Auto siphon failure

[brew4allMI]

My auto siphon failed half way thru primary to bottling bucket. Set up was normal for siphoning. I did get new tubing and a bottling wand that fit my old wand so it would fit my auto siphon. The siphoning was a little weak at the start and then tapered off a bit and the. Stopped working I can't even start it up again and I have 2 gallons left... Any suggestions?

 

[ncbrewer]

You don't really need an auto syphon. Use tubing and a racking cane (use the one from your auto syphon if necessary). An inverted cup on the bottom of the racking cane makes it easier. Sanitize everything, including your hands. Fill the tube and cane with star san - thumb over the end of the tube, and over the end of the cane if it doesn't have the cup on the end. Submerge the end of the cane. Take your thumb off the end of the tube, and syphon the star san into a pan as waste - thumb back on the end. Then put end of the tube in the bottling bucket and syphon the beer. I do it this way all the time. Hope this helps.

 

[brew4allMI]

Thanks for the info! I will try to use your suggestion...

 

[brew4allMI]

No sure what u mean by an inverted cup on the end of the racking cane tho

 

[Homercidal]

Unless your siphon was leaking pretty bad, your problem is probably the height differential between the fermentor and bottling bucket.

 

[brew4allMI]

I am getting air bubbles where tubing connects to cane.. Not air tight I think that's my problem... Fermenter on counter bottling bucket on floor...

 

[Homercidal]

I had to use a hose clamp on mine because air would get sucked in where the hose connects. Even though I thought it was tight enough, it was sucking some bubbles in. Concern for aerating finished beer made me clamp it. Overclamping can lead to small cracks, so be careful.

 

[brew4allMI]

Yeh that's was my concern with all of the air. But I think I contaminated the tubing and I moved the bucket of beer around a bit stirring up a bunch of yeast... Bottled 12 beers out of and and lost siphon again... Botched batch #3... Still learning...thanks for your advice

 

[ncbrewer]

I had to use a hose clamp on mine because air would get sucked in where the hose connects. Even though I thought it was tight enough, it was sucking some bubbles in. Concern for aerating finished beer made me clamp it. Overclamping can lead to small cracks, so be careful.

I use cable ties to keep it snug. Either way, it's got to be air tight. And like you said, if that's the problem, then by-passing the auto syphon won't help.

 

[brew4allMI]

Yeah unfortunately.. Just another excuse to brew again. We to the hardware store and picked up 5/16 tubing... Fits very tight, like my previous tubing.

 

[ncbrewer]

It might be worthwhile to do a test run with water before syphoning more beer. Water's a lot cheaper.

 

[brew4allMI]

Yea you have a valid point. I will be goin thru a few practice runs with the new tubing. I have never had something like this happen in 2 yrs of brewing.

 

[wilconrad]

I had this same problem back in the day when my autosiphon was new. I fixed it by soaking the end of the hose in hot starsan before sliding it on to the racking cane. Heat makes the hose more flexible and the starsan makes it slippery, so it went on all the way up to the bend in the cane. Once it dried out, it wasn't going anywhere; haven't had an air leak issue since.

 

[brew4allMI]

Yeah I will take all of the suggestions in my next brewing adventure... Been pretty helpful