New to brewing with some questions

Hello All,

I'm brand new to brewing and just made my first batch last week using the northern brewer one gallon small batch starter kit... I was wondering if anyone else has experience with this kit? I followed the directions to a tee doing exactly what they said... The brew day went pretty smooth until it was time to transfer to the fermenter using the auto siphon... No matter what I did I could not get the siphon to work!!! They sent me a new one and even that one doesn't work for me, is it something I'm doing wrong? Also when I finally got everything into the fermentor I was no where near one gallon of wort. Needless to say I'm very disappointed thus far. Any advice would be really appreciated! appreciated!

Don't get down. I'm know nothing about that kit but here are some things to consider, regarding losses. 1. Evaporation rate-no one can predict yours, you could have drier air, a stronger boil, more of a draft, etc. 2. Transfer. You will always have losses in transfer. More equip, more losses. 3. Boil over.

I would measure gravity, compare with target. Add water if high to get correct gravity. If gravity is correct already, your losses were in transfer/spillage. This is assuming your volumes were correct to start. I'm guessing it's an extract kit so gravity wouldn't be low.

You will still make drinkable beer. Keep at it.

Can you give us some more detail about what u did with the siphon? The only time I ever had problems with mine was when I first tried it with the fermenter at the same height as the vessel I was siphoning into. If ur going straight from the boil kettle u could just pour it right in without the fermentor, as this will help aerate it and let u keep the "trub" from going in.

I have no idea what problem you are having with your auto siphon. I just dip mine in with the cane pulled to the top, let it fill then push it to the bottom and it flows. Make sure the catch vessel is lower than the vessel to be drained. It is a siphon.

When transferring from a boil pot there is no need to siphon, just pour all but the thickest trub into the fermenter. At this point there is no worry about adding oxygen.

With the 1-gallon carboy, you pretty much have to siphon. It doesn't have the wide open mouth of a fermenting bucket, and the opening is too small for a sufficient funnel to pour right from a kettle. Or...

I used one of these little carboys today for a small batch of mead. Sanitized a regular kitchen funnel and a one-gallon pitcher. Poured the must from the stock pot to the pitcher, then slowly poured it into the carboy through the funnel.

Thanks to all for your advice and encouragement! I'm starting with the piston already in the down position when attempting to start a siphon... Perhaps this is what I'm doing wrong, I'm going to give it a try tomorrow starting with the piston in the up position and pushing it down to start the siphon and see how it works!

I have never had any issues with my auto siphon, just make sure your carboy is below your kettle. I always start with the piston in the down position and 2-3 strokes later I am always good. Your losses could have been from many different things like marty said. Were you doing a full boil? With a one gallon batch, I would assume you did. You lose about 4% due to cooling and your boil-off varies with the intensity of boil, altitude, weather, evaporation, etc.... I would start by making sure your pre-boil volume is correct in order to get your desired batch volume.

If thats the case just make sure u pump it a few times... One pump just doesn't do it

Boil killed my first attempt. You only need a slow rolling boil. I had mine going crazy and evaporated like 2.5 gallons. It should be a gallon an hour on my set up.