Siphoning with the Carboy Cap

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Thank you very much for this! I highly prefer this over a stopper. I've jammed stoppers into fermenters and dropped them in before, and I tend to have a hard time getting them out. The cap is awesome and easy! Obviously, I was going from bucket to carboy but I just used the pre-drilled hole in the bucket lid and slid my cane through that so there was still VERY little interaction with outside air.
10.jpg
I used suction on the small stem to begin the syphon, it took quite a bit of energy and a few different breaths but once it started I just walked away, love that it's hands-free!
Close up of rack in progress:
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and I took the cap off of the side-stem, it was nothing but co2 being pushed out so no oxygen was getting in. If you leave that cap on, the syphon slows and will eventually blow the cap off haha.
Finished w/ airlock in:
10-1.jpg

RDWHAHB
 
How much of a problem is it to siphon with your mouth?? I'm getting the impression that it can ruin your batch, is that the case (because of bacteria or exposure to air) ? Or is all this attention to detail in the interest of perfection and really just neurotic / OCD behaviour ;) ?

Yeaaaaahhhhh don't do that. If you are forced to use a regular cane and not an auto-syphon, what I did originally was to take some brand new in the package, kitchen yellow latex gloves, cut the fingers off from the palm and the tips off, soak them in sanitizer then slide them over the end of the tube so when you go to jump-start the syphoning, your mouth only comes in contact with that latex rubber glove. As the liquid begins coming, quickly pull that latex off, get to rackin, and then throw that away! Cheap and effective way to stay sanitary with your current equipment. Though I will say a fermtech auto-syphon is MORE than worth the 12.99 they charge at LHBS. good luck! :ban:
 
Well done, Walker-san

I'd thought I'd post a photo of how I push beer from primary to keg using a carboy cap. This is a black ale being pushed from freezer/fermentation chamber to corny keg using CO2 @ ~7 psi

IMG001351.jpg


The output goes into a CO2 purged, sanitized keg. The output hose is connected to the "out" post on the keg.
 
Yeaaaaahhhhh don't do that. If you are forced to use a regular cane and not an auto-syphon, what I did originally was to take some brand new in the package, kitchen yellow latex gloves, cut the fingers off from the palm and the tips off, soak them in sanitizer then slide them over the end of the tube so when you go to jump-start the syphoning, your mouth only comes in contact with that latex rubber glove. As the liquid begins coming, quickly pull that latex off, get to rackin, and then throw that away! Cheap and effective way to stay sanitary with your current equipment. Though I will say a fermtech auto-syphon is MORE than worth the 12.99 they charge at LHBS. good luck! :ban:

I purchased a little sanitary filter that fits into the side hole of the carboy cap that I blow into to start the siphon. I got it from an online brew shop for a couple bucks and it was sold for this purpose.
 
I purchased a little sanitary filter that fits into the side hole of the carboy cap that I blow into to start the siphon. I got it from an online brew shop for a couple bucks and it was sold for this purpose.

Yeah, what I was telling him about was not having to do with the carboy caps. Just for general bucket or fermenter racking. With the carboy cap, you don't actually need any kind of secondary piece of equipment. You can just create suction on the receiving carboys end and everything will remain sanitary. . .
 
How much of a problem is it to siphon with your mouth?? I'm getting the impression that it can ruin your batch, is that the case (because of bacteria or exposure to air) ? Or is all this attention to detail in the interest of perfection and really just neurotic / OCD behaviour ;) ?
The tubing on my racking cane is 3/8" ID x 1/2" OD. I bought a little bit of 1/2" ID tubing and after sanitizing both I slide a short piece of the 1/2" ID tubing over the end of the 3/8" ID tubing. Suck on the 1/2" tubing to get it started and then separate. Duck soup.
 
OT a bit, but do those carboy caps lose elasticity after multiple uses? Trying to determine if I get some more of the brewers hardware sanke conversion kits or go this route...

I've had my same two caps for about 6 years, and the one for the 5 gallon carboy gets usec twice for every batch I make (once when racking from primary to secondary and then again when racking from secondary to keg or bottling bucket). It 's basically still as good as new.

edit: then again, I am not stretching mine over a sanke port. :D
 
OT a bit, but do those carboy caps lose elasticity after multiple uses? Trying to determine if I get some more of the brewers hardware sanke conversion kits or go this route...

