Hair in Bottling Bucket....Arg!

[BeerAddikt]

Thread title says it all. Bottled 5 gallons of Kama Citra IPA. Everything went smoothly, zero oxidation issues and the sample was outstanding. My bottling process is on point...or so I thought.

I go to clean out my bottling bucket and low and behold, there's a hair in there. I'm operating under the assumption that it was in there during the entire bottling process (possibly introduced during racking) as I had just finished up when I found it.

The beer is 5.7% abv and I've been doing this long enough, I'm not loosing any hair over this (get it...). The beer will most likely be fine...maybe my best yet! (22 batches strong).

Anywho...thought I'd share my story for those beginners who worry over every little thing that could go wrong.

RDWHAHB...words to live by.

P.S. I'll report back in a few weeks after the bottles have conditioned properly. SWMBO says I should call it Hair In There IPA.

 

[violinguy]

Ugh - late addition hair.

Sorry, man. Beer's still probably excellent.

 

[BigStew84]

Have had a similar issue for more beers than I care to admit...the only difference is that the hair wasn't human...BUT since I love my dog enough to come to terms with the fact that no mater how hard I try..one hair will get into every damn thing...I just go with it..and luckily never had an issue...Amen for starsan! Haha

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Just call it your "Toupee IPA". [emoji28][emoji28]

 

[MaryB]

Hair of the Dog IPA...

 

[cloudybrewer]

Kama Scalpa IPA?

 

[jcaggiano]

Surprisingly, I have not had an infection from my pet hairs yet. My batches aren't usually around long enough for those sort of bugs to be able to take hold! If you are like most of us, that five gallon batch will be long gone before you need to worry!

 

[Anon111]

Two continuously shedding rabbits here. Never noticed any of their fur in anything I brew or drank.

 

[jwalk4]

I fermented a bee once.

All good.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7094106

 

[eadavis80]

I'm pretty sure your beer will be fine. The Kama Citra is a great session IPA from NB - one of my most well received beers for sure.

 

[MaryB]

Orange guy is Oliver(black kitty is Oreo). Oliver's fur is best described as a pelt, if you have ever felt the fur from a wild cat and how super fine and soft it is you know what I am talking about. It is so fine it will float for 15 minutes in the air. So I get it in the beer now and then.

Never had an infection. BTW Oliver is only 10 months old, that chair is 22 inches wide, and he weighs 17 pounds as of today...

 

[BigStew84]

Orange guy is Oliver(black kitty is Oreo). Oliver's fur is best described as a pelt, if you have ever felt the fur from a wild cat and how super fine and soft it is you know what I am talking about. It is so fine it will float for 15 minutes in the air. So I get it in the beer now and then.

Never had an infection. BTW Oliver is only 10 months old, that chair is 22 inches wide, and he weighs 17 pounds as of today...

That's a big ol kitty!

 

[MaryB]

Cats aren't full grown until they are 2 years old... scary thought with him!

 

[GrimBrewer]

Well, about two weeks ago I found a hair after pouring a beer we made a while ago. Would either be mine or my brothers hair....was a good batch and I was not going to through it out. Tasted fine.

 

[Kwitty]

I think the BJCP should make it it's own category. Follicly aged beers!

 

[GrimBrewer]

I think the BJCP should make it it's own category. Follicly aged beers!

NO! Dont say that. Then some home brewer will want to push the border of the style and make a 16 Cat Lady Furball IPA.

Just think of the dry hops questions. Should I use a ginger tabby for the same duration as black rabbit hair? Should I go all organic?

 

[BeerAddikt]

NO! Dont say that. Then some home brewer will want to push the border of the style and make a 16 Cat Lady Furball IPA.

Just think of the dry hops questions. Should I use a ginger tabby for the same duration as black rabbit hair? Should I go all organic?

LOL! You almost made me spit out the water I was drinking as I read this.

Why am I drinking water and not beer you ask? Because I caught some kind of damn throat infection 9 days ago and cannot shake it for some reason. On the plus side my pipeline has grown significantly from 9 days of no beer.

 

[BeerAddikt]

Update: The beer is friggen amazing! I used the NB Kama Citra AG kit with US-05 yeast and it's delicious. I will most certainly brew this one again...one of the best IPAs I've ever brewed.

Although...it could be the hair adding in a bit of extra flavor that is making it pop!

 

[violinguy]

I've had both NB kits with citra and they are both among my top homebrews. Of course, I've only been doing this about 2 years...

 

[TungstenBeer]

Haha, a hair is no big deal! When I was kegging once, transferring from a bucket to a keg, I was using a flashlight to see how low the beer was getting in the bucket (or something). Not sure how it happened, but I ended up dropping the flashlight into the keg. After trying to fish it out with stainless steel tongs that were nowhere near long enough to get it out, I dunked my entire arm in a bucket of star san and fished it out by hand.

The beer tasted identical to the previous batch of that recipe.