fruit flies

bastards got into one of my air locks... sanitized the life outta everything and swapped air locks... then microwaved the flies MWUAHAHAHAHA

They got in my airlock last batch, too. Their last gasp was Starsan.

It seems like the little buggers are everywhere nowadays! I try to keep everything as clean as possible and they still seem to find something that they like. I eventually got rid of them but it isn't easy.

I deal with fruit flies on a regular basis and one way to help control them is to have a cup of vinegar and water solution sitting around. They will investigate the cup of solution and eventually fall in and drown. Place the cup near your carboy.

An open bottle of Tabasco hot sauce works well too. They treat it just like sugar water and investigate and after, they get the red a$$ and leave.

Why are they so bad this year? I hate them. I wish I had a tiny flamethrower...

Skeptidelphian said:

Why are they so bad this year? I hate them. I wish I had a tiny flamethrower...

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That would be sweet. Or a travel size shop vac.

Fruit flies are what we call vectors. If you want natural yeast there the ones, if not do better cleaning around the area.

BBL_Brewer said:

That would be sweet. Or a travel size shop vac.

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My ex got rid of them by vacuuming them all up. Truth.

Skeptidelphian said:

My ex got rid of them by vacuuming them all up. Truth.

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I"ve been known to do that myself.

barmyarmy said:

Fruit flies are what we call vectors. If you want natural yeast there the ones, if not do better cleaning around the area.

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My understanding is they are attracted to fermentation and alcohol...so having five gallons of fruit fly attractor in your closet might just bring them in....not always a cleanliness issue IMO.

bobbrewedit said:

My understanding is they are attracted to fermentation and alcohol...so having five gallons of fruit fly attractor in your closet might just bring them in....not always a cleanliness issue IMO.

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He was saying you don't want them in your beer because they are vectors for infection, which they are, but granted, his english could be better.

I don't believe I misunderstood him. He mentioned that if you don't want them infecting your beer with natural yeast than clean better. My point was that you can be a total clean freak and still get fruit flies if you are fermenting beer.

It isn't what's around the area that attracts them. It's the smell of fermenting sugar. You can be as clean as possible, but unless you can stop the smell of sugar, they will be attracted if they're in the area. I've never had them until recently. I am setting off insect bombs in my garage tomorrow to kill of any that are alive in the garage. I am not expecting to be able to keep them out completely though. Keeping my airlocks full of vodka and watching them like a hawk.

I have one in one of my airlocks right now. I haven't bothered replacing the airlock, because I figure the airlock is doing what it's supposed to be doing - keeping foreign contaminants out of my beer. The fruitfly corpse is stuck to the inside of the airlock wall, above the StarSan level. No bacteria can get in through the airlock as long as the liquid level is maintained ... right?

kombat you should be safe. I have had them in my airlock before and just waited to bottle. I still hate the hell out of those bastards though.

I've had upwards of 20 in an airlock at one time, dead in a sea of Starsan, for beers that I've aged for 4+ months, and the beers came out wonderful. Not a problem, that's what the airlock is for.

If they're not getting in and drinking your beer, life's grand!

But to eliminate them, ever since I read this ( http://lifehacker.com/5635971/lifehacker-labs-capture-fruit-flies-with-a-cup-and-apple-cider-vinegar) post on Lifehacker, I've been doing it with outstanding results. Basically, add some dish soap to apple cider vinegar, and by the next morning, the fruit flies are gone! They're attracted to the apple-y smell, land on the liquid, but sink and drown because the surface tension is disrupted by the dish soap. I keep a couple of small bowls around the kitchen at fruitfly "hotspots". I've killed hundreds, if not thousands, of fruitflies...

Skeptidelphian said:

Why are they so bad this year? I hate them. I wish I had a tiny flamethrower...

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Hairspray + lighter

Used to deal with flies like that all the time as a child

With something like Sanstar or vodka in your airlock, they will hang around(and die if they try to get in) but not ruin the beer. Here in North Florida, those *uckers are everywhere, nothing to do with proper sanitation.

I had them all over the place and finally traced them to a giant box of fruit that the SWMBO had bought from the Boy Scouts. I tossed about half of it and they seemed to dissipate for a while. I guess when more fruit goes bad more flies will arrive.