My product is so good even fruit flies want a sip

[Alchemist75]

Occasionally i'll get a fruit fly or two in the house and they do seem to like it when i run the still. Sometimes i'll have a single one of them little fuckers buzzin around the take off when i'm running and i have to shoo it off throughout the run. I once found one floating in a glass of my product i didn't finish the night before. Anyone else ever notice this? Something about the smell of the spirit draws them to it. Shoot, i bet if i left a little sitting out we'd never have fruit flies in the house again as they'd all be drowned in the jar!

[Fiddleford]

Yea fruit flies are alcoholics for sure, they'll kill them self's to get a sip of shine. If I leave a jar out I gotta filter them out in the mourning more protein I guess

[NZChris]

The fruit flies around here prefer the heads jars. I could probably do a decent heads cut just by cutting out the jars with flies on them.

[still_stirrin]

The fruit flies around here prefer the heads jars. I could probably do a decent heads cut just by cutting out the jars with flies on them.

+1.

[HDNB]

The fruit flies around here prefer the heads jars. I could probably do a decent heads cut just by cutting out the jars with flies on them.

+1.

works like a charm

[nuncaquite]

We keep a garden,small orchard, and live in the south. Cant get rid of the fruit flies or gnats, I dont know the difference.
But just the other night I was sipping my nightly Uncle Jesse's and the bugs were circling the glass. One took the suicide dive, and I thought to myself that these little bastards just cant stay out of a drink. Then I questioned myself, who am I to talk about them? I pondered that for a moment, then went to the kitchen and poured another and pondered it over a drink.
They do keep you from drinking alone, there is that positive.

[HDNB]

i was out in the still shack today, got me an ex jim beam barrel to hold some rum. yesterday i filled it with water to check for leaks. today, no leaks! yay! not a fruit fly in the place, even by my fores bucket that i use as a fruit fly trap but damn, there were hordes of them perusing that bung hole on the beam barrel.

[Alchemist75]

Little turds got good taste. They must be attracted to the smell of ethanol as it means something has started to spoil and ferment, lots of sugar. I find them drowned in my air locks occasionally which is exactly why we use them I suppose. I keep waiting for one to fly up my condenser and get lost in the plumbing. Drunk on all those vapors lol

[Fiddleford]

Little turds got good taste. They must be attracted to the smell of ethanol as it means something has started to spoil and ferment, lots of sugar. I find them drowned in my air locks occasionally which is exactly why we use them I suppose. I keep waiting for one to fly up my condenser and get lost in the plumbing. Drunk on all those vapors lol

[Expat]

My still room is infested with the little buggers. I can't even say how they got in there either, in a basement, behind two closed doors... They LOOOOOVE the rum fermenting presently. Lol

Killing them by the dozen in traps loaded with vinegar/heads.

Hopefully it will end when I finish running this batch.

[still_stirrin]

My still room is infested with the little buggers. I can't even say how they got in there either, in a basement, behind two closed doors. Killing them by the dozen in traps loaded with vinegar/heads.

Well, if you're infested...you've got to eliminate the breeding and feeding ground. You've got food there somewhere. Take out the trash.

Here's a snapshot of the life cycle info:

Fruit Flies.png

I usually notice them (in the house) if the wife has put fruit peelings into the trash can and hasn't emptied that outside in the dumpster. Amazingly, they seem to show up "out of nowhere" when starting a distillation run (the foreshots and early heads).
ss

[Expat]

Appreciated for the info SS

No fruits or anything presently around as I'm only doing rum. My guess is that they might have been living on the molasses I wiped up with paper towel; which has already been disposed of outside. It's really the only edible in the area, so to my mind it's gotta be that.

[The Baker]

Are these the ones known in some places as vinegar flies?

And who can turn wine, whatever, into vinegar?

Geoff

[Pikey]

Are these the ones known in some places as vinegar flies?

And who can turn wine, whatever, into vinegar?

Geoff

Yes that's the beast !

Not so much of a problem for us - but in the old winemaking days - absolutely paranoid about them and wouldn't allow any implement which had ever touched vinegar into the winery !

It took me ages to see the "Vinegar run " advice on cleaning a still - without having a fit !

That is not something I could EVER bring myself to do !

[HDNB]

i use the fores bucket and it does a great job. if i see fliers around i spray permetherin around for 3 days and don't see them again for a long time. a wee dose of that shit and bugs be gone. and it has staying power.
i only use about 6 x half second sprays.
smells effing awful but it works and is non toxic to mammals.

