I feel like a caveman when racking to secondary...

I am still new to this and I have limited space to work with, so I am racking to secondary I try to have everything prepped and ready to go. The problem is it never goes as planned. I know repetition will make things easier, but for those who don't have full setup's, what tools or parts do you use to make this easier? If this question is too vague, I can certainly get more descriptive. I know I can streamline this process, but i wonder what I am missing to make this happen.

Thanks in advance,

I just sit my primary on the countertop early on to let it settle from moving it. Then use a sanitized auto siphon to rack to my sanitized secondary on the floor if I'm using one. Usually only rack to secondary if I'm going to add fruit or let it age awhile. Or need the bigger fermenter for another batch.

auto siphon. no more caveman.

Go super caveman and quit racking to secondary.

mountainman13 said:

Go super caveman and quit racking to secondary.

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I thought this same thing. Why dont i just use bottling bucket and cut out middle man. Seems logical as long as there is not chunks of hops and fruits etc...

Racking to secondary is like racking to a bottling bucket to me,sounds like you just need to practice(darn the luck more brewing). Also auto siphon is very handy, have the container being transferred to lower than the liquid level in container siphoning from. Insert siphon,make sure hose is attached and in the other container, give it a couple pumps and you should be going.

I couldn't imagine racking without an autosiphon. Also, idk how you do it, but you probably disturb the trub in the bottom of the primary, adding some of it to the secondary, which defeats a lot of the purpose of a secondary.

And you can technically use your bottling bucket as a secondary (you can ferment in just about anything if you're determined), but the problem comes when you go to prime the beer before bottling. You'll stir all the trub up while you try to mix the sugar evenly, again, defeating the purpose of the secondary.

My fermenter has a spigot..

bosco

1. Autosiphon
or
2. Don't rack to secondary
or
3. Primary in a bucket with a spigot

yay!

but yes, it's a practice thing. I'm much better at moving liquids around now than when I started brewing.

An autosiphon will change your life.

The ghetto way is too rinse your mouth with Vodka or a spirit of your choice then suck on the tubing and the beer will do the rest..........

+10 for an autosiphon

The question is pretty vague to be honest. It would help to know exactly where you are facing issues. Racking to a secondary is no different than racking to a bottling bucket, so even if you stop using a secondary, you'll have to rack at some point - and to that point, I wouldn't use a secondary unless dry hopping or adding fruit or whatever. Nonetheless, I would say that the few extras I have that make things easier and more streamlined would be an autosiphon and the clips that hold the siphone cane to the side of the bucket and the hose to the side of the other bucket. Get the end of the tube under the rising beer level asap. I like the racking cane with that little black piece on the end that crowns down and is open on the tops to help prevent picking up the trub. With this, I don't have to worry about putting it a few inches above the bottom of the bucket.

dstranger99 said:

The ghetto way is too rinse your mouth with Vodka or a spirit of your choice then suck on the tubing and the beer will do the rest..........

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That IS ghetto... no need for that if you don't have an autosiphon though... filling it with liquid to start it will work as will using a turkey baster to start suction. I wouldn't put my mouth on it at all.

Autosiphon FTMFW!!

But I use the old "T" siphon trick when not using an autosiphon, like when I rack from the BK with hot wort (trust me, you will not do this more than ONCE with any autosiphon!)

Cut a piece of tubing near the bottom end, leaving enough to fit down into whatever vessel you are racking into. Install a "T" between the pieces and add a short piece of tubing to the T so you have a little piece sticking out. Put a tube clamp on that.

Now to start the siphon, place a finger over the end of the tube and suck on the short piece coming from the T. The wort will start flowing through the tubing. When you get a nice amount going, clamp the T tube. The wort will flow into the vessel and you will not touch the wort with any part of your mouth.

Not as nice as an autosiphon, but better than messing with water and no risk of mouth germs.

Hmm... Don't know what you're asking. The only problem I ever have with racking to secondary is bubbles in my damned siphon! I don't get why it happens...

Here’s my method for starting a siphon without an autosiphon: Sanitize cane, tube, and hands. Have the anti-sediment cup on the end of the racking cane. Attach tube to racking cane. Hold racking cane and tubing with the open ends up – both together at the same elevation. Pour Star-San into end of tube, moving tube and cane as needed until cane and tube are completely filled, with no air bubbles. Put thumb over end of tube. Gently turn over the racking cane and lower it into the full bucket. Lower the end of the tube to a small pan. Take thumb off the end of the tube – the siphon will start. Siphon the Star-San into the pan. When beer gets to the end, put thumb over the tube again. Move end of tube to bottling bucket. Remove thumb. Siphon will re-start. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. I use this method to minimize the number of parts that contact the beer.

You can also start suction with a turkey baster.

JordanThomas said:

Hmm... Don't know what you're asking. The only problem I ever have with racking to secondary is bubbles in my damned siphon! I don't get why it happens...

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Bubbles at the connections means you have a leak.

However, I think you are referring to the bubbles IN the siphon, yes? The bubbles INSIDE the siphon are just CO2 being pulled out of the solution. Perfectly normal! Gasses are just being disturbed and a small amount is being pulled out of the solution because there is a difference in pressure from the vacuum.

One of these on your auto siphon helps a bunch, too.

I use a tube that fits inside the siphon cane to get a slow, airless flow.

CGVT said:

One of these on your auto siphone helps a bunch, too.

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Ok...this is one of the things i am talking about. Thank you sir.


