ashbyp

Recipes 

I am going to bottle my first batch tonight, but my racking cane has not yet arrived from mail order, so I just have a length of tubing to rack into my bottling bucket. Is this a problem? is it hard to rack without a racking cane?

Air Pirate

Recipes 

i would just wait till you have the racking cane

ashbyp

Recipes 

Gotta be tonight, the window of opportunity is there.
I was planning to wrap my steeping bag over the end to act as a filter and only put the tubing a few inches below the top of the beer, rather than trying to get the tube to the bottom of the fermenting bucket...

Air Pirate

Recipes 

i suppose that could work but you dont need the steeping bag as a filter.

just be sure to sanitize sanitize sanitize

Revvy

Recipes 

There's no "window of opportunity" for your beer....It can sit as long as it needs to...The only one insisting on it needing to be done is you...The longer it sits the better it gets....There's a guy serving in Afghanistan or iraq with some beers sitting in his secondary until he gets back a long time from now....His beers are going to crystal clear and perfect when he gets to drink them....

I'd wait for the racing cane, especially if this is your first time bottling rather than risk any number of things from trying to wing it 'cause you can't wait to bottle...Like increased risk of oxydation or infection....

It can wait til the proper tool to do the job arrives.

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BigKahuna

Recipes 

I had to improvise once...I just took the tip off of my bottling wand, and used it. it's a little short. and a lot small, but it worked. I gotta stick with the crowd here. Wait for your order...Your beer will be fine until you have time to bottle...unless it's going to be several years.

and Good Luck

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BierMuncher

Recipes 

Two things will make it a pain (though it can be done).

The natural curl of the hose will make the end want to turn upward and you're liable to be sucking air sooner than you want.

THe flexible nature of the hose will make it a bit unweildy while your racking.

I would get a clothes line clip to secure the hose to the wall of your fermenter.

THen I would try to drop the hose down the side of the fermenter with the curl pointed out, so the wall of the fermenter forces the end of the hose straight down.

Use the clip to secure the hose 2 inch above your trub.

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Smogre

Recipes 

Check a petstore or the local home improvements store. Both of those stores near me have plastic rigid tubing that can be used to rack. They won't have a bend at the top but if you can't wait to rack then try those stores.

Or use flexible line but deal with the potential issues already mentioned.

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k1v1116

Recipes 

back before i knew what the hell i was doing, I stuck a skewer like the kind for making kabobs up the end of the curly tubing to keep it straight and the little handle at the end of the skewer keeps it spaced away from the trub. everything needs to be sanitized of course. this isnt ideal but it does work.

jezter6

Recipes 

One of the neatest last second rigs I've seen on the forums! Neato.

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