Siphoning with an Auto-Siphon

[tex3030]

I have an auto siphon, so far the only thing I have figured out is that I am too dumb to work it .
I end up with a huge air bubble in the hose. The air bubble is at the top, it is about 2' long, it is not carbonation bubbles.

Any tips on making this thing go away?

I have been trying to hold the hose above the bottle while siphoning, trying to fill the whole hose incrementally. When I go to bottle I still end up with an air bubble.

Am I doing this completely backwards?
Is it "broke"?
Should I just pack it up and send it back to ibm, or whoever makes these things?

 

[Chudz]

Hmm, I've never used an auto siphon before, much less tried to bottle with one. What is your equipment setup, meaning do you have a bottling bucket, etc.

 

[tex3030]

I am going from a carboy/ale pail to bottles. Only thing between the carboy and bottles is auto siphon-hose-bottling wand.

The odd thing is is that while cleaning the bottles/siphon hose earlier I was able to eliminate the air bubble.

Only reason I have for it disappearing earlier is freaking magic

 

[Chudz]

Ah, well try a search here on bottling with auto siphon, or something along those lines. There's more than a few hits. Most of them seem to suggest getting a bottling bucket to avoid the hassle, but there may be a gem in there for doing it right.

Best wishes.

 

[tex3030]

Yea, I have done a search.

All of the replies that I have seen assume that the user is not an idiot.

 

[TinStar]

Try pinching the hose at the bubble source to temporarily restrict the flow.

 

[Chudz]

Ah, sorry. I'm sure there is someone out there that can shed some light on this. Of course they may be asleep/passed-out at this point, but let it ride for a bit and see what happens.

 

[tex3030]

Got the air bubble down to a few inches, but it gradually grows larger while I cap six-12.

Got almost to halfway through and cracked open a second bottle of beer. Less than a minute later I cracked the top of a bottle because I squeezed too hard on the capper.

I better not break too many more bottles, that floor may start moving on me then.

 

[ericsabbat]

You could be getting air in your line because the hose to the racking cane fit isn't snug enough and as the beer moves through its sucking in air. I was getting mini bubbles in mine so I stopped disconnecting my line from my racking cane.

The only other thing I could think of is that when you stop bottling your siphon stops so when you start again it sucks the beer from the line without having a suction creating a void in your line. But since I've never used a auto siphon to bottle thats only speculation.

 

[tex3030]

Does the connection between the racking cane + hose eventually just fill up with enough crap to seal itself or did you put some type of filler in there (silicone etc.)?

 

[rpatton]

I use an auto siphon, and I've seen this happen when either the inside / plunger doesn't have a good seal (seems to happen more when it is wet before I get the flow going), or if there is something blocking the intake section, such as being clogged with yeast etc.

 

[Salanis]

Are you not able to get flow into your bottles while using this method? Or are you just getting a flow, but with an air bubble at the top?

You are using a bottling wand. When you start the flow through your auto-siphon, are you sure to have the wand pressing on something so that you open the valve and the air has room to leave that end of the hose? If you don't, and valve is closed, you'll just get air pressure that will force your beer back out through the mouth of the siphon.

Also, don't forget that the output of the siphon needs to be below the level of the input.

 

[Brasco20]

Get a bottling bucket with a spigot, they are cheap and easy.

 

[rico567]

From the description, the only thing the bubble forming can be is air entering the line, and (using my Fermtech autosiphon as a reference) the only place that can be happening is where the vinyl hose is pushed on to the interior tube of the autosiphon.

The standard Fermtech autosiphon takes a hose that is 5/6" I.D. (interior diameter). It may be that your hose is too large to form an effective seal. I've been using the autosiphon for three years that came with my original starter kit from Midwest, and no issues. After reading another thread on HBT, between uses I remove the interior tube so that the rubber seal on the end doesn't remain compressed in the larger outside tube and perhaps begin to lose suction.

I regard the autosiphon as a truly indispensable "gadget," and if this one broke, the only thing I might do is upgrade to a 1/2" model so the racking would go more quickly.

 

[passedpawn]

From the description, the only thing the bubble forming can be is air entering the line, and (using my Fermtech autosiphon as a reference) the only place that can be happening is where the vinyl hose is pushed on to the interior tube of the autosiphon.

This is the problem. It will go away if you put a small hose clamp on there. I know it seems like the tubing is snug, but it will draw some air.

Heres a pic:

 

[GRHunter]

+1 on just getting a bottling bucket. I have never had a problem with an auto-siphon, but then again I have never tried to bottle with one either. I guess the question I have is this; are you going straight from your fermenter to your bottles? If so, you must be priming each bottle individually. A bottling bucket will make priming easier and resolve you bubble issue.

 

[sprocketmaker]

I had the same problem, when i got my auto siphon, the HBS gave me 3/8 ID tubing, and it gave me all kinds of air leak problems, quick fix was to use a couple zip ties to clamp it on the siphon cane, later i bought some 5/16 ID tubing, and no problems since.

 

[Bubba_Mustafa]

Also if you are starting it with the bottling wand attached, and not 'open' you will have an air bubble. Start the siphon with the bottling wand 'open' Get a flow going before closing the wand's vave.