Breaking rules

[Philsc]

Hello everyone,

I've been having syphoning issues. got less than half my brew into the bottling bucket before the syphon went on strike. Try as I might, I couldn't get it going again.

In the end, I poured the beer straight from the fermenter, leaving most of the trub in the fermenter, as if I were pouring a bottle of homebrew. I poured it close to the surface, slowly, against the side of the bottling bucket to avoid oxidization. As you can imagine I was shaking my head and tutting.

I was so embarrassed about having broken the cardinal rule of racking that I didn't even mention it here.

Had one of the beers yesterday - delicious. Either beer's tough, or the beer fairy's hard at work cleaning up after my mess.

I suck at brewing; my beer's great. I love this hobby.

Phil

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

Buy an auto-siphon. It is the best $10 which I have spent on brewing equipment.

 

[boydak]

+1 on the auto siphon.

Seems to be a trend tonight.

 

[Philsc]

Thanks for the tip.

However, I bought an autosiphon. It cost me 20 bucks. It's now a racking cane. It never worked.

Subsequent reading lead me to believe that I'd ruined it or that it was old, or a combination of both those factors. I was burned on the autosiphon purchase and am very wary about buying another one. They don't let you test it. especially the mail order places.

Anyway, I can just pour my beer from the fermenter.

 

[django7]

Beer is tough!
Man kind has been making beer since before written history. Can't be to hard.

 

[android]

put a plastic 'T' in your hose, this will serve as an autosiphon.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/flyguys-t-siphon-3-replacement-autosiphon-25774/

 

[jcarson83]

I don't think most of the home brew supply places would have a problem with taking back an autosiphon if it didn't work. One problem I had with mine is when I replaced the tubing I bought it from lowes and it was the wrong inside diameter so it never got a proper seal.

As far as pouring into the bottling bucket you may get excessive oxidation so it won't age as well. All the more reason to crack another one and drink it while its in its prime.

 

[MMW]

Had one of the beers yesterday - delicious. Either beer's tough, or the beer fairy's hard at work cleaning up after my mess.

I think that not are only are those one in the same, the toughness of beer and the existence of beer faeries is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

I suck at brewing; my beer's great. I love this hobby.

Me too, man. Me too.

 

[kyleobie]

Hello everyone,
I suck at brewing; my beer's great. I love this hobby.

Cheers to that! After one of my samplings of my first batch, a group of friends told me I should open a brewery.

 

[brian_g]

If your home brew store wont accept a return on a broken autosiphon, you need a new home brew store.

 

[beerkrump]

WARNING SCIENCE AHEAD...

Apologies for being anal about this, but getting air in your beer is not oxidation, but oxygenation. Oxidation refers to the loss of an electron, like iron rusting. Oxygen is a great oxidizing agent, that's why we avoid splashing when we move beer. However, there are other things that contribute to and accelerate this process. The two biggest culprits are UV(sun light) and high temperatures. If we remove them, we can greatly lessen the chances of spoilage despite oxygenation.

 

[Philsc]

WARNING SCIENCE AHEAD...

Apologies for being anal about this, but getting air in your beer is not oxidation

Thanks for the science. I do like to understand what's going on with the beer, especially when I can lessen the chances of oxidation.

put a plastic 'T' in your hose, this will serve as an autosiphon.

I do have my own siphoning technique. Drop the bottling wand on the end of the tube in the beer, suck on the racking cane thus filling the whole apparatus backwards. Sanitize the end of the racking cane. Quickly dunk the racking cane in before too much falls out, clip it in you're ready to go.

It doesn't always work as evidenced by my silly story. I'll give the T a go. Thanks for the tip.