Sorry I didn't respond earlier; My biggest thing is I feel like i leave myself so vulnerable to infection because I spend to much time doing menial, mundane tasks. These include having to balance my primary and the auto siphon to make sure I am getting everything out of the bucket minus gunk at the bottom. In addition, i know sloshing and splashing is a big no no, but to make this work given the restraints of space, it is a fact of life for me.

itsernst said:

Ok...this is one of the things i am talking about. Thank you sir.


Sorry I didn't respond earlier; My biggest thing is I feel like i leave myself so vulnerable to infection because I spend to much time doing menial, mundane tasks. These include having to balance my primary and the auto siphon to make sure I am getting everything out of the bucket minus gunk at the bottom. In addition, i know sloshing and splashing is a big no no, but to make this work given the restraints of space, it is a fact of life for me.

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You can use some sanitized foil over any tops of your buckets/carboys if you are worried enough.

Ideally, to get the most from it, use your auto siphon, have it all cleaned and sanitized ahead of time.

Move the carboy/bucket to a higher location than your awaiting secondary/bottling bucket/keg.

Let it settle back down from moving it. Normally, I'll take a roll of tape, a bunched up towel, some coasters.. Something, to tilt the back of the carboy a bit to allow some of it to all settle to one side mostly.

I'll put the tubing in the secondary, put the siphon in the primary, and one pump gets it started. I'll hold it with my hand and make sure it's running clear, and I'll work it as far down as I can see, and then clip it in place.

Once it gets close to the bottom, watch to make sure you aren't picking up any trash, and I'll move it to the lower side of the carboy to start getting all the beer I can before I start to get any trub/hops/yeast/etc. At some point you'll stop being greedy and leave it all behind.

The clip helps, but it's there to hold on when I want to walk off and get something. Once it gets down low enough, I'll move the siphon around gently to the other side to make sure I'm getting as much as possible, without the junk, and I'll slid the clip up the siphon out of the way and hold it.

The tilting of the carboy really helps, but letting it all settle for a couple of minutes is good too. Takes little time, and it's nice and clean without a drop wasted.

Oh yeah.. Welcome here.. Figured you follow on over from WRX.

FATC1TY said:

Once it gets close to the bottom, watch to make sure you aren't picking up any trash, and I'll move it to the lower side of the carboy to start getting all the beer I can before I start to get any trub/hops/yeast/etc. At some point you'll stop being greedy and leave it all behind.

The clip helps, but it's there to hold on when I want to walk off and get something. Once it gets down low enough, I'll move the siphon around gently to the other side to make sure I'm getting as much as possible, without the junk, and I'll slid the clip up the siphon out of the way and hold it.

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nearly exactly like my procedure - except for one thing. If I'm going from primary to secondary I don't worry about picking up a little bit of junk. It's going to settle so low in my secondary anyway that I would rather save a little extra beer and pick up some scum. I rack much more aggressively into secondary - and very carefully into the keg.

My fermentor they all have spigots so I don´t use my autoshipon but autoshipon and the clip from above are the way to go.

If you don't have a spigot then an auto-siphon is the way to go. I didn't get one until I was on batch 7 and OMG... my instant thought was "Why in the hell didn't I get this sooner?? This is WAY more simple!"

have you considered using an auto-siphon?

<hides>

J187 said:

The question is pretty vague to be honest. It would help to know exactly where you are facing issues. Racking to a secondary is no different than racking to a bottling bucket, so even if you stop using a secondary, you'll have to rack at some point - and to that point, I wouldn't use a secondary unless dry hopping or adding fruit or whatever. Nonetheless, I would say that the few extras I have that make things easier and more streamlined would be an autosiphon and the clips that hold the siphone cane to the side of the bucket and the hose to the side of the other bucket. Get the end of the tube under the rising beer level asap. I like the racking cane with that little black piece on the end that crowns down and is open on the tops to help prevent picking up the trub. With this, I don't have to worry about putting it a few inches above the bottom of the bucket.

Click to expand...

CGVT said:

One of these on your auto siphone helps a bunch, too.

Click to expand...

Yes, these are the clips I mentioned. HUGE help.

You guys that have spigots on your fermentation bucket.....

You guys don't have issues with infections or crap getting in the spigots and stuff, or them leaking at all?

What about pulling out junk from the bottom?? My buckets and carboys are always full of crap in them, and I even whirlpool and rack with a siphon, or pour through a strainer into the buckets.

J187 said:

That IS ghetto... no need for that if you don't have an autosiphon though... filling it with liquid to start it will work as will using a turkey baster to start suction. I wouldn't put my mouth on it at all.

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You've never done that? In a pinch you do what you gotta do...

I use a carboy top with a stainless steel racking cane and attach my CO2 to the smaller tube on the carboy top with a barb fitting. Using about 5 PSI I can rack it directly to a keg or through a filter if need be. Super easy and quick. I never secondary either just keg condition and carb.

FATC1TY said:

You guys that have spigots on your fermentation bucket.....

You guys don't have issues with infections or crap getting in the spigots and stuff, or them leaking at all?

What about pulling out junk from the bottom?? My buckets and carboys are always full of crap in them, and I even whirlpool and rack with a siphon, or pour through a strainer into the buckets.

Click to expand...

You can take a spigot apart and clean it,same as on a bottling bucket.

if you have a spigot on a primary how do you keep it from getting in you secondary or bottling bucket

Just have to give a +1 to fermenters with spigots.

Mine are from William's Brewing. You don't mount them all the way to the bottom like a bottling bucket.

They sell a plastic part for the inside that acts like a pick up tube (INVERT TUBE BACKNUT Item #: E47).

Never had an infection. (I use StarSan) I changed out the sigots after one year just for insurance but I kept the invert tube backnuts.

BTW- I did buy a glass carboy and an auto-siphon but after one use I "loaned" them to a friend, one year ago.