Feeling dumb... can't figure out auto siphon

[beerman77]

This is embarrassing to say the least. I finally decided to break the bank and get an auto siphon so I can quit filling the tubing and racking cane with water to create a suction. So I get this thing (Fermtech) and follow the instruction practicing of a gallon jug of water. CANNOT FIGURE IT OUT!!!!!!!!!! It says Start a siphon with a single stroke! I followed the directions of extending center tube halfway and submerging about 8" and giving one or two strokes. All I get is a lot of resistance, bubbling, and splashing everywhere. No siphon. I have a bottle filler attachment on the other end. What the hell am I doing wrong? This should be so simple but I spent an hour wrestling with it before giving up. At least I didn't harm my actual beer which I am bottling tomorrow. If I cannot get it I'll just have to re-attach my racking cane and do it the old fashioned but reliable way. HELP????

 

[Arneba28]

The bottling wand is the problem. Submerg the large end with the cap thing on it in the water or wort. While thats in place, raise the inside cane about half way. Then firmly but not fast push on the top of the cane till it stops going down. The wort should be pushed down inside the out tube and up into the cane. If you do now take the filling wand off the other end of the hose the wort has no where to go and therefor cannon create an exit vacuum as the wort leaves the end of the hose.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

Remove the bottle filler...it remains closed until you press it down on the bottom of a bottle! That's what's creating the pressure and keeping your siphon from starting.

You do plan to use a bottling bucket & spigot once you're actually bottling, right? Bottling with a auto-siphon or racking cane is not ideal.

 

[DutchK9]

Remove the bottle filler...it remains closed until you press it down on the bottom of a bottle! That's what's creating the pressure and keeping your siphon from starting.

You do plan to use a bottling bucket & spigot once you're actually bottling, right? Bottling with a auto-siphon or racking cane is not ideal.

Why is bottling with an auto siphon not ideal? I usually bottle half and keg half of my batches. I use my auto siphon to bottle, and as it reaches the top and I pull it out of the bottle it leaves the perfect amount of head space. It fills the bottle from the bottom up, so why is that wrong or not ideal?

Beerman77 if you look at the cane part of the auto siphon it has a plastic pin coming out of the bottom. On the top of the pin inside the black piece there is a small rubber o-ring around it. As the pin falls down, the o-ring creates a seal, which is why you feel the pressure. If you push the tip down to the bottom of whatever you are trying to transfer your wort into, the pin will get pushed up, releasing the seal and allowing the liquid to flow. That is why I like using it to fill bottles, because as soon as you lift the pin off the bottom of the bottle, the flow stops because of the o-ring leaving the perfect amount of beer in a bottle.

 

[Mirilis]

I use my bottling wand to fill wine bottles with my auto siphon.. I keg all my beer so I havnt tried it in the smaller bottles but I have never had a problem after it gets started. When you lift up on the wand to switch bottles it still has pressure so when you start the new bottle the liquid continues to flow.

 

[Joker]

Just press the bottling wand into the bottle while starting the siphon when you start. However, a bottling bucket is much easier.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I use my autosiphon with bottling wand to fill bottles. No issues. Just press the wand into a bottle depressing the pin and start your siphon. pretty simple. Allows you to get more beer from the bottling bucket that would otherwise sit below the spigot.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Remove the bottle filler...it remains closed until you press it down on the bottom of a bottle! That's what's creating the pressure and keeping your siphon from starting.

You do plan to use a bottling bucket & spigot once you're actually bottling, right? Bottling with a auto-siphon or racking cane is not ideal.

I would disagree. By eliminating a rack to the bottle bucket and going straight from secondary to longnecks would actually be a better scenario for the beer.

When I do bottle, I just extend the primary. Cold crash for a week to flocc the yeast tight to the bottom and rack straight into the bottle.

Whem you have an autosiphon, I just don;t see the point of using a bottling bucket. Worst case is you lose your siphon you pump it again.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I would disagree. By eliminating a rack to the bottle bucket and going straight from secondary to longnecks would actually be a better scenario for the beer.

When I do bottle, I just extend the primary. Cold crash for a week to flocc the yeast tight to the bottom and rack straight into the bottle.

And when/where do you add your priming sugar? Right to the fermenter? Or do you prime each bottle individually? Either option is a poor practice, IMO. There is no way to evenly distribute your priming solution in a fermenter without disturbing the trub, negating weeks of settling. And bottle priming is notoriously inconsistent.

Back in the prehistoric days of homebrewing (the 80's!) I primed in the bottle and used a racking cane and bottling wand. It was a nightmare trying to maintain a siphon, hold the cane above the trub and fill the bottles simultaneously. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad for somebody with three hands...for the rest of us, a bucket and spigot is the sensible way to go.

