Fruit Flies in Foil Covered Starter

Well - this was my first time to use foil instead of an airlock on my starters and it has bitten me.

Woke up to several dead fruit flies in my beer. Anyway to wash and savage this or should I just bottle it up as malt vineger?

If this was a 5gal carboy of beer I'd say get it packaged and chilled asap.

Given its a starter I'd say dump it. Not worth the risk

Dump it. It is absolutely contaminated. You wouldn't believe the amount of spoilage organisms those things carry.

Bokonon said:

If this was a 5gal carboy of beer I'd say get it packaged and chilled asap.

Given its a starter I'd say dump it. Not worth the risk

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+1 Those things are full of acetobacteria (sp?)

Nasty little effers...

Yeah I figured it was a dump it situation - nothing lost it was an old old vial anyways...

Tonedef131 said:

Dump it. It is absolutely contaminated. You wouldn't believe the amount of spoilage organisms those things carry.

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Derrin said:

+1 Those things are full of acetobacteria (sp?)

Nasty little effers...

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Bokonon said:

If this was a 5gal carboy of beer I'd say get it packaged and chilled asap.

Given its a starter I'd say dump it. Not worth the risk

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WAIT!

So quick to jump to a conclusion! First off, it depends somewhat on how soon you'll be drinking this beer. I recently had the same thing happen to a 10 gallon batch of hefeweizen...but I said "f*ck it, I don't care" and pitched anyway. Fermented out just fine, so signs of infection. The only difference was that my krausen ring on one of the carboys grew mold after a couple weeks...but I just racked off that into a keg, and the beer is fantastic. I'm on my second keg of it right now, and I brewed it on 4/17...this second half of the batch has been sitting in the keg at room temp since around the end of April...absolutely no signs of anything wrong with it (aside from the occasional fruit fly carcass coming out of the tap with my beer ).

So I'd say, if it's something you'll be drinking relatively soon, to hell with it, pitch the starter! If it's a barleywine or something else that you're planning on aging for awhile, then that will give these bugs a very long time to take hold, so I'd get rid of the starter.

Just my $0.02 considering I've had this exact experience before. But then, maybe my fruit flies are just exceptionally clean

We should dig up the whole don't put an airlock on your starter discussion again.

I had the same problem. I solved it by putting rubber bands around the foil after it cooled. It still can vent co2, but keeps the buggers out.

I use the foam stoppers during fruit fly season to keep those little bastards out. Late summer I usually have a few in every airlock...they are the bane of brewers everywhere.

Yeah dammit,. I had the same thing happen on a starter for hard lemonade - and those are a little bit more work 'cuz the acidity of the lemonade. I need to check out those foam stoppers.

Wouldn't something like cheesecloth, then covered by the foil keep out both the winged and crawly things?

Or put an airlock on it...

Homercidal said:

We should dig up the whole don't put an airlock on your starter discussion again.

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There was always a caveat regarding the use of foil during fruit fly season.

Tonedef131 said:

I use the foam stoppers during fruit fly season to keep those little bastards out. Late summer I usually have a few in every airlock...they are the bane of brewers everywhere.

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How do you clean & sanitize the foam stoppers?

EdWort said:

How do you clean & sanitize the foam stoppers?

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I've never used them but I know people that autoclave them and others that boil on the stove with them in the flask (with fermcap).

If they can handle the heat of those I suspect you could just boil them

Northern Brewer says:
These breathable foam stoppers will withstand boiling or autoclaving temperatures, making them ideal for use in preparing a yeast starter. The honeycomb structure of the foam stoppers will act is a filter for any airborne bacteria or wild yeast that might enter the flask. That's important because a lot of air is sucked into the flask while it is cooling. You can also leave the stoppers on the flask instead of a fermentation lock. Some people use foam stoppers to replace fermentation locks in their carboys, too.