GoodGod What Have We Done?!?

[Das Mueller]

So our Primary fermentation was over...we were 10 days in and it was time to transfer to the secondary...this is where everything turns to crap for some reason....our first problem is that we were unable to get a continuous stream of liquid from the fermenter into the carboy....we just got mouthfuls of what seemed to be pretty decent 10 day old first batch of beer ever. Eventually we gave up on the notion of siphoning...perhaps our lungs aren't stron enough...or maybe we just don't know what we're doing. we had a little bit of beer in the carboy and we thought hey it tasted semi-decent out of the siphon hose lets give it a try....as my friend described it..."it tasted like Sour vomit" I think thats the correct way he put it....so our question is....Is it normal for a 10 day old beer thats supposed to have a 6-8 week maturation to taste like sour vomit out of a glass....and and how the heck is one supposed to siphon a beer from fermenter into carboy properly....it was devastating thats all I can say....My brewing buddy and myself are at a total loss....what on earth can we do?

 

[bradsul]

Since you were trying to suck start a syphon I'm going to think that your sour-vomit beer is most likely due to improper sanitation. I would suggest investing in an auto-syphon to take all the work out of it. It's the best $8 you will spend.

I would also suggest you read www.howtobrew.com.

A bad batch is always hard to take but do a bit of research and your next one will be great! Just remember the lessons from this batch and move on!

 

[Cheesefood]

You're making a belgian, so it'll be sour. And you really need to build up an appreciation for warm, flat, green beer. Much like fine scotch, it's not for noobs.

 

[Das Mueller]

i love fine scotch's....perhaps i'll remember that next time

 

[eriktlupus]

put your sanitizer in a pitcher and start your siphon in that. drain into a glass. plug one end and transfer open end into fermentor and restart into glass again. once you have beer only coming through the tubing put end into secondary vessel.:rockin:


and yes green beer tastes nothing like the finished product


edit: don't forget that the fermentor is higher than the secondary gravity wise

 

[Vagrant]

Make sure you have your primary as high as possible. When you siphon, gravity is going to be pulling your green beer so it's "falling" from the primary to the secondary. I always have my hose stretched as far as possible and my primary as high as possible to get a good flow rate.

As the level rises, I push the secondary back farther to keep the flow going. I'm no professional, but that's always worked for me.

I "suck start" my siphons and havent had a problem, although I understand the risks of an infection. I just give a good rinse with mouthwash before I start.

 

[RLinNH]

Here's how I Siphon...

First and foremost, your primary needs to be higher then your secondary. I place my primary on my kitchen counter, and the Secondary on the floor.


Make sure that your siphoning tube/racking cane are sanitized. Fill the tube and racking cane with water. I use my well water, right out of the kitchen faucet. Make sure that there are no air bubbles in the tube or racking cane. Once the tube and racking cane are filled with water and you have worked out the air bubbles, put your thumb over the tube end, and place your racking cane into your primary. Once the Racking cane is in the beer, hold the "Thumbed" end below the Primary, and let your thumb go. Siphon all of your water and a little bit of green beer from the tube and racking cane into a glass, cooking pot, whatever works for you. Place your thumb over the end again, stopping the flow of beer, then place the tube into your secondary. Congrats, you are siphoning.


Or, go buy any good homebrew book and get instructions that are 10 times better then I could ever type. You'll even have pictures. Stick with the hobby and keep Brewing.

 

[killian]

+1 buy an auto syphon, best money you can spend aside from malted barley

 

[Waldo]

You probably had a lot of yeast slurry in your glass, and it smells like sour puke so I'm sure it would taste the same.

 

[Rhoobarb]

Don't dump it if you haven't already. Let it follow it's course and wait until it is bottled! And yes, get an Auto-siphon. Worth every penny.

 

[BierMuncher]

Don't be confused by this picture. I am actually siphoning out of my carboy back into a kettle to burn off some alcohol.

The point is that gravity drives siphoning action. If the lowest point of vessel A is even with or lower than the highest level of vessel B, your siphon will stop. Raise that kettle up.

 

[Das Mueller]

We never did move the beer out of the first fermenter.....should we still consider doing that? or will the beer be ok in 1 fermentation tank up until we bottle it?

 

[covered95]

Instead of suck starting a siphon I have used a different method. Use a racking tube, 2 plastice tubes and carboy cap. Racking tube is put through big hole in carboy cap and a tube runs from that into your new vessal. The racking tube and carboy cap are put on your first vessal. Attach the extra tube to the second smaller whole of the carboy cap and use some sort of pump to force air into the first carboy. The greater pressure forces your liquid out into the second. You could blow in the tube to start it but only if you want the lights to go out. I use a cheap and cheesy balloon pump that I picked up at the party store. Forces air out when you pump and it starts things pretty easy. Might be a tad cheaper that the autosiphone.

I have also heard of some guys rigging their CO2 to force air out so O2 never hits their beer.

None of this works though if you don't get the height thing figured out, basic physics.

keep the beer though, it could still get better.

 

[Hopleaf]

Carboy cap + racking cane + tubing is how I do it

 

[AnOldUR]

Carboy cap and pump for exercise ball . . . . . .

 

[cheezydemon]

Keep doing what you are doing, your posts are hilarious!


Just kidding, we were all new first. I would leave the beer. It is not worth risking contamination, or more likely oxidation.

Everyone here has explained it well and I hate to rehash it. But the simplest principal to let you know how to do it, is the fact that a hose filled with any sort of liquid will automatically suck.

Lower one end and water spews out, the other end will suck air. If you do this but the other end is in wort, it will suck wort.

Maybe practice with 2 pitchers of water until you get it. Good luck.

 

[Willie3]

Keeping the beer in the primary will be fine. At some point you will want to try to secondary your brews. This is an extra step that some homebrewers swear by and others don't see the need. It is good to try what you like or will come to like.

After you see your beer clear (advantages of glass carboys) and your hydrometer reading is stagnant (after a while you might skip hydros to find if you are finished fermenting. Personally I take hydros to find finishing gravity, not to know if my beer is finished fermenting. I secondary all my beer and bottle about 12 weeks out, a long time considering most recipes can be bottled 8 weeks or sooner. I look for activity, I measure trub, and I have time on my side.) You never want to bottle fermenting beer as you will get bombs, so at first take the hydro and wait until it is unchanged over 3 days.

Then syphon onto your corn sugar or honey or syrup/treacle or dried malt extract into a bottling bucket and bottle. Wait 3-5 weeks and enjoy.

Read John Palmer's information on the net. It will help you out tremendously.

Practice syphoning with water as stated previously. You will get it. It seems daunting at first but we all have been there. Your reward will be FANTASTIC BEER when finished, and let me tell you nothing gets better than that (well maybe a few other things) but beer wise, mmmmmmmmmm.

I got to go brew now.

- WW

 

[bobwantbeer]

I went blue in the face sucking on that damn hose like a broke hooker. nothing.