Air bubbles in the auto-siphon

I just bought a brand new Fermtech autosiphon. On the first use I was racking from primary to secondary. I noticed a slow stream of bubbles coming down the tubing as I was racking. It was maybe 3 inches between bubbles, but sped up to like an inch per bubble. They were not little tiny ones either. I kept moving the inner tube around to try and stop it but they just kept coming. The siphon is obviously defective and the brew store is replacing it, but do you think my beer will be ruined by oxidation or should I relax and have a homebrew? (any signs I should look for, or will I not know until I taste...anything I can do?)

btw, i tested it on water after this and saw that the bubbles were passing through the black seal that is attached to the inner tube and causes the siphon action.

The first time I used my auto siphon I had the wrong size tubing and it got all sorts of air in it. I can't notice any oxidation type flavors. I think you will be fine too.

What you are describing happened to me too, luckily I was siphoning cooled wort, so the aeration was a good thing. I don't know it happened, I think inner tube did not seal well. Maybe because it was wet? I have used it again twice since and it worked perfectly but I made sure it was dry before using.

Beerrific said:

The first time I used my auto siphon I had the wrong size tubing and it got all sorts of air in it. I can't notice any oxidation type flavors. I think you will be fine too.

What you are describing happened to me too, luckily I was siphoning cooled wort, so the aeration was a good thing. I don't know it happened, I think inner tube did not seal well. Maybe because it was wet? I have used it again twice since and it worked perfectly but I made sure it was dry before using.

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Sounds like you were siphoning wort though...wonder if it makes a difference that this was coming from primary? not sure about the dry thing...it will become wet around the seal as soon as you pump it a few times to get it going...

cbird01 said:

Sounds like you were siphoning wort though...wonder if it makes a difference that this was coming from primary? not sure about the dry thing...it will become wet around the seal as soon as you pump it a few times to get it going...

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The first time it happened, when I had the wrong size tubbing, I was racking from primary to secondary, no oxidation flavors developed.

Check the diameter of the tubing; it should be fairly tight when it slips over the racking cane. It helps if the racikng cane and tubing are wet, IMHO.

Another thing I do is something I read somewhere. It seems to help remove any air bubbles. As soon as the wort flows, pinch the tubing near the racking cane for a second or two, then release.

The bubbles you see may not be a leak at all. If you are transfering from primary to secondary or to a keg or bottling bucket, the negative pressure drop created in the siphon can be enough to cause some of the dissolved CO2 to bubble out, giving the illusion of a leak. I had bubbles forming but could find no leaks and then I thought about it and figured it just must be gases coming out of solution.

Odds are it is merely CO2 that has leached out of the beer.

The seals work fine wet, in fact that is probably the prefered state. I've never used my autosiphon dry--- it's always wet with santizier when I use it as is everythign else that touches my beer.

Relax you must. Worry not. Beer you should drink, homebrew, umm?

Not in this case guys...it is definitely a defective autosiphon. Right after this happened, I tried it with a pan of water and it did the exact same thing and I could actually see the bubbles coming through the seal.

I get this sometimes as well and it's usually a looser fit of the tubing to the siphon. I have to nip off an inch or so of the line every once in a while to make for a tighter fit. Also, another pump to get a bigger flow often times makes the bubbles go away.

i had something similar yesterday. i kept losing suction when going from primary to secondary. it was really frustrating. towards the end, i was just stirring up the sediment on the bottom and tossed the rest. i didn't want all that stuff in my secondary. it would have defeated the purpose of the transfer. i lost like 1/2 a gallon. i think i'm going to go to the plastic splitter thing somebody posted on here a while back.

This is what I do, works like magic.
HD

This just happened to me as well - caused by using 3/8" hosing instead of 5/16". Oops. I searched Homebrewtalk and found multiple threads on this topic, including this one, and am now not as paranoid that I will lose an entire batch as a result. Results here seem somewhat encouraging. I will be going back to get 5/16" hosing ASAP, though!

Happened to me today. So much air the siphon would stop. Found out my tubing on the siphon was a bit oblong in shape and sucking air....Clamped it with a reusable Tyton clamp and that took care of it. That will now be a permanent part of the routine.