 

[scinerd3000]

And when/where do you add your priming sugar? Right to the fermenter? Or do you prime each bottle individually? Either option is a poor practice, IMO. There is no way to evenly distribute your priming solution in a fermenter without disturbing the trub, negating weeks of settling. And bottle priming is notoriously inconsistent.

Back in the prehistoric days of homebrewing (the 80's!) I primed in the bottle and used a racking cane and bottling wand. It was a nightmare trying to maintain a siphon, hold the cane above the trub and fill the bottles simultaneously. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad for somebody with three hands...for the rest of us, a bucket and spigot is the sensible way to go.

i second this notion...i tried it once out of lazyness and i got the haziest bottles i have ever seen. Any remaining trub on the bottom gets kicked up no matter how careful you are...

 

[DutchK9]

And when/where do you add your priming sugar? Right to the fermenter? Or do you prime each bottle individually? Either option is a poor practice, IMO. There is no way to evenly distribute your priming solution in a fermenter without disturbing the trub, negating weeks of settling. And bottle priming is notoriously inconsistent.

Back in the prehistoric days of homebrewing (the 80's!) I primed in the bottle and used a racking cane and bottling wand. It was a nightmare trying to maintain a siphon, hold the cane above the trub and fill the bottles simultaneously. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad for somebody with three hands...for the rest of us, a bucket and spigot is the sensible way to go.

I have to agree with you there. I still transfer my secondary to a bucket to elimate the trub. But a auto siphon is a totally different animal than a racking cane. The siphon quits when lifted. No mess, no fuss, and I am able to get just about all the wort out of the bucket with it so there is no waste.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

And when/where do you add your priming sugar? Right to the fermenter? Or do you prime each bottle individually? Either option is a poor practice, IMO. There is no way to evenly distribute your priming solution in a fermenter without disturbing the trub, negating weeks of settling. And bottle priming is notoriously inconsistent.

Back in the prehistoric days of homebrewing (the 80's!) I primed in the bottle and used a racking cane and bottling wand. It was a nightmare trying to maintain a siphon, hold the cane above the trub and fill the bottles simultaneously. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad for somebody with three hands...for the rest of us, a bucket and spigot is the sensible way to go.

I suppose I should digress some, considering that 95% of my beer is kegged I have opted to simplify what little bottling I do and I use the priming tabs. Given how few bottles I typically fill I have found that by crushing the tabs prior to adding them to the bottles I get consistent carbonation.

Pre-autosiphon I did the same as you. Fermenter to bucket for priming then to glass.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I suppose I should digress some, considering that 95% of my beer is kegged I have opted to simplify what little bottling I do and I use the priming tabs. Given how few bottles I typically fill I have found that by crushing the tabs prior to adding them to the bottles I get consistent carbonation.

I do the same...9 out of 10 batches are kegged, but I like to fill one six-pack of 12oz bottles, just in case the beer exceeds my wildest expectations and I want to enter it in a competition. (While I've exceeded expectations, I've never gotten around to the competition part! ) The carb tabs work great for small bottling jobs, and the auto-siphon or racking cane is fine, since you don't have to place it anywhere near the trub just to siphon off a few quarts. But to a newbie filling 48+ bottles, I strongly suggest they use a bottling bucket.

Crushing the tabs hadn't occurred to me, I just gently rock the bottles each day for the first week and they dissolve fine. Obviously this is easy for a single six-pack, but I would hate to do it with an entire batch!

 

[IrregularPulse]

It was a nightmare trying to maintain a siphon, hold the cane above the trub and fill the bottles simultaneously. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad for somebody with three hands...for the rest of us, a bucket and spigot is the sensible way to go.

When transferring to a bottling bucket and then using my autosiphon, there isn't any trub to worry about and I can let my autosiphon sit on the bottom. If you are getting trub into the bottling bucket that you need to avoid, then You need to be more careful when racking.

 

[brewt00l]

When transferring to a bottling bucket and then using my autosiphon, there isn't any trub to worry about and I can let my autosiphon sit on the bottom. If you are getting trub into the bottling bucket that you need to avoid, then You need to be more careful when racking.

I take it from all this that your bottling bucket isn't ported w/ a spigot?

 

[DutchK9]

I take it from all this that your bottling bucket isn't ported w/ a spigot?

Mine isn't. I don't need it with the auto siphon. I can get pretty greedy transferring wort from the secondary to the bottling bucket and get almost all the wort when transferring from the bottling bucket to bottles and kegs. The beauty of it is I get the same amount of headspace on every bottle, and there is no mess.