Insects in primary

[dawn_kiebawls]

I just brewed a batch of a Golden Sour and while I was watching everything churn around I noticed a mosquito plastered to the carboy wall, caked in krausen. Is this something I should worry about? The problem is that I dont know if it made its way in during the boil or after wort was chilled/during transfer. Even if it fell into the chilled wort, this IS a sour beer so I imagine anything it was carrying would be out competed by the dropping pH and the billions of Sacch, Brett, Lacto and Pedio swarming around in there...?

A couple years ago I dumped a batch of an oaked Cherry Quad because as I was transferring to the bottling bucket I noticed a mostly decomposed wasp floating in my fermentor and I about puked, then almost cried because it all went down the toilet.

Thanks for the advice. Cheers!

 

[SEndorf]

Frankly, one wasp in the fermenter is not grounds to dump a batch.
One mosquito is not going to ruin anything either.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm totally with @SEndorf on this.

Unless there's a total takeover infestation, where the maggots are crawling out of the krausen, a little insect won't harm you or your beer. I wouldn't have dumped an $80 batch of Cherry Quad without asking around first, either.

Brewing outside does bring some unique risks with it. How and when do you think it got in there in the first place?

 

[3 Dawg Night]

In Zainasheff & Palmer's Brewing Classic Styles, they have a recipe for a Black Widow Robust Porter, named so because a spider was once washed out of a hose during the sparge and into the kettle. They fished it out, but it was missing a few legs. By all accounts, the beer drank great.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I'm totally with @SEndorf on this.

Unless there's a total takeover infestation, where the maggots are crawling out of the krausen, a little insect won't harm you or your beer. I wouldn't have dumped an $80 batch of Cherry Quad without asking around first, either.

Brewing outside does bring some unique risks with it. How and when do you think it got in there in the first place?

I do agree, with hindsight being 20/20 I really wish I wouldnt have dumped it. If I found it twitching around in the wort during sparge, no big deal. If I found it in the boil, wouldnt have bothered me very much. But I found it in the fermentor mostly rotten and i just knew I wouldnt ever be able to enjoy a beer because I'd think of how gross it was every time I crack a bottle of it. I have no idea how the wasp got in there but I'm guessing he fell into the boil. The mosquito could have shown up at any point.

Either way, the mosquito is going to stay put and that batch will be consumed. Thanks for the insight. Cheers!