Sampling Syringe

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killerbee

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I modified a large syringe to allow me to pull samples of my sour beers from carboys and kegs with minimal oxygen introduction and only slight disturbance of the pellicle.

Sampling Syringe Video - YouTube

It requires a 3½ ounce (100ml) syringe with a ¼” OD tip, a small piece of ¼” ID tubing and a section of ¼” OD stainless steel tube. To use just remove the 3-piece airlock cover and cap, insert the stainless steel tube through the airlock into the carboy or keg as deep as desired and pull the syringe plunger to draw the sample. There is no need to remove the bung or stopper.
 
Great idea!

It would be useful too for taking samples out of buckets. I currently snake a 2.5' piece of 1/4" OD tubing down the grommet hole and siphon out a sample, but getting it started is a bit tricky.
 
Very clever idea! I hate taking the lids off my buckets to take a sample, so I usually let it ferment 3 weeks, open and float a hydrometer in the bucket, as long as it's close to expected FG I keg it. But I might just get one of these made to remove samples prior to kegging.
 
Great idea. Have you used it in a production environment yet; does the suction hold the liquid in the tube well, or does it drip out at all?
 
Cool, I may just have to make one of these. It's a great idea.

The volume pulled is replaced with ambient air. If you have a kegging system, do you try to purge CO2 back in before closing it back up?

I wonder if you could use the same syringe to replace the sample taken with some top-off beer.
 
The volume pulled is replaced with ambient air. If you have a kegging system, do you try to purge CO2 back in before closing it back up?

I wonder if you could use the same syringe to replace the sample taken with some top-off beer.

For that I use a stainless wand connected to a CO2 tank regulator via a gas ball lock disconnect. I insert the wand through the airlock to purge the headspace of a carboy, bucket or keg with CO2.

CO2 Purge Wand - YouTube

The purge rate is selectable from 0-8 LPM. The regulator attachment fitting is converted from CGA 540 to CGA 320.
 
For that I use a stainless wand connected to a CO2 tank regulator via a gas ball lock disconnect. I insert the wand through the airlock to purge the headspace of a carboy, bucket or keg with CO2.

CO2 Purge Wand - YouTube

The purge rate is selectable from 0-8 LPM. The regulator attachment fitting is converted from CGA 540 to CGA 320.

Can i ask why you removed the videos? I made the sample syringe and was going to watch your purge wand one to make it but its gone... :(
 
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Thanks for sharing this! Just used it for the first time, it worked great, nice to be able to leave the stopper in the carboy.
 
Made a couple of better videos. Here are the new links:

Sampling Syringe & Purge Wand

CO2 Purge Wand

First, thanks so much for posting these. I already made the sampling syringe, which is awesome by the way, and I've now ordered the parts to build the purge wand. I'm really hoping being able to CO2 purge will help my hoppy beers out quite a bit.

One thing I wasn't clear on from the video, was how long at what setting on your gauge do you purge? It seemed very short from the video, but I wasn't sure if it was just edited that way to save time.

For example, let's say I wanted to purge when:

1 - I take a sample from the fermenter with syrnige
2 - I open the fermenter to add dry hops
3 - The secondary prior to transferring beer from the primary

Any recommendations for what to do there?
 
I got the syringe and two of the SSTubes from the posted Amazon links. They work great. I have one of those O2 flow meters, but it's on my O2 tank, not my CO2 tank. The flow meter is probably better, but for purging, I just set my regulator to a very low PSI, so it's just starting to trickle out.

For the questions above, it will be entirely dependent on the volume of your headspace. Don't over-think it though. It's not like you can over-purge, so just let it rip until your sure it's gotten a good dose of CO2.
 
I got the syringe and two of the SSTubes from the posted Amazon links. They work great. I have one of those O2 flow meters, but it's on my O2 tank, not my CO2 tank. The flow meter is probably better, but for purging, I just set my regulator to a very low PSI, so it's just starting to trickle out.

For the questions above, it will be entirely dependent on the volume of your headspace. Don't over-think it though. It's not like you can over-purge, so just let it rip until your sure it's gotten a good dose of CO2.


Thanks, Tak! Let's say I'm using all fermenters designed for 5-6 gallon batches. Are we talking just a couple of seconds, a couple of minutes, etc?

Agreed you can't over purge, but would be good to know that I'm not foolishly wasting my CO2 tank.
 
Well, I might not be the best person to ask, because I err on the side of wasting some CO2, but I don't really consider it a waste if some is escaping the carboy, that's just the cost of assurance.

I have 3 carboys of sours that are each filled into the very skinniest part of the neck. They literally have single digit cubic inches of headspace. Those, I haven't sampled yet, but they'll only get a few seconds of CO2. If you have a gallon of headspace, personally, I'd probably purge for a good 30 or up to 60 seconds.
 
One thing I wasn't clear on from the video, was how long at what setting on your gauge do you purge? It seemed very short from the video, but I wasn't sure if it was just edited that way to save time.

The purge time depends on your regulator's setting (for mine ¼ - 8 liters per minute) and the volume of the headspace of your container. In the video the headspace of the aging sour was less than 250ml making the purge time brief.

When purging and doing pressurized transfers I prefer using a converted O2 regulator with adjustable liters per minute rate settings over a standard CO2 regulator with an adjustable psi setting.
 
stumbled across something interesting. Does anyone think this could work?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J26U3R8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
yes, this would work as far as i can tell.

however it's less ideal than syringe + hard SS tube, IMO:

- the SS tube is hard and straight, so you poke a single hole through the pellicle. the plastic tubing will be curved and impossible to straighten out so you'll make a large hole.
- the plastic tubing does not look replaceable. sanitation on a tube that long is going to be a pain. i suppose you could cut it, but still...

i'd rather pay a few bucks more and get the real deal, but maybe this new version fits you needs and/or budget. if so, let us know how it works for you!
 
