first time bottling, didn't go well

My first time bottling today, was a failure. So much air in the tubing from the auto siphon to the bottling wand. The tubing was a tight fit on each, but once I pumped the siphon, it seemed air was coming through the top of the siphon, and I'd be siphoning a line of air. Also, at the wand, it was leaking out the bottom of the tubing. The tubing was always straight down, so it's not like it wasn't gravity fed...

All equipment was from my lhbs, which only had 1 kind of siphon, wand, and tubing. Any idea how to create an air free environment for this? I bottled 5 and re-airlocked the carboy. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole batch is ruined.

 

I've tried bottleing with an auto siphon......it is doable but a PITA. I use a bottling bucket with a bottle filling wand attached with a 2" long piece of tubing.......works great. If you have spare buckets sitting around you can get the bottling valve at most LHBS for a few bucks than just drill a hole in the bucket and you are golden.

Relax your beer is likely fine. but if you primed the whole batch you need to get it in bottles asap to carb properly.

 

Get a bottling bucket so your not trying to attach a bottling wand to the end of your auto siphon. That sounds really difficult. This way you would just rack it into the bottling bucket with your priming sugar, attach the bottling wand over the spigot, open the spigot and bottle away. Dont worry about the batch being ruined your probably fine. As far as carbing, you might want to let the batch ferment the priming sugar out then try and bottle again so its carbed right.

 

If I get a bottling bucket with spigot, wouldn't I need to use the tubing from spigot to bottling wand? I believe that would still leak, as the tubing to wand leaked this time.

However, the process of not using the siphon with the wand together seems to make sense. I thought if the siphon was started, I'd be safe since it should always be full and the wand controls the flow. Maybe I thought wrong. I'll check the lhbs in a couple days.

The batch wasn't primed (it's apfelwein and really dry/flat though). I figured this should go in the bottling sub forum even if it's not a beer batch.

 

Yes you'll still need a very small piece of tubing for that.

 

if auto siphons get even a lil clogged with hops, trub, ect.. they start pulling in air from the inside of the siphon tube. same thing happened to me once, i k now how frustrating it can be. bottling bucket work but you still have to transfer it over, and the same thing can happen. some people pour beer inside the the auto siphon so if it does start to suck from inside the siphon its just beer and not air.. auto's have there drawbacks but i still love mine.

 

The tube should fit very tightly on the wand. I have to hold mine under hot water to make it softer to slide over easier. The oulet on the bucket valve is tapered so it will accomodate a slight range in hose size. Jam it on hard and I've never had a leak.

You want the smallest size wand, I think it is 1/4". I don't bottle much cause I keg but I recently discovered the wand attached to bucket set-up and it works slick.

 

My whole set up is rigid. Bottling bucket with a tap that the wand goes right into. The only thing that is a PITA is tilting it forward for about the last 6 pack since at that point the beer is getting below the tap.

 

Lots of times my autosiphon starts out sucking air. I just pinch the rubber tubing where it meets the plastic to restrict the flow until the bubbles stop, them let it go and it flows just fine with no bubbles. Works every time.

 

All 3 of my fementers are actually 6.5 Gal bottling buckets, just ferment, attach the bottling wand with a small piece of hose and bottle, the first half glass is usually full of trub and then starts coming out clean. No problems.

 

Make a setup like in this thread: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

I did it before my first bottling session.
Totally forget about using a siphon!

 

Beat me to it.

This has so much good info. Offers a good setup, tips to make things easier, and even dip tube options to help get the most beer out. There are tons of posts and replies, but I found it worthwhile to read them all.

 

You need a dip tube. Like this. Only waste is around the edge of the bucket cause there's a little hump in the middle.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/100_1057-55524.html

 

Ok, so I went to the lhbs and picked up a bucket with spigot and more tubing. I noticed that they had 2 different sizes, 5/16" and 3/8". I asked for the 5/16" this time, and upon coming home, realized it's smaller than my original tubing. That means I had the 3/8" before. I tried to connect the new tubing to the bottling wand, but it didn't quite fit on so easily. I figured if I warm up the tubing a little, I can prob slip it on and it should stay on, at least I hope so. The bigger, original tubing was too big and easy to put on and I wonder now if the original tubing I had caused all the problems...

 

ya you can get that tubing on anything with a little heat and coaxing. just use boiling water