Stuck Siphon

[bernerbrau]

So, this IIPA that I decided to brew is turning out to be the most problematic batch ever.

First of all, the top of my racking cane snapped off today, and since it's sunday my LHBS is closed. But I decided to press on, sticking the siphon hose onto the bottom of the cane and putting the snapped end in the beer. I still can get an airtight seal and I managed to rack and bottle my blonde batch just fine before trying to rack my IIPA.

I'm trying to rack it to secondary so I can dry-hop it. I've managed to get half the beer in there, but I've started the siphon about 18 times now and gotten a steady flow only twice, and both times they've eventually bubbled up until the flow breaks and I have to start over. Apparently there's just so much trub in the beer from all the hops I used when I boiled it that the siphon does not want to happen.

I'm very close to breaking out the funnel and pouring the rest in, and saying to hell with aeration.

 

[lapaglia]

do you have somethng you can sanitize and use as a filter around the siphon?
Maybe a new copper scrubbie?

 

[bernerbrau]

I'm already using the hop bag as a filter. It's still letting the crummies in.

 

[Yooper]

That sucks. (NO pun intended). Don't give up and pour- the IIPA is too valuable to chance it. What's wrong? Is it the trub and hops? If it is, as lapaglia said, find something to use as a redneck filter. Maybe a hops bag, paint strainer, pantyhose? Sanitize it, and put over the end going into the fermenter. Use a sanitized twistie tie if you have to. Don't aerate, but try to siphon quietly. If it's too stirred up, cover both fermenters with an airlock and try again tomorrow. Hops are too expensive and precious, and IIPAs are too much work to give up on!

 

[bernerbrau]

As I said, I am using a sanitized hop bag for a filter but the trub particles are apparently small enough for that not to matter. After getting half of it

I lugged it out to the kitchen for extra height... I probably roused too much of the trub when I did that.

I even swirled vodka in my mouth to disinfect and did a mouth starter. Even with a FULL TUBE OF BEER it only trickled out slowly, allowing a bubble to form and cut the flow off after getting a couple milliliters through.

My wife will not be happy (to put it mildly) with a giant carboy on the kitchen counter overnight. I have to get this done now.

 

[Yooper]

As I said, I am using a sanitized hop bag for a filter but the trub particles are apparently small enough for that not to matter.

So, is it clogging? I'm sorry- I'm just not getting it.

 

[bernerbrau]

Seems to be the fluid is so thick it's trickling out the other end and allowing bubbles to come back in.

I managed to get most of it this time. I have an inch or so above the yeast cake that's still in there and giving me problems. I'm debating whether to toss that part or try to get it.

 

[Yooper]

Seems to be the fluid is so thick it's trickling out the other end and allowing bubbles to come back in.

I managed to get most of it this time. I have an inch or so above the yeast cake that's still in there and giving me problems. I'm debating whether to toss that part or try to get it.

I wonder why it's so "thick" above the trub. Maybe it's a less flocculant yeast that's swirling around?

If it's still giving you fits, I'd say to forget it and just accept the loss. It's better to do that then aerate it.

 

[bernerbrau]

Pretty sure the stuff down there is just too stirred up with the yeast. I swirled it around to get it more evenly distributed, stuck an airlock in there and I'll try to rack the rest tomorrow after I buy a new racking cane or autosiphon.

 

[ifishsum]

I had the same thing happen to me the other day, and I never did figure out the problem. I thought it was getting plugged with trub or hops so I tried a sanitized hop bag as a filter to no effect, so I took the bag back off and finally after about the 10th try it just started flowing like it should and emptied the carboy. Sure was frustrating though. The siphon would start well then after about a minute and a half it slowed down enough to just stop altogether.

It never occurred to me that there might be a thicker layer of beer just above the trub, but it didn't seem any thicker than normal.