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another trick that I've been doing this this syringe and the soft vinyl tubing (SS tube optional) is to use it to start a siphon.

PROBLEM: i have many 1 gallon jugs that i use for fermenting. my standard auto-siphon won't fit in them because the neck is too narrow.

SOLUTION:
  • sanitize syringe, vinyl tubing, SS tube (if used) and your hands (or wear sanitized gloves).
  • attach 3+ feet of vinyl tubing to the syringe.
  • put the non-syringe end in the 1 gallon jug that needs to be emptied (optional: attach SS tube to the end of the vinyl tubing and put that in the jug. can be a pain to keep the SS tube above the sediment, tho).
  • use syringe to start sucking the beer up the tubing. stop just as the liquid gets to the syringe (i.e. the tubing is completely full). keep the tubing up high so that air bubbles rise up into the syringe.
  • once ready to siphon, quickly lower the syringe into the bottling bucket (which should be lower than the jug), snap off the syringe, and voila - you should have a siphon going.

i've been meaning to record a youtube video of this but have been too lazy. funny, typing this out probably took longer.
 
I've used this sampling syringe set-up a few times now. It works great, but it always drips out from the SS tube on the way to the glass.

Does anyone have any tips on how to stop the dripping?
 
another trick that I've been doing this this syringe and the soft vinyl tubing (SS tube optional) is to use it to start a siphon.

PROBLEM: i have many 1 gallon jugs that i use for fermenting. my standard auto-siphon won't fit in them because the neck is too narrow.

SOLUTION:
  • sanitize syringe, vinyl tubing, SS tube (if used) and your hands (or wear sanitized gloves).
  • attach 3+ feet of vinyl tubing to the syringe.
  • put the non-syringe end in the 1 gallon jug that needs to be emptied (optional: attach SS tube to the end of the vinyl tubing and put that in the jug. can be a pain to keep the SS tube above the sediment, tho).
  • use syringe to start sucking the beer up the tubing. stop just as the liquid gets to the syringe (i.e. the tubing is completely full). keep the tubing up high so that air bubbles rise up into the syringe.
  • once ready to siphon, quickly lower the syringe into the bottling bucket (which should be lower than the jug), snap off the syringe, and voila - you should have a siphon going.

i've been meaning to record a youtube video of this but have been too lazy. funny, typing this out probably took longer.

I did this this evening, and it worked exceptionally well.

Solution to keeping the SS tube above the trub: I pulled off the whole airlock and stopper, and replaced it with another drilled stopper. In the drilled hole, I put a very small length of silicone tubing. That provided just enough tension on the SS tube to hold it in place, while still allowing the tube to be easily moved up or down.

I was siphoning from a growler today, but I'm going to get a longer length SS tube to do the same thing with my carboys.

Another unanticipated benefit, the stopper actually held enough suction that after filling the tube with beer and removing the syringe, the beer stayed in the tube until I broke the seal between the stopper and the glass. That allowed me to place the tube exactly where I wanted it before breaking the seal and letting the siphon rip.
 
For that I use a stainless wand connected to a CO2 tank regulator via a gas ball lock disconnect. I insert the wand through the airlock to purge the headspace of a carboy, bucket or keg with CO2.

CO2 Purge Wand - YouTube

The purge rate is selectable from 0-8 LPM. The regulator attachment fitting is converted from CGA 540 to CGA 320.

Thanks so much for sharing, these are such great DIY ideas! Would someone mind sending a link to the O2 regulator for the purge wand? Is it something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LI8F1RA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

https://www.waresdirect.com/products/Commercial-Products/Western-Enterprises/Brass-Cylinder214696

Thanks.
 
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That's the regulator, and that adapter should work, and probably the simplest solution. What I think the OP did is replace the stem of the regulator with a CGA320 one. I don't know if it's RHT or LHT though.

Personally I just adjust the ball valve on my CO2 regulator until I get the flow I want. If you shop around you can get those oxygen regulators for less than $40.
 
Thought I'd post my update to my original sampling syringe here. Now I know this is overkill, but I went ahead and did it anyway:

2t2MnBV.jpg


Basically I took the original SS tube that I used and attached that to a SS Bayou Classic marinade injector.

I used one of the two needle attachments and took a pair of pliers to it to remove it from the part that screws into the syringe. Then I just used a dab of Gorilla Glue gel to connect that to my SS tube.

Now I can screw it on and off for storage, and it looks much nicer than the plastic syringe I was using previously.

What prompted me to do this was that after using the plastic syringe for several months the rubber stopper was starting to stick every time I used it, causing it to be a PITA to get the samples out smoothly and also making it start to come apart. So I was going to have to buy a new plastic one anyway.
 
Yeah, I always tried to make sure that it had a good soak in Star San which seemed to make it slick enough to avoid any problem, but I think over time the rubber stopper just started to dry up. The container it came in did specify that it was designed for one time use, so I don't think it was built to last forever.

I considered a bit of keg lube, but I was worried that might mess up the gravity reading afterward.
 
The small amount you use will hardly dissolve (it's not water soluble) and won't mess up any readings. I assume the metal syringe you have uses some kind of rubber seal that you would need to lubricate anyway. I do like it, it looks nice.
 
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