[Alchemist75]

So maybe we should consider marketing foreshots as a pest control product. Just leave a small jar of it out and no more fruit flies!

[acfixer69]

So maybe we should consider marketing foreshots as a pest control product. Just leave a small jar of it out and no more fruit flies!

That borders on sellin. hum

[panikry83]

Yea fruit flies are alcoholics for sure, they'll kill them self's to get a sip of shine. If I leave a jar out I gotta filter them out in the mourning more protein I guess

this all day

[Alchemist75]

So maybe we should consider marketing foreshots as a pest control product. Just leave a small jar of it out and no more fruit flies!

That borders on sellin. hum

Oh you'd want to do it legit of course otherwise you couldn't market it in any real way. It'd be yet another useful by product of the distillation process, every part has some use.

[Mario84]

Haha! I can't believe I actually found a thread about this. I've lived in two places in opposite sided of the globe, just about, and no matter where I am, every time I run a mash, the fruit flies come around!
I have been pondering about starting a thread about I myself, cause I find the phenomenon to be really curious. They seem to especially like whiskey and rum runs... the sugar washes a little less so. They'll kamikaze right into a glass of whiskey.

[Alchemist75]

Hilariously, when I was cleaning out all my gear in the bath tub the other night a drowned fruit fly came drifting out of the lyne arm. Little fucker got all the way up in there after all.

[TDick]

Not fruit flies but I thought I'd just bump this instead of a new thread.

Like I need ANOTHER freakin' plaque - anyone having issues with gnats?!?

SWMBO is making my life hell as these little gnats are in the kitchen, bathrooms etc.

I didn't mention that they seemed to show up about the time I started an oatmeal sugar wash.
They were all over my covered/not sealed totes.

They now come up shower & bath tub drains & I've gone through scrubbing those & putting vinegar & Dawn detergent traps all around the house.

I've got some mashes I want to do. But She has a look in her eyes & I'm not feeling especially suicidal.

Anyone else dealing with these little critters?

[jonnys_spirit]

The drains should have P-Traps which prevent them from propagating but yes I get them too wherever we have fruit or veggies.

The vinegar traps help.

Cheers!
-jonny

[shadylane]

Not fruit flies but I thought I'd just bump this instead of a new thread.

Like I need ANOTHER freakin' plaque - anyone having issues with gnats?!?

SWMBO is making my life hell as these little gnats are in the kitchen, bathrooms etc.

I didn't mention that they seemed to show up about the time I started an oatmeal sugar wash.
They were all over my covered/not sealed totes.

They now come up shower & bath tub drains & I've gone through scrubbing those & putting vinegar & Dawn detergent traps all around the house.

I've got some mashes I want to do. But She has a look in her eyes & I'm not feeling especially suicidal.

Anyone else dealing with these little critters?

Yep
I call em drain gnats
Forget the "Natural" ways of getting rid of them.
By nature, they are great at surviving
All it takes is just a little Permethrin insecticide,
Over a period of a couple days, spray some into all the drains.
Especially if the sink or tub isn't going to be used for a little while

[Hambone]

The gnats in my shed seem to die happy, though. I swear I've seen gnat panties or something near my heads jar. Had two blowflies actually fly into my foreshots last week...looked like they were flying in the liquid. For a second...

[Deplorable]

Fruit flies are attracted to the ethyl acetate in the distillate.
"So Im Tole" (read as "I read that here")

[SassyFrass]

I'v seen holes that the hornets chewed thru metal screen to get into the beer. I've also seen a half dozen grown men running up the hill to get away from yellow jackets swarming a spout. And that ain't even talking about the other critters that liked likker and beer.
I said all that to say this, count your blessings it ain't nothing worse than gnats and fruit flies. A few traps set with foreshots and honey, vinegar etc...and a little permethrin around the perimeter takes care of most of the 6 legged and winged critters.

[Zeotropic]

Not fruit flies but I thought I'd just bump this instead of a new thread.

Like I need ANOTHER freakin' plaque - anyone having issues with gnats?!?

SWMBO is making my life hell as these little gnats are in the kitchen, bathrooms etc.

I didn't mention that they seemed to show up about the time I started an oatmeal sugar wash.
They were all over my covered/not sealed totes.

They now come up shower & bath tub drains & I've gone through scrubbing those & putting vinegar & Dawn detergent traps all around the house.

I've got some mashes I want to do. But She has a look in her eyes & I'm not feeling especially suicidal.

Anyone else dealing with these little critters?

I have eradicated drain flies with a few gallons of boiling water in each drain twice a week for about 2 weeks if i remember right.