Starting syphon with mouth

I know its a no-no, but if I don't have an autosyphon handy can a syphon be carefully started with the mouth or is there just too much bacteria in the mouth to maintain sanitation?

Some have done it, but it's really something you would only do in a desperate, desperate situation. At the very least, gargle with something high-octane ahead of time. If you use carboys, get yourself a carboy cap; they are absolutely cake to get a siphon started with, and even if you prefer the autosiphon they are a great backup if the autosiphon breaks.

Submerse your racking tube in sanitizing solution...or even the dreaded tap water. Get water into all of the tube. Hold the end with your sanitized thumb and make sure no water is draining out of your racking cane end.

Stick the racking cane into your beer and let your thumb go over a pan, etc. When it's running with beer, hold your thumb and move over to whatever vessel your transfering to.

I need to practice that, that's a good skill to have.

It could be done but I wouldn't do it. Just fill the syphon hose with preboiled warter put your finger over one end and the other in the beer. Start the syphon. When all the warter is gone from the hose then start collecting the beer.

yeah i read about that in papazian's bible...seems a little tricky but I'll give it a shot....I'M SO NERVOUS TO BOTTLE MY FIRST BREW...how will it taste? am i sanitizing everything enough? what if i screw up weeks of preperation and hard work? i need to relax and have a storebought brew i suppose...

Puravida,

I used to use the "fill the entire tube and racking cane with water and put your thumb over the end of the tube" technique and never had a problem with it.

Your beer's going to be great!

Another good trick is to take a small piece of racking cane (sanitized) and put it in the end of the hose. Start the siphon with your mouth, then once it is started , quickly pull the small piece of tube out (which is what you had your mouth on) and put the still clean end of the hose in your bottling bucket.

Funny I'd not brewed a batch in six months until this past weekend and was thinking about this same thing...Not sure of your set-up but I have a spigot from my brew pot so no worries into the primary but in transferring to the secondary, I've always struggled with filling everything with water and holding it just right...seems more trouble than it is worth...most times it does not work and you do it twice or more before the siphon starts and now you have just touched everything twice, used water from who knows where, etc.

I've gone so far as to use my CO2 to pressure the primary and get the siphon going...use the orange carboy cap...one side gas in one side racking cane out. You need to hold the cap down and pull the gas once siphon starts...I've always worried about bursting the carboy.

After fermenting in the primary, the beer should have plenty of alcohol so as not to be an issue using your mouth...I've brewed many, many batches and have not had an issue...of course I first gargle a shot of my favorite liquor prior to doing it this way!

No matter what you do, as Orpheus says, your beer will be great.

I just douse a napkin with cheap vodka ... put it over the hose and suck. Never had a problem ... nothing bad is gonnaget by the vodka.

You may laugh, but I use enema (small one, sold with ear wax removal drops) to start syphon. Or you could use something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000VLZIA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 No need to waist vodka

I do it with almost every batch and I haven't had any problems. I TRY to use the carboy cap method but there are times when I get so frustruated with clogging hoses that I just throw the racking can and carboy cap and make things as simple as possible.

I use the method of filling the tube with idopher solution (I usually have a couple of transfers going on at the same time).
I have a tube on the racking cane that is long enough to allow it to coil on the bottom of what ever I am transfering to while having the other container on the counter. It's a little tricky at fist getting the racking cane and tubing set up without letting it touch anything not sanitized, but you can easily handle the sections that won't be in the fermentors without worry.
The longer tube makes it easier to transfer quietly with the beer/wort higher than the empty vessel (faster transfering) and easier starting of the syphon. I don't have any sanitizer in the racking cane and I get the syphon going quite easily.

AdIn said:

You may laugh, but I use enema (small one, sold with ear wax removal drops) to start syphon. Or you could use something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000VLZIA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 No need to waist vodka

Click to expand...

Beer enema...

Hmm.. this gives me an idea...

If you're going to start buying things to siphon with, you might as well spend the $10 on an autosiphon, which can also be used to draw samples to test for FG.

I use the tube from an eyedropper that I've taken the bulb off of. I sanitize it and then just put the small end of the tube against (not in) the siphon hose and suck on the other end. Mouth never touches the siphon hose.