Siphon Question - how much to leave

[david0161]

I bottled my first batch of NB cream ale today and got 43 1/2 bottles out of my 5 gallon batch. Drank the half bottle to get a good taste for it. I know I could get more out of it but when siphoning I noticed a lot of yeast in suspension in the last half gallon, I stopped the siphon because I didn't want too much sediment in the final product. This beer has been sitting for four weeks in primary, not too bad for first brew I have seen pics and have heard of people getting every last drop down to the yeast cake. My question is, how far do you guys/girls go down before breaking the siphon? Is it worth sucking up the extra yeast for bottle conditioning, or do you also leave some behind? Hearing of people getting 54 with a dip tube in the bucket sounds amazing but clearly you siphon ALL of the liquid. I bottled with the standard 2/3 cup corn sugar, so may be a little over carbed but probably not by much. I imagine these are probably preference questions but just curious.....

 

[twheelz]

Are you using a bottling bucket or bottling from your primary? A dip tube works in the bottling bucket.

 

[david0161]

I am using a bottling bucket, my questions referred to siphoning from the primary to the bottling bucket

 

[twheelz]

OK then! What I do is near the end of racking from the primary to the bottling bucket is slowly tip the bucket, trying not to disturb the trub too much. Then rack all the clear liquid until I start picking up the cloudy "yeasty" liquid. I normally get 49 or 50 bottles out of the 5 gallons. And i made an easy dip tube for my bottle bucket using one of the forum posts. I think it's Revy's bottling sticky. If you can't find it I can look. Good luck!

 

[fezzersc]

I got 47 1/2 bottles yesterday. I too drank the 1/2.

 

[K5MOW]

On my last batch I got 47, 12 oz bottles. I also drank some.

Roger

 

[david0161]

It appears I need to invest in some carboy wedges or find something to put underneath when siphoning, it was kind of hard to hold it back while watching the siphon and it appears it broke when doing so. Hopefully there is enough yeast to carbonate.

 

[davesrose]

There are a couple ways to get optimal beer out of the primary. The first thing is to cold crash it. Just letting it sit in the fridge for 24 hours will really compact the yeast cake. I'll then put it up on the counter and let it sit while I sanitize my keg/secondary. I'll first gauge and see if I have a lot of trub in the bottom: sometimes I won't try to tilt the fermentor as I realize there's a lot of trub and I have enough beer on top. If I do want to get more beer out, I'll tip the fermentor and will let one side rest on a coffee mug lid. It seems to have enough of an angle to get the most clear beer out.