how did I ever live without the Auto Siphon

I have been using a racking cane, that you prime with water and it was messy and I think I lost alot of beer. I recently purchased a brew pot on a classified and the guy asked me if I was interested in an auto siphon. I just about said no because my local brew supplier said he doesnt like them. It was only a few dollars so i took it. I cant understand why people dont like these it doesnt introduce oxygen into the wort, it sanitises like the racking cane, It is the coolest thing I have seen so why dont people like these? stumped!

There's a lot of surface area to sanitize and they're just fiddly sometimes. I've moved on to racking with carboy caps but if it works for you then that's all that matters.

carboy caps? are those the ones you blow air into?

They sure make transferring super easy! If you don't have half inch one just wait, sooooo much faster!

I hear it's better than mouth siphoning but you can blow into the carboy with the second inlet while you put a racking cane and hose through the first one. If you keg you can use CO2 to apply pressure instead. I'm going to adapt a simple bicycle pump to apply the pressure without using my breath.

OP, I agree with you. The auto siphon is one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century,

Okay, so I'm being slightly facetious, but I do love my auto siphon.

My starter kit came with a 3/8 auto siphon so I never had to siphon the old fashioned way. Sure would like to get a 1/2 inch one though. I just got a second FV and have 2 batches arriving tomorrow to brew up.

the speed increase from the 1/2in size is significant. if anyone is reading this and considering buying one go straight for the 1/2in model.

Sold... guess I'll upgrade to the 1/2 inch before bottling time.

Im not going for the 1/2 yet, I actually want to slow it down abit, I heard that the slower the flow the higher quality beer. no proof, but i'll give it a try!

Arrheinous said:

There's a lot of surface area to sanitize and they're just fiddly sometimes. I've moved on to racking with carboy caps but if it works for you then that's all that matters.

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I can't believe someone would not use an auto-siphon because they think it is a lot of surface to sanitize. I mean seriously, you sanitize your fermentors, right? My fermentors have a lot more surface area than my auto-siphon. What about tubing? Lots of surface area there, too.

Fiddly? They are about as simple to operate as they could possibly be; one or two pumps and the wort or beer flows. I can't imagine that sticking a racking cane in a carboy cap would simplify the process but, as you wrote, "if it works for you" then go for it.

To the OP, another "I can't believe I lived without it" piece of equipment if you bottle is a Vinator.

DirtyOldDuck said:

I can't believe someone would not use an auto-siphon because they think it is a lot of surface to sanitize. I mean seriously, you sanitize your fermentors, right? My fermentors have a lot more surface area than my auto-siphon. What about tubing? Lots of surface area there, too.

Fiddly? They are about as simple to operate as they could possibly be; one or two pumps and the wort or beer flows. I can't imagine that sticking a racking cane in a carboy cap would simplify the process but, as you wrote, "if it works for you" then go for it.

To the OP, another "I can't believe I lived without it" piece of equipment if you bottle is a Vinator.

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I've done mouth siphoning, auto-siphoning, and started using the caps a few batches ago. The main problem is that I was hitting my low ceilings with it from where I had the bucket set up and I felt like I didn't have enough hands to run the operation. If the cap is snug you can draw the cane down to whatever level you need and do other things in the meantime while keeping it off the bottom.

Cleaning the inside and outside of the cane, the main tube, and a hose is comparable to two canes and a hose while soaking two caps. Maybe not higher surface area but I wasn't satisfied with how well I was able to get in there to remove debris and wash the surfaces.

And as far as fiddly, it is handy but I think the seals might not have been up to par in order to draw a proper vacuum. Plus the low ceilings were an issue again with putting a full draw on it (landlord put in drop ceilings below an existing ceiling).

I just think the caps way is neat and a bit elegant. And if I get my kegging setup underway I could transfer under CO2 to a secondary or whatever.

I wouldn't suggest the OP go to the cap method, just mentioning it since people typically agree the autosiphons are great and you definitely wouldn't hear anyone suggesting mouth siphoning or the riskier transfer methods which leaves the thread about everyone talking about how great the autosiphons are. Which they are.

Is it necessary to prime the auto siphon tube with water and starsan before racking to secondary? I will be racking in a couple days for the first time. Youtube videos show filling the tube with sanitizer then following it with beer into a container before starting the actual siphon from the fermenter. It seems a bit easier to sanitize everything before racking to secondary.

P.S. Sorry for hijacking the thread OP.

I just put my autosiphon in my starsan bucket with the hose attached and pump it a few times to flow starsan through it. I also spray the parts that dont get submerged. Then I drain it and rack to my bottling bucket ( I do long primary with no secondary )

I dont think you have to prime with sanitize, I havent thats one of the reasons I stopped using the cane and water!

BansheeRider said:

Is it necessary to prime the auto siphon tube with water and starsan before racking to secondary? I will be racking in a couple days for the first time. Youtube videos show filling the tube with sanitizer then following it with beer into a container before starting the actual siphon from the fermenter. It seems a bit easier to sanitize everything before racking to secondary.

P.S. Sorry for hijacking the thread OP.

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I use the auto siphon too, it's all I have ever used and I couldn't imagine using something else. I don't see how anyone could say that it's hard to sanatize, you just siphon starsan through it, takes a few seconds. I'll fill up my keg with sanitizer and just pump it back into the keg while I'm also sanitizing the outside of everything being submerged.

Has anyone seen the little clip they make to clip on the side of your carboy that holds the siphon for you? Seems like a real handy tool as well.

yewtah-brewha said:

Im not going for the 1/2 yet, I actually want to slow it down abit, I heard that the slower the flow the higher quality beer. no proof, but i'll give it a try!

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Really?

Hey sending me money will give you better beer. I don't have any proof or reason but maybe you should give it a try......

I don't think the method is as important as not adding oxygen to you beer. I use the 1/2 in auto and love it. though I only transfer once into purged kegs so if there is agitation it's not a problem.