Blazing Spider Ale

[Blaze]

My first post!

I'm new to the homebrew scene and was brewing batch #6 last night...a New Castle Brown Ale clone. I had cultured my yeast a day or so before in a pint of dilute wort and it appeared to be starting well. Well, when the time came to pitch, I removed the loose foil cover off of the pyrex bowl and...um...there was a little critter floating in there...a small brown spider.

Since I had no other yeast and 5 gallons of cooled wort sitting in the carboy...I scooped out the arachnid and pitched! :D

In honor of the fallen arachnid, I named the brew Blazing Spider Ale.

This morning (just 9 hrs later) the airlock was outta control...fermenting and foaming like a rapid dog. It was the first time that I used the clear glass carboy as the primary fermenter and watching that stuff work is fun.

Finally, the reason for this message... Would there possibly be anything to worry about - contamination-wise? I figured that since the yeast has launched into outer space, bacteria doesn't stand a chance, right?

[Tweek]

hopefully it is YOUR yeast that is so active. but I wouldnt worry about it. there is really nothing you can do at this point, so just sit back and relax. You will know soon enough. hopefully you will be fine.

[fretlessman71]

The first batch of beer that my brother and I did 13 years ago was a barely wine (we wanted to start big). When the time came for bottling, my brother lost the tip of the siphon in the bottom of the bucket of beer! We tried to fish it out with various sterile objects, to no avail. Finally, with a well scrubbed hand, my bro REACHED INTO THE BEER to retrieve said tip (I am to understand that this is among the greatest of 'faux pas'). We went ahead and bottled, and the result was AMAZING. Great head; nice sweet/hoppy flavor; serious kick. I think we calculated the alcohol content at about 10.6%.

We named it Sweaty Palms Barely Wine. We got a few strange glances when we told this to people.

Just goes to show you that you never know what you're going to get. Forrest Gump thought that life was like a box of chocolates; I beg to differ... it's more like a batch of beer. :)

[Theakston]

If you ever visit a lambic brewery -- one that uses spontaneous fermentation -- you will see that they keep spiders webs all over the place. They actually prefer to keep them there because they could contribute to the micro climate that generates the wild yeast. In any case I doubt if it's done you're beer any harm.

[YamahaXS]

Sounds like mother nature is smiling upon your endeavors. Enjoy!


ps. i wouldn't expect any problems for your beer.