Auto Siphon

[f00lintherain08]

I purchased an auto siphon from northern brewer and I'm having some problems with it? It works fine when I begin to siphon and there is enough beer but when the beer begins to get low when I am transferring it stops. I even tilted the fermentor so that i could get more of the beer out. I keep pumping it and its not working at all. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Onetime]

Not to sure how you are siphoning but i start by placing my Carboy on my kitchen counter with John Palmers book wedged underneath it to create a tilted effect. Then i place the bottom of my auto siphon about half way into the wort and then start my siphon. As the level decreases i follow it down and try to keep a constant flow. I try to get as much out as possible without disturbing the cake. I only have two batches under my belt to take my advice as u wish.
Good times!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Onetime]

Make sure your bottling bucket or secondary is low enough so Gravity can do all the work.

+ you can do a dry run with your sanitizer and practice that way to make sure your hoses are long enough and equipment is working properly.

Ive rambled enough.
Good times


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[flars]

Like Onetime says. Make sure the level of the beer in your bottling bucket is always lower the level of the beer in the fermentor. When the levels become close to equal the siphon action will stop.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Also it can help to put a splash of water or sanitized water in the top...it should rest at the top ABOVE the inner siphon black bit that is whats pumping the fluid if that makes sense...by having that fluid there it forms a better seal so if you are sucking in air because its a bad fit which can happen that will fix your problem.

As in stick your inner siphon bit as far down as you can, and put a splash of water down the top middle...

 

[Queequeg]

Not to sure how you are siphoning but i start by placing my Carboy on my kitchen counter with John Palmers book wedged underneath it to create a tilted effect. Then i place the bottom of my auto siphon about half way into the wort and then start my siphon. As the level decreases i follow it down and try to keep a constant flow. I try to get as much out as possible without disturbing the cake. I only have two batches under my belt to take my advice as u wish.
Good times!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

you may only have two batches but this sounds correct imo. I do a similar thing but I don't tilt, I have the fermenter in the swamp cooler on a table in the larder. I do not move it to avoid the trub kicking.

 

[JimRausch]

I too believe that your levels between the two buckets must be off. Fermenter on the counter, bottling bucket on the floor, one pump and she starts and continues smoothly to the end. If you are already doing this, then you might have a defective autosiphon- I've seen a few posts over the past year.

 

[freisste]

Quick addition:

Make sure the level of the beer in the "to" vessel is lower than the level of the beer in the "from" vessel. It doesn't matter where the ends of the siphon are. IE, if both vessels are on the counter, this isn't going to work. You can, however, use the autosiphon like a pump, and it should never stop working. It will just be a bigger PITA.

 

[xcdarrel17]

Are you getting hops/trub clogging up the intake? I've had this problem with dry-hopped batches.

 

[f00lintherain08]

The issue is when I use the auto siphon and the bottle filler. I do not have a bottling bucket I use the soon with a bottle filler but it never seems to have a constant flow. It will for a bit than stop. Bucket is on the counter and bottles are close to the floor


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[Munchkin]

Id double check you arent sucking air into the tube from your connections. Hose to siphon and hose to bottle filler. Ive heard using keg lube helps get an air tight seal.

Three other issues also come to mind,

-Bottle Filler isnt seating properly when flow has stopped and allowing air in.
-There is a pin hole somewhere in the hose
-The seal inside the autosiphon isnt properly sealing, Does the problem start to occur when the beer level drops below the autoshiphon seal inside the main plastic housing?

 

[flars]

The issue is when I use the auto siphon and the bottle filler. I do not have a bottling bucket I use the soon with a bottle filler but it never seems to have a constant flow. It will for a bit than stop. Bucket is on the counter and bottles are close to the floor


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

The problem most likely begins with the design of the bottling wand. The diameter of the wands tip is much smaller than the tubing diameter. When the wands plunger is depressed the outflow of the beer does not create sufficient negative pressure to pull beer from the fermentor.

I'm not a physicist so negative pressure may not be the correct terminology.

 

[fartinmartin]

Is it that you still have the crud catcher cap on the bottom? Mine has a cap to keep the syphon up of the bottom, it also works as a filter keeping hops back. The cap simply pulls of if you decide you want to get deeper into the brew.

 

[gregfreemyer]

The problem most likely begins with the design of the bottling wand. The diameter of the wands tip is much smaller than the tubing diameter. When the wands plunger is depressed the outflow of the beer does not create sufficient negative pressure to pull beer from the fermentor.

I'm not a physicist so negative pressure may not be the correct terminology.

That failure would still have beer in the siphon hose from end to end. Is that the case? If not you have to be getting air in somewhere.

Also, I guess the original poster knows the typical auto-siphon input is about an inch from the end, so it is not designed to get out every last drop. That is intentional to try and keep from picking up trub/yeast/sediment. Like others, I tip the fermenter near the end of the process to keep the beer deep enough.