So how do you start your siphon without contamination?

[Flamenco]

This will likely seem a daft question but I'm bottling my first beer (in 20 years or so) tomorrow and I can't for the life of me remember how I used to use the siphon tube without contaminating the beer. Sucking the first draw is no good, so what do people do?

I have a syphon tube with a plastic cup type thing on the end and also a bottling stick and my thought is to clamp the tube to the top of the FV and slowly lower the end into the beer. But how to start the stuff flowing?

Quite excited but don't want to ruin the whole brew by rushing it...

[Matt12398]

Get yourself an autosiphon. Works a dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAiAUnEsGy8

[crookedeyeboy]

Fill with water, thumb over the end, put top end in beer and other end in bucket/jug, take thumb off other end, voila!

Or do what i do and stick your mouth round the end and suck!! Never had any problems

[oldbloke]

crookedeyeboy has it right: prime the thing with water - but if you want to avoid even the thumb over the end, have a tap there.
But like him, I just suck - I reckon all my bacteria are on the outside and the brew doesn't touch it. Been OK so far. When using my bottling wand I start it without the wand fitted, close the tap, then fit the wand

But I might get an autosiphon someday soon.

[gnutz2]

Gob over end, and suck.

Never had a problem either.

[Flamenco]

Ok. Thanks guys. Panic over.

Thinking about it further, wasn't beer brewed in the Middle Ages in order to make water safer to drink? Hence "small beer" ie 2% beer drunk at breakfast, by the whole household? They had no steriliser etc so beer must have some robust qualities of its own?

Anyway, thank you. Bootling day is here!

[Pinto]

Follow a tip i saw here - swill a measure of scotch around in my mouth and then suck away on the syphon tube

Its a trial but sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the brew

[orlando]

I have used a slightly larger gauge tube over the syphon tube, suck to get the beer flowing put a kink in the syphon tube, remove the "suck" tube then unkink the syphon tube and away you go. No contamination and you still can have a crafty sample

[barneey]

You can also roll your hand into a tube, place tube in hand, stuck through other end of hand, just make sure your hand is clean

[greenxpaddy]

I have a long syphon tube and big pans so I use a mechanics 500ml oil syringe with a small addition of silicon tube secured by worm drive clip(sanitised), a tap in line near the end, When it gets to past the tap you shut it off and away you go.

[Matt12398]

Or you could just buy an autosiphon.

[alix101]

+1 on the, auto syphon 12 notes well spent ... I did used to fill the tube with boiled water first and let it pour out to start the syphon..

[Cully]

Or go in to total easymode and fit a tap and little bottler.

[quiff]

I simply stick the narrow end of a sterilised bic pen cap (the ones with a hole in the narrow end) into the end of the siphon, suck to start, then pull it out with my teeth as I move the tube down.

[beer today]

+1 for the bic pen outer, sterilized of course, no probs.