Does anyone else hate their auto siphon?

I bought one and absolutely can't stand using it. I need two hands to operate it, then I can't hold the output hose. I get it going, then it flops around inside the kettle and the flow stops. And it's not long enough to reach to the bottom of my carboy for bottling.

Am I being a complete idiot, or do other people not like them?

i love mine.... but then again i don't try to bottle out of a carboy..... I use a seperate bucket.

Maybe you have a shorter version? There are 2 or 3 sizes I believe. Never tried bottling with it either. But yeah, I LOVE my AS. Couldn't imagine brewing without it. Are you keeping the two vessels at different heights? Just trying to figure out what's happening.

cut yourself a 4" piece off of your siphon hose and jam it in the neck of the carboy along with the auto siphon. I don't think it'll work in a better bottle but it wedges it perfectly in a glass carboy. Then you can start your siphon with one hand and hold your hose with the other. It also allows you to not let the siphon rest on the bottom of the carboy to suck up yeasties.

my auto siphon reaches the bottom of the a 6.5 gal carboy no problem. you may need a longer one. place racking cane end in the carboy and the hose end in your bottling bucket. then use both hands to start the siphon. keep the bucket and carboy on the same surface till you get at least 3 or 4 inches of beer in the bucket then lower the bucket to below the carboy. if need be put a stool or some books under the bucket so the hose dose not come up above the surface of your beer.

then add priming sugar and bottle from the bucket. preferably with a bottling wand and some more tubing attached to the spicket.

I hate mine with a passion, contrary to nearly everyone else who has them.

Hmm... maybe it's me? Anyway, I use ported Better Bottles now-- no more siphons for me!

-Steve

Also, once I saw this video, siphoning for me changed forever:

MoreBeer!™ Sterile Siphon Starter Tutorial | MoreBeer

-Steve

I love my auto siphon but it is a PITA with the better bottles because the mouth of the bottle is too wide. Anyone else see this issue?

I've been using an auto-siphon for years and I wouldn't be without one. I've had zero problems using it. OTOH, one can get by with a simple racking cane just as well with some practice and an understanding of how a siphon works. I'm always amazed at the problems people report with siphons and pumps. I almost never have any issues with either.

mattmcl said:

I bought one and absolutely can't stand using it. I need two hands to operate it, then I can't hold the output hose. I get it going, then it flops around inside the kettle and the flow stops. And it's not long enough to reach to the bottom of my carboy for bottling.

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I added a clip on mine... i clip it to the carboy or alepail lid, and then use 1 hand to start the siphon and 1 to hold the hose.
What i did befire, was have a hose long enough to reach the bottom of the vessel being filled, so a quick 2-3 4inch pumps didn't require me to hold the hose.

You do not need to do 1 long stroke, 2-3 short strokes do just as well at starting the siphon. if it doesn't reach the bottom of your carboy, you bought the wrong size, get a longer one.

SavageSteve said:

Also, once I saw this video, siphoning for me changed forever:
MoreBeer!™ Sterile Siphon Starter Tutorial | MoreBeer

Click to expand...

that's like giving your beer a blowjob....

Arkador said:

You do not need to do 1 long stroke, 2-3 short strokes do just as well...

Click to expand...

that's what she said!

seriously tho, i love my auto siphon, and i have a mini auto-siphon for my little carboys and 1gallon jugs for experimental batches.

spigots on better bottles seem like a pain in the ass to sanitize right before you wanna use it. not to mention dumping a thick yeast cake right into your secondary or bottle bucket.

I don't own an autosiphon. Never have. Never felt the need for one.

malkor. there is no dumping of a yeast cake when you siphon. the cup at the bottom of the auto siphon keeps you from sucking up the yeast. and the spicket is easy to clean. when you run PBW through your bucket drain it through your spicket. then when you sanitize the bucket again drain it through the spicket. then its all clean and sanitized.

I dislike siphoning with or without an auto feature. Seems like the stiff vinyl tubing has a mind of its own.

I had a problem with bubbles forming in my autosiphon where the tubing plugs onto the end of the cane. The problem was mostly solved by switching from 3/8 to 5/16 tubing. However, the smaller tubing is pretty well stuck and I don't even try to remove it.

At any rate, I ferment in a ported BetterBottle lately and don't secondary. Keeps things simple.

Does anybody make a stainless steel auto siphon?

I am coming up on a year with mine, probably time to consider replacing it.

I would rather spend $9 than risk infections.

There are two sizes of AutoSiphons.

I have used mine for bottling and, with the bottling wand attached it was a breeze.

It's susch a simple device I don't get why so many people have such a hard time with it. I always use mine with a bucket and a corny.

