Siphoning from Primary to Bottle Bucket

This weekend I will be bottling my first batch. I have an auto-siphon...based on what I hear, this should be pretty easy to operate. Ive been thinking about a couple questions that I've listed below.....

1) In my primary, should i drop the tip of the auto-siphon allll the way down to the bottom of the bucket? Im wondering if it will kind of drill a small hole in the trub..and only suck up that small amount of trub? OR should i keep the tip above the trub at all times?

2) My kit came w/ a certain type of sugar that I will be boiling. I plan on adding this to my bottling bucket FIRST (do i have to let it cool first?)...then siphonbeer on top...then stirring ever so gently with the auto-siphon when its full. Is this the right thing to do?

BearsWickedBrew said:

This weekend I will be bottling my first batch. I have an auto-siphon...based on what I hear, this should be pretty easy to operate. Ive been thinking about a couple questions that I've listed below.....

1) In my primary, should i drop the tip of the auto-siphon allll the way down to the bottom of the bucket? Im wondering if it will kind of drill a small hole in the trub..and only suck up that small amount of trub? OR should i keep the tip above the trub at all times?

Click to expand...

You can hold it slightly above the yeast cake to minimize how much you transfer, but typically I just let it rest right on top of it. If you've left your beer in primary for a while the cake will be fairly compacted and the amount that you transfer over will be minimal.

BearsWickedBrew said:

2) My kit came w/ a certain type of sugar that I will be boiling. I plan on adding this to my bottling bucket FIRST (do i have to let it cool first?)...then siphonbeer on top...then stirring ever so gently with the auto-siphon when its full. Is this the right thing to do?

Click to expand...

Yes. boil up the sugar, let it cool, then add it to the bottling bucket first. Then siphon your beer on top of it. You shouldn't need to stir it at all. The force of the siphoning process will rotate the beer around in the bottling bucket and properly mix the priming sugar for you.

1) In my primary, should i drop the tip of the auto-siphon allll the way down to the bottom of the bucket? Im wondering if it will kind of drill a small hole in the trub..and only suck up that small amount of trub? OR should i keep the tip above the trub at all times?

Click to expand...

Keep it off the bottom. I like to keep the tip of the (sanitized) autosiphon about two inches below the surface of the beer all the way down, slowly tilting the bucket to get more beer/less trub & yeast cake. You won't get it all- the stuff on the bottom is foul-tasting stuff that you don't want in your bottled beer.

2) My kit came w/ a certain type of sugar that I will be boiling. I plan on adding this to my bottling bucket FIRST (do i have to let it cool first?)...then siphonbeer on top...then stirring ever so gently with the auto-siphon when its full. Is this the right thing to do?

Click to expand...

Sounds like you have it right. Boil the dextrose with water (5 oz: 2 cups) for 10 minutes, pour it into the (sanitized) bottling bucket, siphon beer on top. When you siphon, you don't want splashing. You don't want to aerate the beer at this stage- doing so will lead to oxidation and funky flavors in the bottle. The siphoning will help mix the sugar solution with the beer, but a gentle stir with a (sanitized) spoon can help things along.

BearsWickedBrew said:

1) In my primary, should i drop the tip of the auto-siphon allll the way down to the bottom of the bucket? Im wondering if it will kind of drill a small hole in the trub..and only suck up that small amount of trub? OR should i keep the tip above the trub at all times?

2) My kit came w/ a certain type of sugar that I will be boiling. I plan on adding this to my bottling bucket FIRST (do i have to let it cool first?)...then siphonbeer on top...then stirring ever so gently with the auto-siphon when its full. Is this the right thing to do?

Click to expand...

1. Usually, Auto-Siphons come with a tip that pulls the beer in from the top, thus minimizing the trub that gets transfered. With that said, I like to siphon a little above that to minimize it even more.
2. Let it cool to room temp first. Pour it into the bottling bucket and then siphon at the bottom with the curve of the bucket so that you get a little whirlpool type action going. I've also read that some people like to slowly stir in the opposite direction to make sure the sugar gets worked in better.

One thing I learned with my Auto-Siphon is to warm your tube at the siphon end with hot water before connecting it. Seems to get a better connection that way. Then give it 3 quick pumps and let 'er flow!

MrManTX

I'll say to practice first using your sanitation solution. This kills 2 birds with one stone. Some people have problems with the siphon pump, and you get practice. Also, it sanitizes your siphon, which is important.

I just leave the siphon tip gently resting on the trub. It's got a big black tip on the end, and it pulls beer almost an inch above where the tip ends. Never any problems with that.

Also, the difference in height between the surface of the fluid in your original container and the surface in your target container will determine how fast your beer flows. I think some of the siphon issues some people end up with have to do with not having enough distance between the two.

2) My kit came w/ a certain type of sugar that I will be boiling. I plan on adding this to my bottling bucket FIRST (do i have to let it cool first?)...then siphonbeer on top...then stirring ever so gently with the auto-siphon when its full. Is this the right thing to do?

Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. I practically never do this, partially due to impatience. If I'm bottling ~5 gallons of beer, and have ~0.1 gallons of water boiled with sugar, I usually just siphon the cooler beer right on top of the really hot sugar. Turns out I really don't kill that much yeast, and have never had a problem carbonating my beers. ::knock on wood::, the small amount of hot sugar water will cool to the beer temperature very quickly and you will be adding live yeast in the beer on top of it and mixing it up as well.

BUT, karma being as it is, I don't want to recommend bad techniques, all I'm saying is don't worry about the temperature too much. RDWHAHB!