Siphon Trouble

[naa10104]

Hello,

Was attempting to move 5 gal's of Wort from 6 gal. Carboy to bottling bucket today. The Carboy is app. 19.5" high at the neck. The autosiphon I have is not long enough for this Carboy, poor planning on my part. I have a racking tube which is more than long enough, however could not get it to siphon properly. Tried priming it with water in almost the entire length and tried a baster to pull suction. Neither method worked. When i was doing this I had the Carboy sitting on a table app. 36" off of the floor and had the bottling bucket on the garage floor so well below the Carboy. The particular racking tube/cane is app. 8" above the top of the neck of the carboy before it turns, connects to the hose and goes to the bottling bucket. I know this should not be this difficult ... what am I missing/doing wrong ? THanks

 

[MikeCo]

It’s been a long time since I’ve used a racking cane, but when I did, I used a carboy cap with 2 openings with the racking cane. Then I just blew into the free opening of the carbon cap. It can be tricky starting a siphon with just a cane and tubing.

 

[IslandLizard]

You should always test the siphon with sanitizer (Starsan) to make sure it works and holds a siphon before using it for transferring beer. Oxidation is bad!

If you stored it assembled, the rubber seal in the "plunger" of the center tube may have deformed and doesn't seal well anymore.
In the future, store disassembled, it should spring back over time, maybe use some persuation, to restore its shape.

But you'd better off learning to use a regular racking cane, they never fail and rarely suck air when used properly. A stainless one should last a lifetime. Using a "double teated" rubber carboy cap @MikeCo mentioned is a real boon for using with carboys. Just blow some air (or CO2) into the side opening to start the siphon.