I hate my auto-siphon SO much!!!

Williams 728
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Hoochin'Fool

Hoochin'Fool

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Made a wort yesterday and did no-chill, so that I could bottle a finished beer today over lunch, and then transfer newest wort right on top of the yeast cake.
I do 3 gallon batches, so bottling doesn't take too long. But you know what DOES take a long-assed time? Cleaning up after the hose attached to the siphon decides to leap out of the bucket and spray all over the counter-top and floor. That was just transferring to bottling bucket. Then I frickin' did it AGAIN transferring chilled wort into fermenter. So much for sneaking this in during lunch break. :mad:
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
since @4Mesh offers some suggestions for next time, let's "pivot" to a slightly different topic

Recipe name?
  • Transfer Trauma Triple?
  • Spray Day IPA?
  • Auto-siphon blues brown?
Click to expand...
Good job! I couldn't help but laugh at those.

On a serious note again, do not store your auto siphon assembled. It will crush the suction cup Gizmo so it doesn't make a good seal and the siphon vacuum will be enough to suck air in and oxygenate your beer. Not funny.
 
4Mesh said:
On a serious note again, do not store your auto siphon assembled. It will crush the suction cup Gizmo so it doesn't make a good seal and the siphon vacuum will be enough to suck air in and oxygenate your beer.
Click to expand...
I have the style that can be disassembled /1/ - so I also re-assemble mine wet (brief soak in Star San).

Over time, mine tend to break here:
1683586537020.png
which it did a couple of months ago.

This time, I decided the breakage was "feature, not a bug" (as there is no way it can break again in that location). I may trim some of the sharper edges from the hard plastic. So far, it's been working fine.


/1/ there is second style that can not be disassembled (I have one of those also - as an 'emergency' backup).
 
Okay, I don't store mine assembled because if you do that cup on the bottom of the racking rod simply takes the shape of the inside of the exterior tube and it's no longer tight like it should be. Like a worn out windshield wiper. I'm pretty careful about how I store it so that it does seal properly. I've seen mine long ago where there was a constant stream of air bubbles getting sucked in and that is not very funny.
 
The following auto-siphon assembly evaluation process may have achieved the Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker seal of approval. o_O;)

With that out of the way ...

4Mesh said:
I've seen mine long ago where there was a constant stream of air bubbles getting sucked in and that is not very funny.
Click to expand...

With my bottling process, I have a technique that checks for bubbles:
  • assume a pair of 1 gal carboys
    • one of the carboys holds enough Star San to siphon between the carboys
  • assemble the mini-siphon and spring loaded bottling tip /1/
  • siphon a small amount of Star San between the carboys
    • check for bubbles, reassemble if necessary
  • Move the siphon into the fermenter / bottling bucketb
  • move the bottling tip to a separate container
  • siphon beer until the Star San has been removed
  • blissfully bottle beautiful beer, bypassing boisterous bad bubbles



/1/
1683589363626.png
 
Hoochin'Hank said:
Made a wort yesterday and did no-chill, so that I could bottle a finished beer today over lunch, and then transfer newest wort right on top of the yeast cake.
I do 3 gallon batches, so bottling doesn't take too long. But you know what DOES take a long-assed time? Cleaning up after the hose attached to the siphon decides to leap out of the bucket and spray all over the counter-top and floor. That was just transferring to bottling bucket. Then I frickin' did it AGAIN transferring chilled wort into fermenter. So much for sneaking this in during lunch break. :mad:
Click to expand...
Add spigots to your fermentor?
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
The following auto-siphon assembly evaluation process may have achieved the Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker seal of approval. o_O;)

With that out of the way ...



