Siphoning primary into the bottling bucket

I've read about techniques for whirlpooling the wort before siphoning the beer into the primary bucket in order to keep out the trub stuff. For my first batch, however, I did not do this and I simply poured the wort into the primary and left just a little wort remaining in the kettle to keep from pouring all the trub into the primary bucket.
I was wondering what people do to keep the trub out of the bottling bucket once the primary fermentation is over. I don't think you want to whirlpool here b/c it might introduce oxygen? I was planning on just leaving about an inch of beer on the bottom of the primary fermenter when siphoning to keep from sucking up too much trub. Does anyone have a better technique that doesn't waste as much beer?

I just use an auto siphon. It has a piece on the bottom that is solid and keeps me from sucking up too much trub. I even place a small towel under one side of the bucket or carboy to make sure I get as much of the beer as I can.

Don't forget to sanitize!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIu6IRpFNr8]YouTube - Home Brewing Tools : Home-Brewing Auto Siphon[/ame]

Can you put something on the end of the siphon like a sponge to act as a filter? Would that clog up?

bhughes said:

Can you put something on the end of the siphon like a sponge to act as a filter? Would that clog up?

Click to expand...

You don't need to salvage all the liquid in your primary. That's why we all all a little more water to make sure we have our 5G batch. The key is to have enough spacing between the trub and your siphoning device.
I would highly recommend auto-siphon.. it is easy and relatively low cost.

Otherwise, if you have a plastic primary.. drill a hole and put a spigot for racking and bottling.

For glass, autosiphon would be your choice.

bhughes said:

Can you put something on the end of the siphon like a sponge to act as a filter? Would that clog up?

Click to expand...

No need with the auto siphon.

Even the standard cheap racking cane should have a plastic tip on the end to keep trub out.

I just keep about .5 to 1 inch of space from the trub to the siphon. I don't really care about having exactly 5 gal, 4 or 5 fewer beers is okay with me (and makes SWMBO happy too)

I haven't tried it yet...but I intend to wrap a coffee filter around the foot of my racking cane and use a plastic zip-tie to clamp it to the tube.

Hopefully it won't be too restrictive, and will let the siphon flow.

Pogo

This is my first brew so I haven't used my autosiphon yet. It sounds like this won't be a problem based on the fact that there is something on the siphon that keeps the trub out. But I guess you still end up leaving a some beer behind in the primary in order to keep from sucking up the trub at the bottom?

You are overcomplicating it. I would have to try to suck up anything with the siphon. On the primary where there is a ton of trub by the time I am racking it is so compact that it just doesn't loosen up enough to go up the siphon. I can actually rest my cane on top of the trub and get almost no sediment at all.

Putting a coffee filter over the end of the cane is just overkill and probably will do A LOT more harm in oxidation than any benefit you derive. Especially since you will get no benefit.