Siphon keeps stopping

[McGlothan]

I bottled my first batch of beer a coupe of nights ago. I brewed the ninkasi tricerahops double ipa. I did a lot of research in books, online, and help from local brew store. Everything went extremely well until it came to siphoning from primary to secondary, and secondary to bottling bucket. The siphon would introduce air causing siphon to stop. I put a zip tie around tube to help and seemed to cure the problem at the time (having already stirred up yeast bed by pumping siphon so many times so close to the yeast). I left about a half an inch of beer in primary fermenter above the line of yeast. Then, when siphoning from secondary to bottling bucket, I put a zip tie around tube to ensure no air entry. Siphon was worse this second time and never got a steady siphon. I had to pump the beer continuously again stirring up the smaller yeast bed in secondary and clouding up the bottom 1/5 of carboy. I left about two inches in bottom of secondary fermenter to avoid sucking up a lot of yeast. Im sure I lost a good bit of beer due to stirring up the yeast during transfer. I ended up with 42 bottles of beer. Now the questions, are siphons this hard to keep flowing? and are 42 beers (12 oz) a decent harvest for a five gallon batch? And, how do I NOT lose beer during transferring between stages. It was annoying to keep leaving beer behind on each step because of repeated pumping stirring the yeast up. Thanks for the insight as I am new to this

 

[BamaRooster]

I usually pump mine once or twice it flows until I am at the bottom of the bucket. This might be obvious, but are you placing your container you are racking INTO below the level of the bucket you are racking out of? I also keep the end of the siphon close to the top of the beer level as to not stir up all the junk on bottom.

 

[bleme]

A pic of your setup might help. It sounds like you might not have enough height differential between your 2 containers though. It also helps if you can tilt the original container a bit. You can prop it up with a 2X4 or a phone book or you can go totally crazy and buy one of those carboy wedges. It is also a HUGE difference to have another set of hands, just to make sure everything stays put.

 

[McGlothan]

Yes, I have the bucket on a chair, carboy on counter top, siphon about 2 inches below surface of beer, and hose at bottom of bottling bucket. Not sure what the problem could be. You never lost a siphon like I have? Might be faulty equipment but seem to pull beer out of carboy steadily

 

[Krane]

Welcome to your first couple of brews. If there is one thing I love about every batch, it is the chance to improve upon prior mistakes.

Was the vessel you were transferring to lower than the one that you were siphoning out of? Other than that, it could be a bad seal on your autosiphon. Where did it appear to introduce air?

Beer loss is also normal. I primary for a month to make sure the yeast cake is very compact for this reason. With that said, a reputable member on hbt frequently mentions rubbing the yeast cake with the autosiphon tip on purpose. I wouldnt worry about this too much.

Also, 42 bottles is slightly low, but not too bad. You could dry hop in primary to avoid the transfer loss going to secondary.

Overall, your experience sounds very familiar.

 

[McGlothan]

The siphon hose might be a little too large in diameter. Also the bottom of the siphon hose in the bottling bucket does curl around a bit as it is a foot or so too long. I didn't think that would hurt the siphon at all though. How should the hose be sitting in the bottling bucket?

 

[Krane]

I bet it is the hose. A lot of people break autosiphons trying to get the hose off. Is yours like this?

 

[Krane]

Also, curled up in the bottom of the bucket or not makes no difference.

 

[McGlothan]

My hose slips over the auto siphon too easily. Effortless to get it on or off. This hose came in my beer equipment kit. I had the zip tie on but maybe not enough to do the trick. At one point, I left my hose in a sanitizer solution for about a week when I left town. Could it have swollen? Anyhow, I hope I didn't introduce to much oxygen because of this as it went perfectly up to this point. So, since I will not let this happen next batch, where do you get siphon tubing and what size fits tightly?

 

[Krane]

I believe the right size is 5/16", assuming you don't have the 1/2" autosiphon. Just make sure you run hot water over it when disconnecting to make it easier to remove.

 

[Krane]

You could get it at lowes or home depot, your local brew store, or any of the online brew shops. Northern brewer, austin home brew supply or midwest supplies.

 

[McGlothan]

where might I pick up some siphon tubing? And, what do you think about the oxygen exposure harming the quality of the beer?

 

[beergolf]

If it is an auto siphon sometimes the rubber gasket leaks a little. I had one that did that, so to solve it I took a turkey baster and put some of the brew above the gasket to help with the seal. Problem solved.

 

[McGlothan]

Ill give that a shot! Thanks everyone for the help

 

[H-ost]

Might I ask what the need for having the bottling bucket on a chair? Your problem is either the hose is too large or you just need to put your receiving recepticle on the ground.

 

[McGlothan]

I actually switched to the ground when it started happening, it didn't change. The chair just makes it more close and manageable. There is still a few feet of difference between the two

 

[BamaRooster]

I'm with KRANE, I know my hose is so tight I fell like it is going to break the auto siphon cane when I am taking everything apart.

 

[spokaniac]

I would think that the only two ways to stop the siphon once it is going: hose is plugged or there is air getting in the line. I don't have an auto siphon, a friend gave me one of those orange carboy caps that have 2 tube/holes, the racking cane goes in the short one and you just give a little puff on the long one and the siphon starts.

 

[DeafSmith]

I had similar problems with my autosiphon (the 1/2 inch, or large size) when I first started. I finally gave up on clear vinyl hose and started using 3/8 ID silicone hose - problem solved! I don't need to use a hose clamp or zip tie to get an airtight seal, the tubing slips on and off easily, and I can sanitize it by boiling.

 

[DJP00829]

I had this same problem when I lent my tubing to a buddy and used some other stuff I thought was the same size. I found that if I pinched the tubing around the cane it held the suction, so it was definitely a tubing diameter problem... As a lot of these other guys have said, once I got my original tubing back it was fairly difficult to remove from the siphon.

 

[McGlothan]

From what I'm reading here, the hose I got in my kit is definitely a little too large. When I pinched the tubing around the cane the first time, the suction would get better. It was too hard to hold that long and I thought a zip tie would be better. Im getting some of that fancy silicone hose. I don't want to deal with that again. It really throws a wrench in bottling day/night.

 

[McGlothan]

Stirring the yeast bed up worried me so I didn't siphon the last bit of beer out. I lost probably 8-10 beers due to siphon problems and gravity testing. The entire rest of the brewing process was quite enjoyable.

 

[DeafSmith]

Im getting some of that fancy silicone hose.

Be sure to get the 3/8 inch I.D. for this application (1/2 inch is generally used for brewing water and wort transfers).
Boil the tubing for a few minutes to sanitize it, then spray some StarSan onto the racking cane to sanitize the area where the tubing will attach and it should slip on pretty easily - slide it up until you feel like you have an airtight connection.

 

[Balto]

Many people had this problem. Just put a hose clamp where the tubing connects to the auto siphon. Ta Da

 

[venquessa]

I believe the height of the containers is less relevant than the height of the fill level. The top/fill level of the source container must be higher than the top/fill level of the destination container. The bigger the difference the bigger the pressure.

 

[pjj2ba]

If it is an auto siphon sometimes the rubber gasket leaks a little. I had one that did that, so to solve it I took a turkey baster and put some of the brew above the gasket to help with the seal. Problem solved.

Beergolf has got it right. This is especially a problem if you store the two parts of the autosiphon together. Eventually the seal will get a bit compressed and won't seal as well. Beer above the seal works - you suck in beer instead of air.

Also, don't siphon as fast! The faster you siphon the more likely you are to suck in air somewhere, whether it be around the piston seal, or where the tubing connects to the cane.