For a basic transfer while priming the siphon, I have the corny set atop a step stool to reduce the distance while it's extended, once the plunger is , um, plunged the outlet hose sits nicely at the bottom of the keg with no risk of sloshing and no need to hold the outlet hose.

There are two different 3/8" cane autosiphons, one is for 3-6.5 gallon carboys and the other short one is for 1 gallon jugs. I'd think you'd know if you have the short one. There's also a 1/2" cane version which will siphon a carboy in like 3 minutes.

A spring clamp is all you need to hold the siphon off the bottom when you first start.

I'll be completely snarky and say that if using the autosiphon seems a tedious task, home brewing is probably not for you.

There are few easier tasks in HBing than using an auto siphon, doesn't seem snarky to me to make that assertion.

I broke down and bought a new 1/2"er.

Now I can McGuyver the old one and see if I can come up with a suitable fix to the cut piston.

After a 3 year hiatus I bought another AS. I had hated mine before as well and switched to a hood and sterile filter method.

I decided it was time to switch back because I wanted to try the 1/2". It is nice.

You just have to be really careful with the plastic and store the pieces apart to keep the seal fresh.

I'll be completely snarky and say that if using the autosiphon seems a tedious task, home brewing is probably not for you.

Click to expand...

Funny, I've been brewing for 20 years. You'd think I'd have figured out if it was for me or not by now.

Henry Hill said:

There are few easier tasks in HBing than using an auto siphon, doesn't seem snarky to me to make that assertion.

I broke down and bought a new 1/2"er.

Now I can McGuyver the old one and see if I can come up with a suitable fix to the cut piston.

Click to expand...

I just used the 1/2"er for the first time and I like it. My only complaint is that 1/2" ID tubing is too big. Just like how 5/16"ID fits the 3/8" cane better, I need to find some 7/16" ID.

Here we go:

Mcmaster 5233K43
Masterkleer PVC Tubing 7/16" ID, 9/16" OD, 1/16" Wall Thickness
In stock
Quantity Per Ft.
1-99 Ft. $0.34

I too don't understand the problem with autosiphons. I don't think I could get buy without mine. If your hose flops around....Put a longer hose on it! The hose should be able to go to the bottom of your destination vessel and coil at least some on the bottom to prevent splashing.
I've contemplated the 1/2" variety, but was concerned with to fast a transfer causing splashing. if this is not the case, I'll go 1/2" when mine needs replaced.

IrregularPulse said:

I too don't understand the problem with autosiphons. I don't think I could get buy without mine. If your hose flops around....Put a longer hose on it! The hose should be able to go to the bottom of your destination vessel and coil at least some on the bottom to prevent splashing.
I've contemplated the 1/2" variety, but was concerned with to fast a transfer causing splashing. if this is not the case, I'll go 1/2" when mine needs replaced.

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The 3/8" model is preferable IMO, mostly because it provides a more gentle transfer and doesn't suck up a bunch of yeast and trub from the bottom of the fermenter like the bigger 1/2" model can. Your concerns are justified!

IrregularPulse said:

I too don't understand the problem with autosiphons. I don't think I could get buy without mine.

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I'll be snarky and say that if you can't get by without an autosiphon.... nevermind

I've only used the 1/2" one to transfer two batches to kegs. I haven't disturbed the trub in either case. I coiled the output around the bottom of the keg and it flowed pretty gracefully as far as I could tell. I guess it didn't really matter since I flood the receiving vessels with CO2 anytime I rack. In that regard, I could use a fire hose without oxidizing.

I have a 3/8" and a 1/2". The 3/8" is devoted to funky beers and I use the 1/2" for all other beers. Well I haven't needed to rack anything funky in a while, so I am pretty used to the 1/2" one and when I had to move some lambic last night it felt like it took days.

1/2" autosiphon 4 lyfe

Autosiphons are awful: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/do-all-autosiphons-suck-124313/

...to be fair it seems that many are just built poorly, not that an autosiphon is bad in and of itself.

It just seems a whole lot easier to fill the tube with starsan, push it onto the cane, siphon into a glass until the beer starts flowing, then put the hose in the bucket.

One less thing to clean, no air bubbles and no clamps needed.

And yeah, mine might just be flawed, because I do get a lot of air bubbles.

Cpt_Kirks said:

Does anybody make a stainless steel auto siphon?

I am coming up on a year with mine, probably time to consider replacing it.

I would rather spend $9 than risk infections.

Click to expand...

yes I built a ss a while back don't build to sell material and labor runs high could buy several plastic one for the cost of a ss.







so it can be done

SWAGMAN

I have never tried one. It looks like way too much trouble. Cleaning, etc.

