as I get pissed when I am eating/drinking and find a hair.

 

[wyzazz]

I like to spit in my brew kettle during the boil, it's my "secret ingredient".

 

[Germelli1]

Nope. It gets boiled and if one of your own hairs freaks you out then I don't know what to tell you

 

[dobeluvr]

I like to spit in my brew kettle during the boil, it's my "secret ingredient".

Something like this is actually scheduled for this sunday nites episode on brewmasters. "including chewing up the corn to naturally speed fermentation. So it's all hands on deck in Delaware when the Dogfish staff is enlisted to use their own saliva to brew their newest craft beer."

As for the hat, with all the %'s of disgusting matter allowed in our everyday food, the last thing I will worry about is my own hair, even tho it is quite long.

 

[BreckBastion]

Nope. It gets boiled and if one of your own hairs freaks you out then I don't know what to tell you

Hmmm. I don't always brew alone. It most likely wouldn't be mine. Are you ok with eating at a restaurant and pulling a hair out of your mouth? I don't care for it. I'm pretty sure I will never be able to grow my hair long enough for it to matter in brewing or home cooking.

 

[LarryC]

I don't have any hair but maybe my dog should wear one?

 

[steinsato]

I have long hair and basically wear a hat simply because my hair is always in my face. Don't think I'll be wearing a "beardnet" anytime soon though.

 

[IrregularPulse]

As far as the commercials, I would think that's for the commercial and they likely do wear stuff during actual production. Like you said, it is food production and likely mandated, but doesn't look great necessarily on the camera. For homebrewing, no, I'm not worried about a hair or 2 getting in the brew. That being said, I don't stand over the boil kettle scratching my head or getting a hair cut.

 

[specialkaye]

I think every one of my batches has one or two dog hairs in it

I've got a big yellow Lab. We try to gather up the "extra dog" that accumulates in the corners so it doesn't get in the beer. Or anything.

When I was on the ships in the Navy, I thought all the recipes included hair. Even boiled rice and toast.

 

[SPLASTiK]

Nope. It gets boiled and if one of your own hairs freaks you out then I don't know what to tell you

This. Also they filter so it shouldn't be in the bottle anyway.

 

[dvdanny]

I get horrible dandruff, especially in winter. It doesn't concern me while i'm brewing because the stuff is being boiled anyways. When i rack and bottle sometimes I'll make sure I take a shower right before or just make sure i don't scratch my head, i'm sure skin flakes harbor some type of bacteria.

 

[specialkaye]

I get horrible dandruff, especially in winter. It doesn't concern me while i'm brewing because the stuff is being boiled anyways. When i rack and bottle sometimes I'll make sure I take a shower right before or just make sure i don't scratch my head, i'm sure skin flakes harbor some type of bacteria.

Just don't quite know how to respond to that quote: Smart ass comment about beer's special ingredient? Or, helpful advice about controlling dandruff?
Dude, get a hat.

 

[faerielady]

I pull my hair back into a ponytail or braid when I brew. Sorry, not wearing a hair net.

Of course, that being said, I should probably hairnet both my cats (long haired Ragdolls). The animal that sheds the LEAST in my house is a black lab mix.

 

[vandeg]

I just usually worry about cleaning my forearms and face. A vigorous scrubbing will usually dislodge hairs, as for hair on my head, I don't really notice my hair ever shedding so its not a concern of mine...

 

[AKbrewer]

No

 

[VABeerSnob]

I wear a hat while homebrewing. I am a FedEx guy, and I have never gone into a business that processes food or drink where they didn't insist on covers for the head, beard, or even legs. There must be a reason. Perhaps it is the potential revulsion (and resultant lawsuit) of someone finding a hair in his/her beverage. Maybe it is the bacteria that hair carries. Either way, I brew with a hat on. A Pirate hat! (Pittsburgh Pirates)

 

[brewmonk]

i don't wear hats.
except when brewing.
(it's a harpooner i won keg bowling.)

 

[jfr1111]

Wearing a hat when brewing is downright silly... when you wear a hazmat suit like I do.

 

[Toga]

I wear a hat when brewing. I'd be more worried about dog hair getting into my brew however.....................hmm a side thought just add extra dog hair a batch and call it hair of the dog

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Does anybody else get grossed out by the Sam Adams commercial with the dude with the narly beard dumping hopps in the brew kettle?

That dude rules. Best Commercial ever.

 

[JonK331]

I do, but thats only because I always have a hat on anytime I am not at work.

The grossest thing I have ever seen when it comes to food preparation was at a pizza shop I worked at in high school: Very hairy man who stirred the pizza sauce with his arm in a 5 gallon bucket. I don't know how many times I had eaten that pizza before I saw that but I know I didnt anytime after that while he was working there! GROSS!!! Sorry for the side track...

