i hate siphoning

[rico567]

Auto siphons are awesome. Except when you are ready to bottle and the plunger has vanished into thin air. Looks like I will be using the hose today.

Happened to my length of silicon hose when I went to rack a batch last week. All that stuff is always right there on a bench....but not then. I was on the verge of sanitizing an old length of vinyl hose when, on an impulse, I looked in the bottling bucket, and there it was.

 

[Jayhem]

Not sure why people complain about cleaning or sanitizing autosiphons, it's easy as pie;

To clean: fill a bucket with about 1/2 gallon of water, insert siphon end and hose and pump...water recirculates into bucket, repeat if necessary.

To sanitize: pour 1/2 gallon of star san in bucket, insert clean siphon end and hose and pump to recirculate, leave siphon in sanitizer until ready to rack! You can actually leave the autosiphon filled with sanitizer, when you start to rack you only need to pump it once to start the flow, once the sanitizer is out, pinch off hose, insert into next bottling bucket or secondary and siphon away.

 

[IXVolt]

I just drop my autosiphon and tubing in my corny while it sanitizes. easy peazy.

 

[rico567]

I sanitize the autosiphon, and all the other small stuff in a 30" plastic wallpaper tray. Another candidate for "best gadget ever." Got it at the hardware store for $6-7.

Another tip, courtesy of someone here on HBT: never store your autosiphon assembled. That way, the gasket on the sliding racking cane inside the bigger tube won't get permanently set to a smaller diameter, so it's more likely to seal well over time.

 

[tknice]

If you're doing 10 gallon batches, you should ferment in a Sanke keg. I personally use this:

http://www.brewershardware.com/American-Sanke-Keg-Fermenter-Kit-with-Thermowell.html

I hook up CO2 to my blowoff port, push at ~5psi to my kegs, and all is well.

Interesting idea bwarbiany.. I currently split 10 gallon batches into 5 gallon fermenters. Unfortunately, my chambers prob won't hold a 15 gal sanke, but I bet it would go in a temp controlled chest freezer nicely for lagering.

Not to derail this thread, but what happens to the yeast when you push beer via the blowoff over to the kegs?

 

[Falcor]

Not sure why people complain about cleaning or sanitizing autosiphons, it's easy as pie;

To clean: fill a bucket with about 1/2 gallon of water, insert siphon end and hose and pump...water recirculates into bucket, repeat if necessary.

To sanitize: pour 1/2 gallon of star san in bucket, insert clean siphon end and hose and pump to recirculate, leave siphon in sanitizer until ready to rack! You can actually leave the autosiphon filled with sanitizer, when you start to rack you only need to pump it once to start the flow, once the sanitizer is out, pinch off hose, insert into next bottling bucket or secondary and siphon away.

Even easier: keep a squirt bottle of sanitizer handy, use that to give it a quick spray down. Put a few squirts in the tube and let it flow through.

btw, I grew up in Orange, half my family is in Culpeper.