Can a Auto siphon break

My auto siphon wont get my beer to flow?

Could it be broken??

Wasnt sure if it was even possible for them to break without any visual evidence

I have to use my mouth to siphon it with the auto siphon and then dip the end in the sanitizer right befoore the beer comes out, is this okay?

Have you ever used an auto siphon before? If you are using it properly and it isn't working, the seal between the outer tube and the inner tube that creates the suction might be compromised. How many times are you pumping it? Sometimes you need to give it a good 4 or 5 pumps to get it flowing.

Well usually if the break they break at the bend, but that's NOT what you are talking about...

I've found that people who are having issue with their A/S are usually using too large a size of plastic tubing on the end....try using a plastic hose clamp like this, over the hose somewhere along the length before the bend.



Other people have found that the gasket on the bottom end of the racking tube (that fits inside the big tube) may be bad, or dried, some have added some keglube/foodgrade silicone grease around it to make a better seal, others just put some water on top of the gasket (like with a turkey baster) inside the tube, and that makes for an air tight seal.

Hit or miss Autosiphons are hit or miss usually because of a bad seal in one of the two afore mentioned spots.

My first one broke. There is a small plastic tab at the bottom that stops liquid from pushing back out thru the bottom. Acts kinda like the counter-pressure setup on a bottling wand. Mine fell out and disappeared at some point. If it's pulling beer up then pushing it back out the bottom rather than thru the hose, that's probably what it is.

I second what JDennis said.

If you can take the racking tube (smaller tube) completely out and then pour water in the larger tube and it all runs right out (really fast not gradually pouring out around the little plastic tab), you are missing the little plastic piece that makes it an autosiphon. It that piece is missing all you have is an awkward 2 piece siphon and you can just use the inner racking tube alone to do what you were describing with sucking and sanitizing.

There are also better ways to start a siphon than sucking, some searching on here should lead you to those, but I would suggest getting a new autosiphon.

The check valve is the bottom is most likely broken. I'm doing this by memory/guess but take out the inside tube. Then put your mouth on the top of the tube and try to blow air through. there should be a good amount of resistance or no air should go through.

The way the auto siphon works: the racking tube is pulled upward creating a vacuum. This will pull liquid up through the valve on the bottom and into the main tube. When you push down on the racking tube, there will be positive pressure and this will CLOSE the check valve (so your beer cannot go back into the carboy.) The beer will be forced up through the racking tube. Once the beer in the tube has a lower altitude that the top of the beer in the carboy, a siphon is created.

If the valve is broken, you might be able to create a siphon by pumping the tube faster.

JDennis said:

My first one broke. There is a small plastic tab at the bottom that stops liquid from pushing back out thru the bottom. Acts kinda like the counter-pressure setup on a bottling wand. Mine fell out and disappeared at some point. If it's pulling beer up then pushing it back out the bottom rather than thru the hose, that's probably what it is.

Click to expand...

I'm on my second one now because of this same issue. However, I popped the tab out by accident while I was cleaning it.

My first one broke. Rather, I should say I broke it. Couldn't get the hose off and snapped the racking tube part off at the bend.

Revvy said:

Well usually if the break they break at the bend, but that's NOT what you are talking about...

I've found that people who are having issue with their A/S are usually using too large a size of plastic tubing on the end....try using a plastic hose clamp like this, over the hose somewhere along the length before the bend.

Click to expand...

I couldn't get one of these clamps at my LHBS but I found that if I push my tubing all the way up to the bend at the top of the autosiphon, I get a good seal.

...and if Revvy doesn't do something about that avatar I'm gonna go blind :cross:

Never buy autosiphons unless you've found one that's not made of plastic.

They break far too easily and often for no reason other than they're so cheaply made that earth's gravity causes it to get hairline fractions all throughout the tube.

coryforsenate said:

Never buy autosiphons unless you've found one that's not made of plastic.

They break far too easily and often for no reason other than they're so cheaply made that earth's gravity causes it to get hairline fractions all throughout the tube.

Click to expand...

I had one squirt out the side at me one day because of hairline fractures, caught me off guard. You do have to careful with those things, bumps, temp changes and light breezes seem to be able to make them break.

