Brand new autosiphon doesn't work!!!! ARGGGHHHHHH!

I bought a brand new autosiphon over the internet (Haven't contacted the company so I'll hold naming them until I hear back from them) and the dang thing doesn't work worth a dang.

I checked the so-called check valve in the main bore and it doesn't even pretend to hold a seal. This is the same reason I bought a new one, my old one that came with my brewer's kit from NB started doing the same thing.

This is do danged frustrating!!! Is there any way to fix these things? I tried blowing it out to get any misc crap out of the check valve - no joy.

Thanks,

Not helpful at all, but the auto siphon is a POS.

I vote to ditch it ASAP, get your money back if you can and figure out another way to transfer liquids (spigots, gravity etc.)

Sometimes the seal wears and it won't hold it's suction. I usually just put a bit of starsan down the outer tube so the liquid helps seal the inner tube to hold its siphon. Could try that to see if it helps.

My 5 foot 1/2 inch hose has never failed me.

Don't feel bad, I just bought a new one that did the same thing. Junk!

I just use a regular old racking cane. Never got an auto siphon to work reliably.

So what does it do? Nothing? It would have to leak like a sieve to not start a siphon. The problem I had with auto siphons was cracking. Apparently they fixed that. Now the valve?

I just checked my spare and it works fine. I don’t find a date or a lot code.

You people that don’t use them, what do you do? I used to use a turkey baster to start a siphon, but the newer ones are too weak.

I have started going spigot to spigot with a short piece of hose and it is much easier

Wynne-R said:

You people that don’t use them, what do you do? I used to use a turkey baster to start a siphon, but the newer ones are too weak.

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It's a manual method.
-Racking cane connected to hose in beer (I use a bucket clip to hold the cane)
-Holding other end of hose w/ turkey baster tip inserted (tube only, no bulb)
-Suck on baster until beer reaches my hand about 6" from end of hose (need to keep hose at or above top of racking cane)
-Pinch hose, move to other container and release

The first 6 times were awkward but now it's pretty straight forward. My mouth only ever touches the turkey baster and beer never reaches the end of my hose until it's flowing into another container. It's not perfect but I have yet to find the "perfect" solution. I like it better than filling the hose with starsan or water. I like it better than an autosiphon. I don't like it as much as pressure/vacuum transfers.

I use a carboy hood with a 1/2 inch racking cane pushed through the middle. you can then attach an air filter and blow through it to start the flow or....

VERY CAREFULLY, pressurize the carboy with co2 just enough to start the flow.

IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS YOUR CARBOY COULD BREAK



thoughts expressed in this post are not necessarily the recommendation of this user, any damages to your equipment are not this guys responsibility; any rebroadcasting requires written consent from Major League Baseball

I'm just redneck I siphon it by mouth and swallow the wee bit. Hasn't ruined a batch or made me sick yet.

killian said:

I use a carboy hood with a 1/2 inch racking cane pushed through the middle. you can then attach an air filter and blow through it to start the flow or....

VERY CAREFULLY, pressurize the carboy with co2 just enough to start the flow.

IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS YOUR CARBOY COULD BREAK



thoughts expressed in this post are not necessarily the recommendation of this user, any damages to your equipment are not this guys responsibility; any rebroadcasting requires written consent from Major League Baseball

Click to expand...

Same here I use a carboy hood and fitting to blow co2 directly in to start the siphon with pressure. Its overkill but I figure it avoids oxidation and its really easy to restart if I lose siphon, just crank the co2 for a second. Oh and I just want to add auto siphoned do blow. I went through 2 of them and the seal always goes and then it would introduce a ton of air into the beer, yay.

jtejedor said:

killian said:

I use a carboy hood with a 1/2 inch racking cane pushed through the middle. you can then attach an air filter and blow through it to start the flow or....

VERY CAREFULLY, pressurize the carboy with co2 just enough to start the flow.

IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS YOUR CARBOY COULD BREAK



thoughts expressed in this post are not necessarily the recommendation of this user, any damages to your equipment are not this guys responsibility; any rebroadcasting requires written consent from Major League Baseball

Click to expand...

Same here I use a carboy hood and fitting to blow co2 directly in to start the siphon with pressure. Its overkill but I figure it avoids oxidation and its really easy to restart if I lose siphon, just crank the co2 for a second. Oh and I just want to add auto siphoned do blow. I went through 2 of them and the seal always goes and then it would introduce a ton of air into the beer, yay.

Click to expand...

You guys are doing it wrong, you SUCK on the RECEIVING carboy which should also have a carboy cap. Placing a vacuum cleaners house loosely over the fitting on the receiving vessel will generate plenty of suction. I use the shop vac for this I don't do anything special like sanitizing the wand/hose. Nothing, including lactobacillus laden spit, gets into the beer this way and you don't have to bother with a filtering apparatus. Also I can't imagine that you could blow up or implode the carboy this way although I think even with an excessive blast of co2 from a tank into the carboy, the cap would pop off before the thing would explode.

You can transfer into a corny keg using the same principle too, just apply suction to the keg to start the siphon, take the poppit out of the gas side and apply suction there, the beer goes into the beer side with the diptube (no poppit there either).

Well, to buck the trend, I will say that I love my auto siphon! I've been using mine for about three or four years! I just lost the cap that goes on the bottom of the siphon that "filters" yeast and trub. Bummer part is that the only way to only replace that cap is to buy a whole new auto siphon. So I'm just careful not to put the siphon end too low in the carboy!

