siphoning into bottles

[randomdave]

A bit early cos im not quite ready to bottle yet still a few days to go i reckon. Question is I have a siphon tube that im gunna be using. Its a plain simple tube no fancy bits. How do i get it started without actually sucking on the end of the tube? Ive read that you shouldnt put it in your mouth cos it could put germs in the beer an then obv make the beer go off.

[sparky Paul]

I used to stick an extra bit in the end of the pipe (such as a pipe tap) and suck, then remove the tap before filling the bottles.

Another way is to fill the syphon with water, then put your (clean!) finger over the end to hold it in. When you insert the syphon and let go, the water will flow out first into a suitable receptacle, and the beer will follow it.

[randomdave]

ahh cunning. tyvm

[Curious Brew]

For next time fit a tap, so much easier.

1" spade bit makes a perfect hole.

[randomdave]

yeah i have read a thread about doing that. when i go back to the brewmart i might have a look at tap fittings cos im guessing there not overly expensive. Altho i dont have a spade bit but no doubt the father in law has.

[wetdog]

you could fit a little tap on the end of the syphon tube, suck it through until it reaches the tap the close the tap, dip the 'sucked' end in a cup of boiling water to kill off any germs and then continue, but unless you have a serious mouth problem I wouldn't bother. I've been syphoning beer by sucking for over 20 years and never had a spoilt brew.
I've gone all 3rd millenium now though and fitted a tap to the FV, and believe me, I wish I'd done it years ago.

[StrangeBrew]

I've gone all 3rd millenium now though and fitted a tap to the FV, and believe me, I wish I'd done it years ago.

I'll second that!

I recently racked 5 gallon of Cabernet Shiraz using a siphon tube from an fv with no tap into one with a tap and the oak chippings kept blocking the tube, even without oak chippings it would have taken absolutley ages to do compared to using a tap. Then racked again via a tap and tubing, done in a flash (almost). It makes life that little bit easier, no sucking, no siphon tube to disturb sediment, the flow can be stopped at any time using the tap and restarted without a problem unlike siphons.

Siphons can be a pain in gluteus maximus!

[randomdave]

I might splash out on another fermenter when payday comes around. That way i can use the old bucket to sanitize my bottles in before bottling. Ive decided i dont want to go nuts with a drill to fit a tap cos if i cock it up ill be buggered.

[wetdog]

Ive decided i dont want to go nuts with a drill to fit a tap cos if i cock it up ill be buggered.

I drilled a hole too big in a brand new boiler by using a cheap hole saw. When I got my new boiler I drilled a hole much smaller than I wanted with a spade bit and then finished off the rest with a half round file. took about an hour for 3 holes but no danger of a mistake.

[Dill]

I've been syphoning beer by sucking for over 20 years and never had a spoilt brew.

I always used to suck on the tube aswell and never had a bad brew, but after I read a posting it could infect and ruin your brew, I got a bit paronoid.
So what I do now is push a sanitized pen "Biro" tube into my syhpon tube and suck on the biro and when it starts to flow I just remove the biro tube and fill my bottles from the syphon tube.

[randomdave]

I have noticed that the siphon tube i have does come with a smaller tube that i can plug into the end thats a couple of inches long, im guessing thats there for the use of plugging in getting started an then removing when the beer flow gets goin. All been well i should be bottling friday cos that will be 10 days in the fv.