Brewing/Bottling while sick

[rklinck]

I had planned to bottle one of my current brews (my second batch) and start another batch this Friday. The fermentor is sitting in an ice bath cold crashing and I have purchased all of the ingredients for my new batch. This morning, I woke up with a bit of a sore throat (the kind that comes with sinus drainage and signals I am about to get a cold). For you experienced brewers, will going forward with bottling and brewing while I have a cold increase the chances of an infection of will I be fine so long as I keep my sanitation standards high?

 

[broadbill]

Rhinovirus (the virus that causes colds) isn't at all interested in living in beer.

 

[stevedore]

If you have a cold, you probably have a viral infection. Viruses are different than bacteria in that they don't live on sugars alone- they require infecting human cells to reproduce. I'm not aware of human viruses that will take on yeast, either. Different genetic material.

Just be sure you don't have strep throat or a similar bacterial infection- high fever, painfully sore throat without a runny nose means you should go see your doctor. And if your symptoms last longer than 2-3 weeks, consider seeing your doctor.

So for sanitizing: you should be okay if you cover up your face. Don't get any snot into the beer, wash your hands religiously and sanitize everything you touch. And it should be fine. AFAIK viruses don't survive for more than a few days on inanimate surfaces (fomites)

 

[stevedore]

It does make you wonder- if any of you other HBT brewers have any background in medicine or microbiology, couldn't someone drop in a tablet containing bacteriophages (viruses that only target bacteria) or something into a potentially infected primary to try to salvage it? Probably not feasible but hey who knows?