This is my kefir quietly fermenting away. Unfortunately fruit flies don´t only like ripe fruit, they are attracted to anything which is fermenting and want to lay their eggs in the liquid. The fermentation process needs oxygen so you can´t cover the flask with a sealed cap, it needs to breathe. I use a paper towel held in place by elastic as a first line of defense but this on its own is not sufficient. Fruit flies will alight on top of the paper, pierce it with their ovipositor and lay their eggs which will drop into the kefir. Not a nice thought.
My solution...a paper coffee filter over everything! If a fruit fly lands and lays an egg through the filter it will simply drop down onto the paper towel beneath...no eggs or larvae in my kefir. The filter fits snugly all round so the flies can´t get in by the sides but the kefir can still breathe.
We buy Kefir from the supermarket so don't have your problem! I remember brewing Kombucha many years ago and it was quite a process involving an airing cupboard and keeping portions alive for the next session. It has now become popular so we are able to buy it when we want.
ReplyDeleteWendy (Wales)
I brewed Kombucha for several months but since I was also making water kefir and yoghurt with milk kefir I was consuming too much fermented stuff altogether and my digestive system complained! I gave up the kombucha as it was the most labour-intensive of the three.
DeleteBlogger seems to have installed reCAPTCHA for comments, I didn´t ask for it and will try to get rid of it...
Well at least blogger let me comment as anonymous as usual, Wendy
DeleteThank goodness! It appears I´m not the only affected.
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