# beer in fruit flies culture?



## fishy332003 (Feb 15, 2004)

hi all,
i have heard people using beer in their fruit flies culture with massive production of flies.did anybody use these method? how much to use?and any particular brand of beer?can anybody explain it in detail?

thanks


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I've heard this as well but haven't heard any rate of success.

Have you ever smelled beer being brewed, or stale beer for that matter. I guarantee you can expect the cultures are going to smell rather ripe.


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## littlefrog (Sep 13, 2005)

I suspect the yeast left over at the bottom of the fermentation vessel would be the good stuff. That is brewer's yeast, after all. Whenever I made beer, I would end up with pounds of the stuff that I would just dump down the sink. You also get a bit of yeast in the bottom of some bottle conditioned microbrewed beers (there are lots of them). I don't know that beer itself (especially that megabrew pre-urine that is sold as beer) would be all that useful, but I've never tried it. 

I don't have time to make beer any more (wine, sometimes). But I've been considering scavenging some yeast from my friend who brews all the time. I do wonder if I would need to kill the yeast somehow (heat?) before using it.


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## Michael Shrom (May 20, 2004)

Their are lots of fruit fly medium recipes. I've heard of people using beer, orange juice, sunny delight, applesauce etc. It seems to me that many of these recipes are more work and cost than necessary. If you use Carolina medium, Eds' medium etc. it should suffice. I think using some of the commercial mediums and possibly ammending a little is the best way to go.

If you have fungus or mold problems one thing that does work inexpensively is using 50/50 water and vinegar instead of just water in the mix. I think the high nutrient mediums tend to produce high yields over a shorter time.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

yeast slurry from the bottom of the carbouy after brewing works incredibly well. just the beer doesnt do much good. i have had cultures boom about 3 days after making them w/ yeast slurry. just use any regular mix and "wet" it w/ the slop from the bottom of the carbouy. you just have to get the right consistency.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If you look in the old ADG articles I believe this was discussed at least once...

Ed


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## Axeslinger (Sep 6, 2006)

*beer in medium*

I have been experimenting different mediums and methods. I have used beer in my medium. I've discovered that it triples my production of fruit flies. 

I had a bag of Ed's Fly Meat given to me from a friend that I use to mix with the beer. Just put some of the dried Ed's Fly Meat mixture and then pour beer directly into the mix. The medium bubble/foams up and leave the medium porous. 

It works great. As for the type of beer, I don't believe it really matters. I've used Bud Light, and Guinness; they both work great.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

If I had to pick between those two, I'd use the bud light for ff media too! :lol:


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## gturmindright (Mar 15, 2006)

Thats the best use of bud light I can think of.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

I agree with Michael. I wouldn't spend the money (or waste something so valuable lol) on the insects. I do though, add flax seed meal to my mix because it really increases the hydei yields (learned this from Darren Meyer).


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## Axeslinger (Sep 6, 2006)

*beer in medium*

It's not like I used the whole Guinness, hah. I just poured a little out for the homies.

The Bud Light works awesome.


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## fishy332003 (Feb 15, 2004)

does the alcohol effect the fruit flies or the frogs? and also i have a question for Doug. how much flax seed meal to add to the medium?


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

About flax seed, I don't really have a formula, I just dump about 1/8 cup worth of it. I generally get about 3 cups of medium, so that tells you the ratio.

You might want to contact Darren Meyer for more quantitative instructions, since he was the one that suggested it.

Darren was right. It works WONDERS for hydei, as long as you have mold inhibitor.


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