Never stop an auto-siphon once started...

[SkinnyShamrock]

...because man are they a ^%#$@ to get started again. I ended up wasting about a gallon of beer after I gave up, and added untold amounts of oxygen to my secondary trying to restart the damn thing.

The reason I stopped is because there was so much oxygen in my siphon tubing that it was severely limiting the flow of beer into the secondary. I think it had so much oxygen in it because I had a muslin bag tied over the end of the auto-siphon to filter off all the trub I dropped in the primary when my filter decided it wasn't going to support it's own weight.

This batch has been cursed from the beginning

In the good news category, the beer I did save (before it was oxygenated) tasted really really good and crazy hoppy.

 

[Revvy]

I just give mine a couple more pumps when the siphon stops and it restarts....was your collection vessel too high and the siphon broke?

 

[newbrewr4fun]

Don't worry to much about oxygenating your beer from siphon troubles. It takes alot more than that to ruin your beer. I had the same trouble as you and had to pump the siphon so many times I can't count them on my hands. The beer still tasted good though.

 

[bradsul]

If you're keeping the inlet of the auto-syphon in the beer and the hose connected to it isn't leaking, what you saw was CO2 being forced out of solution - absolutely nothing to worry about.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I thought the whole point of the auto siphon was a quick easy start. Never had issues starting/stopping. I feel like we're missing something.

 

[bradsul]

I thought the whole point of the auto siphon was a quick easy start. Never had issues starting/stopping. I feel like we're missing something.

If you put a filter over the end it will often get sucked into the inlet and clog it up. I stopped using them (filters) for that reason, a little bit of stuff making it into secondary isn't a big deal as it will just settle out anyway. What little does settle in secondary is easily avoided when racking to the bottling bucket.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

see, I was right. Didn't catch that the OP was using a filter

 

[TheFlatline]

...because man are they a ^%#$@ to get started again. I ended up wasting about a gallon of beer after I gave up, and added untold amounts of oxygen to my secondary trying to restart the damn thing.

The reason I stopped is because there was so much oxygen in my siphon tubing that it was severely limiting the flow of beer into the secondary. I think it had so much oxygen in it because I had a muslin bag tied over the end of the auto-siphon to filter off all the trub I dropped in the primary when my filter decided it wasn't going to support it's own weight.

This batch has been cursed from the beginning

In the good news category, the beer I did save (before it was oxygenated) tasted really really good and crazy hoppy.

I found out an easy way to get rid of the "stuck" bubbles in your siphon hose if they really bother you.

Squeeze the siphon hose ever so slightly while the beer is flowing. The bubble will "break" free and be expelled. When I racked to secondary last week I did this just for the hay of it and had zero bubbles accumulate in my hose afterwards.

The key word here is "slightly, because you don't want to jack your hose (especially up near where it plugs into the autosiphon) by crimping it too badly.

Oh, and the black nozzel on the auto siphon is elevated specifically so that it can drain beer without sucking up trub. I got really clear transfer this time around racking my irish red to secondary.

 

[SkinnyShamrock]

I had my primary on top of my washer and the secondary sitting on a chair, so I don't think it was a height thing. I tried moving the secondary to the floor after a while, and that didn't help. Oh well. It's done and gone now

Kilted Brewer- I thought it would be easy to restart, too. Apparently, not so much. I would give it a pump, and I'd hear gas being pushed into the secondary, but no beer would start to flow through the tubing. Vacuums and siphons are like some weird black art

Good news about oxygenation though. I knew it took a lot to "cardboard" a beer, hopefully not this much. I'm still calling this beer the "Bad Luck IPA."

 

[JMD87]

I found out an easy way to get rid of the "stuck" bubbles in your siphon hose if they really bother you.

Squeeze the siphon hose ever so slightly while the beer is flowing. The bubble will "break" free and be expelled. When I racked to secondary last week I did this just for the hay of it and had zero bubbles accumulate in my hose afterwards.

+1 - If I may add: Squeeze the hose at the point where the bubble is. Also, I had a terrible time siphoning when I first began, turns out the hose I used didn't fit snugly onto my racking cane, and it leaked just enough air to prevent a siphon. Make sure your hoses are tight! Siphoning is easy when you understand the physics of it.

 

[HomerT]

I used to have all sorts of problems with keeping my first AS started. Turns out it was the seal tot he racking cane on mine as well. Now I use a big rubber band wrapped tight over the connection and it never fails.

-Todd

 

[Revvy]

It's always a good idea to practice using the as or a racking cane before you actually put it in your beer...One way to do it is to use it to rack your sanitizer into your secondary or bottling bucket....

 

[HomerT]

It's always a good idea to practice using the as or a racking cane before you actually put it in your beer...One way to do it is to use it to rack your sanitizer into your secondary or bottling bucket....

I do this everytime. Mostly, because I find its the best way to sanitize my AS and tubing....

 

[fratermus]

I do this everytime. Mostly, because I find its the best way to sanitize my AS and tubing....

+1 on this technique. It's a function test and sanitizing in one step.

 

[TheFlatline]

I do this everytime. Mostly, because I find its the best way to sanitize my AS and tubing....

+1 again. I have to get sanitizer into my hose, and into the carboy. Seems like a match made in heaven.