Bottling: Hoses very hard to remove from bottling wand and auto siphon

I've bottled several batches with no problem. Every-time I bottle, however it is a real PIA to remove the hose from the bottling wand, spigot and auto-siphon. I bottled a batch with no issue on Friday night until I was cleaning up and I broke my auto siphon trying to remove the hose (sliced my finger up pretty good too). I tried warming the hose up with hot water to make it more pliable to no avail. Finally tried brut force which turned out as mentioned above.

Anyway, I was looking for some best practices that some of you may use to remove your hoses.

Thanks!

I have good luck pushing the tubing on a little further to break the seal, then sliding it off. Pushing the tubing on causes it to compress along its length and expand around the diameter, making it easier to break free of the wand/cane.

Warming the tubing up with hot water also helps.

Yeah, I broke my racking cane last month pulling off the tube.

I'll try these tips...

I've had this issue...

Push it on only far enough to do the job...when removing, don't try to pull off as you are only causing the rubber to shrink/tighten...you should PUSH IT OFF by the cut end of the hose...hard to explain...but i grab the cut end with my fingernails and try to "push off".

Warm water and lots of soap works too!

Good luck.

Don't use a hose, and then your bottling wand will come off much easier.





From here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

I use O-ring lube:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=18

Works pretty well...

-BigCask

Revvy -- what are you using there to attach the wand to the spigot?

ToledoDave said:

I have good luck pushing the tubing on a little further to break the seal, then sliding it off. Pushing the tubing on causes it to compress along its length and expand around the diameter, making it easier to break free of the wand/cane.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do, push it farther on. You can actually see the air bubble expand up between the hose and the cane. Pull back immediately at that point and it will usually pull right off.

tom777 said:

Revvy -- what are you using there to attach the wand to the spigot?

Click to expand...

A 1.5" piece of my old bottling hose.

Revvy said:

Don't use a hose, and then your bottling wand will come off much easier.

From here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

Click to expand...

Thanks Revvy,

I actually put into action many of the tips from your thread into my bottling procedures, including this one. The small part of hose that I used to go from spigot to wand was one of the ones that got stuck (to the wand).

The procedures work great BTW...love the diptube (and it was easy to make)!

BigCask said:

I use O-ring lube:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=18

Works pretty well...

-BigCask

Click to expand...

I was wondering about lube...just concerned with it getting mingled with the beer.

I have good luck pushing the tubing on a little further to break the seal, then sliding it off. Pushing the tubing on causes it to compress along its length and expand around the diameter, making it easier to break free of the wand/cane.

Click to expand...

This seems to make a lot of sense...I'll give this a shot, as well as some of the other tips.

Thanks to all for the help!

Revvy said:

A 1.5" piece of my old bottling hose.

Click to expand...

thanks -- that's what I thought.. and also how I've been doing it. Works pretty well too! Except that little piece of hose doesn't come off the wand very easily either... Usually I don't bother, but figure every once in a while it'd be good to be sure nothing's stuck in there.

Pour hot/boiling water out of a tea kettle on the tubing where you want to disconnect. The heat will soften the tubing enough to make it easier to come off.

Option #2 Pour hot/boiling water into bottling bucket and run it through. That should loosen things up.

C2H5OH said:

Pour hot/boiling water out of a tea kettle on the tubing where you want to disconnect. The heat will soften the tubing enough to make it easier to come off.

Option #2 Pour hot/boiling water into bottling bucket and run it through. That should loosen things up.

Click to expand...

I tried hot water (as hot as my sink goes), but guess I just didn't get it hot enough for long enough. I'll get it hotter...push it on a little first and then pull it off.

Thanks to all for the valuable feedback! Bottling another batch this week!

Shooter said:

This is exactly what I do, push it farther on. You can actually see the air bubble expand up between the hose and the cane. Pull back immediately at that point and it will usually pull right off.

Click to expand...

+ 1 to this - I do the same and it works. I also broke a wand before I started doing this. Works every time.