Breeding Brewing Bugs

[Bucket Head]

Brewing, and fermentation in my basement seems to be attracting all sorts of bugs. What can I do to mitigate this?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Make friends with some spiders.
Spray insecticide.
Set traps.
Seal off the space a little better from the outdoors.

 

[hotbeer]

Clean up your mess and anything you spill. Figure out what the bugs are after. I doubt they are hanging around just for the good smells if there is nothing for them to eat.

 

[Bucket Head]

That’s the thing though. I’ve only done a few wine fermentations, and I’ve been extremely clean about every aspect. I assumed the yeast smell was an attraction, but I’m beginning to think it was just coincidence. I’m assuming that because during fermentation you definitely smell it. It’s a bread like sour smell that I’ve come to love. Maybe it was just the recent flooding.

 

[Bucket Head]

Make friends with some spiders.
Spray insecticide.
Set traps.
Seal off the space a little better from the outdoors.

Well I just started a batch of mead, and the entire house smells like honey.
I had an exterminator come, and haven’t seen a thing since anyway.

 

[hotbeer]

I assumed the yeast smell was an attraction, but I’m beginning to think it was just coincidence. I’m assuming that because during fermentation you definitely smell it.

Perhaps the smell does attract them from nearby. So figure out where nearby they are breeding and deal with that.

Are these gnats or fruit flies?

 

[Bucket Head]

Oh no. It was Roaches. The big ones. Obviously I was immediately blamed by my wife, but it turned out to be a plumbing problem. Open vent pipe and heavy rain resulted in water bugs coming up from my trap.