i started brewing this last winter in the depths of December. I am accustomed to cracking ice off my hands and sheltering the burner from the wind. Now, in warmer times as spring unfolds…how do you keep all the flying things out of the wort pot? Would a steel screen be OK? I know you do not want to cover the pot but the screen. Would let the boil off dissipate . Clouds of small moths seem to be set on suicidal swimming expeditions during the course of the boil. Or do you just strain them out at the end and claim a “secret” flavor enhancement ingredient.
Not many bugs make it into my boil. Sometimes wasps or yellow jackets are attracted to the sweet wort smell, but don’t go in. It will be nice when I can brew in warmer weather, even though I brew in the garage, 15F right now.
These moths seem to form a traffic pattern so they can line up for their final dive to oblivion.
I know I’m a heretic, but I mostly cover my brew pot with the lid. I’ve never had a problem in over ten years with DMS. Even with only a 60 minute boil and a Pilsner malt base. You could try partially covering your pot with the lid and see what you think. Don’t put the lid 100% on as that will just cause boil overs.
not to mention that you’ve probably eaten more bugs in your life than you know. anything flying it into the kettle will boil up and be harmless to you and beer IMO. don’t sweat it.
The purpose of Irish moss is to precipitate stuff like bug carcasses.
I have both farmed and ridden a lot of bikes…so yes I have eaten a few bugs in my day.
One thing I do is use a screen over the boil kettle while chilling the boiled wort. Just keeps out the critters as it cools down. During the boil, most bugs get pushed away by the heat of the boiling wort, or so it seems.
If you leave the lid on, just vent it a bit, so that the DMS can escape in the steam. No problem with up to 80% or so covered in my experience. Frankly, for me DMS problems now seem to come from post boil delays in chilling - like covering the kettle and not running through the counter flow chiller quickly enough (that mistake was made only once and a valuable lesson learned!)