i hate siphoning

[bradpitt21164]

cheap and easy.

 

[rico567]

I use this ... As good as an auto siphon and no need to push with CO2 ...

http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/102286/Sterile_Siphon_Starter_-_For_5_and_6_Gallon_Carboys

That's a neat gadget- but it's not suitable for buckets unless maybe that tip could be taken off the cane and / or a bigger hole in the bucket lid employed in the same way.....and its advertised ability to avoid contamination still isn't going to prevent potential exposure when I have to go in there and get the sample in the wine thief to check FG....

 

[bad67z]

I use this ... As good as an auto siphon and no need to push with CO2 ...

http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/102286/Sterile_Siphon_Starter_-_For_5_and_6_Gallon_Carboys

It is a mater of safety in my case. Depending on where I ferment there may not be enough of a elevation differential between vessels to use a siphon. I don't want to reach in a chest freezer and try lifting 55lbs. of beer and carboy.

 

[bad67z]

Question for you and Zamial... what is the easiest way to connect from my Co2 tank to a carboy or bucket? Just have a separate regulator I use for transfer, has a simple hose on it?

Thanks for the pictorial Zamial, I have a hybrid setup that is a combination of Zamial's and the apparatus from More Beer that I use for carboys. I have the Co2 gas in where MB has the sanitary air valve. As for connecting to the Co2 regulator, i have put a splitter (a Y if you like) @ the outlet of the regulator, one side supplies Co2 to my kegs and the other is used for pushing and purging.

 

[rico567]

It is a mater of safety in my case. Depending on where I ferment there may not be enough of a elevation differential between vessels to use a siphon. I don't want to reach in a chest freezer and try lifting 55lbs. of beer and carboy.

Well, then, it's obviously a great expedient...for you. In my case, my fermenters don't even have to be budged to siphon down 4 feet to the bottling bucket, so an autosiphon is the K.I.S.S. solution.....for me.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Well, then, it's obviously a great expedient...for you. In my case, my fermenters don't even have to be budged to siphon down 4 feet to the bottling bucket, so an autosiphon is the K.I.S.S. solution.....for me.

I know you don't want to hear it, but I bottled a batch recently, primed as usual, but bottled from the keg (used as a bottling bucket) pushed with just 5-6 psi.

It was so EASY!!! I just used the picnic tap to fill each bottle, capped, bottle conditioned. Turned out great.

I then used it to bottle SWMBO's wine.

Less mess and so much less trouble.

 

[Falcor]

auto siphon for transfer, but i'm surprised no one has suggested a wine thief for the hydrometer readings. a siphon for such a small amount of liquid is overkill.

 

[Frankiesurf]

Auto siphons are awesome. Except when you are ready to bottle and the plunger has vanished into thin air. Looks like I will be using the hose today.

 

[H-ost]

Auto Siphon is probably one of the reasons I didn't quit in the beginning, I only used a racking cane for two brews and now it is my DIY beergun.

Instead of a hose clamp to cut the flow I just some pliers.

 

[rico567]

auto siphon for transfer, but i'm surprised no one has suggested a wine thief for the hydrometer readings. a siphon for such a small amount of liquid is overkill.

Oh, by all means! Thanks to a tip here on HBT, I bought a wine thief right away when I started brewing five years ago. Wouldn't do it any other way- it gathers the sample and floats the hydrometer, one go and done. It is to gathering a hydrometer sample what the autosiphon is to moving the beer. K.I.S.S. all the way.

 

[rico567]

Auto siphons are awesome. Except when you are ready to bottle and the plunger has vanished into thin air. Looks like I will be using the hose today.

Happened to my length of silicon hose when I went to rack a batch last week. All that stuff is always right there on a bench....but not then. I was on the verge of sanitizing an old length of vinyl hose when, on an impulse, I looked in the bottling bucket, and there it was.

 

[Jayhem]

Not sure why people complain about cleaning or sanitizing autosiphons, it's easy as pie;

To clean: fill a bucket with about 1/2 gallon of water, insert siphon end and hose and pump...water recirculates into bucket, repeat if necessary.

To sanitize: pour 1/2 gallon of star san in bucket, insert clean siphon end and hose and pump to recirculate, leave siphon in sanitizer until ready to rack! You can actually leave the autosiphon filled with sanitizer, when you start to rack you only need to pump it once to start the flow, once the sanitizer is out, pinch off hose, insert into next bottling bucket or secondary and siphon away.

 

[IXVolt]

I just drop my autosiphon and tubing in my corny while it sanitizes. easy peazy.

 

[rico567]

I sanitize the autosiphon, and all the other small stuff in a 30" plastic wallpaper tray. Another candidate for "best gadget ever." Got it at the hardware store for $6-7.

Another tip, courtesy of someone here on HBT: never store your autosiphon assembled. That way, the gasket on the sliding racking cane inside the bigger tube won't get permanently set to a smaller diameter, so it's more likely to seal well over time.

 

[tknice]

If you're doing 10 gallon batches, you should ferment in a Sanke keg. I personally use this:

http://www.brewershardware.com/American-Sanke-Keg-Fermenter-Kit-with-Thermowell.html

I hook up CO2 to my blowoff port, push at ~5psi to my kegs, and all is well.

Interesting idea bwarbiany.. I currently split 10 gallon batches into 5 gallon fermenters. Unfortunately, my chambers prob won't hold a 15 gal sanke, but I bet it would go in a temp controlled chest freezer nicely for lagering.

Not to derail this thread, but what happens to the yeast when you push beer via the blowoff over to the kegs?

 

[Falcor]

Not sure why people complain about cleaning or sanitizing autosiphons, it's easy as pie;

To clean: fill a bucket with about 1/2 gallon of water, insert siphon end and hose and pump...water recirculates into bucket, repeat if necessary.

To sanitize: pour 1/2 gallon of star san in bucket, insert clean siphon end and hose and pump to recirculate, leave siphon in sanitizer until ready to rack! You can actually leave the autosiphon filled with sanitizer, when you start to rack you only need to pump it once to start the flow, once the sanitizer is out, pinch off hose, insert into next bottling bucket or secondary and siphon away.

Even easier: keep a squirt bottle of sanitizer handy, use that to give it a quick spray down. Put a few squirts in the tube and let it flow through.

btw, I grew up in Orange, half my family is in Culpeper.