SS autosiphon... any interest??

[Golddiggie]

A single SS ball bearing should work well for the valve...look inside a spray bottle for inspiration...

Large sized balls are often sold as "hunting shot" for a slingshot.

It would have to be hollow since a solid one would be too heavy.

Right now I'm focusing on making the fitting to go into PET carboys that will make it easy to transfer with a CO2 push.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Delrin would be a good choice...maybe even some of the high durometer rubbers....

 

[Golddiggie]

Delrin would be a good choice...maybe even some of the high durometer rubbers....

I have some delrin round on hand already. Once I start working again, I plan on getting the lathe tool that will allow me to create balls/rounds. I might make the tube ends out of PTFE stock. Or something that can handle temperatures above 220F. I could use the same material for the top end of the outer tube (to guide the cane).

 

[AggieBrewer01]

Golddiggie,

If you (or anyone else) ever builds one of these, send me a PM if you're interested in selling one.

 

[Irrenarzt]

Delrin is a poor choice as it is not as dimensionally stable as other polymers. Delrin is one of the worst polymers with respect to water absorption, but it has gotten better over the years. Still, other materials are better. Skip the delrin and thank me later.

http://www2.dupont.com/Plastics/en_US/assets/downloads/design/DELDGe.pdf

Page 15

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm still thinking about this. I'm also working on a way to use a CO2 push (easily) with PET carboys. Just need to drill a pair of holes into the first unit to see how it works. Need to test it to ensure that it comes out of the carboy before the pressure inside gets too close to tolerances.

 

[Conestoga]

Here is mine. Designed and fabricated in 8 days. Stainless and teflon/PTFE.

It pumps 5G in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Likely not gentle enough for fermented beer, but I made this for no-chill specifically.

 

[kerklein2]

Here is mine. Designed and fabricated in 8 days. Stainless and teflon/PTFE.

It pumps 5G in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Likely not gentle enough for fermented beer, but I made this for no-chill specifically.

Pretty sweet. You make it yourself? Total cost?

And why would fermented beer need to be handled gently? Other than oxygen exposure?

 

[Conestoga]

Pretty sweet. You make it yourself? Total cost?

And why would fermented beer need to be handled gently? Other than oxygen exposure?

Yes, simply oxygen exposure.

Total cost was free, I do all the CAD work and programming for a CNC department. I have full access/control and lots of experience on all of the machinery. We were slow, and somebody on another forum gave me the idea. I used materials that were in stock, and not used in over 8 years. I figured they wouldn't miss it.

 

[Irrenarzt]

I'd love prints if you can PM them to me. I'd love to do some machining.

 

[Eugenio]

Thats nice, id like to try making one with a SS cane and PVC pipe, i can do the designing/modelling but lack on the metal fabrication department. My siphon is close to dying and id like to move away from that flimsy plastic into something a bit stronger.

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

Here is mine. Designed and fabricated in 8 days. Stainless and teflon/PTFE.

It pumps 5G in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Likely not gentle enough for fermented beer, but I made this for no-chill specifically.

Hey Conestoga, are you at all considering making some of these to sell? I def an interested in getting a SS autosiphon.


- ISM NRP

 

[Conestoga]

Hey Conestoga, are you at all considering making some of these to sell? I def an interested in getting a SS autosiphon.


- ISM NRP

The way I made mine is hugely impractical for sales. Same with shipping, this thing is a tank. I used .065 wall 316SS tubing @ 1.5" OD. It's also about 2ft long.

I'm working with folks on BIABrewer.info for a more commercially viable siphon, so a cheaper option is on the horizon. Once this gains traction I can come back and let everyone know.

I don't have enough scrap material to simply charge for my own time, which I would do if I could. This means I would have to buy the material to duplicate what I did for myself. I think this would be too expensive for most. It would be $40 just for the main tube.

If money was no matter, then sure ... I could make a bunch.

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

The way I made mine is hugely impractical for sales. Same with shipping, this thing is a tank. I used .065 wall 316SS tubing @ 1.5" OD. It's also about 2ft long.

I'm working with folks on BIABrewer.info for a more commercially viable siphon, so a cheaper option is on the horizon. Once this gains traction I can come back and let everyone know.

I don't have enough scrap material to simply charge for my own time, which I would do if I could. This means I would have to buy the material to duplicate what I did for myself. I think this would be too expensive for most. It would be $40 just for the main tube.

If money was no matter, then sure ... I could make a bunch.

