fruit flies

[zig19]

i guess it worked, i cleaned the carboy with star san, and there were still some real stubborn little bastards. so i put some bleach on a paper towel and just left it next to the carboy, the smell seems to keep them away for a while and then i have to wet the towel again.
on a better note, they first showed up when my belgian was fermenting in the same spot, and that beer is getting great reviews, so they didnt ruin that one!
Cheers! thanks for the input guys

[spiderwrangler]

I drowned a bunch in my star san filled blow off, they are attracted to the vapors coming out.
On the topic of stink bugs, as long as you don't get them in your beer, no problem. They don't eat 'dead crap', the majority are plant sap feeders. They do produce some unpleasant odors though... which is why there isn't a whole lot of things willing to eat them.

[GreenBrewer]

I haven't noticed any fruit flies near my carboys but they sure love my compost waste bin. I have heard from several people that neither brew or compost that have a infestation of the little buggers. Its just my opinion and an observation at a huge "super store" grocery but all the fruit being brought in seems to have them all over. I was attacked in the produce section by a small swarm. I have been putting a small piece of fruit in a zip top bag and snagging the suckers.

[Brewdouche]

BEST KILL SOLUTION

Take a small bowl, fill half way with vineger, add one drop of dish detergent.
Leave near where they are most active. Overnight they will slipinto death.

The vineger atracts them, the dishdetergent breaks the surface tension.
The little f-ers swoop in for a sip & drown..... insert Evil laughter here

The only way to really get rid of them is to make sure they have nothing to eat.
Everytime I get rid of them some new piece of fruit or vegtable comes in the house
and these little....flies reproduce and show me my lack of sanitation.

[zig19]

haha, good stuff...turns out i think my main problem was that my basement was a mess, and my brother loves to eat and drink half of what he prepares and then leave the rest for the fruit flies...i guess he has a soft spot for them

[11amas]

Gnatrol is a powerful larvacide that you can add to your watering can for all of your household plants; it has a nice residual effect and will exterminate them from that source. Fruit and any damp places in your house will unfortunately harbor the flies, you can use gnatrol in a spray bottle for those. It is amazing stuff, wiped out my infection with one treatment. Not sure it if would help with the ones landing on your carboy since it seems to work on the larvae, not the adults. How about fly paper traps for those?

[spiderwrangler]

Another trick is to cut to top off of a pop (soda) bottle, pour some red wine in the bottom, and flip the top over so it's a funnel. The flies will be attracted to the wine in the bottom and won't be able to get back out. To kill them when the trap is full, I run the tap water to hot and just fill the bottle with hot tap water. Beer would work too, but I'm not a fan of week old stale beer smell, reminds me of sorting recycling as a kid.

[Tweek]

What I did to get rid of the fruit flies is simple.
1. I cleaned like a maniac.
2. I setup a glass of wine and left it in the open.
3. As flies would gather around the glass, I used a vacuum cleaner, (the kind with a hose.) to suck them into oblivion. After a few days of doing this I stopped seeing them around.