How to Destroy an Auto Siphon and Get a Black Eye

[thadius856]

Been contemplating sharing this story or not. Suppose it's better to share than to wait for somebody else to post about it happening to them.

When kegging, I use an auto-siphon, attached to a 10' length of 1/4" vinyl hose, with a ball lock liquid-side quick disconnect at the other end. This allows me to siphon straight into the bottom of an oxygen-free serving keg. Once they blow, I scrub them with OxiClean and hot water, pump 5 gallons of StarSan through, and seal them empty at 10 psi. Voila, they're ready for the next batch.

I went to keg a Honey Porter. Pulled the split ring on the pressure relief valve, didn't hear any whoosh of gas, and assumed I'd just not gotten a good leak at only 10 psi. I guessed that the CO2 had just slowly leaked out. Shrug. I attached the liquid disconnect just as the proverbial light bulb lit above my head as I made a realization.

That realization was that I hadn't felt the little "tug" of the relief valve opening. It had been stuck with something sticky, and the keg was still pressurized. But it was already too late.

BOOOOOM! For the first few instants, I was stunned. The auto siphon had blown apart. The second law of thermodynamics kicked my ass - the entire 5 gallon volume of CO2 at 10 PSI rushed out of the auto siphon in under a second. The racking cane portion flew up and smashed me in the eye, almost breaking my glasses. The other half flew straight down and cracked itself on the tile floor. I was left holding just vinyl hose.

Lesson learned: when siphoning into a keg, don't trust that the relief valve actually opened. Crack the lid itself open slightly to be sure.

 

[jordanbnell]

wow, good thing you had glasses on

 

[pabloj13]

Ouch. Glad you're ok. Sorry about the beer.

 

[thadius856]

Ouch. Glad you're ok. Sorry about the beer.

To be clear, I was holding the auto-siphon in mid air and hadn't uncapped the fermenter yet. The beer's fine. Had a glass last night, and really enjoying the porter.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

First thing I thought of is you suggested the Misses try something different for a night.

 

[decostanza]

Glad you're alright...thx for sharing..

 

[Varmintman]

OK you know someone is going to say it and it appears it will be me

Photo of the black eye or it did not happen

Sorry about the auto siphon though

 

[thadius856]

First thing I thought of is you suggested the Misses try something different for a night.

This came to mind when you mentioned that.

Veronica Vaughn: So it's um, the last day of third grade, and you have the teacher alone in your tent, what do you want to do?

Billy Madison: Well I can think of three things I'd like to do. One would involve some ice cubes and a nine iron. Two would include a buffalo...

Veronica Vaughn: Really?

Billy Madison: ...Live or stuffed, preferably stuffed for safety sake, and three, we bring back some of those ice cubes and switch it over to a pitching wedge.

 

[thadius856]

OK you know someone is going to say it and it appears it will be me

Photo of the black eye or it did not happen

Sorry about the auto siphon though

Guess it didn't happen then.

 

[pabloj13]

To be clear, I was holding the auto-siphon in mid air and hadn't uncapped the fermenter yet. The beer's fine. Had a glass last night, and really enjoying the porter.

Ahh, I misread where you said the entire 5 gallons ran out (5 gallons of CO2, duh). Thank god.

 

[twalte]

Thanks for posting...I am going To try using the ball lock approach, and the warning is appreciated. We learn from each other...the good and the bad. Glad you are ok, sorry about the siphon

 

[thadius856]

Edited OP for clarity.

 

[Domminigan]

May your autosiphon rest easy in the great brewing kit in the sky!
As others have said, I am glad you were wearing glasses. I don't know how many times mine have saved my eye from something nasty flying into them.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Glad to hear you're doing ok. And always looking at the bright side, at least your beer is still great.

 

[Homercidal]

Dang, man! You a lucky mofo!

 

[Conan]

Glad you're okay, but it serves as another reason to not worry about CO2 flooding a keg before transfer. To each his own. Kyle

 

[Psych]

Well lesson learned, I guess!

But on the upside, this opens me up to a whole new more sanitary way of siphoning into kegs. I hadn't thought about doing this before, but it makes total sense. So long as said keg is actually unpressurized!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mcbaumannerb]

Glad you came out of this ok - black eye not withstanding. I really hate those moments when you mind says "oh **** a second too late"

 

[b-boy]

I really hate those moments when you mind says "oh **** a second too late"

It's called an 'ignisecond'.

Its roughly defined as the amount of time that passes between locking and closing your car door, and realizing your keys are still in the ignition.

 

[thadius856]

Glad you're okay, but it serves as another reason to not worry about CO2 flooding a keg before transfer. To each his own. Kyle

Leaving them at 10 psi lets me know that they're still sanitized, no matter how long they were left unused. Nothing grows in a pure CO2 environment, and there's about 1/2 oz of leftover sanitizer in the sump at the bottom, so I can swirl it just before filling too.

Costs less than a dollar in CO2 and allows me to sanitize ahead of time instead of having to worry about it on kegging day. Well worth it to me.

 

[Conan]

I have no doubt it's a guarantee of sterility (for the keg, not the consumer) and I don't discount the value of knowing your keg is clean beforehand. My issue is more with a paradigm of the forum- the fear of the air/ beer interface. It's just a minor pet peeve of mine on the board. Of all the ways to use excess CO2 -where excess is more than required to carb. and serve- yours holds the most water to me. Like I said, to each his own.

On the opposite end of the spectrum I kicked a keg some months ago and filled it with sanitizer water. Unfortunately I left the lid just sitting across the mouth sideways, and also brought something into the basement (where the beer stuff lives) with slugs on it. A few weeks ago I went to keg an Amber and had one very plump slug and about a half inch of the most rancid mold/ fungus/ amoeba I've ever seen growing on top of the 'sanitizer water'. Lesson learned: clean and drain keg, then allow to air dry. What a mess. Kyle

 

[jeuentes]

LOL Now that was funny.

 

[weirdboy]

Nothing grows in a pure CO2 environment

I wouldn't go that far. I can think of at least one obvious counter-example: yeast.





Glad you're not blinded by beer. That would be awkward to explain at parties.