Fruitflies....ugh

[m00ps]

I am constantly being plagued by fruitflies. I find them in my airlocks, swarming my foam starter stoppers, around my kegerator faucets, everywhere.

I know they are mostly harmless, but I also read they can carry acetobacter. This explains the one time I went to smell how my starter was going and it smelled like pure vinegar. I panicked, but after swapping the stopper and tasting the starter wort, looked like it was OK

Anyone have any tips for dealing with them? Ive heard advice to use sugar or vinegar to lure them. Right now ive got a mixture of wort and vinegar sitting around covered with aluminum foil. Poked holes in it so they go in and cant find their way out

I swear. These things are the zubats of brewing. Basically harmless, but F$%^ing annoying and everywhere...

 

[JuniperHill]

Nice Zubat comment--maybe you should stop brewing inside Mt. Moon

Apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap should do the trick. They are drawn to the vinegar and the drop of soap makes it so they don't just sit on top of it.

They are also drawn to red wine. I bet if you kept a glass next to your equipment, they'd fly there first.

Let me know how it goes!

- Adam

 

[MaxStout]

Put a few oz of vinegar in a jar, add a few drops of liquid dish soap. Leave the jar out with the lid off. The soap breaks the surface tension, so the flies get stuck in the vinegar and drown.

 

[m00ps]

soap, thats interesting. Reminds me of 3rd grade science class. Thanks!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

they also love yeast with a passion, yeast a little wort and dawn dish soap, the soap is what traps the pesky creatures

 

[Schumed]

Lots of trash...and clean your brewing area...when i start leaving drops of wort is when the problems start

 

[Firewalker11]

Coming from a commercial food environment, I can tell you that we got several POUNDS of fruit flies every week in our traps but until we used a box fan with a filter on the in-take side, we never got rid of them all. It's simple, its cheap and NO Chems!!!

 

[FloppyKnockers]

1 liter bottle or similar. Cut the top off under the taper where the sides are straight. Invert top and wedge into body of bottle. BAM! DIY fruit fly death chamber. Fill with a few ounces of fruit fly aphrodisiac death juice... I use the first pour of the keg and change out death juice with every new keg. Hide somewhere inconspicuous.

If that doesn't work. Evenly distribute 4-5 gallons of diesel fuel in kitchen, living room, and hallway areas. Light match, and run. Go to realtor dot com and find new house.

Pro tip: Option A is cheaper with less arson investigators.

 

[m00ps]

thanks! that looks like a great & cheap option. Im guessing it would smell less too since there isnt as much exposed surface area of the liquid mixture. So does that start fermenting after a few days or what?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

thanks! that looks like a great & cheap option. Im guessing it would smell less too since there isnt as much exposed surface area of the liquid mixture. So does that start fermenting after a few days or what?

Are you talking about option A or B?

Option A) I keep one on the floor next to/behind my kegerator at the peak season and one around the BBQ hangout area (it also attracts mosquitoes). Never noticed a smell. It will start looking funky after a few weeks which is why I recommend changing out the death juice every now and again.

Option B) This option smells a lot.

 

[m00ps]

have to check my homeowners insurance policy for option B...

 

[jwelch1103]

I had them bad this past summer. Made several soda/water bottle traps similar to what is posted here and caught flies.. I didn't get rid of them until I started dumping a bit of bleach in the floor drain in my basement where I brew every two or three days.

That did it, within two weeks they were completely gone.. It was hard for me to believe they were coming from the drain but I can't argue with results!

 

[jmcquesten]

have to check my homeowners insurance policy for option B...

At first glance, I thought you might actually have 'homebrewers insurance".

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

At first glance, I thought you might actually have 'homebrewers insurance".

That's funny at first glance so did I.

 

[m00ps]

I could certainly use it. A mishap last week is likely gonna run me $1k....

 

[bacgabe]

I have typically used the cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap method with fairly good results, but have not been able to get rid of them entirely. I agree that they are the bane of a home brewer's existence. I take great care in covering pots and fermenter and kegs and the like while transferring and sampling and whatnot, but the other day I was pouring cooled wort from my boil kettle to my fermenter (no ball valve and trying to oxygenate the wort) when a swarm of fruit flies came out of nowhere and a couple of them flew kamikaze directly into the stream of falling wort, disappearing into the fermenter. I quickly pitched yeast and got quick activity so I hope it turns out ok (and will drink quickly as it's a simple pale ale), but those fruit fly bastards really are infuriating.