Will my beer be ruined?

I am on my seventh batch, and have used the same auto siphon for every previous one. I decided to replace it prior to this batch because it was getting worn. When I went to rack into my keg last night, I couldn't get it to work, it kept sucking air in. There was obviously a leak somewhere. Swapped hoses, swapped, plungers, nothing seemed to work. I tried the old fashioned siphon, and had almost no luck with that. It was 11:00 by now, and I needed to go to bed because I get up at 4am for work. Out of desperation, I dumped the remaining 4 gallons or so directly into the keg while straining it through some sanitized pantyhose. Did I ruin my beer.

Also, is there a better siphoning method that is reliable, that can be restarted easily if it fizzles out? And a better straining method maybe?

Thanks

How hot's your lady? I can think of lots of cool names for the brew with that story. Relax and have a HB. Depending on how it looks you might want to rack a second time or just into the bottler if you have one. (doubt it as a kegger but never know)

Way to adapt to the situation!

It's in the kegger in the fridge already. It was secondary fermented, so there wasn't much gunk except the hop sludge from dry hopping. As for a name, it has already been dubbed Fonzi's IPAyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeee

Running it through a strainer and dumping it in to the keg likely oxidized the beer a good bit. Drink it quickly, before the "wet cardboard"/sherry taste sets in.

Sorry for your frustration. I'm unclear if your problem was starting a siphon or maintaining it, or both? Neither are hard - perhaps we can help if you explain your problem a little bit.

In any case, sorry that it was a hard and frustrating time.

Just drink this one quick before the oxidation takes hold. I gave up on the autosiphon after having two break when the flap in the bottom just fell out. I just take a length of 3/8" tubing and sanitize it. Fill it with star san and put your thumbs over the ends. Holding one end high with your thumb over it still, put this end into the beer to be racked, then lower the other end,thumb still on, to the keg, once the hose end is lower than the other end of the hose inside the beer and within the keg, release your thumb and drop hose into keg. the star san (tiny tiny amount in the hose won't be noticeable) will flow into the keg and pull the siphon to start the beer flowing.

I've also just stuck a sanitized tube in the beer, Then suck the other end. Before the beer gets to the end, I thumb over it trapping the beer, and then grab my star san spray bottle (always standing by) and spray the end where my mouth just was inside and out and wait a minute or two, then proceed with letting the beer flow through and into the keg. I know sucking on the tube goes against standard advice on here, but it's post fermentation, there's alcohol in it, and I'm just not worried about it after several batches with 0 issues from that method.

Well, the problem with the autosiphon was there was some sort of leak in it so it wouldn't hold pressure. so the siphon kept stopping because it was sucking in air. As for the regular siphon with the tubing, I just suck at doing it. It will al be gone by tomorrow night because we're having a bunch of people over, so hopefully it will be ok.

I have a friend who has been sucking on the tube to siphon for 15 years, and has never had a problem. His beer is always fantastic.

Thought I might try a carboy cap next time. anyone know if those work well? If not, I guess I am only out 2 bucks

BeeRad77 said:

Well, the problem with the autosiphon was there was some sort of leak in it so it wouldn't hold pressure. so the siphon kept stopping because it was sucking in air. As for the regular siphon with the tubing, I just suck at doing it. It will al be gone by tomorrow night because we're having a bunch of people over, so hopefully it will be ok.

I have a friend who has been sucking on the tube to siphon for 15 years, and has never had a problem. His beer is always fantastic.

Thought I might try a carboy cap next time. anyone know if those work well? If not, I guess I am only out 2 bucks

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I use a carboy Cap on most of my Sanke kegs with a racking cane and tubing, works like a charm!

You could also stop at a local TSC or Vet Supply and pick up some large plastic syringes, use those to suck liquid in to the tube.

I'll go ahead and try the cap next time then. Thanks!

Any suggestions on the filtering? I keep stealing my wife's pantyhose, which works, but she gets mad.

BeeRad77 said:

I'll go ahead and try the cap next time then. Thanks!

Any suggestions on the filtering? I keep stealing my wife's pantyhose, which works, but she gets mad.

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Filter from the side you pull beer from, not the keg side. I use nylon paint strainer bags when I need to filter out hop trub.

I do filter from the carboy side (except with this lastest beer debacle). I will try the paint strainers. Thanks!