Fruit flies

So I'm having a little trouble with fruit flies. I've noticed an increase in their numbers since I started brewing and even more after using ice baths to control temperature.

So my question is what is the best way to control them? More specifically. How?

I always airlock with vodka when fruit flies are afoot. They're pretty bad this year, so even my BOMMs get airlocked immediately, instead of waiting 7 days.

A cup with some vinegar and some liquid soap that contains sodium lauryl sulfate seems to attract them and drown them. You might also try setting an electric fan across your carboys. The flow of air will prevent them from hanging around

Vodka in the airlock! Fruit flies are bad news for fermented beverages.

Google fruit fly trap, there's lots of ideas out there -



See if you can find where they're breeding. I had them in my guinea pig's cage, under the wood shavings. Their life cycle is really short (that's why they're used in genetic research), and one female can lay 400 eggs at a time. I hate them.

When i worked in a coffee shop we had a serious problem with them. (Neighboring store couldn't keep their stuff clean)
We found the best way to deal with them was to fill a spray bottle with bleach water (Bleach based toilet bowl cleaner should work too) and spray all the drains twice a day. Their life cycle is short and they need standing water to breed. Bleach said water source and they should go away in a few days.

I've found them drowned in bubbler airlocks.

I do primary fermentation in open air buckets but I place a tea-towel over it to keep the flies out and fix it there with a thick rubber band so they don't find a way in, then put another tea-towel over the top of it.

valverij said:

I always airlock with vodka when fruit flies are afoot.

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If after drinking the vodka they don't die, they'll at least have a harder time finding their way to the beer.

Apple cinder vinegar work's wonders!!!

I get serious infestations in the winter, neighbors in the apartment building aren't too clean and my dozen or so fermenters don't help.

I take a small bowl, add some fruity wine, splash of vinegar, and 1 drop dish soap. Then covered with plastic wrap, and poke some holes with a meat thermometer. The flies can smell the fruit/alcohol/vinegar and its like heaven for them, so they climb in. Then they can't find their way out, go down to drink. Since the soap reduces the surface tension of the water they just fall in and drown.

Also, if you're doing and ice bath or swamp cooler, add some bleach to the bath, or you'll get flies, mold, mildew, etc.

If they're flying around outside you might want to spray your trees & shrubs with Malathion, that'll kill them. It's possible they're coming in via the fruit you buy at the store too. Just yesterday I passed on buying plums at Albertson's as they were infested with droshophila.

As far as protecting you fermentations from them, as others have said, use vodka in your airlocks instead of water. You can also use Starsan.
Regards, GF.

You can also spay them with star san. They have no exo skeleton so the acid kills them.

Bill

Ive had bad fruit flies in the past. You need a multi pronged attack. Hang flypaper above carboys and put out a bowl of vinegar with a drop of soap, drowns flies. You gotta find out where they are breeding garbage, old potatoes. There generations are short and rapidly expand once the swarm takes hold you may have to wait till it cools down to defeat them completly.

I've taken to spraying them with a 50/50 mixture of household bleach and water. Probably has the same effect as star san. just make sure none of it gets in your mead.
I clean off everything with star san again when I need to touch it.

I also had jars of cider and wine vinegar as well as flycatcher standing/hanging around, all of which managed to catch a fair few.

While it my basement smells like a public swimming pool, it has been fruit fly free for the last 3 days after a 1 week infestation.

Does anyone know if a spray bottle with star san is just as effective as bleach? Because that would really cut down on the care I need to take to avoid bleach ending up in my mead...

That's what my LHBS uses. He also sells pints from his homemade keezer. He sprays starsan directly on his taps. He is the one who gave me the advice.

Bill

Last year I had some...this year not one.

Here's my method:
Every time I tap a new keg the first half pint goes down the drain (for the homies) a few ounces of which gets put in a glass and set on the back of the kegerator. The flies find it, drink it, drown in it. I call that a win/win.

If one gets in my glass while I'm drinking a beer and accidentally finds its way into my mouth, I don't spit it out. Instead I chew it with my mouth open as a warning to the others what their fate will have in store for them if they should choose the same path of bad life decisions.

Obviously my method works.

madman960 said:

You can also spay them with star san. They have no exo skeleton so the acid kills them.

Bill

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Not to pick nits, but ALL insects have exoskeletons. It's part of what makes them insects.
Regards, GF.

Get a spray bottle of bleach based cleaner and spray your drains twice a day. They like to breed in the water that sits in the pipes. Used to work in a coffee shop that was next to a buissness that dodnt clean for S#!$.

If you have flies, here is an easy fix. You obviously know what they are getting into.."the bastards are landing in my beer/mead/soda". Pour a 1/2 glass of said beverage and add 2 drops of dawn detergent. Mix an let sit.

Why does it work? Flies can land on water no problem, but detergent breaks the surface tension of water. Instead on landing, they drown.