With my bottling process, I have a technique that checks for bubbles:
  • assume a pair of 1 gal carboys
    • one of the carboys holds enough Star San to siphon between the carboys
  • assemble the mini-siphon and spring loaded bottling tip /1/
  • siphon a small amount of Star San between the carboys
    • check for bubbles, reassemble if necessary
  • Move the siphon into the fermenter / bottling bucketb
  • move the bottling tip to a separate container
  • siphon beer until the Star San has been removed
  • blissfully bottle beautiful beer, bypassing boisterous bad bubbles



/1/ View attachment 819658
Click to expand...
I'm not talking about bottling. I'm talking about anytime you use the thing such as siphoning into a keg or whatever. Anytime they touch finished beer there is a risk of air getting in the thing. The Rubber seal has to have enough spring pressure against the inside walls of the outer tube or you can just throw it away. I will give you style points for the creative writing however.

The only bottling I've done in the last decade has been under CO2 pressure. But whatever. I figured I would point out one of the pitfalls some folks might not have seen if their auto-siphon is still new.
 
Last edited:
4Mesh said:
I figured I would point out one of the pitfalls some folks might not have seen if their auto-siphon is still new.
Click to expand...
Same for me.

It's plausible that someone has (or will be able to) adapt the "blissfully bottle beautiful beer, bypassing boisterous bad bubbles" process to work with other types of transfers.

Hopefully they will "report back".
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Recipe name?
  • Transfer Trauma Triple?
  • Spray Day IPA?
  • Auto-siphon blues brown?
Click to expand...
Let's see... the beer I bottled was a pretty basic Amber, slightly malty, and very tasty... "Amber Angst" maybe?
And then the beer I brewed the other day and transferred was a stout recipe Bobby_M posted somewhere around here recently... "Scream & Shout Stout" seems apt. :rock:
 
Rish said:
I use fv and bottling buckets with spigots because I too hate the auto-siphons. Easy and convenient for getting sg samples too.
Click to expand...
Well two of my ferment buckets have spigots (they are in use), but the other one that does not. And while it would be nice to have a spigot on my boil pot, that seems kind of silly on a 5.5 gal pot from Walmart.
 
+1 on the silicone tubing, but also eliminating the pumping motion of the autosiphon helps. This alternate style siphon pump on Etsy is awesome. (The Siphon Pump Perfect for Home Brew and Wine Making. - Etsy). Once you get it flowing, it doesn't need babysitting like the autosiphon because its just silicone tubing that dangles in each vessel and the tubing doesn't really want to move. It's easy to suspend the silicone in the source vessel to siphon as much out as possible while avoiding stirring up and transferring the sediments. Cleaning is a breeze, plus it's inexpensive and manual so malfunction/breakage isn't much of a concern. I use this thing on the cold side only, but I wouldn't hesitate to have a second hot side only hose and use it there too.
 
Last edited:
4Mesh said:
I was transferring beer in kegs a couple weeks ago and ended up with about a gallon on the floor. Nothing is exempt from Brewing mistakes.
Click to expand...
Right? And why does it have to so damned sticky? I wiped up my mess with bath towel #1. Then wetted bath towel #2, wiped floor/counter-tops thoroughly. Then wiped clean with bath towel #3. Still sticky! Got the Swiffer wet-jet out of the closet. [and then did it all a second time, grrr!].

Even so, first thing Missus Hank says when she gets home from work: "what the hell did you spill all over the floor" :rolleyes:
At least she didn't notice the 6 sticky bath-towels in the laundry room (yet)! :rock:
 
Hoochin'Hank said:
Right? And why does it have to so damned sticky? I wiped up my mess with bath towel #1. Then wetted bath towel #2, wiped floor/counter-tops thoroughly. Then wiped clean with bath towel #3. Still sticky! Got the Swiffer wet-jet out of the closet. [and then did it all a second time, grrr!].

Even so, first thing Missus Hank says when she gets home from work: "what the hell did you spill all over the floor" :rolleyes:
At least she didn't notice the 6 sticky bath-towels in the laundry room (yet)! :rock:
Click to expand...
Yeah, my kitchen was a great place to babysit small children. You could just pick them up and stick them where you wanted them and they would stay there.
 
