Wierd worm infection

[SimonB]

I think my brother has found a new niche beer... One with worms.

These appeared in only one of a batch of my brothers Amber Ale, which otherwise was perfect.

I think it goes to show, sanitation is important AFTER proper cleaning.

He's going to pop it onto a microscope and find out exactly what it is.

Anyone else experienced this?

 

[Yoseff]

Oops. Sorry. Phone being dumb.

 

[cjgenever]

No pic...

 

[drainbamage]

Can't say I have. How large are they?

 

[day_trippr]

The image hosting web site apparently doesn't allow hot-linking images...

Cheers!

 

[SimonB]

Sorry about the image - I have reattached the image to the original post.

The "worms" are about 3-4mm long. We're beginning to think they might be fruit fly larvae. They are mobile, but attached to the sides, not swimming.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

My dog did a long tome ago. As a puppy, i think. Took her to the vet and they gave her some sort of milky looking stuff orally. For the next few days she kept pooping out these nasty looking dead worms.

This doesn't help at all. The end.

 

[ubnserved]

Was that one batch of beer or was it one bottle that you have worms in?

 

[SimonB]

Was that one batch of beer or was it one bottle that you have worms in?

Only the one bottle - the rest of the batch were fine

 

[ubnserved]

Open the bottle and place or pour in a larger container if you want to see what they turn into.
Only takes a few seconds for flies to lay eggs. Surprised they have survived this long. Lack of O2 will kill them before long and no known human pathogen can survive in beer..... but I wouldn't drink it for all the hops in Washington.

 

[Yoseff]

They look like fruit fly larvae to me. I had a bit of an issue with them a while ago. Just make sure to rinse everything out really well.

 

[Hello]

Someone once posted bottles showing the same. I do believe it was suggested that they were fruit fly larvae. I don't recall how it turned out, but I'd be weary of all bottles. Fruit flies are little bitches.

 

[wtaylor3]

Had fruit fly larvae in the bung for my BB when I did my pumpkin ale...

I shined a flashlight into the BB and found nothing so it was bottled and drank, a fellow homebrewer at work said he wouldn't have cared if they were IN the beer, just strain them out lol

 

[SimonB]

We think they're actually flatworms. My brother will pop them under a microsocope during the week.

 

[Braufessor]

ANother vote for fruit Fly Larva.

 

[unionrdr]

They could've come from insect eggs in the grains or extract. Perhaps the part of the extract added @ flame out? Lacking that, maybe stuck inside the bottles? That's why I rinse, scrub & rinse the bottles again before placing them on my bottle tree to dry before storage. Then use my avinator on top of my bottle tree with Starsan to rinse/sanitize the bottles before filling. They have to be getting in something used to either make the beer or package it. I'm thinking now about the packaging part of the process. The eggs would have to be tough to survive the boil.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Ewww. That's grolsch.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

I vote for bottle born.

 

[AkTom]

.... but I wouldn't drink it for all the hops in Washington.[/QUOTE]

For half the hops in WA. I'd drink that in a heart beat.

 

[Franky]

These look like what I had in 2 bottles I forgot to rinse. Saw them before any beer went into them. So just threw them out. My buddy was given bottles by some friends who are non brewers. They didnt rinse half the bottles and also had these worm looking things in a few of them.

Is this a re used bottle? If it is is there a chance it didnt get cleaned quite good enough and were there before you even filled it?

I'm sure you keep everything super clean but it can happen to the best of us.

Anyway just a thought...

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, I used to see these little dark specks around the bottom of the bottles or near it about the size of a pinhead. That was when I was just rinsing my emptied bottles before hitting the tree. So I put them all in a bucket of PBW 12-13 at a time overnight. Then scrubbed with bottle brush & Dobie inside & out, rinsed, then onto bottle tree. I rinse, scrub & rinse again with every bottle now. Doesn't take long at all when done quickly. And no more of those strange little specks...

 

[butterpants]

duplicate post, sorry

 

[butterpants]

and no known human pathogen can survive in beer..... .

In properly made and packaged beer.... with the correct pH and some hop oils/acids. Messed up beer could support pathogens.

 

[brick_haus]

Are worms found in crocodile bile?

 

[rocketsan]

Are worms found in crocodile bile?

LOL, think that may go over some people's heads...

 

[Chadwick]

This just goes to show one of the short comings of drinking lighter colored beer. If that beer was a dark stout, nobody would have been wiser for drinking it.

EDIT:
On a serious note, I had a problem with fruit flys a couple of years ago. During this time I allowed one of my airlocks dry out on a beer that would have been a nice lager. I still have most of that batch left in bottles. It isn't a big deal to pour one and find dead fruit flys floating around in the glass. I've almost given most of that batch away but some still remain. It's a magical beer. I can give a few to a beer bum and like magic, that guy never asks for beer again.

 

[MaxStout]

Just be glad it's not botfly larvae.

NOT for the squeamish.

.

 

[Brettomomyces]

Just be glad it's not botfly larvae.

NOT for the squeamish.

http://www.radiolab.org/story/91678-glad-somebody-likes-bugs/

Really cool story about a an evolutionary biologist who gets a botfly larva in his scalp...also it's Radiolab so it's awesome to begin with

 

[day_trippr]

"Most Disgusting Thread - 2015" contender...

Cheers!

 

[ubnserved]

Are worms found in crocodile bile?

He is in Africa. .... sounds like a popular poison over there.