Brew on gents!

tyzippers said:

Well, to buck the trend, I will say that I love my auto siphon! I've been using mine for about three or four years! I just lost the cap that goes on the bottom of the siphon that "filters" yeast and trub. Bummer part is that the only way to only replace that cap is to buy a whole new auto siphon. So I'm just careful not to put the siphon end too low in the carboy!

Brew on gents!

Click to expand...

You can buy the caps on the bottom separately. We sell them at the LHBS I work at. They're like $2-3. I also love auto-siphons and I can't believe some of the elaborate systems you guys go through to siphon. They just sound crazy when auto-siphons are so easy and work so well. I've never heard of anybody having issues before.

Believe me, I lime the auto siphon too, but the last one I bought was junk. It sucked air around the seal so it wouldn't hold a transfer.

Wynne-R said:

So what does it do? Nothing? It would have to leak like a sieve to not start a siphon. The problem I had with auto siphons was cracking. Apparently they fixed that. Now the valve?

I just checked my spare and it works fine. I don’t find a date or a lot code.

You people that don’t use them, what do you do? I used to use a turkey baster to start a siphon, but the newer ones are too weak.

Click to expand...

It pumps just fine. As soon as you stop pumping, it loses suction and stops flowing. Putting starsan down the main doesn't help because that's not the seal that's leaking. The so-called check valve isn't really a check valve, maybe half a check valve.

I've blown it out and I've examined it under a magnifying glass (as well as my old one that worked for a year, then failed the same way) and nothing to see, and therefore nothing to fix. The check valve is partially stuck open and I can't see anything blocking it.

tyzippers said:

Well, to buck the trend, I will say that I love my auto siphon! I've been using mine for about three or four years! I just lost the cap that goes on the bottom of the siphon that "filters" yeast and trub. Bummer part is that the only way to only replace that cap is to buy a whole new auto siphon. So I'm just careful not to put the siphon end too low in the carboy!

Brew on gents!

Click to expand...

+1

I have been using the same auto siphon since I started brewing in 2008 and have never had a problem with it

Never had a problem with my auto siphon either. It's a pretty basic instrument and I love the simplicity.

FTG-05 said:

It pumps just fine. As soon as you stop pumping, it loses suction and stops flowing. Putting starsan down the main doesn't help because that's not the seal that's leaking. The so-called check valve isn't really a check valve, maybe half a check valve.

I've blown it out and I've examined it under a magnifying glass (as well as my old one that worked for a year, then failed the same way) and nothing to see, and therefore nothing to fix. The check valve is partially stuck open and I can't see anything blocking it.

Click to expand...

AFAIK: The check valve's function is to create some back pressure while the user makes the few initial pumps of the wand to get the liquid up and over the high point.

The siphon is maintained by gravity; having the liquid vessel higher than the receiving vessel.

The only way to loose suction is to allow air into the line or the liquid levels become equal during transfer. Maybe the wand seal is letting air in? I also get a little starsan down in the tube to create lubrication and a good seal. I store my wand and tube separate so the seal doesn't hold the tube's diameter.

Never had any issues with the Autosiphon other than stepping on it and extreme wear and tear. When it comes to siphoning, I wouldn't do without it.

raouliii said:

AFAIK: The check valve's function is to create some back pressure while the user makes the few initial pumps of the wand to get the liquid up and over the high point.

The siphon is maintained by gravity; having the liquid vessel higher than the receiving vessel.

The only way to loose suction is to allow air into the line or the liquid levels become equal during transfer. Maybe the wand seal is letting air in? I also get a little starsan down in the tube to create lubrication and a good seal. I store my wand and tube separate so the seal doesn't hold the tube's diameter.

Click to expand...

Donor bucket is on the bench, receiver bucket is either on a milk crate or on the ground (usually the crate). There' usually a 2' between the bottom of the higher one to the top of the lower one.

I'm wondering if I have a hose problem. I don't see the check valve having much to do with anything once the liquid is below the bottom of the bucket in the line. More testing is needed.

Good idea about not storing the inner rod inside the siphon!

raouliii said:

AFAIK: The check valve's function is to create some back pressure while the user makes the few initial pumps of the wand to get the liquid up and over the high point.

The siphon is maintained by gravity; having the liquid vessel higher than the receiving vessel.

The only way to loose suction is to allow air into the line or the liquid levels become equal during transfer. Maybe the wand seal is letting air in? I also get a little starsan down in the tube to create lubrication and a good seal. I store my wand and tube separate so the seal doesn't hold the tube's diameter.

Click to expand...

Yes. The check valve is just a little piece of plastic. It does not create a seal, just creates some back pressure to let you pump it. Once it's flowing, the check valve does nothing. If you're losing the siphon after you've pumped it up over the top, it's drawing air in around the seal on the pump wand. I had 1 go bad like this after extended use. I like the idea of storing them separate so that it doesn't get compressed to the diameter of the outer tube. Maybe some keg lube would get it to seal again?

mpcluever said:

Yes. The check valve is just a little piece of plastic. It does not create a seal, just creates some back pressure to let you pump it. Once it's flowing, the check valve does nothing. If you're losing the siphon after you've pumped it up over the top, it's drawing air in around the seal on the pump wand. I had 1 go bad like this after extended use. I like the idea of storing them separate so that it doesn't get compressed to the diameter of the outer tube. Maybe some keg lube would get it to seal again?

Click to expand...

I've come to the same conclusion about the check valve.

I think the problem is simpler: the one thing that is common to both AS's is a piece of 3/8" tubing I've been using since I started brewing. I believe, but haven't tested it yet, that this is the problem. I probably won't even test, I'll just chuck it and replace it.


Thanks,

Where is this tubing?