Siphoning?

[jblock]

first batch...and i just tried to siphon the beer from the carboy to the bottling bucket and can not keep a steady flow. Any suggestions on how to obtain a siphon and keep it going? I am using a raking cane and tube.
thanks...

 

[ardentfrost]

Auto-siphons are freakin' amazing devices. Pump twice and the siphon is done.

The trick to any siphon is positioning more than anything else. The top of the bottling bucket needs to be below the bottom of the carboy, otherwise the siphon will stop once the level of one reaches the level of the other.

As far as starting the siphon at first, what I did before I had an autosiphon was to get sanitized water into the tube by submerging it, dropping the racking cane into the carboy and pointing the filled tube into a piece of tupperware or something. The water will pull the beer up the racking cane and as soon as it reaches the top, the siphon is pretty much started. Once the beer starts coming out, you can squeeze the tube to halt/slow the flow, then quickly move it over to the bucket and let it go.

It can be tricky, and you WILL get stuff on the floor so set everything on top of a towel. Get someone to hold the tupperware container if you can.

 

[itsme6582]

1. Hook the line up to your racking cane
2. Sanitize the outside of the racking cane and tube by either dipping or spraying it down
3. Start a siphon and draw sanitizer through the cane
4. Once full, put your finger on the end of the tube to pause the siphon
5. Put your racking cane into your carboy
6. Remove your finger and start siphoning the beer/ sanitizer mixture into a waste container like a pot or a pitcher until you're confident just beer is coming out
7. Put your finger over the end of the tube again and start siphoning into your bucket

If you don't have a no rinse sanitizer you can do the exact same thing just go from sanitizer to water to beer. This is one of the many reasons iodophor and star-san are so popular.