Wine Thief / Beer Thief Help

Hi Guys,

I could use some veteran advice to help me out.

All my carboys are the 6.5 gallon variety. I bought them all in one swoop, and not having to worry about blow-off tubes is pretty nice. They all stand 22" tall.

So my current wine thief is this piece of junk:



It's totally terrible. First, it's about 12" long, and it barely gets into the beer. I might get maybe 3" of beer on each pull. Additionally, it's not air-tight, so you lose about 1/2 of the beer you DO manage to get on each pull. Essentially, it takes me about 10 pulls to fill my hydrometer flask, and it's a major pain in the rear.

So anyhow, I'm planning on replacing it. I really like this fermtech one ... (Fermtech Wine Thief :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies)



... And I hear good things about it. However, it's only listed as being 19" long. It looks like you have to depress the tip of the tube against the bottom of the carboy for it to start filling. I don't think it'll be able to reach the bottom of my carboy!

Help! Does anyone else out there have any recommendations for a good wine thief with a 6.5 gallon / 22" tall carboy?

I love mine. you don't have to depress the tip, it floats up as you insert the thief. The tip closes as you withdraw the thief.

Gingerdawg speaks the truth.

you could also buy another couple of the model you have and use the center sections as extensions.

I have one of the fermtech ones and liked it when I used it. It's been a long time since I've used it though. I just don't take many samples anymore.

One other piece of equipment you might already have that can also be used like a thief is an autosiphon. If you just use the outer piece you can extract a sample easily