RDWHAHB - Yeah Right, What about BOHICA?!

Tonight, thinking all was right with the world, I figured I could just rack my Bell's Two Hearted Clone to my secondary, throw in some hops, kick back, RDWHAHB, and play maybe Rage on my XBox, not necessarily in that order and ... BOHICA! The little plastic plunger in my autosiphon decided to take a flying leap and left me wondering WT*&*! am I gonna do now. Without some ingenious little grappling tool, there is no way to get that little thing back where it belongs and little way to make the autosiphon work without unwanted aeration. You know, it was all going so right. My FG was 1.010, the beer was nice a clear, I had everything all sanitized and ready for action... and there stood Murphy. Shemeel... or is it Shlomozzel? Either way, good thing we don't step in it.

Then use a racking cane and tubing. Or just tubing. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

RDWHAHB

here's a quide to starting a siphon without an autosiphon: Siphoning The Homebrew

+1 one on using the racking cane. Just siphon the old fashioned way! Put starsan/water solution in the tube and hold it upright while you put the racking cane (attached to one end of the hose as per norm) into the primary, turn the hose downward into a bowl to discard starsan/water solution. When beer starts coming out switch over to the secondary, and your siphoning.. Like taking gas from a stationwagon (or candy from a baby... whatever floats your boat)

Thanks for the postapocalyptic help. I'll know better next time. I guess you just get used to gadgets and you forget how stuff really works, especially in the heat of battle.

I typically stick one end of the tube in the beer and then use my racking cane to suck the beer through the line. Before the beer gets to the end, Ill pull the cane off and stick the tube in my secondary/bottling bucket. Nice and easy, and sanitary because my mouth never touches anything the beer itself touches.

I'm not gonna lie but I've been brewing for 4 years and I still swish vodka around in my mouth and just suck on the end of the tube. Maybe I'm just ghetto. Sometimes I don't even do the vodka. Just bought an autosiphon and tried to use it tonight for the first time and it's too big to fit in the neck of my carboy. Go figure. Racking canes are awesome btw.

Take apart a cheap bic pen and salvage the hollow plastic tube. Sanitize this, stick it in the end of your tubing (racking cane in place), suck hard, then quickly remove and put tubing in bucket/keg (or whatever). I've used this method many times with no problems.

Cheers!!

BrightSpotBrewing said:

Take apart a cheap bic pen and salvage the hollow plastic tube. Sanitize this, stick it in the end of your tubing (racking cane in place), suck hard, then quickly remove and put tubing in bucket/keg (or whatever). I've used this method many times with no problems.

Cheers!!

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ingenious

bwomp313 said:

ingenious

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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXLguXTaNrA]Sanitary Siphoning - YouTube[/ame]

Yuri_Rage said:

Sanitary Siphoning - YouTube

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Great video! I use the first method from time to time. Super easy and sanitary!

Yuri_Rage said:

Sanitary Siphoning - YouTube

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I like the mouth technique better. Makes me more connected with my beer. And I also feel more ghetto.

Yuri_Rage said:

Sanitary Siphoning - YouTube

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The turkey baster trick was too cool. After seeing that my first thought was to toss my autosiphon and its broken check valve in the trash, but what I really need to do is start using my brain for something other than an alcohol sponge. Thanks Yuri.

Auto siphon are 10$. So far that's 11 mo of pure convenience for me. Buy a new one and save the most germ ridden orifice of a human body to other things .

I got a carboy cap after my auto-siphon broke when it hit the floor.
With a plastic tube on the end of a picnic tap connected to the CO2 bottle, I'll never look back. Nothing gets stirred up, nothing moves.
The auto-siphon is cool, but for me, simple works better.
My stainless cane doesn't break either.