Question about Transferring

[kuelhof]

Hey all, my first batch will be in the primary for 2 weeks this weekend and I am going to take the first reading to see where the fermentation stands. I bought my kit from Williams Brewing and I have the "siphonless fermenter" seen here....

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/SIPHONLESS_FERMENTOR_P143.cfm

My question is, would you trust the siphonless system and simply connect the tubing to the spout and rack to the bottling bucket? Or, should I wpend the few bucks to get a auto siphon and racking cane to be sure I don't get a bunch of crud from the bottom of the fermenter into my bottles?

Thanks guys!

 

[JohnnyO]

While your "siphonless fermenter" is merely just another bottling bucket, it should suffice. If you get any sediment into your bottling bucket, the likelihood that it will reach your bottles is minimal. After transferring, just allow the bottling bucket to settle for around 10 minutes in case any sediment got through.

 

[TipsyDragon]

im a little skeptical. while i think it would work i'm not sure you would get as much usable wort out of the batch. in my experience an auto-siphon gets down below where it looks like the spigot is without picking up trub. its possible that there is something inside the bucket that allows it to pick up below the spigot.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Even if it can get below the spigot, I would be concerned that the suction is so close to the yeast cake that the force of suction is going to pull off some of the sediment from the top of the cake. This happens if you siphon from too close to the cake, but you're only getting the sediment the last few minutes.

With this bucket, the force of moving liquid is constantly right by the cake. The friction caused by moving the liquid close to the cake is highly likely to kick up additional sediment, which will flow right into your bottling bucket.

Honestly, siphoning, even without an autosiphon, is so easy I don't see why you would pay more for a more complex bucket even if it does work as promised.

 

[Berkbeer]

I also wonder how you would sanitize the spigot, invert it and fill it with starsan? Interesting concept but I would stick with a racking cane or autosiphon. FWIW I love my autosiphon.

 

[kuelhof]

Yeah, I didn't specifically seek out this type of fermenting bucket, but it happened to come with my kit, so I am using it. I think I will spend the few bucks and get an autosiphon and remove the possibility of getting the sludge...Thanks for the opinions guys!

 

[Hophunter]

I've got that exact setup and it worked like a charm on my first and only brew. Any small amount of sediment that ended up in the bottling bucket settled out and I didn't even wait to start bottling. Didn't leave any more brwe behind than I would have with a siphon. As for sanitizing the spigot, I used a q-tip and swabbed the inside w/ bleach or iodine. Whatever's handy. The first small amount of beer through will rinse it out. I plan on using it again in a couple of weeks when its time to bottle brew #2.

 

[dedhedjed]

I have three of those fermenting buckets, and they work great. I haven't had an issue with sucking up trub at all, and I dry-hop nearly all of my beers so I have tons of sludge at the bottom.

Sanitization is easy for the valve. I just disassemble it and let it soak for a few minutes in star-san solution. No problems with infection so far...