auto siphon for bottling?

[newfiebrew]

Hey guys I am just rounding up all my gear to start all grain and was wondering if a racking cane and a auto siphon are needed or just one of them?

Can you use a auto siphon to bottle from a bottling bucket or is a racking cane better?

thanks.

Jamie.

 

[JBistline]

Well I'm new to all this, but i can tell you using an auto siphon/racking cane to bottle caused shenanigans for me. I used it to fill a test bottle up when I transferred a belgian to my secondary. Massive sticky mess all over the kitchen floor since the person helping me didn't kink the line quick enough. I'm sure there are ways to do it, but for me the bottling wand is the way to go. Spigot on the bucket, line, wand and gravity.

 

[YeastFeast]

This makes it really easy, grab a seat and start bottling...

 

[sumbrewindude]

An autosiphon is essentially a self priming racking cane. It can do everything a racking cane can do, and more. Between the two, get the autosiphon.

An autosiphon or racking cane is used to transfer fluid to/from something, usually from the carboy to the bottling bucket. There's a few folks out there that use an autosiphon for bottling, but that presents its own issues - manifested mostly by the bottle wand. In order for the fluid to move through the autosiphon and into the tubing, the bottling wand end must be open (eg, depressed), or else the fluid won't move.

You can solve this buy putting a non-spring plunger wand into a large bottle so the tip is depressed, and once you've got fluid moving, quickly take over the wand so you don't make a mess, but good luck! This works best with bombers, as a 12oz bottle fills pretty dang quick once your lines are primed.

The other issue is priming sugar. It's better and safer to batch prime, which is why so many folks use bottling buckets. Put your priming sugar in the bottom, then rack the wort onto the sugar solution for an even mixture. If you're going straight from carboy to bottle, you need to add your sugar solution VERY CAREFULLY, or use those carbdrops which are expensive.

Really, the bottling bucket and wand (like what YeastFeast has pictured) is the way to go for bottling.

I'd recommend reading up on Revvy's Bottling primer post, he does an outstanding writeup on how to bottle.

 

[JohnSand]

Your choice, of course. I use an autosiphon with a bottling wand, right from the fermenter. The siphon is clipped onto the fermenter to avoid trub, or slipping around. I bottle prime with Domino Dot sugar cubes, cheap and easy. To start the autosiphon, I merely place the wand into a bottle, bowl, or glass on the counter next to the fermenter. The weight of the hose and wand depresses the tip enough to allow flow. I bottle seated, with the wand over the open dishwasher door. A sixpack at a time: prime, fill, cap. Easy.

 

[geoffm33]

This makes it really easy, grab a seat and start bottling...

View attachment 188561

View attachment 188562

This is exactly how I did it when I bottled from the bucket.

 

[EoinMag]

In my mind, both methods use the racking cane, I attach it sometimes to the end of my autosyphon and then use the racking cane bottle by bottle whilst the syphon runs.

My preferred method is to use a bottling bucket as above, but the methods both use a racking cane......

 

[solbes]

You really have two questions I think: 1) how to start the siphon? 2) and what is needed to bottle?

1) I am between batch 50 and 60 right now and have never owned an autosiphon. I used by brother in law's once and didn't care for it, but I'm sure it was just a learning thing. I use gravity to start the siphon by filling the racking cane vinyl hose almost up to the 90 degree bend with StarSan. Pretty easy to fill the racking case hose, here's what I do:

Put the hard end of the racking cane in my 1 gallon jug of Star-San. Slip the turkey baster (what you use to take gravity samples with) tip inside the flexible vinyl end of the racking cane and squeeze the bulb a few times. This will start to suck the star-san up into the racking cane. Once it is full, I carefully remove the turkey baster and keep the StarSan in the racking cane. Use what is left in the turkey baster to sanitize the outside of the racking cane.

The beer/wine to be racked needs to be sitting on the counter. With the racking cane in the beer or wine to be racked and my finger over the racking cane tubing, I drop the end near the floor. Catch the clear star san fluid in a bowl until the beer flows, cover with your finger, and then quickly put it into the bottling bucket. Now your siphon is up and running.

2) I use a bottling bucket like the above with the short piece of vinyl hose and the bottling wand. The bottling wand tip is used to start and stop the flow of beer into the bottles. Really easy, but you need to thoroughly sanitize the spigot as it can be tricky to clean.

There is one situation in which I will not use a bottling bucket and that is my sour beers. For that I use a spare racking cane and bottling wand that are dedicated to souring duty only. A little harder to get the siphon going without making a mess. And I have to add sugar and some yeast manually as I do not use a bottling bucket for that.

 

[dkevinb]

I do exactly what YeastFeast shows for larger batches (2.5 - 5 gallons). I attach my bottling wand to the bottling bucket spigot with a 2" piece of tubing and bottle away. Put a tray on the floor to catch the drips (YeastFeast could just open the dishwasher door).

For 1 gallon batches I use a mini autosiphon with bottling wand attached via a 3' tube. Gently pour the priming solution into the fermenting jug, gently stir, wait about half an hour for the junk to settle again, and bottle.

 

[matthewmurray]

Your choice, of course. I use an autosiphon with a bottling wand, right from the fermenter. The siphon is clipped onto the fermenter to avoid trub, or slipping around. I bottle prime with Domino Dot sugar cubes, cheap and easy. To start the autosiphon, I merely place the wand into a bottle, bowl, or glass on the counter next to the fermenter. The weight of the hose and wand depresses the tip enough to allow flow. I bottle seated, with the wand over the open dishwasher door. A sixpack at a time: prime, fill, cap. Easy.

I used an autosiphon and sugar cubes to bottle two batches tonight. It was so easy, I thought, I can't be the only person who has tried this. After a search, here you are. I am going to spread the news, although I'm not sure that it will be accepted.

 

[solbes]

Hmm, not a bad idea with the sugar cubes. I might try it the next time I bottle up a sour, as I don't use a bottling bucket for those (avoiding cross contamination).