When I was racking to the bottling bucket a fly landed in the carboy! WTF!!! The beer is about 5.5 abv. Hoping that will kill off any nasty. Am I worrying of nothing?
Well, at the very least, I would decide to pursue a theme name for this brew…
“Flytastic fermentation” or “Bzz Beer” or “Horse Fly IPA” (??) or “I think I can fly…” or “RDWHAflyB” or…
… or maybe a little more subtle with “Time flies” or (baseball themed) “Pop flies” or (patriotic themed) “Flag flies” or a little more crass with “F-ing lies” or ???
Bugs tend to carry allot of infection if it was after boil I would be pretty worried
Oh man that sucks…let it out of the carboy and kill it violently as possible…then hope for the best…best of luck
So the fly landed in the carboy while you transfered to the bottling bucket? Did you siphon the fly to the bottling bucket? How long was the fly in the carboy while you siphoned?
If it the fly didn’t make it to the bucket, it wasn’t in the carboy for long, and you siphoned well below it, I wouldn’t worry too much…
No it didn’t get to the bottling bucket. It was in the carboy for a min or two, I left a little beer behind with the fly in it.
You’ll be fine. Obviously there’s lots of eww gross factor when something like this happens. But since it was done fermenting its pretty resilient.
Have you ever eaten outside?
Have you ever eaten food prepared in the back of a truck?
Believe me. If you’ve ever eaten food prepared by another person outside of your field of view, you’ve eaten food that has come in contact with bugs. You’ve probably even eaten a few bugs.
[quote=“JMcK”]Have you ever eaten outside?
Have you ever eaten food prepared in the back of a truck?
Believe me. If you’ve ever eaten food prepared by another person outside of your field of view, you’ve eaten food that has come in contact with bugs. You’ve probably even eaten a few bugs.
Yeah but that has nothing to do with infecting your hard work and having to dump beer cause its infected…flies infect s###…eating from a roach coach has no effect…having flies get into your brew different story
[quote=“mattbrew83”][quote=“JMcK”]Have you ever eaten outside?
Have you ever eaten food prepared in the back of a truck?
Believe me. If you’ve ever eaten food prepared by another person outside of your field of view, you’ve eaten food that has come in contact with bugs. You’ve probably even eaten a few bugs.
Yeah but that has nothing to do with infecting your hard work and having to dump beer cause its infected…flies infect s###…eating from a roach coach has no effect…having flies get into your brew different story[/quote] this here they carry infection.
I wouldn’t worry about it. I’d be very surprised if a fly caused any kind of infection in your bottled beer.
I ain’t afraid of open fermentation, and I suppose the occasional fly is inevitable there.
How about that Anchor Steam? Or Sierra Nevada? Good stuff, eh? 
[quote=“bunderbunder”]I ain’t afraid of open fermentation, and I suppose the occasional fly is inevitable there.
How about that Anchor Steam? Or Sierra Nevada? Good stuff, eh? [/quote]
Sierra Torpedo sure is!
On the Fly IPA?
While its true that flies carry infection causing nastiness, like I said before beer that’s done fermenting is pretty resilient. Not just the alcohol, but also the ph and the presence of hops all inhibit the growth of unwanted nasties. There’s a reason why beer was the preferred source of safe drinking water back in the day.
It wouldn’t hurt to get the beer cold and keep it that way as soon as possible after carbing. That will limit the ability of any unwanted organisms to spread. This one probably isn’t a good candidate for long term aging. 
Depends; do you have a cow pasture nearby 
I was racking my beer to a fermentation bucket once and my big yellow lab walks up and shakes - looked like a blanket of hair went into the bucket - this was cooled and before fermentation.
I decided to get out what I could and just go with it. Called it “Yellow Dog IPA”. Turned out just fine.
Thanks all! I’m thinking all will be good. And now I have some names to think about for this brew!
It will be fine sir. Just send me a six pack so I can reassure you that it is drinkable… hehe
:cheers:
My Fly is Down Ale
Did you grab it and yell “spit it out ye little basthid?” If so then you’re Irish.
Low probability that the beer will be infected. Just in case I’d drink it promptly. If you’re Irish then I needn’t have given that advice.
