Fruit Flys in Starter!

So I was gearing up for a Blackberry wheat beer and the fly patrol sent there hit squad and broke through my foil

? Use laugh it off as extra protein
? Or use wlp029 Kolsch or 1469 West Yorkshire

One of the unfixable things is fruit fly contamination. Those little buggers carry aceterobacter, so unfortunately the starter is toast. Kolsch yeast would be good, for a nice "clean" flavored wheat beer.

If they are in the starter, the starter is toast. Dump it and buy more.

Yooper said:

One of the unfixable things is fruit fly contamination. Those little buggers carry aceterobacter, so unfortunately the starter is toast. Kolsch yeast would be good, for a nice "clean" flavored wheat beer.

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Wow sad day,(aceterobactor thats good to know):S Thanks so much for whipin some sense my way. Will be tranfering the kolsch to a keg on brew day to harvest those little buddies

That sucks...its happened to me as well. Now I have foam stoppers for my starters.

bassmaster911 said:

That sucks...its happened to me as well. Now I have foam stoppers for my starters.

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I know those guys are sneaky i had the lid pushed over the first ring if the jar also. Using the kolsch crossed my mind now i have no excuse but to try it.

chuckstout said:

I know those guys are sneaky i had the lid pushed over the first ring if the jar also. Using the kolsch crossed my mind now i have no excuse but to try it.

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Kolsch yeast is GREAT in a wheat beer. Are you kidding me, those fruit flies were the best thing that happened to you. They should be listed as assistant brewers!

BTW, prepare for blowoff with that kolsch yeast.

passedpawn said:

Kolsch yeast is GREAT in a wheat beer. Are you kidding me, those fruit flies were the best thing that happened to you. They should be listed as assistant brewers!

Awesome! Lol, will do or name the it after them

BTW, prepare for blowoff with that kolsch yeast.

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Got the containment equipment for the job

Well after reading this thread along with some others I guess I'll have to dump my starter. This is the first time I have ever had any kind of issue with fruit flies (other than them buzzing about the kitchen, especially if someone leaves an unrinsed wine glass out). I was reading around hoping to save it as it was one lone fruit fly, and chances are I won't be able to get any more yeast before tomorrow and was really hoping to brew (this is what I get for being nice and lending my emergency packs of dried yeast to a friend who for unknown reasons boiled his yeast starter.. I stopped asking why he does the dumb things he does).

So I guess I am going to echo the chorus of people who have switched over to foam stoppers from foil.

Though a quick question, has anyone brewed a beer using a starter that had a fruit fly in it? Did they really get noticeable off flavors after a short period of time? I don't think I'm going to risk it, but curious if anyone has and what happened.

I absolutely loathe fruit flies. They killed a batch of ESB for me. It's drinkable, but I can definitely taste the cidery/vinegar off-flavor that acetobacter produces. ARGH.