Believe it or not, a valve popping out of an auto-siphon can be fixed. After about 30m of trying different things, I got a small paper clip and opened it up, leaving the loop. I bent it at a bit of an angle and stuck it in through the bottom end of the auto-siphon. I hooked the clip of the valve and carefully slid the paperclip around to where it would line up with the gaps where the clips are meant to go. One side of the clip fell into this gap. When I pulled through on the end I had hooked, it clicked right back into place.

Of course, it's possible I got insanely lucky, but I'm not complaining!

The valve popped out on me once, while cleaning some gunk out of the end. It didn't seem like it would go back in from the bottom of the tube, so I approached it from the top of the outside tube.

First I removed the inside tube. Then I used a dot of honey to stick the valve on the end of a long 8mm glass rod -- the only thing I had that was flat on the end and long & skinny enough to reach to the bottom of the outside tube. Then I inserted the glass rod (with the valve stuck to the end) into the outside tube and pushed the valve back in place at the bottom.

I was really happy when it worked again.

I've found that a small glass marble makes a great check valve in this situation.

I got one out of a game that I had in the closet. And it's glass, so it's easy to sanitize!

Tindel said:

I've found that a small glass marble makes a great check valve in this situation.

I got one out of a game that I had in the closet. And it's glass, so it's easy to sanitize!

Click to expand...

Great idea!

coryforsenate said:

Never buy autosiphons unless you've found one that's not made of plastic.

They break far too easily and often for no reason other than they're so cheaply made that earth's gravity causes it to get hairline fractions all throughout the tube.

Click to expand...

I've had my plastic autosiphon for several years, and I've had zero problems...I still consider it one of my favorite pieces of brewing equipment. Auto-siphons are the BOMB. For my first several batches I dicked around with filling siphon tubing with water and trying to hold my thumbs over each end (ala Papazian); what a frustrating endeavor, and a great way to infect your wort. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend an AS to new home brewer.

My auto-siphon broke today. There were hops in the bottom of my siphon and I was having trouble cleaning them out. I inadvertently pushed the little plastic piece at the bottom out with a chopstick thinking it was part of the obstruction. Oops!

FIX: I read on another forum that dropping a U.S. dime would do the trick. Sure enough, this works perfectly! A dime has precisely the perfect diameter to create a seal at the base of the auto-siphon.

dabokey said:

FIX: I read on another forum that dropping a U.S. dime would do the trick. Sure enough, this works perfectly! A dime has precisely the perfect diameter to create a seal at the base of the auto-siphon.

Click to expand...

I've never heard that. Cool trick. Great first post!!!!!


I keep dreading the day that happens. Usually when I break one it's at the bend.

when mine break it's usually the outer tube hairline cracks. don't know where they come from.

To get the plastic hose on/off your auto siphin try heating just the hose (not the AS) with hot water. Try running the hose end under the faucet in the bath tub for example.
It makes the plastic hose expand and softens it, and its much easier to put on and remove.

Never fill your auto siphon with hot water.

dabokey said:

FIX: I read on another forum that dropping a U.S. dime would do the trick. Sure enough, this works perfectly! A dime has precisely the perfect diameter to create a seal at the base of the auto-siphon.

Click to expand...

I wasted a good half hour before I came on here and saw your post. You saved the day sir! Thank you!

Revvy said:

Other people have found that the gasket on the bottom end of the racking tube (that fits inside the big tube) may be bad, or dried, some have added some keglube/foodgrade silicone grease around it to make a better seal, others just put some water on top of the gasket (like with a turkey baster) inside the tube, and that makes for an air tight seal.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking this is what happened to me. When I pump it, beer flows up over that gasket and goes into the big tube. Does that sound like this problem?
-bill

Looking at silicone grease for trying to close that leak... any thoughts on what's good for this purpose? Here's one at Amazon that has NSF61 certification (for use with drinking water): http://www.amazon.com/Novagard-Lubricating-Protecting-Dielectric-Silicone/dp/B00378LLT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337792556&sr=8-1

Not that anybody's replying, but a while back I tried the grease with water and it didn't work at all... oh well, siphoning manually works too.