I just fill the line with bottled water, put the cane in the carboy, tube in bucket and like magic, the beer flows to the lower vessel. Sometimes I have to pinch the tube to get a bubble or two out. Other than that it couldn't be easier.

SavageSteve said:

Also, once I saw this video, siphoning for me changed forever:

MoreBeer!™ Sterile Siphon Starter Tutorial | MoreBeer

-Steve

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's how I do it too. I like the auto siphon, but that way is sooooooooooooooo much easier.

mattmcl said:

It just seems a whole lot easier to fill the tube with starsan, push it onto the cane, siphon into a glass until the beer starts flowing, then put the hose in the bucket.

One less thing to clean, no air bubbles and no clamps needed.

And yeah, mine might just be flawed, because I do get a lot of air bubbles.

Click to expand...

I think you're over exaggerating the trouble of the A/S and vice versa.
Do you use a funnel or do you dunk it down into a bucket to fill the tubing? No clamps needed? If you needed a clamp on the autosiphon you'd need one on your racking cane too because...they are both racking canes. I clean my autosiphon as a single entity by pumping hot water through it and the attached tubing. If you get air bubbles with the autosiphon, you should check your tubing size. It's probably 3/8".

After racking I fill my carboy with Oxiclean to ...well..clean. Then after a hour or so soaking, the siphon the first half the carboy out with the siphon, to clean it and then dump. Then rinse the carboy with hot water and on the last hot water rinse, the siphon some out through the siphon. No extra steps.

And I don't understand how "It just seems a whole lot easier to fill the tube with starsan, push it onto the cane, siphon into a glass until the beer starts flowing, then put the hose in the bucket." is easier then sticking siphon in carboy, place tube in bucket, pump 2 times. and if you lose siphon instead of ""It just seems a whole lot easier to fill the tube with starsan, push it onto the cane, siphon into a glass until the beer starts flowing, then put the hose in the bucket." you pump 2 times....

but everyone has their preferences and to each their own. I just think people that don't like them have to be using them wrong somehow or haven't used one. Only way I can understand it.

chefkdub said:

Yeah, that's how I do it too. I like the auto siphon, but that way is sooooooooooooooo much easier.

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I actually felt kinda stupid when I first saw it-- I studied physics in college and I should have figured that one out on my own.

-Steve

If it helps anyone using the Auto Siphon, one of the guys at the LHBS showed me something I should have thought up a while ago. He put the tube from a bottling wand (minus the spring piece) on the end of the outflow tube (opposite end from the auto siphon). With the plastic tube, it makes the end it a bit heavier, helps keep it in place and makes it easy for the end to reach the bottom of the bucket/keg/etc.

A piece of a racking cane (or the whole cane) would work too. Again, it's a simple idea, but it gets rid of the movement of the outflow end when you start the siphon and makes sure you're reaching the bottom. It's made my life much easier.

cdburg said:

A piece of a racking cane (or the whole cane) would work too. Again, it's a simple idea, but it gets rid of the movement of the outflow end when you start the siphon and makes sure you're reaching the bottom. It's made my life much easier.

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That's how I do mine. I use a broken racking cane and either use a clothespin or a racking cane clip to hold the tip just off the bottom carboy or bucket so I get a good flow without splashing. The hose can't fall out of the vessel so I have both hands free to work the auto siphon.

Another plus is the outside of the hose never comes in contact with the beer. Better sanitation.

Back to the auto siphon. I have issues with bubbles sometimes, but I just stop the flow by pinching the hose or raising the wand and then just fix the problem. I couldn't imagine ever going back to priming the hose unless my auto siphon were to break just before use.

Luv the autosiphon!

I'll be snarky and say: I know how to siphon, with our without the auto feature. I just don't find it all that enjoyable. The autosiphon is a good design and mostly works as advertised.

To siphon or not to siphon: Who cares as long as your process works?

I have never tried one. It looks like way too much trouble. Cleaning, etc.

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This is my only issue with the AS. From other threads on infections caused by a contaminated AS, it seemed that unless you disassemble and clean the AS and store it disassembled that the AS had caused some infections (and there could be scores of others that are so slight or subtle as to go unnoticed). So when I add up all the extra cleaning time and consider that I've used a SS racking cane for years and using it is a breeze, I think a SS racking cane is easier in the end.

The problem with a SS racking cane only occurs if you let it lose siphon and then have to restart it when there's only a little bit left in a 6 gal. carboy. So I make damn sure I don't lose siphon.

But I certainly don't hate the AS...it def seems to satisfy many. Maybe I'm just an old dog that can't/won't learn new tricks.

"You know how to siphon, don't you? Just put your lips on it and suck."

(With apologies to Mae West)