Fruit flies in my airlock... uh-oh?
 

It's that time of year, it happens every year, the infestation of the fruit flies....

I'm slowly winning the battle after making a couple fly traps and cleaning the kitchen really well. I know this time next month they'll be long gone but so far 3 or 4 fruit flies drowned in the airlock on top of my blackberry mead. The airlock is full of sanitizing solution, BTW.

My thinking is, that's what you have an airlock for and to not worry about it.

What do you all say, am I OK or in for vinegar?

Youll be fine.

Does your airlock not have a cap? Or do they get in there anyway?

The fruitflies get into the airlock anyways. They squeeze through the tiny holes in the lid. It happens to me all the time. That said, you'll be fine.

You can always put a little cotton wool in to cap it off.

Read somewhere that they like the moisture of sink drain traps, but they're not real fond of boiling hot drain traps. Had that problem when we initially moved in our new house a few years back, boiled some water and hit all the traps in the house. No problems after that. ;)

And I had a starter on a stir plate going and the little buggers got into it too. :mad: Hate 'em!

They breed in the sinks. You could put draino or bleach in the drains to kill them.

I like the hot water idea but never tried it.
:eek:

I thought I was the only one with this fruit fly problem. Boiling water down the drain it is then.

As long as you had water in the airlock your be fine, and I use liberal amounts of bleach for any sitting water to keep them from setting up shop around me.
Now if only mosquitoes where as easy to deal with.

I wish I would have read this yesterday. I saw a fruit fly in my airlock so I figured I should clean it out. While trying to remove the airlock, I broke it. I was freaking out thinking that my first batch of brew was now going to be ruined. I called my local home brew shop and they said to use my siphon tube and put one end in the cork and the other end in a bucket of water. Chalk it up to a rookie mistake. Next time I wont mess with it. :)