Fruit Flies... Oh MY!

[WissahickonBrew]

I'm experiencing a crazy fruit fly attack for the first time! Has anyone ever experienced this and what did you do about it?

I have a home made trap as you can see, but I am hoping for answers on how to prevent it in the future! The brewery is in the basement and there are no other food/fruit sources.

Also, does anyone know of a better/faster method to trap and eliminate the little buggers? Pictured is a simple paper cone with a small opening just above about an inch of wine.

Can/should I take them outside and release them? Are they actually able to find their way back in the house? I don't want to just be creating a utopia for fruit flies able to sip wine and hang out with friends indefinitely!

 

[j1n]

They are attracted to the Co2. I say take them outside and shake that cup up so they all get into the wine and dump it so they all die. set up more traps and get them all and kill them.

 

[mkyl428]

I've never had that problem but a friend did they said this works well

 

[porterpounder]

Fire. And lots of it.

 

[wardens355]

Holy s##t-snacks. That's a lot. I am currently fighting a much smaller problem and I am trying (1) a Terro over-priced trap, (2) a homemade vinegar/fruit trap, and (3) a fly paper trap with some funny bright colored pattern on it. I also run a mixture of near-boiling water and white vinegar down each kitchen sink drain before I go to bed and before I go to work in the morning (read to do that online). I am using balsamic vinegar in the homemade trap, so its hard to see the flies in there, but I haven't seen many past the first day. The Terro trap already had a few in it after one night, and a couple were stuck on the tape. I never thought I would be the guy with fly paper hung from the ceiling... I don't have a lot of organic waste around, but I do live in a basement apartment and get more bugs than usual.

 

[harleybug88]

Do you have any sump pumps in your basement that has standing water? They lay their eggs in there!

I have a second bathroom that hardly gets used, and one day I happened to be in there and noticed things moving in the toilet water. It was clean as it hadn't been used in a while. Looking closer I discovered they were fly larva...Gross!

So after pouring in some bleach, I thought I'd better check the basement sump, and sure enough, the same thing. They got the bleach treatment too!

I hardly see any of the little bastards anymore!

 

[guazzabuglio]

Fire. And lots of it.

I used to have a trap set up in my kitchen. They would always land on the trap but never go in it. I keep a propane torch in the kitchen for finishing meats, caramelizing sugars, etc. and I would annihilate the whole lot of em' when they landed.

 

[TAK]

Put a drop of dish soap in the trap too. It breaks the surface tension, so they sink when they try to land.

 

[snccoulter]

They are attracted to the Co2.

That explains a lot as to why it got crazy in my 5x5 room that I have two fermenters going in.

 

[thefost]

I've got a similar issue and I just figured out a neat trick this week: a vacuum!

You can suck those little bastards up with the plastic extension piece. Just leave out something to attract them (fruit, apple cider vinegar, etc) then come back every hour and suck em all up. Works surprisingly well!

After all the annoyance they've put me though, I get a sick kinda pleasure watching them get sucked up to their doom

 

[j1n]

That explains a lot as to why it got crazy in my 5x5 room that I have two fermenters going in.

Yep. beginning of the summer i had a bunch in my house. I would pour a beer, sit down and then as im about to take a sip i see a fat drunk fruit fly that dove right into the beer. id have to dump it and get a new glass and pour another.

I just made traps with empty water bottles and when i caught a bunch id just throw the bottle away in the garbage bin outside.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

I use apple cider vinegar with a few drops of soap in it. Put one by my kegerator/fermenter and one by my fruit basket. It works better for me than the other things I've tried.

 

[cjgenever]

Red wine with a touch of dish soap and vinegar in a glass. If the wine is oxidized the vinegar won't be needed. It's only for a kick start on the first day. Stretch plastic wrap tightly over the top and punch several small holes with a toothpick. Leave it be. They will land on the top and eventually go inside. They go in and don't come out. The trap is usually good for about five to seven days before it should be changed. too long and the dead flies begin to grow gross stuff.

I keep the holes away from the side of the glass so I can occasionally swirl it to watch the ones on the side of the glass drown. I f$$$ing HATE fruit flies.

 

[h-bar]

Brewing seems to be the best solution for me...

I ferment in a chest freezer, and during active fermentation the CO2 just builds up in there. (I was leaning in once to retape the temp probe to the bucket and came up choking!) I was having major fruit fly problems recently, and then I brewed. A day or two later the flies were gone. I later found about 20 dead flies at the bottom of my chest freezer. They were attracted to the CO2, went into the freezer and asphyxiated.

Maybe try putting the bucket in an enclosed space where the CO2 can't escape easily? :cross:

 

[cjgenever]

Brewing seems to be the best solution for me...

I ferment in a chest freezer, and during active fermentation the CO2 just builds up in there. (I was leaning in once to retape the temp probe to the bucket and came up choking!) I was having major fruit fly problems recently, and then I brewed. A day or two later the flies were gone. I later found about 20 dead flies at the bottom of my chest freezer. They were attracted to the CO2, went into the freezer and asphyxiated.

