Little Black Flies?

[Kingy]

hi all recently ive setup my keg fridge and am using a bucket underneath the tap.

since doing this these extremely little flying creatures are invading my shed thats is cleaner than my house.

they only seem to hang around my beer bucket (under my tap) and the airlock. I tell the missus that there only there because i make a good brew and there after a taste.

im wanting to put another brew down this arvo,does anyone have any info on them or can explain how to get rid of them. as im sure these would carry an infection.

ive never had an infected brew and im not looking forward to one. And if i have to do this brew in the house it wont be as enjoyable and the missus wont be to happy.

cheers kingy

 

[neonmeate]

are they fruitflies? I've had heaps of them hanging round lately, but I put that down to regressing to neolithic standards of kitchen hygiene while mrs meate has been away.

 

[Tony]

I call them fart bugs.

I know its a stupid name but they always seem to land in a freshly poured beer and then they do their little bug "fart" that makes your beer taste like a squashed ant.

I hate them and kill them at all costs when seen in the house.

They are buggers to stop, they will get through the smallest gap in a fly screen

not much you can do abouth them.

If im in the garage and they are around i sit a piece of cardboard like a coaster on my beer to keep em out.

DIE FART BUG SCUM

cheers

 

[Kingy]

would it only take 1 of these flies to ferment with a brew to ruin it. And yea they look like tiny fruit flies.

i wonder what time they go to bed i could probably empty my keg while im waiting to do a brew

 

[Mr Bond]

prolly These.

Not sure if its true but they may carry the acetobacter around with em so watch they don't get to your beer.

 

[Stuster]

I'm pretty sure they have got the acetobacter on them. I came back from a weekend away to find some in the airlock on the Tripel IPA I did. The airlock was iodophor water but obviously did nothing to stop them from killing themselves and causing the demise of 20L of high gravity, highly hopped beer. It tasted like vinegar. I gave it a week as I couldn't bear to throw it out, but then down the sink. :angry:

 

[Mr Bond]

Here is a past thread started by atngent with some info as well.

get rid of em quick smart Kingy.

 

[devo]

I've always got a few little black flies buzzing around in or near my drip tray and scum bucket. I've never had any problems with em getting into and spoiling my produce but then again there is plenty beer spill in my scum bucket to keep the buggers happy and distracted.

 

[Kingy]

yea ivenoticed they tone down abit in the evening (not as many of them) im having a very observing afternoon making sure none get near my brew. ive also noticed the main colony is in the garden where i pour my wastage when racking (yeast sludge etc etc) and my sanitize juice.

just have to empty it all down the drain from now on. its just started raining to so hopefully the buggers will rack off.

im just about to rack a brew now ands like im a virgin to it.making sure everything is bug free lol

with a bit of luck my brew should gown down well later on.

thx for all the links brauluver and all the rest for the helpful info

cheers kingy

 

[Weizguy]

G'day,

Here's a little of my knowledge. I was once a Biology student at Newcastle Uni.
Generally the Vinegar flies are banded/striped or otherwise multi-coloured. They will quite likely contribute to acetobacter/vinegar infection.

If they are all black, like the ones hanging around my kitchen scrap bucket, they are probably fungus gnats. Not as bad, but still a pain and they love to drown in beer. I took a sample of my Ruination-inspired ale and when I came back to check it with my refractometer there were already 3 drowned flies.

First thing you can do is to eliminate their food source i.e. beer (or more specifically the yeast - they are "fungus" gnats). You can use fly spray just like you might for house flies, or swat them all.
The best option is: No food, no bugs" and I'd start there.

They haven't caused me any vinegar flavours lately, but I have been keeping their numbers down, and why take a chance?

During racking, I'd prob spray some fly spray first and then rack the beer, or rack from tap to tap, rather than out of the top of each vessel.

Seth

 

[capretta]

my mate used to work in a bar and he reckons that if you keep shot glasses of port around then the "barflies" will be attracted to that and killed.. or maybe it just attracts more..

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

... he reckons that if you keep shot glasses of port around then the "barflies" will be attracted to that ...

He was talking about me - I used to drink a lot of port... :blink:

 

[capretta]

He was talking about me - I used to drink a lot of port... :blink:

har har, thats what i told him but he insisted it was an old bar trick!! maybe he was hopin i would start leaving some around "just in case"

 

[Lactobacillus]

I throw a small handful of PSR or (if you can handle the olfactory assault) SO2 into the jug I use to collect the spillage under the taps. That keeps them away. I usually clean out the jug once a week ('cause I'm a lazy bugger at heart). The benefit of this is that due to the addition of sanitiser, the beer spillage doesn't "spoil" before it gets thrown out - so no stinky stale beer smell hanging around your drip tray. Oh, and no fruit flies either

EDIT: Do NOT add either PSR or SO2 to your nice, shiny stainless steel drip tray - it won't remain nice and shiny for long if you do! It's the reason I use the jug as well...

 

[Kingy]

I throw a small handful of PSR or (if you can handle the olfactory assault) SO2 into the jug I use to collect the spillage under the taps. That keeps them away. I usually clean out the jug once a week ('cause I'm a lazy bugger at heart). The benefit of this is that due to the addition of sanitiser, the beer spillage doesn't "spoil" before it gets thrown out - so no stinky stale beer smell hanging around your drip tray. Oh, and no fruit flies either

EDIT: Do NOT add either PSR or SO2 to your nice, shiny stainless steel drip tray - it won't remain nice and shiny for long if you do! It's the reason I use the jug as well...

PSR?

 

[PostModern]

PSR?

Pink Stain Remover. A chlorine based cleaner.

 

[Lactobacillus]

PSR - AKA Chlorinated Trisodium Phosphate.

 

[Keifer]

Dammit, i just brought in a 40Litre APA type yesterday to keg/rack today and found overnight 2 of these littles bastards have gotten in! :angry:

They are little brown ones. One was still flying around and one was dead on side of the fermentor above the beer tho. Will do a sg reading and taste test, hoping it will not be vinegar

 

[Grasshopper]

These flies can breed in the sink drain trap where I dump the old stuff? How does one eradicate them? Dump some bleach into the drain? Sanitizer?

I have PVC pipes...

 

[matti]

Hehehe
don't brew inside and stop dumping beer in the drains sound like a good solution.
How 'bout some peroxide?