Auto-Siphoning trouble, am I ok?

Hey guys, I was racking my first brew from my primary to my secondary carboy just a few minutes ago and using my auto siphon. I just could not get it to work. It was like my primary elevation was too low, or the hose was not staying in the carboy's beer. I just keep mixing the beer with air over and over. I could not figure out the siphon problem. After about 1/5 of the beer was in the carboy from me just pumping the auto-siphon and sloshing it around, it eventually got a good flow going. I looked to see what was different, and my hand was on the hose thats connected to the racking cane. Evidently, my hose didn't fit just right and was sucking air into the system. I think I'm going to put a hose clamp on it for future use.

So my question is, how will this affect my first brew? 1/5 of the whole carboy was just sloshing beer around inside, completely aerating the system. It was terrible and I was getting so upset, haha. Then I had a beer, calmed down, and noticed my equipment malfuntion.

So, what do you think?

Thanks for all your help guys,

Brandon

not much you can do at this point except wait and see. You run the risk of contamination and premature staling of the beer due to aeration, but no one can tell you for sure what will happen.

Have another beer, and taste-test this one in about a week.

In all honesty; it'll probably be fine.

-walker

Ideally, you never want to add oxygen, but hey - it happens sometimes. I've had it happen with siphons I did before I got an Auto-Siphon. The beer turned out okay, though. You may very well be okay, too.

You'll know if you get a 'cardboard' flavor to your beer. Good luck!

Bah, the other times I've had a problem, the answer has always been, kick man, have a homebrew, its good beer... But now, I'm kinda worried. There is no reason to I guess, I'll just see how it turns out, hopefully it will be ok.

If at like 1 week, I have a strong cardboard taste, should I just throw it out and not even bother with the hassle?

Its not that great of a loss, though its my first beer

Brandon

i would say that you should make that decision after tasting it. If it's cardboardy, but tolerable, drink it. If you literally cannot stand it (have to spit it out or wretch after you swallow) then you might consider dumping it.

Seriously though.... don't worry.

I have made so many mistakes that I was SURE was going to spoil my beer it isn't even funny. However... I have never had to toss a batch.

-walker