Fruit fly in starter

[Josh Hughes]

Alright made a started 6 hours ago. Noticed a fruit fly around it so I looked inside. I had one floating. Pitch it?

 

[Tim Bulin]

Well I'd pitch it...down the drain with a bleach chaser. Wouldn't take a chance on it.

 

[J A]

If it's one fruit fly chances are that the combination of wort PH and the overwhelming number of yeast cells available is going to steam roll any tiny number of potential baddies that snuck in on the fruit fly's back.
If it was a housefly that might have been eating shit somewhere before landing in the liquid I'd have a harder time ignoring but the fruit fly has been feasting on a source of natural fermentation, anyway.

 

[Nosybear]

The fruit fly carried wild yeast into the starter. In an excess of caution, i'd likely dump the starter, wild yeast can be very tough and can metabolize sugars tame yeast can't. On the other hand, you can chance it... Tough call, this one. I know what I'd do.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Most wild yeast struggle to ferment wort, but there's always the chance of getting one of the ones Nosy mentions.

Dump or not is really your call, and heavily influenced by the need for the beer, as much as the risk of infection. If you don't NEED it, you're weighing up the cost of the yeast vs the cost of dumping. With many of my beers, the yeast costs less than the hops so I'd just start up another starter. But your costs will be different.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Without hesitation I would dump it. Period. Your starter needs to be as close to sterile as possible. It is contaminated. I’ve had this happen as well. Since then I place a muslin bag over the top of the flask held by a rubber band to prevent bugs from getting in, then a loose foil cap. The bugs are attracted by the co2 escaping the flask.

Dump it.

 

[GFHomebrew]

You got any yeast satchets spare Josh? If so I'd go some fresh yeast.
I feel it's 50/50
Your call id go and grab some fresh yeast

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Assuming 5 gallons of beer?
I'd run with it and plan on drinking it up fast.
You do have a huge population of healthy yeast that at minimum will slow down and suppress any nasties that the little bugger might have brought in.
You might adjust the grain bill down so it's a chugger and invite some friends to make it go away quickly! It's only 40 pints.
I think it's a low risk experiment.
Or dump it! Haha.
Cheers and let us know what you decide.
Brian

 

[Josh Hughes]

I have slurry in a keg from a beer finishing up. I’ll just use that. Thanks to everyone.

 

[Minbari]

Had it happen. Never had a bad result

 

[Hawkbox]

I'd have used it, but using the slurry is fine too.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I have slurry in a keg from a beer finishing up. I’ll just use that. Thanks to everyone.

That makes it an easy decision. If you were still considering using it, I'd have asked what it smells like? Also, I'd contemplate how much alcohol was in the starter at the time the fruit fly got in and whether it would be enough to overpower whatever the fruit fly brought in

 

[soccerdad]

Good protein in fruit flies. I'd eat it, then toss the wort and yeast.

 

[Donoroto]

They're kinda small. You may need to eat more than one.

 

[Josh Hughes]

It was tasty