Maybe try putting the bucket in an enclosed space where the CO2 can't escape easily? :cross:

Gas chambers... I like it! Did I mention I hate fruit flies

 

[del]

Yep. beginning of the summer i had a bunch in my house. I would pour a beer, sit down and then as im about to take a sip i see a fat drunk fruit fly that dove right into the beer. id have to dump it and get a new glass and pour another.

I'd never dump a glass of beer just because a fly got in it. In fact, I usually fish them out, then blow gently on them until they dry off and can fly again.

I know they're pests and all, but damn me if I'm going to kill an animal that loves beer so much it goes swimming in it!

 

[Tchib]

You can vaccume, trap, swat and spray all you want but it's simply the time of the year for them. Keep the kitchen clean, replace your traps, eliminate any standing moisture and you can keep them to the minimum but I doubt very much you can ever eradicate them. They are super resilient, recently Russia sent a colony to space and the power failed plunging them into freezing darkness, when they got back they had bred and multiplied and were buzzing around happily.

 

[Tchib]

I know they're pests and all, but damn me if I'm going to kill an animal that loves beer so much it goes swimming in it!

You wonderful legend of a man.

 

[CastleHollow]

They are super resilient, recently Russia sent a colony to space and the power failed plunging them into freezing darkness, when they got back they had bred and multiplied and were buzzing around happily.

Putin's so manly, even the fruit flies are badass.

Vinegar traps are the way to go to kill them. Might want to do one more check around the basement for any old fruits, potatoes, and maybe even canned goods like preserves to help you find the source.

 

[Kahless]

An unusual trick that I've heard of but not tried, is to boil vinegar. Apparently, they all die from the fumes*. You just have to put up with a vinegary smell for a while.

*The fumes can harm small birds and mammals too though so be careful.


When I had a fruit fly problem before, the traps weren't good enough. They multiplied faster than they died. I found that eliminating the breeding grounds was the necessary option; keeping surfaces clean and dry etc. In the end, the culprit was a banana peel that had missed the bin, that someone had then moved the bin on top of. It was encrusted with eggs.

Even having bananas sitting on the counter-top going brown can be a breeding ground for them. You can store your bananas in the fridge (give them lots of room to off-gas or they will go off quicker) as fruit flies can't breed at 5C.

I also found that you can squash them on surfaces easily as long as you just move very slowly. They don't move out of the way quickly enough if they don't feel the air being disturbed by your slow motion; more effective than a swatter.

I know they're pests and all, but damn me if I'm going to kill an animal that loves beer so much it goes swimming in it!

I have a similar attitude with the exception of fruit flies. Their more apt name is vinegar flies, as the acetobacter they carry turns beer into malt vinegar. They also eat yeast; they are the enemy of beer!

 

[j1n]

I'd never dump a glass of beer just because a fly got in it. In fact, I usually fish them out, then blow gently on them until they dry off and can fly again.

I know they're pests and all, but damn me if I'm going to kill an animal that loves beer so much it goes swimming in it!

Say that after it flies right back into the beer.

 

[KeninMN]

Put a drop of dish soap in the trap too. It breaks the surface tension, so they sink when they try to land.

That's the best method. You don't even need the bottle, scissors or tape, just a low ball glass or other shallow dish, dish soap and apple cider vinegar.

 

[WissahickonBrew]

UPDATE!

I bumped the trash can that I thought was empty (had a fresh trash bag in it from the last brew day clean up) and a small cloud of the dreaded flies plumed out! A bit of fruit peel tossed in by a person to remain nameless was the culprit!

I listened to all the advice and in addition to my wine/paper cone trap I built two apple cider vinegar traps using two different methods. One with the water bottle cut in half, the other with a sandwich bag corner snipped and inverted in a glass. This most unscientific experiment has yielded the wine trap is infinitely more effective at attracting and trapping the flies, hands down! In fact, the wine trap fills up without ANY flies going into the vinegar, they just prefer the wine!

To empty the captives I walk the trap outside and release them into the wind. I've emptied the wine trap 5 times and the number inside is countless.

 

[j1n]

Good to know. I got a few in my house i need to get rid of. I'll use some wine as my bait.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I'd never dump a glass of beer just because a fly got in it. In fact, I usually fish them out, then blow gently on them until they dry off and can fly again.

I know they're pests and all, but damn me if I'm going to kill an animal that loves beer so much it goes swimming in it!

I drink 'em. They've got a higher ABV than moths.

 

[klaggy]

I had em too when it was a bit warmer... But since the temps have been down near freezing they are gone at the moment.... I figured need to be more proactive to keep the source which attracts them down to a minimum... They seem to love spent grains. A lot!

 

[1977Brewer]

Noted. Mine are going straight to my dogs anyway.