Hoochin'Hank said:
Well two of my ferment buckets have spigots (they are in use), but the other one that does not. And while it would be nice to have a spigot on my boil pot, that seems kind of silly on a 5.5 gal pot from Walmart.
Click to expand...
I boiled wort for years in a 10-gallon kettle, emptying it with a siphon. I finally took the plunge and bought a 1/2" pipe size "weldless bulkhead". both the inside and outside are tapped for 1/2" pipe threads. it came with thick gaskets for the inside and outside of the kettle to account for the curvature. I determined where I wanted to place it and used a "step drill" to make the hole. if you're not familiar with a step drill, it is a device that is cone-shaped and has progressively larger diameter cutting surfaces. you start by using a normal drill bit to drill a hole large enough for the first "step" to fit into, then go to work until the hole is large enough. (a cheap step drill from Harbor Freight or amazon should do the job).

on the outside of the kettle I use a 1/2" stainless ball valve, and on the inside I use a 1/2" pipe to 3/8" tubing adapter. I bent a short section of 3/8" copper tubing that is shaped roughly like the numeral 7, with the top of the 7 connected to the fitting and the leg bent back so it reaches almost to the inner corner of the bottom.

after cooling, I vigorously whirlpool the wort and let it settle for a couple of hours, then connect the outlet hose to the ball valve and empty the contents into my fermenter.

my only regret is that it took years to finally getting around to drilling the kettle!
 
Last edited:
Hoochin'Hank said:
Right? And why does it have to so damned sticky? I wiped up my mess with bath towel #1. Then wetted bath towel #2, wiped floor/counter-tops thoroughly. Then wiped clean with bath towel #3. Still sticky! Got the Swiffer wet-jet out of the closet. [and then did it all a second time, grrr!].

Even so, first thing Missus Hank says when she gets home from work: "what the hell did you spill all over the floor" :rolleyes:
At least she didn't notice the 6 sticky bath-towels in the laundry room (yet)! :rock:
Click to expand...
another "feature, not a bug": every brew day my kitchen floor gets cleaned!
 
Ratdog said:
+1 on the silicone tubing, but also eliminating the pumping motion of the autosiphon helps. This alternate style siphon pump on Etsy is awesome. (The Siphon Pump Perfect for Home Brew and Wine Making. - Etsy). Once you get it flowing, it doesn't need babysitting like the autosiphon because its just silicone tubing that dangles in each vessel and the tubing doesn't really want to move. It's easy to suspend the silicone in the source vessel to siphon as much out as possible while avoiding stirring up and transferring the sediments. Cleaning is a breeze, plus it's inexpensive and manual so malfunction/breakage isn't much of a concern. I use this thing on the cold side only, but I wouldn't hesitate to have a second hot side only hose and use it there too.
Click to expand...
Very cool. Thanks!

(only 2 left now...)
 
For what it is worth, I finally spent a little more money to get this stainless auto siphon which I can manage easily with 2 hands. I clamp the stainless tube to the side of my boil kettle when transferring to my fermenters and then I even use a plastic tie wrap to secure the clamp to the lift handle on my fermenter. Then I can siphon wort starting from the top of the boil kettle and slowly slide the stainless siphon tube down to keep as much debris out of the fermenter. Then I have the other hand to secure the long silicone tubing in the receiving vessel. It works great and was worth the extra expense. It is also very easy to clean.

https://www.brewsensible.com/collec...s/products/brewsssiphon?variant=7231206031407
 
Easy Jiggler - Stainless Auto Siphon Racking Cane | MoreBeer

I ditched the auto siphon and went with a stainless jiggler. Since moving to closed transfers on beer, this only gets used now for getting wine out of glass carboys, but it’s another option for you, and comes with the silicon hose. Best of all, it’s super fast! If you mess up with this one; it’s a major spill, though.
 

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