Issue with auto-siphon

[MrVagabond]

I just bottled my first batch of beer. I've had to use the auto-siphon a couple of times already to rack to my secondary and bottling bucket and then bottle. Every time I've used it though, after the siphon runs for a few minutes, it gets a lot of bubbles coming up through it. The only way I can keep the bubbles from coming through is to restart the siphon once in a while. Is this normal of an auto-siphon? Cause it was pretty damn annoying when I was trying to bottle and having to worry about bubbles all at once.

 

[philrose]

Sometimes a little star san in the big tube can help the seal.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Ditto that. ^ Always helps to have a pre-moistened surface area before transferring.

Also remember high school physics class and keep the transfer vessel below the level of your primary.

 

[MrVagabond]

I dipped the tube in the beer to get it moistened before I started the siphon. While I was bottling, I had the bottles in my dishwasher and the bucket on the counter above. It seemed to me that the liquid in the larger tube would recede and once it did, it would start bubbling until I re-siphoned. I would try the star san, but I already have been using iodophor and want to at least use it up before I try star san.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Hmm-and as long as you're keeping the siphon end below the surface of the beer you should be OK. Have you tried it with just plain water and see if that works?

Thinking you might be pulling up too much sediment & trub from your primary which would plug up the end. If that's the case, just attach a hop bag with some sanitized rubber bands around the siphon end to filter the incoming brew.

 

[MrVagabond]

After I first used it, to rack to my secondary, I tested it with just water and had the same results... bubbles if I didn't re-siphon regularly.

However, trying to attach a hop bag probably wouldn't hurt in the future. I did end up with quite a bit of unwanted trub this first time I tried racked to secondary. I felt pretty confident about not getting any trub in the bottling bucket though.

 

[scrambledegg81]

Yeah-after the 5 or 6 batches I've done I still have a hard time floating the siphon just right. I learned that bag trick from another HBT member here-he said that nylon paint strainers work best, but I already had a hop bag and it worked just as well.

But if you're getting bubbles with plain water, it might be a defective siphon...

 

[MrVagabond]

It could be defective, but I would think that if it was it would just start bubbling right away. There's really not much that could break, I didn't find any cracks, so I'm not really sure what else it could be. I was going to stop in my LHBS tomorrow and just inspect a working one of theirs and bother them a bit, since I don't really know what a working or broken one would really be.

 

[jet35a]

When I first got my starter kit, I had put the 3/8 hose on the auto-siphon instead of the 5/16. Fit well but, the results were a functioning siphon with a small trail of bubbles from the joint.

Something to think about.

 

[ic3scrap3r]

I bottled for the first time this weekend. My auto-siphon had no issues like this. It was a solid flow of liquid with no air until it was starting to get to the very bottom when a little air is expected.

 

[JesseRC]

When I get bubbles, the key seems to be to keep pumping untill they are gone.

 

[Bobby_M]

It could be coming from two different places. The first is the seal at the bottom of the racking cane. Store the siphon with the cane removed from the tube so it doesn't deform. Also, if you're using 3/8" ID tubing, replace it with 5/16" ID tubing from Lowes.

 

[batfishdog37]

I have had a problem with a very small crack near the top end of my siphon tube letting in air while the siphin flows. Obviously this stops the siphon. I slid the hose further on to the "hook shaped" top end of the siphon and used two hose clamps. This has seemed to work well but I still get som small bubbles sometimes. Maybe there is a small fracture in your tube somewhere. Mine was VERY SMALL running parallel with the tube. Just a thought.

 

[MrVagabond]

Turns out I am using 5/16" tubing. The bubbles seem to be coming from the opening of the siphon tube, not the racking cane. It could be a really tiny crack, but I'll have to inspect more.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to have to play around with it today and figure out why the hell it isn't complying with my commands! Cheers.