Racking/Siphoning

Hello,

Yesterday I racked an ale I had brewing in the fermenter to the secondary. I was using a racking cane and tubing. The question I have is how far above the trub do you usually stop siphoning. I got pretty close, and even tilted the fermenter in order to try to suck only liquid up. However, I started slurping up some of the trub along with the liquid. I guess I may be getting greedy but I feel bad leaving beer behind in the sludge. I would guess I left 1/2-3/4 of a beer (12 oz) along with the trub in primary. Any way to prevent this.


Thanks again guys.

Really? I wouldn't worry about 1/2 a beer. I tilt the bucket, but I usually stop as soon as I suck the first of the trub up. You're getting 50 beers out of a batch...what's 1 more?

I stick the bottom of the autosiphn right into the trub. It has a little doohicky that sort of lifts the opening at the bottom a bit above the trub..plus the beer will usually after a couple minutes form runnels in the trub, and will run clean if you let it.

I recently racked to secondary without an autosiphon, just a racking cane and a long tube. I had so much trouble with it I left about 6-10 bottles worth on the bottom!!!

I did some reading on how to correctly use the racking cane/siphon, so next time I should be able to get it right. Otherwise I'll have to give in and go buy an autosiphon.

once you have started flow how does an autosiphon help?

I've recently run into problems with my autosiphon. Well I guess not the auto part really. I get an air bubble forming where the cane joins the hose that grows until the siphoning stops unless I pump the autosiphone a couple times.

Is this because I have a tiny leak at that joint? Any suggestions to correct it?

Guntr said:

I've recently run into problems with my autosiphon. Well I guess not the auto part really. I get an air bubble forming where the cane joins the hose that grows until the siphoning stops unless I pump the autosiphone a couple times.

Is this because I have a tiny leak at that joint? Any suggestions to correct it?

Click to expand...

I had a similar issue using 3/8" I.D. tubing. I switched it to 5/16" I.D. for a better seal and no more air in the line. You could probably use a clamp on the 3/8" if you don't want to swap out for 5/16".

I broke my autosiphon and so I have been using the orange carboy cap/racking cane/adjustable clamp on the carboy cap/tubing. Works great. You give a good puff into the top of the carboy cap to get the prime going and then you are off to the races. Holds a prime as you adjust the racking cane as long as it is submersed in the wort. I try to keep it above the trub but when I tilt the carboy towards the end to try to get the last of the wort I end up with some trub. Montanaandy

You will often create an air bubble where your smaller I.D. cane (or autosiphon tube) meets the larger I.D. silicon tubing. This is due to sudden expansion of area. By squeezing the silicon tubing right after it meets the racking cane the flow will 'catch up' to the air bubble and it should go away. I know this happened to me every time (only siphoned once but I practiced it while sanitizing the the siphon). Try that with some water to see if it helps.

-Ian

iswenson said:

once you have started flow how does an autosiphon help?

Click to expand...

At this point...it doesn't help. But, getting a good siphon started with just a racking cane and tubing is a pain in the butt, so I'd rather spend the $10 on an autosiphon and not worry about it.

Guntr said:

I've recently run into problems with my autosiphon. Well I guess not the auto part really. I get an air bubble forming where the cane joins the hose that grows until the siphoning stops unless I pump the autosiphone a couple times.

Is this because I have a tiny leak at that joint? Any suggestions to correct it?

Click to expand...

Yes, this is a common problem with the autosiphon. Smaller tubing, or a hose clamp will fix the problem. Just be careful pulling the smaller tubing off, because I've snapped the inner racking cane in two trying to get the tubing off.

One almost off subject note, when you are pulling tubing apart from bottle fillers, racking canes, autosiphons, etc....twist the tubing a bit to get it off, don't just pull on it.....(only took me about 8 years and lots of cussing to figure that out!)