Pest control

I am a garage drinker for the most part. I have my man cave set up in garage and smoking is only allowed in garage. I have a hose spigot in garage but no wash sink.

My problem is gnats. I can't seem to get rid of them and they really multiply when I drink in the garage or if I have buddies come over and there is lots of beer cans/bottles/etc for these creatures to play with.

This is common for drinking buddies in my neck of the woods (Kansas City, MO). Yet, I haven't found anyone with a good solution to catch or repel these things. Best we have tried so far is the rolls of sticky flypaper. Have tried antifreeze in a bowl, grenadine in a bowl, banana hunks with peels in a mason jar with small funnel. All with horrible results, flypaper actually will catch a bunch but not as fast as they multiply...

What other tricks have you used with success?

You're probably not going to be too excited to hear this, but really the only way to rid yourself of any pest is to change the environment so they don't want to be there. I'm thinking a large trash can with a lid that you can drag outside when you're done and some tap covers would go a long way to helping the problem.

My home owners association doesn't allow trash cans outside the house. I already use a trash can with a lid inside the garage. All bottles and glasses are taken inside to be rinsed out at the end of the night. I am still new to kegging so I just have the cobra tap inside the fridge. (but will keep the tap covers in mind when keezer is built)

Guess I am just stuck with the gnats and ugly flypaper.

Even if you deny access to the beer cans and such to keep them from breeding, they will still smell it and come looking for it. They can be quite a nuisance, I agree. I've had good success keeping numbers down using fly paper and setting a small container with a little homebrew in it right underneath the fly paper. I've heard of others using a larger container with beer in it and adding a couple drops of dish soap to break the surface tension so that they land, sink and drown. As others have said, the only way to completey get rid of them is to remove the stuff that is attracting them in the first place.

Thanks for the tips. I will amp up my efforts.

I'm assuming you clean up after yourself. When I decided to build my brew stand, it was spur of the moment kind of, and left about a gallon of 1.100 IPA sitting in the bottom of the keg for a couple weeks while I worked on it. I won't be making that mistake again!

Yeah. I try to remember to mop the floor every brew day. I take all bottles and glasses indoors(for cleaning) - the only thing left would be BMC cans in a lidded trash can.

Guess maybe this year the gnats are worse due to our mild winter. Wander if citronella plants work on them???

Once in a while when you have everything put away spray a small shot of Yard Guard in the closed up garage. It will kill any bugs that are hanging out. Just make sure you clean all of your equipment before you brew...

When I bartended, we sometimes had problems. Pouring a bleach solution down sink and floor drains always helped, and check for bits of junk in the bottom of the trash can, under the bag. Anything fruity or yeasty will draw them.

Yard guard squirt in closed garage and bleach in drain. I will try both. Thanks

RedBeard1 said:

When I bartended, we sometimes had problems. Pouring a bleach solution down sink and floor drains always helped, and check for bits of junk in the bottom of the trash can, under the bag. Anything fruity or yeasty will draw them.

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We even had gnats make their way into liquor and cordial bottles that had metal pour spouts without the flaps.

bosco

Are they gnats or fruit flies? If they are fruit flies you are going to really have to keep after it.(I had an infestation in my kitchen once after a vacation) They lay eggs in your drains and will continue to hatch and lay more eggs. It is a tough battle to get rid of them. You have to keep everything clean. Get rid of stuff that might attract them. Bag up all fruit peelings and rinds, breads etc etc. Spray the crap out of your trash can. Don't put any soda cans or beer bottles or cans in your garage that haven't been rinsed etc etc. If you start to get a handle on it and let it slip, you will be right back at square one.

You can also leave bowls with a little red wine in them around. It will attract and catch the adult flies, but until you get all of them and there are no more eggs, they will come back.

Good luck!

Are they drainflies? I'd never seen them until a few years ago, at work. http://lifehacker.com/5826486/how-to-get-rid-of-drain-flies

another solution might be to install a ceiling fan in the garage. a little breeze makes it hard for small bugs to hang around. it helped with the mosquitoes on my porch.

I have the ceiling fan. It doesn't help much cause it is about 15 ft away from sitting area. I do have a pedestal fan that I use at the end of the table, while company is over. This keeps enough wind blowing across table that the little buggers can't land on beer mugs as easily.