Mine's < 1 yr old, but has not lost elasticity. Really, though, even if it lost it's viability after a year, for $2.50 I'd say it's worth it.
 
I probably should have read all of the threads, but I don't have much time, so sorry if this has been asked already. I read in "Brew Wares" that you can invert your carboy with a carboy cap and use it as a kind of conical fermenter. Drain the yeast through the center tube after fermentation and prevent the need for a secondary carboy. Have you heard of this (or already talked about it)?
 
I probably should have read all of the threads, but I don't have much time, so sorry if this has been asked already. I read in "Brew Wares" that you can invert your carboy with a carboy cap and use it as a kind of conical fermenter. Drain the yeast through the center tube after fermentation and prevent the need for a secondary carboy. Have you heard ofnthis (or already talked about it)?

woah. Never heard of that. Sounds a bit risky to me.
 
I probably should have read all of the threads, but I don't have much time, so sorry if this has been asked already. I read in "Brew Wares" that you can invert your carboy with a carboy cap and use it as a kind of conical fermenter. Drain the yeast through the center tube after fermentation and prevent the need for a secondary carboy. Have you heard of this (or already talked about it)?

Like the others said, I've never heard of this, and I also doubt it would seal well.

There's the other problem of how to let the gas out. You'd have to shove a racking cane all the way in so that the gas could could come down and out of the cane and cap when it was inverted.

Sounds like a real pain in the ass to me.

Now, I *have* heard of something, years ago, that was meant to take a carboy and let you invert it to use like a half-ass conical, but I can't remember what exactly that thing was. It was not the carboy cap, of that I am sure.
 
I saw this in "brew ware" book, which actually has some really good ideas and images on how to make your own....well...brew ware. It looked just like a carboy cap although they called it something else like beer cap. They did insert a vinyl tube through it to vent the air out of the top. The other end went into a pitcher of water like you'd use a blow off tube. They then suggest you can just release the other opening (I assume they rigged some sort of clamp on it) to drain the yeast and get good clean beer out after it conditions.

My concern would not be the seal, I assume you could fix that with a hose clamp, but I think getting the thick yeast and trub out of that small hole would cause problems. I'll have to buy it to read it a little closer, but it's on my Xmas list!
 
Don't know why you say that. I don't use the caps for fermentation, I use one to hold my autosiphon. Fits perfectly on all 5 of my 6g Better Bottles:

autosiphon_holder_1.JPG

I say that because all the sites that sell them say "DOESN'T fit better bottles." If they do fit, then that is awesome.
 
I probably should have read all of the threads, but I don't have much time, so sorry if this has been asked already. I read in "Brew Wares" that you can invert your carboy with a carboy cap and use it as a kind of conical fermenter. Drain the yeast through the center tube after fermentation and prevent the need for a secondary carboy. Have you heard of this (or already talked about it)?

Here's the commercial version that's been around quite awhile:

http://www.brewsource.com/ProdNav/Eq_439.asp

The problem with using a carboy as a pseudo conical is that the shoulder angle is not steep enough. IIRC, for optimum performance, the angle should be a steep 60 deg or so. The slope angle of a carboy is relatively flat at maybe 15 deg or so. Most of the yeast tends to pile up on the carboy shoulders rather than funneling into the neck where it could be harvested.

FWIW, I also use a carboy cap and racking cane to move the beer, but instead of siphoning, I push the beer out with CO2. I also purge the receiving vessel with CO2 beforehand. I figure this method minimizes air exposure. I shopped for an SS racking cane, but balked at the prices. Instead, I made my own out of 3/8" OD soft copper tubing. I've found that the carboy cap holds the cane firmly enough that you easily position the tip above the trub/yeast on the bottom.
 
I say that because all the sites that sell them say "DOESN'T fit better bottles." If they do fit, then that is awesome.

I just tested a new carboy cap onto my BB. Works fine. It's not super-tight (you can turn the cap when it's on the bottle), but I believe it's making a seal all the way around. I use the carboy bungs that go into the carboy; so, I don't have any experience using the carboy caps for fermenting.
 
Well done, Walker-san

I'd thought I'd post a photo of how I push beer from primary to keg using a carboy cap. This is a black ale being pushed from freezer/fermentation chamber to corny keg using CO2 @ ~7 psi

IMG001351.jpg


The output goes into a CO2 purged, sanitized keg. The output hose is connected to the "out" post on the keg.

