Auto Siphon bubbles ?

Last night I noticed bubbles in my hose while racking from my primary to the bottling bucket. It appeared that air was being sucked in through the seal on the auto siphon. Will this cause oxidation problems?

Where is the seal where you saw the bubbles?

I think he's talking about where the hose connects to the siphon.

I am talking about the rubber gromet at the bottom of the racking cane part of the auto siphon.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=974&osCsid=2d20df554f410b2cad31ae0ffe981932 This is the auto siphon I am using.

mixedbrewer said:

Where is the seal where you saw the bubbles?

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I saw the bubbles in the hose and racking cane part of the auto siphon.

Looks like a normal siphon to me. If you are talking about a lingering bubble where the cane meets the hose, it is most likely just trapped there from the little ridge. I have had something like that before, but I gave it a flick, the bubble passed through the hose, and didnt come back.

mixedbrewer said:

Looks like a normal siphon to me. If you are talking about a lingering bubble where the cane meets the hose, it is most likely just trapped there from the little ridge. I have had something like that before, but I gave it a flick, the bubble passed through the hose, and didnt come back.

Click to expand...

The bubbles were traveling the length of the siphon and hose. They were very small but steady throughout the racking.

When you say "bubbles"... do you mean a lot of bubbles flowing non stop in the cane and tube making your beer foamy? Or clinging to the hose and cane and just popping off every once in a while?

I put a rubber band over the hose where it connects to the siphon. No more bubbles.

They did not make the beer foamy. They were almost like carbonation bubbles and they were steadily flowing with the beer.

Try a rubber band. I bet that fixes it.

If they're coming all the way up from the bottom of your siphon that's fine, the only gas in newly-fermented beer is CO2. Otherwise I'd suggest just fidgeting around with the hose, this happens to me sometimes and usually moving it around a little is enough to stop the bubbles.

Oxidation is bad but not the end of the world. Work around it by storing the beer cold (fridge temps) and drinking it fast

BendBrewer said:

I put a rubber band over the hose where it connects to the siphon. No more bubbles.

Click to expand...

The bubbles were originating at the bottom of the rackin cane part of the auto siphon and traveling all the way to the bottling bucket.

I know what you are talking about, the bubbles come from the bottom of the cane, around the seal inside the tube and the bend tube that the hoses attach to, not the place whaere the hose attaches to the bend tube. I had that problem for the first 2 batches I had with no real affect. Remember when you store the racking cane, take the two parts apart. Don't store them in the "working" set up. Also, before re assembling, wet the seal, dip in the beer, before putting back together. I think the seal just gets a little warped from storage, and it will get straightened out if you store it "free".

lurker18 said:

I know what you are talking about, the bubbles come from the bottom of the cane, around the seal inside the tube and the bend tube that the hoses attach to, not the place whaere the hose attaches to the bend tube. I had that problem for the first 2 batches I had with no real affect. Remember when you store the racking cane, take the two parts apart. Don't store them in the "working" set up. Also, before re assembling, wet the seal, dip in the beer, before putting back together. I think the seal just gets a little warped from storage, and it will get straightened out if you store it "free".

Click to expand...

That is what I was talking about. I will follow this advice.

It could also possibly be CO2 from fermentation that is being release from solution during the transfer.

edit: Whoops...guess I didn't read page 2 before posting.

To answer your question - no it will not cause any problems - it's just irritating!

lurker18 said:

I know what you are talking about, the bubbles come from the bottom of the cane, around the seal inside the tube and the bend tube that the hoses attach to, not the place whaere the hose attaches to the bend tube. I had that problem for the first 2 batches I had with no real affect. Remember when you store the racking cane, take the two parts apart. Don't store them in the "working" set up. Also, before re assembling, wet the seal, dip in the beer, before putting back together. I think the seal just gets a little warped from storage, and it will get straightened out if you store it "free".

Click to expand...

Welp this exact thing happened to me tonight Thanks for this advice, I will try it next time around. I hadn't kegged anything in months and stored the siphon completely assembled, so it was almost definitely what you described.

Other than that it went well... now we play the waiting (for carbonation) game!

not sure if any of you are still having this problem or not. i know EXACTLY the problem you are/were having. the beer comes up the autosiphon, it hits the rubber gasket then is forced to flow up the smaller racking cane inside of the larger tube. the problem is that the rubber gasket does not provide a great seal, and air gets around the gasket and travels up the racking cane and throughout the tubing. the trick to eliminating this problem is to fill up your thief with some beer and let some trickle into the top of your racking cane, that way the other end of the gasket is covered with wort rather than air. eventually it will suck up all the wort you put on top of the gasket and you might have to top it off again. hope this helps!!