# cinnamon anyone?



## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Has anyone used cinnamon in they're homemade media?
If so did it do anything other than make it smell cinnamony?
Mine dont smell that bad at all but I thought I'd spice them up a bit.
What about a dash of brown sugar?


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i just got some of Josh's media to try it out and it has cinamon in it, but i am not sure how much of it has in it. it does smell good though.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Mine smells like porage....with a kick.
Thought I'd ask just in case there was something I "should" know before adding it to the culture.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

what you smell is hte yeast in the culture, i have added brown sugar in teh past, but it doesn't seem to have good production when you do that.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Hmmmm, funny you say that 'cause I added 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar to a culture I made today.
We'll see what happens.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

what brand of media are you using? i have also added molasses too, and the seemed to work ok, but molds very easily.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

I use a Homemade brand. A media I found somewhere on the net.
2 cup water
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar
6 tsp instant potatoes.
1/4 brewers yeast
A sprinkle of active yeast on top.

Today I added:
1/4 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp icing sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

yeah, i tried that recipe and it just winded up being more time consuming so i just decided to go back to using Ed's fly eat instant mix and now i am trying Josh's media, still to early to tell though as i just made the cultures 2 days ago.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Time consuming...you must be making several cultures I guess.
usually take me maybe 3-4 minutes to get one started....24 hours later I add the flies and away we go.
I only make one new culture every 10-14 days.
I only have two D.Auratus, but soon I should be getting 3-4 more....for free...yay.
I may need to start making new cultures more often, right now I have just 3 on the go.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

well there you go, is easy for you, but i usually make 10-14 at a time. i feed my frogs heavy and they love it, plus my collection seems to be growing more and more, the guy at the local pet store loves me as i keep buying tanks.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

10-14!!!!

I'm getting 3-4 more D auratus for free just as soon as they morph, should be in a couple of weeks.
Long story but the guy I'm getting them from got them from the same place I did and his keep breeding.....so, I gave him some fruit fly starters and he said have some frogs!
I want to make another terrarium for them eventually but I've been laid off for 6 months now and cash is simply to scarce to even think about it.

Thanks guys for all the responses.


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Hah!

I am now making ~50 a week. My last batch of media I made using cinnamon however I underestimated how strong the stuff is and added too much. I make media ~55lbs at a time and added maybe two fly cups worth of cinnamon...I will cut that in half next time.

I am running this side by side with the previous media I have used to see how it impacts production etc. I will let you guys know how it turns out.

Chris


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

I would not use cinnamon.

It is a natural anti-fungal agent. It has the potential to killing the yeast. I would just use Methyl Paraben.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

I use Vinegar, that serves the same purpose as the Methyl Paraben right?
I guess I'll make up another culture now just to have that one extra in case the one with the cinnamon doesnt work out.

Thanks.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Rain_Frog said:


> I would not use cinnamon.
> 
> It is a natural anti-fungal agent. It has the potential to killing the yeast. I would just use Methyl Paraben.


It couldn't hurt to set up a few cultures with cinnamon. I doubt that it would have an much effect on the yeast, considering that people do all kinds of baking with yeast and cinnamon.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

I was thinking about that (cinnamon's effect on yeast) and I thought ,isn't yeast a bacteria?
If so, how would an anti fungal have an effect on bacteria?
Not discrediting the comment, I'm just wondering?
It's only been 3 or four days since I set up the cinnamon culture so it's too early to tell if there are any negative effects but I will certainly be keeping a close eye on it.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Yeast is a fungus.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Thanks Arklier, your right.
I suppose a simply search on google would of answered that.

http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aa/widenin ... /yeast.htm

I should of known that considering I used to use yeast in a homemade brew to create C02 for one of my planted aquariums....actually I "did" know that....it's just been so long since I used poor mans C02......

Since I got my 20 Lbs C02 cylinder I havent really had to worry about it.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

I set up the "cinnamon" culture on nov the 1st, added flies on the 2nd and now on the 7th the culture is exploding.
So many maggots, many of them quite large and fat.
Seems at least after 5 days its going OK.
Obviously I'll be keeping an eye on it over the next few days and weeks if it goes that long.


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Well the cinnamon in my case definitely impacted production. Much slower than my standard medium. I am going to try it again with MUCH less cinnamon.

Chris


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Perhaps that may be a factor.
I used 1/4, maybe 1/8 even Tsp of cinnamon in a 6 Tsp potato flake media recipe.
Along with white sugar, brown sugar and icing sugar.

Well see, either way this will be the first and only time I will use cinnamon.
It actually smells worse then my other cultures without cinnamon.


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

Just my opinion, but why add _anything_ additional to your cultures if it doesn't positively impact them? 
The only addition I've made to improving the smell of my cultures is to use apple vinegar instead of white vinegar...no negative's other than the additional $1/ jug at the store register.
Scott


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Scott...

For me...with 200+ at any one time...I am definitely looking to reduce odor.


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Well, adding cinnamon seems to have had no negative impact what so ever so far.
It's been 11 days and the culture is still producing, actually more than my other cultures.
I'm sure it's not the cinnamon, but rather the addition of brown sugar and icing sugar thats had the positive effect.
Either way, I'm culturing 5-6 cultures for 2 frogs, I'm sure if one culture crashes due to an experiment it's not going to effect either my frogs or the other cultures.
Apple vinegar, I'll have to check the local dollarama too see if they carry it, if not maybe I'll pick some up from the grocery store.


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## Brock (Jun 29, 2007)

Do you mean apple cider vinegar? Or is there just a type of vinegar that's apple vinegar.

I've considered using this instead of white vinegar, but have never seen it mentioned for culturing fruit flies. Do you find that it neutralizes the smell, or it just has a DIFFERENT smell, that's not as strong as with white?



I'm using the cinnamon this week, in a large amount and in a small amount, I will post my results when they show; definitely improves the smell though!


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

Brock said:


> Do you mean apple cider vinegar? Or is there just a type of vinegar that's apple vinegar.
> I've considered using this instead of white vinegar, but have never seen it mentioned for culturing fruit flies. Do you find that it neutralizes the smell, or it just has a DIFFERENT smell, that's not as strong as with white?


Apple _cider_ vinegar. 
Unsure what mechanism is at work with regard to the smell-- I honestly don't find either prep smell distasteful, but with the apple cider, it give them a "pleasant" odor...
Scott


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## Brock (Jun 29, 2007)

Well, I've made several cultures with varying amounts of cinnamon, and I have to say....I'll be using a generous 1/4 of a teaspoon per batch from now on. I've noticed somewhat of an increase in production, though not THAT significant, it is noticable.

And SMELL! It does neutralize the smell to some degree. Definitely depends what else is in your mix, and I tried a few different recipes with the addition of cinnamon, and each one's smell improved, and had no negative effects on the cultures.

I used about 1/8 teaspoon in some, and up to 2 heaping tsp in others. This was per 4-5 cups of medium. I found that 1/4 to 1/2 tsp is sufficient, but I should note that I also had NO ill effects with adding the 2 tsps either.

Thanks for the tip :lol:


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## superjalami30 (Mar 28, 2007)

Thats good to hear Brock.
The same goes for the culture I made.
Again, in my case it may not be the ciinoma as much as the other sugars, but none the less there were no ill side effects on the culture and it's been what, nearly a month since I started it.
8)


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

Well an update on mine...

The cinnamon seemed to have stunted the yeast grown and thus the first batch came out in 3 weeks as opposed to 2. They are booming now though and smell delicious....well almost.

Chris


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