I need to vent...

I've been brewing for about 3 years now and I finally had things down to a "T" with my AG. Then summer came and home projects and work hit and it ended up I didnt brew for about 2 months (I was a every weekend guy). I finally came back to it and I was a little rusty at first. I took a half day today because I was a little slow at work and knew I was gonna try and brew 2 beers this weekend. Then I figured, hell if Friday is a half day lets brew three! So I came home early and started to brew. Things were goin good, I was a little rusty with my routine...I made a couple extra trips to the basement where things were stored, other than that things were good. I hit my temps fine. I was doing a Roggenbeir, I believe my first AG Roggen and the sparge was going good (like I said, hit both my temps - rest and mash). With my "Small" 5G Mash tun I usually batch sparge 3 times to get a full BK. During the 2nd I noticed things flowing slowly. During the 3rd It came to a stop early. I had never had a stuck sparge. Ive done many Wheats and Wits with no problem. Never even thought about Rice Hulls (which I have!) After much fuss and basically straining the mash into the BK i got it going. boil went fine. I was excited that I was using my home grown (first year!) Hallertau at 5 min. Coolling went good then it came time to whirlpool and transfer...after the normal 15 min the cold break was still huge! I was tired of waiting (it's already been 5 hrs on an AG batch!) so I started the transfer with my new 1/2" auto siphon. About a gallon into it things stopped. The AS was clogged! got it going again, then stopped! I ended up having to strain again...something I havent done in a while. OK...I'm fine, things look cloudy...I didnt vorlouf the last sparge, I strained it and it made it cloudy too but OK RDWHAHB!!! I've been doing this a while... Then I went to clean up, frustrated and buzzed. I hate cleaning to begin with...then my new Auto Siphon was clogged with my Home Grown hops. I got the needle nose pliers and cleared most of it out. Then I couldnt get more so I took out the flapper thingy and cleaned it out. I tried to put the flapper thing back in and BAMB...broke. F-THIS i wanted to say. Tried to keep my cool (which Im good at, a real laid back easy going guy) but this put me over the final edge for the day. I'm trying to brew 2 more beers this weekend and my Auto Siphon is done. Not only that But this is the new one I just bought. SO i went outside and with a Thor-like roar cracked that ***** over my knee, threw it on the ground and brought my ass back in side..................WOW, that felt good! I then typed this up to feel better and now I'm relaxed. Ready to finish cleaning, grill my porterhouse, pass out and hope things go better tomorrow...

Here's to a better brewing day tomorrow!

I hope the beer turns out OK. It's gonna be hard to break all those bottles of bad beer over your knee.

I love my autosiphon but they are fragile little creatures. I learned this by breaking the top off the bend in the inner tube portion. It still functions just fine but it was a close one. Sorry to hear of your troubles. At least you get to brew 3 times in a weekend. I would kill to do that.

For a 5 gallon batch I find(for me) the best thing is to put a paint strainer over my primary and dump the BK through that. It catches all my hops, and then I can wring it out and get all the yummy goodness into the primary. I tried an auto siphon a couple times. Personally I think it's the worst piece of brewing equipment ever, but I'm in the very small minority there.

Just be glad your brewing again

I haven't had luck with autosiphons either. They work great until they break.

Damn dude... That sucks. Should have called. I was off also. Ya know, the last time I brewed was at your house.

Anyone want to buy some stale grain?

I also thought that the autosiphon was a real pain. I hated that you have to flop the whole thing around, outlet tubing and all, to get it started.

I generally don't like the whole siphoning thing, and am glad I was able to build a 3-tier stand with ball valves. For siphoning into the keg I use a T on the outflow so I can initiate the siphon by mouth without contaminating things. I think the idea I used came from Flyguy.

carp said:

I also thought that the autosiphon was a real pain. I hated that you have to flop the whole thing around, outlet tubing and all, to get it started.

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What do you mean by this? I don't understand how you are using it.

I guess I exaggerate a bit. I had a too-short tube on mine. So when I extend the inner 'piston' to which the outlet tubing is connected, prior to initiating the pumping action, the tubing would flail about.
Generally the thing seems kind of flimsy and cheesy, and having read numerous stories of infections residing in them, I'm not a fan.

carp said:

I guess I exaggerate a bit. I had a too-short tube on mine. So when I extend the inner 'piston' to which the outlet tubing is connected, prior to initiating the pumping action, the tubing would flail about.
Generally the thing seems kind of flimsy and cheesy, and having read numerous stories of infections residing in them, I'm not a fan.

Click to expand...

Ahh, I see. Yeah that would be annoying if the tubing was too short.

Wow, I had no idea there is an anti-auto siphon contingent. I normally just use mine to go from fermenter to keg, and haven't had any issues. If I'm moving a beer with dry hops, I tie a hop sack over the inlet, which seems to do the trick.
As for infections, I always use the siphon to pump star san in my handy 2L star san pitcher. After using the siphon, I pump hot water through it, then pump more star san before storing. I've not had any infection issues.

Auto-siphons are great, once you get the right sized tubing. 3/8 is too big for the cane. I've had mine 15 batches or so, no problems.

I wouldn't use it from Boil Kettle to fermentor, too many things to clog it up.
+1 to paint strainer.

but for racking from ferment bucket to bottling bucket or keg, it's a great piece of hardware.

I will be 'paying forward' two almost perfect condition auto-siphons (one of each size) very soon.

Don't get me wrong...I love the auto siphon! I always hated trying to pour the wort through a strainer into the bucket. Not only is it heavy but if you have a lot of hops my strainer would clog. Also, if your using a carboy as a primary then you have to balance the strainer on a funnel...

I was more upset that I didn't think about the whole leaf hops when transferring. It never gets clogged up when using pellets even at the bottom where they all settle to after the whirlpool.

I will definitely buy another one!! I think I forgot to mention that this was my new auto siphon because the last one broke at the neck about 2 batches ago. They are tough to work with sometimes but I still love it in the end.

chrisknight said:

Damn dude... That sucks. Should have called. I was off also. Ya know, the last time I brewed was at your house.

Anyone want to buy some stale grain?

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Dude...that was like, last summer! What's wrong???

Why don't they make a SS auto siphon?

I guess the same reason they don't make batteries that last forever, or cures for diseases...there's no profit in it!

Try heating the tubing with hot water before you push it on the tube. I have been using the same one for years.

That is a good idea but I have never had trouble putting the tubing on. On occasion I have a little trouble taking it off but never broke one doing that.

My problem was the whole leaf hops clogging it up when transferring. I'm not a fan of pouring the cooled wort into a strainer (something about lifting 5+ gallons of liquid that hurts my back!) so I whirlpool and siphon. I'm sure I could have fixed it if I was patient at the time...