Fruit fly in my airlock.. should i use listerine???

So yea i got the cap on the thing and somehow the little butthole made it in.

I live in the stix and finding any sanitizer is a no go. All i could find that is remotely close is listerine. I'm thinking about putting listerine in my airlocks to kill any bacteria the fruit flys might leave. Good idea or bad?

Also i bought some panty hose and ruber bands to tie over the top of the airlocks to getem a little more bug proof. Good idea or bad?

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ona side note dad would say... It's ok he wont drink much

I would use vodka or any hard liquor long before I'd put something like Listerine in an airlock, just in case you had some suckback, or spillage; Listerine is going to ruin a batch in that case.

+1 on vodka.

And it's fine in the fruit fly gets in there. It can't swim, so it's not going to end up in your fermenter, unless there's "suckage".. so just be careful and you have no worries.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure a few of my brews have had fruit flies get sucked into them. Oh well. Just a little added protein. ;-)

+2 on vodka

That is all i use.

+3 on Vodka. It will kill ANYTHING. Even if a fly got in the vodka (and died) and then got sucked into the mead, it would be completely sterile.

I once new a couple of pothead who were talking about how cool it would be to swim in a pool of vodka. I told them that it might not be as good an idea as they though since alcohol can be absorbed through the skin and they would become very intoxicated, very quickly, and probably drown before they knew what was happening.

Vodka! :d (+4)

unfortunatley the liquor store was closed....

I pulled on the door a few times just to make sure.

+rep4allbutton bucuz i dont know if there is such a boton *8()



ty

Well I just fill mine with water then I drop a half a campden tablet in. Seems to work fine.

Vodka is good but not at the prices here.......

Plus you have to be conscientious when it comes to checking the fermenters as it will evaporate much quicker.......

oh and ona side note the pantyhose and ruberbands seems to bee +.1 over the airlocks. Haven't even seen a fly since i wrapped em up with the footie girlie thingies.

fatbloke said:

Well I just fill mine with water then I drop a half a campden tablet in. Seems to work fine.

Vodka is good but not at the prices here.......

Plus you have to be conscientious when it comes to checking the fermenters as it will evaporate much quicker.......

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will get some camdem tablets.. they =seem to be usefull.
teach me o great ones....

peachcarmelsoda said:

will get some camdem tablets.. they =seem to be usefull.
teach me o great ones....

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The premis of not using anything in the airlock that you wouldn't actually put in the brew comes to mind........

As the others said, vodka is good, equally sulphites are routinely used in brews........ plus the piece of campden tablet is probably cheaper.....

It's good practice to check any airlocks regularly anyway, so anything further isn't really necessary, but any that the bugs get into should be cleaned and refilled, after all, that's just sense.....