how to fill the siphoning hose

I'm getting ready to bottle my first batch today or tomorrow. As per guidance I will first transfer it to a bucket to mix in the sugar (don't have any malt this time). The book says to fill the hose with water to start the siphoning but I would much prefer to just suck on it until the brew is almost to the end. Is that tiny bit of saliva going to contaminate my beer or will I be OK?

Yes, the tiny bit of saliva is going to contaminate your beer. Your mouth has billions of bacteria cells in it. If you really want to suck start it, gargle with mouthwash or distilled liquor before you put your lips on it.

OK it's not that you WILL contaminate it, but its a good chance of doing so. I wouldn't risk it.

buy an autosiphon, best $10 ever.

How do you go about getting a siphon going without sucking on the hose? Assuming you don't have an auto siphon.

Auto Siphon FTW.

If you don't have an autosiphon, the best way to fill the hose is either dunk it in a small tub of water, like a wallpaper pan, and then hold both ends closed. Then drop the siphon into your wort and let the water drain into a cup until you see beer. Or, sanitize your hands and hold one end close to a running faucet and it forces water up into it. When the tube fills, pinch it off.

Or buy an autosiphon. You will love. it.

Palmers book says to fill the siphon with sanitizer then let thatrunoff into a jar or cup until the beer starts to flow. Is that going to get sanitizer into your beer? I mean the hos is going to be coated with sanitizer so I am assuming you would want to run a cup or so of beer through the hose into the runoff jar and then proceed with bottling.

By the way the kit I am about to order is coming upgraded with an autosiphon.

Yes, it'll get sanitizer in your beer. But think of the surface area of your fermenter that's already been sanitized. A tiny bit from a siphon isn't going to hurt the beer. In fact if you use StarSan the tiny bit of acid left over is good for the yeast.

The large plastic kitchen syringe works great for starting a siphon if you happen to have one. I also read people use turkey basters.

Im with some of the above. I did some of the dip the hose to get a siphon going. Then i bought a auto siphon. It was worth its weight in gold. One of the best pieces of equipment i own.

tdavisii said:

Im with some of the above. I did some of the dip the hose to get a siphon going. Then i bought a auto siphon. It was worth its weight in gold. One of the best pieces of equipment i own.

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newbrewr4fun said:

How do you go about getting a siphon going without sucking on the hose? Assuming you don't have an auto siphon.

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you fill the hose with water, or sanitizer. put one end in full bucket up high, then release the other end into bucket down low. but, you must avoid splashing at all costs.

get an auto-siphon. way easier.

Autosiphon. I hate siphoning and this made it easy.

I just did my first siphon with only a tube + cane. It was pretty easy to get going... Just gotta watch out for bubbles that get into the tube. I had a cup on standby to blow out these oxygenating bubbles into... all went well

I fill the tubes with Starsan and put it into the beer and let the starsan run off into a bowl and then start filling the bottles. The bottles already have a bit of starsan in them so it can't possibly hurt.

And when I rack to secondary, I use a 2 hole carboy cap and suck to get it started. It never touches the beer and the beer never touches the cap.