Mosquito in my starter

[nmj]

I don't how the F that thing got in my flask but it did.

I'll back up. I made a yeast starter (1000ml) last Thursday night to pitch on Saturday and found a mosquito floating in the flask. Must have gotten in while I was prepping the yeast pack to pitch.

I put the starter in the fridge and pending the general consensus, I may dump it or use it.

What say ye?

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Personally, I would dump it and start over, but that's just me and your comfort zone may vary. Mosquitos hone in on CO2 (as well as other things) to help them find food. We breath out a lot of CO2 and it probably thought your starter would provide a quick meal. Fruit flies are a pain to keep out of there as well. What I do now is rubberband a sanitized coffee filter to my starter vessel. I just dip it in alcahol and let it sit in a tupperware container until after the starter is prepared. Keeps out all the riff raff but still allows for gas exchange.

 

[yeastluvr]

That's one drunk mosquito! I've never had that problem so I really dont know. If I was really worried about the batch I was brewing and the cost to get a new pack of yeast wasn't a problem, I may just do that. On the other hand, with that many yeast cells working away in the starter, I would imagine its probably fine.

 

[jtejedor]

Yeah I would dump it I hear they carry stuff that can sour beer and turn it nasty. Not worth ruining a batch.

 

[Darwin18]

The alcohol the yeast are producing would likely kill anything the mosquito was carrying. Just try not to put it in your wort.

 

[starrfish]

fruit flies can sour a starter pretty quick, but 1 mosquito... go for it call it "Malariale"

 

[JonK331]

I wouldn't use it. If that thing got in there before fermentation started who knows what could have grown in there.

 

[michaeltrego]

I "think" I had a fruit fly in my starter once. As I was pitching the yeast into the funnel, there was one flying around and then disappeared. I tried to see if it made it into the flask, but couldn't locate it, so I forged ahead. Starter was fine, beer was fantastic. I now use a 1 gallon paint strainer over my starter vessel as a precaution. Here's a pic of the 3L ECY15 starter (step 1 of 2) for my upcoming Marzen this weekend: