how to avoid bubbles with auto siphon?

Was running a test with an auto siphon and noticed a lot of bubbles. Tried with a regular siphon and no bubbles. I've read people complaining about this with auto siphons, but don't remember any solution to this. Thoughts? The auto siphon is new. It was wet before using and the gasket is in good shape. Any ideas for how to avoid the bubbles are appreciated.

You are going to have a few by the simple nature of the device. Once the siphon starts, there aren't many.

if you dont take it apart when you store it, it will suck in air. once I started pulling mine apart I have had no problems,but I was ready to throw it out at one point.

it takes a lot more oxygen exposure of our beer to cause any damage, than what we do in the normal course of our brewing AND in most of the boneheaded mistakes we make(including using our autosiphon like a hand pump if it gets stuck) or typical bubbles in the lines.

In a basic brewing podcast years ago, one of the big wigs, John Palmer, or Chris Colby (the editor of BYO) said that the amount of oxygen to actually damage our beer, is actually far in excess of what we do in the normal course of brewing and even most of our accidents. And requires about the amount of oxygen that we could pump in by emptying one of our red oxygen bottles with an airstone into our bottling bucket....not the normal amount of motion we make if we are careful brewers.

Also the effects of oxydation are long term they affect the storage of beers...Unless you pumped an oxygen bottle into your finished beer, you will have consumed your two cases of beer long before any signs of oxydation would show up.

So don't stress out about that...try to avoid it, but don't freak out about a few bubbles here and there...

Thanks guys. Good information all around. Always done siphons by hand, but my regular racking canes are missing that little plastic thing for the bottom, so want to use the auto siphon I picked up in the States, which does have that piece. Also seems easier to deal with, naturally.

Anyway, thanks.

If you just mean when starting the siphon, instead of "pumping" it, start it up by pulling the siphon most of the way up, inserting it into the wort, and then pushing down.

The only thing that bothers me about my autosiphon is I don't have a clip big enough to just snap it into place on the side of my fermenter while I'm using it, like I do for my racking cane.

What size hose are you using? I had same problem but switched to 5/16 hose and problem solved. It's a little difficult to get on and off but seems to work best. I also cut about an inch off the hose every two or three uses to keep a tight fit.

You could use a worm clap but you risk breaking the siphon's tube if too tight. Hand tighten only.

weirdboy said:

The only thing that bothers me about my autosiphon is I don't have a clip big enough to just snap it into place on the side of my fermenter while I'm using it, like I do for my racking cane.

Click to expand...

Jumbo binder clips work great.

weirdboy said:

If you just mean when starting the siphon, instead of "pumping" it, start it up by pulling the siphon most of the way up, inserting it into the wort, and then pushing down.

Click to expand...

I'll try that. Thanks!

wzup97 said:

What size hose are you using? I had same problem but switched to 5/16 hose and problem solved. It's a little difficult to get on and off but seems to work best. I also cut about an inch off the hose every two or three uses to keep a tight fit.

You could use a worm clap but you risk breaking the siphon's tube if too tight. Hand tighten only.

Click to expand...

The tightness of the hose is no issue for me. It's exactly the same hose as with the regular racking cane. Just swapped the hose and the regular racking cane had no issue and it's the same size as the auto siphon racking cane.

+1, 5/16" ID hose fits nice and tight on the 3/8" autosiphon cane. That's probably where the air is getting sucked in. IF you have 3/8" tubing, you might get it to stop by pushing it on further than you have it now and adding two hose clamps. I find it's better to wrap a larger piece of tubing around that before the clamp because worm clamps don't apply even concentric pressure on small diameters.

I noticed if you back the internal cane up just a little once the siphon is established you will gt less bubbles. Not sure what the technical reason is, but it works.

Just ran some more tests and sure enough, the bubbles pretty much disappear after about a minute of siphoning. It's just at the start. The hose is not an issue, but thanks for the ideas, guys.