Siphon

[ryanshelton]

Hi all
Currently got a FV for primary brewing and a second FV with a tap. I use a syphon tube to move the beer but its temprementle. Ive seen a auto syphon is available, are they worth the money?

 

[joe1002]

Never used one, sorry.

Always used the old fashioned suck and never had any problems :lol:

 

[linearcraig]

I bought one last weekend ended up not using it.

Its essentially just a tube with another tube inside. I was just worried as it says it should work with one pull but it might take a couple which I'm pretty sure will get air into your beer which you don't want.

It also doubles in length when its extended, which for me caused problems.

Another issue is that standard clips don't fit it so its difficult to attach it to the barrel and the act of pulling it could actually stir up the sediment.

I think for the money its OK, but I still found the suck method easier.

Have you tried putting water in the syphon tube and then attaching it to the tubing going into the beer. The second you lower the tube into the second fv it pulls the beer up.

Hope this helps.

 

[ScottM]

What issues are you having with the syphon? I can't see anything that could go wrong to be honest.

I like the idea of the auto syphon but I've never bothered to invest in one as I've not really had any need to be honest. One clean suck and she's off (ooeerrr).

Are you clipping it onto the bucket? Is the issue that it's falling out? There are lots of little tricks to make sure syphoning goes smoothly. Here is what I tend to do.....


Primary bucket elevated and in position ready for transfer 24 hours prior to actual transfer (this allows the sediment to re-settle).
With the secondary in place lift the lid of the primary at the edge, DON'T take the lid off.
Place the exit end into the secondary and put the caning rack into the primary.
With the primary lid opened just a crack feed the extra syphon tube into the primary until the sediment trap is in the bottom corner of the bucket (You should be able to see this from the outside).
Give it a suck and allow the transfer to begin.
When it's down to about an inch start to VERY slowly tilt the bucket by putting one hand down next to where you see the sediment trap and pull at the top of the opposite side. This will bring the clean brew towards the sediment trap.
As long as the above is done slowly you can keep tilting till at 45 degrees and then allow it to drain out, very little sediment will be pulled through following this method, as long as you are patient.

Practice makes perfect :)

 

[rpt]

I use an auto syphon and would say it is worth the money. Makes it much easier to get the syphon going. The tube on mine is also a lot thicker than my previous syphon and so it works much faster.

I'd be wary of sucking to start a syphon as you can introduce an infection. You also need to sanitise the tube which probably involves sucking too - not sure I'd want to swallow much sterilising fluid!

 

[winelight]

Another week, another syphon question, another set of contradictory answers :) I love this place!

How nice if we could have a wiki...

Anyway, I read the following method on here, thought it sounded fiddly but gave it a go, and it's a real doddle.

Fill up the tube with water, put the racking cane into the FV and then syphoning just starts automatically. Syphon into a jug until the beer has flushed out the water.

 

[rpt]

Another week, another syphon question, another set of contradictory answers :) I love this place!

There's always more than one way to skin a cat. It would be very boring if you just got one answer to your question.

How nice if we could have a wiki...

They are well known as being 100% accurate.

 

[bigdave]

Can I just ask, has anyone ever actually infected their beer thru sucking to start a syphon? I don't mean, these tall tales of someone's friends dads mate by you yourself? Have you actually infected a brew and can attribute it solely to sucking to start a syphon?

 

[ScottM]

Can I just ask, has anyone ever actually infected their beer thru sucking to start a syphon? I don't mean, these tall tales of someone's friends dads mate by you yourself? Have you actually infected a brew and can attribute it solely to sucking to start a syphon?

Nope. You would need to be very unlucky to infect a brew IMO. Something would need to be wrong elsewhere as the size of the colonies in newly fermented beer should be more than enough to handle anything that's on the hose.

People may blame the manual syphoning but I would always be skeptical.

 

[rpt]

Since we go to all the trouble of sanitising our equipment, it seems a bit silly to risk it by introducing a bodily fluid. I wonder what would happen if we didn't bother sanitising at all - just ensuring equipment was clean. I suspect that most of the time it would be fine but it would be very annoying if you lost a brew.

 

[winelight]

As has been said in another topic, someone's dad has always made beer without sanitising the bottles (OK, he does sanitise them once a year) and still makes it that way and has never has an infected brew.

 

[jonnymorris]

Can I just ask, has anyone ever actually infected their beer thru sucking to start a syphon?

Me neither.

 

[ryanshelton]

I wasnt expecting this many replies lol the problem I have is it always seems to stop then I have to suck again to start it. Had to do it with my TC the other week, such a pain in the ar#e but ive not used the water trick actually so will try it :grin:

 

[ScottM]

I wasnt expecting this many replies lol the problem I have is it always seems to stop then I have to suck again to start it. Had to do it with my TC the other week, such a pain in the ar#e but ive not used the water trick actually so will try it :grin:

The only reason that would happen is because the trap end isn't submerged. If you follow my method, the lid will keep it in place quite nicely.

Auto syphon won't make any difference to that issue, it will only make the re-starts less cumbersome. Best to get the technique down and then take it from there :)