Fruit Fly Season!

I have dealt with those annoying buggers for years, as harvest time coincides with my most highest activity brewing season, other than late spring.

But tonight took the cake…I went and drew a saison from the keezer, and two dead fruit flies poured out as well. I guess they crawled up inside the tap.

I have not seen that to date. Fished them out and am now drinking said saison, tastes fine. Dan Listermann taught me years ago, do not fear insects in your beer.

Our fruit fly season is usually during July and August. During those weeks, I regularly pour a beer that has one or more fruit flies floating in the foam and just fish them out. When I remember, I pour an ounce or so in the glass and dump it. I know that I could buy the plugs for the five faucets, but I’m just too cheap to do that.

I set traps at each sink in the house. A small jar with apple cider vinegar and one or two drops of dish soap. They collect a lot of fruit flies/gnats and helps keep them under control.

I also set similar traps using apple cider vinegar and a small piece of apple.  I cover the jar with a piece of plastic wrap and strap a rubber band around the top.  Then, poke several small holes in the plastic.  The bugs crawl in, but can’t get out.

It’s the smell of fermentation that attracts them.  They can be a pain in the …… !

man, y’all have a fruit fly season?? in central California they’re a year round nuisance. They make little plastic tap plugs that keep em out of your taps/

We tried a number of traps in the winery.  We stopped using baited liquid traps (bought or home made) as seen more flies around them than actually captured. 
The best trap we found is these sticky traps: Raid Fly Stick - we have these scattered around the winery near fly activity and can be baited with a little wine/cider.

Keeping things clean and having covered any places we do not want the fly - sandwich bags over air logs, plugs for taps, putting some liquid dish detergent in seldom used sink drains - greatly reduced our fruit (and other fly) issues in the winery.