Is my auto siphon broken?

[detz]

It seems like it lets in a lot of air which is fine for wort to carboy but not for racking.

 

[brewit2it]

Looks like it's working fine. I wouldn't worry about that at all.

 

[detz]

okay, it just looks like a lot of air is getting mixed in and I know that's bad when you're racking.

 

[pstrohs]

I never have that much air coming through on my siphon, so I guess it could be broken.

 

[janivar123]

Seem like the gasket dont seal as well as it is supposed to
You can try heating it with hot water, bend the lip out and cool it down

or you can try to find an extra gasket to fit between the inner and outer tube

 

[detz]

Will this hurt the beer, my last batch I siphoned it with a normal hose and my mouth but that just screams infection.

 

[cincybrewer]

You can try one of these:

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/hoses/clamps/wormdrive/705W_worm_drive_clamp.shtml

I use this on mine because my tubing is too big so it was letting air in. However, it does look like air gets in your siphon prior to even reaching the tubing.

 

[tv187u]

It looks like the seal on the inner cane is letting in air. If you put some liquid in the sanitizer or just let the auto siphon sit in the beer for a bit and the outer portion will fill up a bit and create a liquid seal blocking the air from getting in.

 

[konrad]

Mine does this too but it starts letting air in when theres two gallons left. It gets worse as it gets lower and completly stops with about a gallon.

I tried bending out the gasket, lubing it and even pinching the tube to slow down the flow. None of this worked.

 

[pd230soi]

I have seen this before. Here is what I did.

I just pump one or two long strokes (!) and the mass of wort increases thus filling that little gap up near the curve of the racking cane and it quickly fills the void eliminating the bubbles and air.

 

[Clann]

Jutget a regular racking cane. I've done over 50 brews and used my mouth to start every one and never took any precautions like mouthwash or such. Zero infections and clean bill of health for my beer

Probabily just lucky.

 

[TheBroonery]

pinch the tubing right downstream from the racking cane for a second, this will let the air pocket run down and out the tubing

 

[beergolf]

It looks like the seal is a little loose.

Mine did that too and I just use a turkey baster to put a little beer above the seal before using it. Problem solved.

 

[detz]

It looks like the seal is a little loose.

Mine did that too and I just use a turkey baster to put a little beer above the seal before using it. Problem solved.

That works(I was using water) but it just sucks it down two quick so I have to keep refilling it.

 

[dfc]

Are you storing both pieces of the autosiphon together? If you do that it can misshape the seal. I always pull mine apart to store it and I never have this issue. I learned that one from experience.

 

[detz]

Are you storing both pieces of the autosiphon together? If you do that it can misshape the seal. I always pull mine apart to store it and I never have this issue. I learned that one from experience.

They come apart?

I tried to pull them apart to clean them but it doesn't seem to come out.

 

[jd3]

Air is coming in through the gasket in the "auto" part. I just add some boiled water(cooled) to the top of the tube, so that ther eis an inch or two of clean water above the gasket.

 

[jd3]

They come apart?

I tried to pull them apart to clean them but it doesn't seem to come out.

The inside tube should just come out. This is part of your problem, as to really clean these pieces it needs to be removed.

 

[ArcLight]

>>Are you storing both pieces of the autosiphon together? If you do that it can misshape the seal. I always pull mine apart to store it and I never have this issue. I learned that one from experience.


This never occured to me, I will look at it tonight. I have the 1/2 fermtech autosiphon, and I may be wrong but I don't think it comes apart. I think the plastic piece that prevents the rod from being removed doesn't come off - hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[brewmcq]

I recently got the 1/2" autosiphon from MoreBeer, and I've never been able to get it to work. If I'm cleaning it out, so long as there is 4 or 5 gallons of water in the bucket, it works fine.. without the hose.. as soon as the hose goes on, it immediately loses siphon and just doesn't work.

I'm chalking it up as a loss and sticking with my regular siphon... I've gotten really proficient with it.

 

[cincybrewer]

The 1/2" seems like it would be too big.

 

[IrregularPulse]

The 1/2" is really fast and can be nice for large batches, but I worried about how fast it was going. I switched to 1/2" after the first 3/8" broke. The 1/2" lasted 2 batches before the insert fell out. I have a new 3/8 delivering tomorrow. Try a small dab of keg lube around the inner tube seal if you're pulling air. (which you are).