How well does that CO2 line stay on the carboy cap? Seems like it would be a ***** to cram the rubber from the cap into the ID of that CO2 line. If it's not, I'm definitely going to try this next.
 
Even @ about 8 psi, the line hasn't blown off.

Plan B was to add more rigidity to the air input. I'd put a couple inch piece of racking cane into the cap and attach the line to that.

I'm quite happy with it so far.

Let us know how yours works:mug:
 
The problem with using a carboy as a pseudo conical is that the shoulder angle is not steep enough. IIRC, for optimum performance, the angle should be a steep 60 deg or so. The slope angle of a carboy is relatively flat at maybe 15 deg or so. Most of the yeast tends to pile up on the carboy shoulders rather than funneling into the neck where it could be harvested.

That makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up before I tried it!
 
I put together this adapter for the gas line to carboy cap connection.
5257458369_d05f8658bd_z.jpg


The 1/4" male flare fitting connects to the gas line and the 1/4" barb fits securely into the smaller nipple on the carboy cap. Obviously, this would only be of use if your gas line has the matching 1/4" female flare fitting.

A note on safety. I don't know how much internal pressure a carboy can handle, but I always take care to use minimum of pressure to push the beer. I think we are all aware of how hazardous a shattered carboy can be. Take it slow and easy and be phukking careful.
 
So when you are siphoning from a bucket to carboy, you take your cap off of your racking tip and place it on the end of your hose to filter out the trub from the bucket?

This is cool!
 
I love carboy caps for siphoning but I do not seem to get a "perfect" seal for fermenting. My proof is no bubbles in the air lock but if I switch to standard bung I get bubbles. I tried zip ties and even cranked hard on a piece of wire...no luck...any suggestions?
 
Not a good night for me. I had broken my old trusty auto siphon, so I ordered a "Sterile Siphon Starter"... same principle as this technique, except you blow into a filter. The tutorial video made it look so easy. Try as I might, I could NOT get the siphon to hold. I finally got so pissed off I just picked up the carboy and dumped the beer into the bottling bucket... I'm sure this batch is all f'd up. Waste of a perfectly good Porter. :mad: I will be getting a new auto siphon asap.
 
How does blowing into your carboy not contaminate the beer? Does that potentially add bacteria?

I want to get the best system setup as I don't have an auto-siphon, but don't know if I trust the blowing aspect? Thoughts?

Thanks,
Lorne
 
I have a few "theories"...
1) I try to expel a minimum of air (and of course moisture) in...just enough to get the beer up and over the top...when you stop exhaling air rushes back out of the tube you exhaled into
2) I use about 18" of tubing to exhale into and I've starsan-ed it. You could use more and your breath might never reach the carboy (??)
3) There should be a major blanket of CO2 laying on top of the beer plus lets say a bad droplet does get in...seems like it'll most likely stay on top of the beer and odds are reasonable that it'll not be siphoned over (I know, gross thought nonetheless!)
4) It has been discussed elsewhere in these forums that infection at bottling (or transferring to secondary) is a lot less likely than unfermented wort (people put all kinds of "unsanitized" stuff into secondaries like hops and citrus rinds)

Since my post almost a year ago (above) I have learned to push down hard on the carboy cap to create a much more airtight seal for the moment. Also, if siphoning into a carboy you can do the same by inhaling to create a vacuum...but be ready for the rush of air INTO the carboy when you stop inhaling (or just pinch the tube until the vacuum is gone because of the liquid coming over into the carboy...altho frankly I've not bothered.)

You could always "brush your breath" with a shot beforehand! (just to be safe of course)

I have been doing this for about 30 batches and have not had a single infection (Knock on wood). I've even done it when siphoning wort from boil kettle to primary carboy (arguably the most dangerous moment for infection...but you are inhaling to create vacuum)

That said...one of these days I'll buy an autosiphon...although I feel like I read about a lot of them being broken.
 
Just used this technique for the first time in order to move 5 gallons of Irish stout from my carboy to the bottling bucket. Worked liked a charm, brilliant! Thanks!
 
I got my sterile siphon starter from MB and have used it a few times so far. I like it much better than my auto siphon. Easier to clean, faster, cane is held in place, etc. I'm still having a hard time getting past blowing into my beer, but hoping that the last three batches are infection free, then I'm sold! I am using a inline filter to blow through, but still it still feels weird to blow potential nasties anywhere bear my beer.
 
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