Transfer wort to bottle bucket

[MaxMayo]

Hello and thank you for all the advice I've found on your forum so far. I bought a starter kit from Northern Brewer which step by step has been very self explanatory until bottling day. The instructions called for using the auto-siphon to move the wort to the bottling bucket. The starter kit I purchased came with a siphon hose and a bottle filler...No auto siphon that I could identify. I've been conditioned to "adapt, improvise, and overcome," for better or worse. Since there was no auto siphon I transferred the wort to the bottling bucket using the spigot; slowly pouring it in along the side of the bottling bucket like you would pour a beer from bottle to glass. The bottle filler provided by Northern Brewer did not attach to the spigot of the bottling bucket very easily and I was not comfortable with the seal. I again used the spigot to transfer the bottling bucket beer directly into the bottles (following the instructions for the priming solution prior to this of course).

Did I make a royal mistake by transferring and bottling in this manner?

Should I buy other siphoning equipment besides the basic items that came with my kit, was I not using it correctly, or can I keep using the spigot to transfer and bottle my beer?

Sorry if this question has been asked in prior threads and I understand if you guys just link me to said thread.

Cheers and thanks again for all the useful information I've found here so far!

Max

 

[Rish]

If the fermenter has a spigot, the hose you have should fit over it and then put to the bottom of your bottling bucket to transfer. Then attach the hose to the spigot of the bottling bucket, insert the wand in the other end of the hose and fill bottles from there.

 

[MaxMayo]

I might need a slightly larger diameter on my hose if that is the case. It didn't fit even after a little force and I didn't want to muscle it too much and risk compromising the seal the spigot made with the bucket and end up with a mess on my kitchen floor. I imagine the wife would not appreciate that.

 

[beerfactory]

If you heat the hose by submerging (an inch or so of the hose length) in hot water - if may be flexible enough to slip right over Starsan makes a good lubricant as well

 

[IslandLizard]

If the hot water immersion trick doesn't quite do it, using a (short) piece of vinyl tubing of the next larger diameter usually fits over the skinnier one, so you can make adapters that way.

Do you have a homebrew store nearby? If so, that would be awesome, as they may have everything you need.

I would avoid auto-siphons, and instead, use a stainless racking cane. They're around $10-12, you buy one for life. They also come in acrylic (plastic) but may not be as durable.

 

[hotbeer]

I tried an auto-siphon and while I like the simplicity of starting a siphon, it let a lot of air get into the beer all the while it was being transferred. Perhaps mine being a inexpensive model was part of that, but I really don't see any better quality more expensive models out there.

Usually just filling the transfer line with some other solution like sanitizer or just water and letting it pull the beer into the tube works well for me. Let the sanitizer run into another bucket though, not into whatever you are transferring to.

 

[MaxMayo]

Thanks for the tips for my next brew. I'll look into this stainless racking cane.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks for the tips for my next brew. I'll look into this stainless racking cane.

You won't regret it.
Also get a 36" long 3/16" diameter "line cleaning" brush.

To keep the cane and tubing "pre-primed," once filled with Starsan (or water), you can free up your finger tip (and hand), by using a (large) pinching tube clamp (this is what they look like). Or just stick a plug of some sort into the end (think of an oversized golf tee). There are many options to accomplish the task.

 

[MaxStout]

Seconded on the ss racking cane. I gave up on auto siphons long ago. No matter what I did, they always pulled in loads of air. More like auto aerators.