Def keep us posted cuz id gladly pay money for a sanitary long lasting autosiphon


- ISM NRP

 

[Irrenarzt]

That last guy who posted his fast flow no-chill prototype didn't send me prints so I spent the last two days at work drawing one up based on the smaller 3/8" Fermtech autosiphon. I prefer this one as it is not as long and tends to rack more smoothly than the larger ones. Unfortunately it is the least durable of the available autosiphons. My most recent one cracked after only 1 use. Yes 1 use. For my drawing, I am using a 1" OD outer tube though as this is a more easily found raw material feedstock and should allow a slightly shorter stroke to get it going. Custom sizes of stainless tubing isn't going to help with the overall costs.

I ordered all the stock to make a one off. I will be doing so in the next few weeks. It will not be cheap, even with myself doing the labor so I am thinking of taking the prints to my local guy that I sub work out to that I don't want to do/am not good enough to do/need more volume than I can do etc. I have a long standing relationship with him as I've been in my current job for coming up on 13 years and we've been using him for the lot of that period so I have a good relationship and trust his work. I have access to a full shop at work and they allow me to use their equipment and I also have a smaller shop in my lab but it's fairly limited besides small milling and lathe operations. That said, I don't have time to making 10 of these things for no return so don't ask.

I'd like to know the maximum cost people would be willing to pay for one of these? I've broke so many of these it's not even funny so I know there must a few of us out there that are willing to pay the machining costs to make a small lot of these. Do realize this will not be cheap. The stock alone for my design was close to 300 bucks (but I used electropolished NSF certified 316 tubing, the production models would not use such extravagant tubing, but that would keep costs down as well). I know homebrewers are fairly frugal by nature so I'm not surprised if people will not be willing to pay 300 for one (if that were the cost).

Post up your maximum theoretical price you would pay and I can bring that to the table when I negotiate fabrication costs for a lot of these. This is a 3 year old thread with little progress. Let's make some damn progress.

 

[jpalarchio]

I'd like to know the maximum cost people would be willing to pay for one of these? I've broke so many of these it's not even funny so I know there must a few of us out there that are willing to pay the machining costs to make a small lot of these. Do realize this will not be cheap. The stock alone for my design was close to 300 bucks (but I used electropolished NSF certified 316 tubing, the production models would not use such extravagant tubing, but that would keep costs down as well). I know homebrewers are fairly frugal by nature so I'm not surprised if people will not be willing to pay 300 for one (if that were the cost).

A $300 auto siphon? I think I'd probably just put the money towards a conical at that price.

I suspect you'd be hard pressed to find many willing to pay 1/3 of that.

 

[orangehero]

My $10 stainless turkey baster can start a siphon through my $10 stainless racking tube. There's a technique but it's not difficult.

You can also slip a slightly larger piece tubing over the transfer tubing so you can suck on it to start the siphon, then pull off the "mouthpiece". It's even easier if you're transferring to a sealed vessel, such a carboy with a carboy cap.

I have an autosiphon but I think I've only used it once.

 

[Bobby_M]

I believe the pricepoint of a stainless autosiphon is about $40. That's a price I'm confident I'd be able to sell them at. One thing that autosiphon naysayers may not realize is that it's not just useful for starting a siphon but you can actually pump yeast slurry with it. I know people will swirl their carboys and pour the slurry out into a jar, but it's not nearly as safe or sanitary to do that.

 

[swackattack]

Agreed. I think $40 would work for most people

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Irrenarzt]

There is no way I could persuade my machinists to make it for 40 unless I ordered 1000 or more units I imagine. I would think you can get a machine shop in India to do it for around that price for a lower volume of units but I would only be willing to go USA made anyway. There may be a cheaper shop to deal with relative to my shop as well. I won't know til I run it by him.

It would be best to have an actual vendor like Bobby M do it as he would be able to reach a much larger group of homebrewers.

I'll post up mine when it's done, but it looks like it will be a one off unit.

 

[kh54s10]

3/8" plastic autosiphon - about $9. I am at 2 3/4 years with mine so I would be interested only if one was available at the price point that Bobby M stated - about $40. I could brew for almost 12 years replacing the plastic ones compared to getting a SS one.

Any more than that and it would be a limited market - for people on the upper end of the bling scale.

 

[Irrenarzt]

I'm pretty hard on mine as I sanitize it in the dishwasher which seems to shorten their life dramatically. I've never had one last more than a year. Also, if you are transferring any spirits with a plastic autosiphon, they do not last very long at all.

I know there are people like me who can't keep a plastic one for any length of time. But I'm really anal about sanitization.