Bottling problems

[boxofjibboo]

Why does this happen when I use my siphon to bottle? I get a large space of air in my hose and its siphoning veeerrrryyy slowly. I pump but it just pushes more air and bubble through. Here are pictures to show you.

 

[boxofjibboo]

And then I have those bubbles also and am curious if its affecting my beer.

All help is appreciated!

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Try a light layer of keg Lube around the siphon seal. What is that black thing in the picture on the siphon ?

 

[unionrdr]

I got that with my auto siphon too. It wants to aerate the beer on the other end of the tube. I went through & made sure it was clean everywhere. Then made sure all the peices were tight & snug. It took me a couple trys to get it to fill up. What a pain. Glad I got spigots on everything now. I've only used it once,but keep it just in case.

 

[beergolf]

It is the seal. I usually squirt a little brew down the barrel of the siphon above the seal to help it out. It eliminates the problem.

jeepinctbrewer had onother good solution using the keg lube.

 

[boxofjibboo]

I appreciate the input. I see that by itself, it has put beer on the other side of the seal. For now I will try a thicker hose. I've been using fasteners to try making an air tight connection from siphons to hose, and hose to bottling wand. Another problem I've noticed is the plug on the suction side of the siphon keeps popping out. Most likely from pumping too hard with the bottling wand on the other side. This makes it so no beer will go up the siphon. Happened twice so far during this bottling. Very irritating.

 

[unionrdr]

That's why I made a bottling bucket with a spigot to atatch my bottling wand & tube to. Much easier to maintain a solid stream.

 

[helibrewer]

Yes, add a spigot to one of your pails, you can still ferment in it if needed but it makes bottling MUCH easier.

 

[boxofjibboo]

I still have the problem of using my siphon from fermenter to bottling bucket. I think I've messed up from putting my auto siphon in 170 degree water. I think the hot water messed it up.

I noticed the inner siphon tube us now an inch or more higher than the base of my outer siphon tube.

 

[lgilmore]

There's an excellent sticky here on bottling, strongly suggest it. It made bottling for me after premlimbs a 30 minute task for 5 gallons. Really can't say enough about it.

Question? why are you siphoning 170 degree wort?

 

[greenhaze]

Attach your bottling wand to the spigot on your bottling bucket. See attached photos.
Slainte

 

[amandabab]

it looks like a 1/2" hose on a 3/8" auto siphon. even with a perfect seal the hose will drain faster the the tube can supply it.

 

[AndrewD]

It may not be a sealing issue. As amandabab said, the ID of the hose is larger than the fitting the beer goes through. Luckily, I have a easy trick that will probably remedy the problem. Take the output hose of your siphon and hold it in the air above your bottling bucket. If you have a spring valve or similar on the bottle end, you will likely have to hold it open. Slowly lower the open end of the hose so as to allow all of the air to exit and beer to fill the hose. You might need a pint glass to catch any beer that comes out the end. Once all of the air is gone from the hose, you should be able to bottle without any air in the line as there will be a true siphon throughout the whole thing. If you are still drawing air in after this, then it is definitely a seal problem.

 

[boxofjibboo]

Yes I have seen the bottling thread on here. I haven't purchased a bottling bucket but instead transfer from fermenting bucket to kettle, kettle to bottles with autosiphon.

I am transferring 170 degree water as strike water onto my grain bed when mashing so as not to disturb the grains. I know I probably don't need to do that when batch sparging but seems like it works.

AndrewD, I feel like when I place my bottling wand into a a bottle and start the pumping it initially does the same thing.

I think as per everyone suggest I get a spigot for my additional fermenting bucket and make it a bottling bucket.

Or buy a new siphon.

 

[unionrdr]

Make a bottling bucket with the red/white italian spigot. I think it cost me $13 from my lhbs. Atach your bottling wand to that & no more flow problems.

 

[kombat]

1) I agree with AndrewD, it looks like a tube sizing issue to me. Your tube is bigger than the rigid cane portion of your autosiphon, thus it cannot fill the tube completely, and air gets trapped. I'd be concerned about oxidizing your beer at this crucial phase. Try a smaller tube. It should fit perfectly - you shouldn't even need that metal hose clamp, it should fit snugly with simple friction.

2) You're right, you don't need to worry about disturbing the grain bed during batch sparging. Indeed, you WANT to "disturb" the grain bed. You should be pouring the water in, and stirring the heck out of it to extract any remaining sugars, before closing up your MT and waiting 10 minutes for it to settle down again.

When doughing-in, add the water to your MT first by just pouring it in directly from your HLT - no siphoning necessary. Then after your water has cooled to the desired temperature, sprinkle the grains into the water, stirring constantly to avoid dough-balls, then keep stirring until your temp has dropped to the desired mash temperature (it should already be almost dead-on if your calculations were correct). My autosiphon doesn't get dusted off until I rack from primary to secondary before cold-crashing and adding gelatin, then again 2 days later during kegging.

 

[unionrdr]

I used the 3/8" tubing for my bottling wand to the spout on the spigot. Pretty tight.

 

[twistr25]

A cheap 5 gallon bucket would even work from Lowes then you wouldn't have to drill your primary

 

[nedrierson78]

Can somebody please link to the "bottling" thread that is referred to in this thread? I don't see it as a "sticky".

Thanks

 

[lgilmore]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/


Try this. It should take you there.