When you set out to open your brewery everyone has small bits of advice. Around every corner, there are tiny grains of knowledge concerning recipe scale, customer service, point of sale systems, brewhouse sizes and brands, etc.
However there’s one crucial detail that no one ever discusses, and at this point, I’m almost certain it’s because there’s not a truly great solution. Well, until now.
Over the past year, Brewer Magazine has been fortunate enough to be working with Paraclipse as an advertiser. Luckily for us, they were still with us and on top of mind as the Kentucky weather began to warm — as it is for us that’s when our cohabitants the fruit flies set up residence.
Pests don’t seem to be discussed all too often in the brewing industry. In all seriousness, why would they when there are so many other fun elements to chat about? Although, I do know that we all quietly deal with a menagerie of random pests.
Luckily for our Brewer Test Kitchen, we haven’t dealt with anything too extreme and our fruit fly issue has been one of our biggest concerns.
All this leads to our relationship with Paraclipse.
As our fruit fly issue became more apparent this summer within the brewhouse the Paraclipse ad stood out significantly and it was as easy as a phone call that got Paraclipse on board with our Test Kitchen.
We installed the Paraclipse Ultra II Insect Inn during the early Spring months. From the very first night, the Ultra II was turned on we saw results.
Over the years we’ve used endless varieties of fruit fly deterrents and traps, but none of them really work. The Ultra II was the first product we’d unleashed on our brewhouse guests that removed all fruit flies. Additionally, the Ultra II didn’t just stop with fruit flies — it began catching all flying pests from wasps to moths to black flies.
In our original Test Kitchen location, we have two double garage doors that we keep open as the temperature in Kentucky climbs. As our nanosystem is direct-fire kettle, a 90-degree day can quickly become 110 degrees in the brewhouse. Being able to open doors can make sweltering days slightly more bearable but at the price of letting unwanted guests into the brewhouse.
I placed the Ultra II all over our brewery; next to fermentation tanks and closer to malt storage. The Ultra II attracted fruit flies and pests from all over the brewery and even away from our taproom.
The one single Ultra II was perfect for our nano footprint, but moving forward I’d probably consider two or three Ultra II systems for our larger 10-barrel brewery — one for our taproom, one for our brewhouse space, and one for the back of our taproom which is designed more for games and seating.
Moving forward we’ll never use another product for our brewery. The Ultra II was the perfect solution to the pest none of us discuss on the regular. Fortunately, we’re quickly going into fall and our Kentucky climate will swiftly deal with our fruit flies for us, but I know there are areas throughout the rest of the country that will deal with these issues on the regular. Hopefully, you’ll take a look at the Ultra II and allow it to deal with your issues permanently.
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