That's funny cause at the pizza shop where I worked during my teens, the old guy who made the sauce did the same thing. He always washed his arm first so it never really bothered me. Pizza cooks pretty hot too.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

That's funny cause at the pizza shop where I worked during my teens, the old guy who made the sauce did the same thing. He always washed his arm first so it never really bothered me. Pizza cooks pretty hot too.

wait, the dude stuck his whole bare arm into the sauce to stir it? where the hell was the big wooden spoon? thats insane. when I worked at a pizza place in high school we never washed the salad dressing bins on the salad bar...only topped them off with fresh dressing....

 

[KeithMoonsLiver]

I wear elbow length gloves and a beanie when bottling, I don't really worry about hair while mashing or boiling since I figure it will settle out.

 

[RIT_Warrior]

That's funny cause at the pizza shop where I worked during my teens, the old guy who made the sauce did the same thing. He always washed his arm first so it never really bothered me. Pizza cooks pretty hot too.

At the pizza place I worked at we had an enourmous plastic paddle thing with holes in the end, sort of looked like those things AG brewers use to stir the mash except made out of a cutting board material. I would be disgusted if anyone reached their goddamn arm into sauce that we were putting on people's food and stirred it up. The spoon probably does a better job then what they were doing anyway.

 

[Fantastical]

I don't wear a hairnet or gloves when cooking so I figure that I wouldn't when making beer. I think when producing a product commercially for consumption it makes it much more important.

 

[Pappers_]

Wearing a hat when brewing is downright silly... when you wear a hazmat suit like I do.

Does anyone else get an all-over body wax and then bathe in iodophor before brewing, or is that just me?

 

[EoinMag]

I don't wear a hat as I am rather follically challenged and what is there is normally shorn really short.
I do however wear a white mini lab coat to protect my clothing and also for the fact that it's a dedicated piece of clothing for the job.

 

[rico567]

There is an old article in the Consumer Reports archives somewhere about them analyzing the ingredients in fancy candy (Fannie Mae, etc.). It details the number of "insect parts" and "rodent hairs" to be found in the mix. Not something for the squeamish to read....

Personally, I suppose that a hat may do some good......but why not just go all the way and use one of those dedicated hair net things, that's actually designed to keep the stuff out. Since I sport one of those Old Testament prophet-type beards, I suppose I should be looking for the whole-head model....

 

[TheDom]

While brewing, I always cover up:

 

[TheWeeb]

maybe a full body condom like this wonderful lady is wearing would be perfect for brewing. . .

 

[hal2814]

If you're over 15 years old or so and you've eaten pizza at a restaurant, it's highly likely that at some point your pizza sauce was mixed by hand. That's just the way it was done for a long time. Here in Georgia, the health inspectors started cracking down on it some time in the mid-90's and we had to switch to a paddle.

Having formerly worked in the pizza industry for many years, my take is this: When you sit in that oven for as long as that pizza sits in the oven, I'll take your complaint seriously. We never had a complaint of hair in our food. Ever. We did one time have to ban band-aids on the prep line because one made its way into a salad. Now THAT is disgusting. We also had to fire a guy who kept eating croutons while he was working the salad prep line and pepperonis while working the pizza prep line.

EDIT: Almost forgot the original question. With all the settling and siphoning and everything else that goes into brewing beer, I'm just not that worried that a hair will make it into the finished product. For that matter, has anyone ever found a hair in their beer?

 

[waldoar15]

I don't. More than likely plenty of rat hair and feces in the grains anyway.

 

[Kirbster]

I usually dont wear a hat while brewing, however considering making my wife wear a hairnet at all times. Her long black hair gets everywhere. I do keep a pretty strict cleaning/sanitizing regime but would never worry about my hair getting in the brew unless I was standing over the keggle combing it while I was whirlpooling.

 

[moosetav]

I have a nice Founders hat I wear while brewing. More of a little tradition than anything else really. I guess it helps keep sweat out of my eyes when standing over a boil kettle in August....

 

[l1ranger]

my moustache will filter out any hair that makes it into my beer.

 

[stageseven]

I would imagine that any hair that actually made it into the fermenter would drop out of suspension with the yeast. As for commercial breweries, most of them filter anyway so in the event that any hair did make it into the fermenter, it would be filtered out.

 

[pjj2ba]

No hat, but I do wear elbow length gloves when weighing grain, milling and mashing in. These are some pretty dusty steps. I had a problem with lactobacillus so I went through my process and paid attention to possible contamination sources. I was particularly amazed at how much dust ending up on my arms as I was mashing in. I was just setting my bucket on the edge of my MLT (SS pot) and tipping it as I stirred. The grain was falling 8" tops. I now wear the gauntlets and am a little more gentle when I mash in (gently by the scoop)