Sterile Syphoning

[lancsSteve]

This is something that's been bugging me - there's LOADS of info on sterilising your kit, there's loads of info on racking etc. BUT how do you syphon without risking infecting the brew?

The only way I know to syphon is to suck on the end of the syphon tube until the liquid is running through but surely this risks bacteria from your mouth infecting the brew - especially when racking from primary to secondary.

I tried using a little suction pump this morning (one of those for vacuum packing things into before the ziplock bags go in the freezer) but couldn't get a decent enough seal between syphon tube and that to get it going. I've seen syhon tubes with a small pump (at a cost) like this http://www.hopshopuk.com/products/view/ ... allon-size is that regarded as necessary kit?

So - have I seriously risked infecting my brew in sucking the tube to get it going (have done so before with no ill effects on 2 kit brews)? And which kit would people recommend for racking without this risk, and for bottling?

[lancsSteve]

Was coming out of a glass carboy henvce no tap option (think I'll go for putting a tap in other fermenting bucket and going bucket to bucket via tap in future).

Which brings me to another question: after dropping from the carboy to a bucket (with tap!) 36ish hours after pitching and there's little or no apparent fermentation continuing It was VERY active through a blow-off hose into a jug but the yeast head head collapsed into the beer in the carboy after SWMBO made me move the carboy...

Q: is that a problem? forums here and books seem to give polarised conflicting info e.g. Graham Wheeler vs. Jon Palmer! with it's a bad idea vs. wait for it to happen respectively...

There's only about 16-17 litres after racking it and dropping it off the trub in the carboy and into a secondary fermentation bucket - which has a hole, rubber bung and airlock fitted. However there's no new yeast head formed and no evidence of bubbling in the airlock - though needless to say there's a LOT of airspace.

Worrying that dropping was a bad idea or I made an error doing it and fermentation is now stuck (left too much yeast behind?) So is this normal? Not a problem/AG newbie Paranoia? Symptom of large airspace? Or evidence of a stuck fermentation - in which case any way to test... or fix?

Darn - after getting a first AG brew done so well I can't believe I'm having so many worries in fermentation which is the only bit I've done before? Then again I've always done open-bucket before so haven't heard the rapid bubbling to make this sort of judgement from.

EDIT: And the answer is... RELAX - have a brew! Bubbling away now - what a suprise there's a BIG difference between filling 13litres of air sace and less than one in the reaction you get Bubbling away now - guess it took a little while to get started and probably just as it was getting there I 'checked the seal' etc. etc. and back to square one.

Q2: Which are these 23l syphons you talk about? Gonna have to go looking for syphon equipment for future brews.

[pauljmuk]

have brewed over 500 pints this year, used my gob on the syphon tube for every batch, never had a problem

[Horden Hillbilly]

You could always cut your syphon tubing & add a small tap. You can then get another length of syphon tubing, then start your syphoning by sucking on the tube. When the brew starts flowing, switch the tap off & swap the syphon tubing you have sucked on with another, sterilised length of tubing.

I do this myself, pics 4 & 5 here.

[lancsSteve]

oooh - thanks, that looks easy and cheapr! And as I've just ordered some white labs yeast I shall return to read all your stuff about them

Dumb question but where is the 'U bend' in the set up (and why?)? Always see it referred to but what/where is it - end of the syphon tube in carboy? Coming out the top of the carboy? I need some more rigid tubing as well as mine is a pain to position as it's curved.

[ringsingding]

HI

I am also a newbie with only 4 kits under my belt. My biggest problem is always syphoning.... I have now invested in a jiggle syphon from ebay for £6.50 after seeing a fella use one on Youtube. Will try it on my next brew and see what happens....

Youtube is a great resource for videos showing you how to do pretty much everything, fantastic for a newbie like me

Yours in Beer
ringsingding

[salnajjar]

I'm not sure if it makes much difference, but, I wait until I've finished cleaning and sterilising everything so my hands are nice and extra clean too, then I put the syphon into a glass of water, suck on it so I'm syphoning water from the glass, then I cover the end of the syphon with my thumb, transfer the other end of it to the beer (well, wine more often until I start my AG setup) then take my thumb off so it's draining the water from my syphon tube back into the glass, let it run till beer/wine comes through then change from the glass to what ever I'm decanting it into it.

This does still mean that my mouth comes into contact with the syphon tube, but, my theory is that the water that comes back out first before the beer helps to wash that away.

If you wanted to remove the element of thumb over end of syphon tube the you can fit a syphon tap to the end of the tube too.

Seri

[boingy]

I sanitise the syphon tube but I've always been a sucker (pause for sniggers)....

I mitigate the risk by collecting the first half pint in a glass so that the majority of any mouth bacteria ends up in the glass and not in the keg/secondary/whatever. This also has two other advantages. First, it lets me stick the syphon tube right to the bottom of the FV. That first half pint is cloudy as it sucks up a small area of sediment but after that it runs clear unless you have used an insanely non-floculant yeast. Second, and very important, it is an excuse to drink half a pint of slightly cloudy green beer and get a first taste of the new brew (most of the sediment settles out quickly so it's not as mad as you might think).

There are no guarantees but I've made LOTS of beer and never had a problem. I suspect beer is actually quite resistant to infection once fermentation is complete.

You could always rinse your mouth with Listerine before sucking

[Dr. Dextrin]

Sucking is one way to contaminate your syphon tube, but I can never figure where to put a sanitised syphon tube so it doesn't immediately get contaminated again.

Usually, I put it down on the kitchen worktop, hoping that a wipe over with sanitising solution has left it clean. But often it flops off and lands on the floor, or slurps into the soap dish, or picks up a hairball donated by one of the females with long hair in the family, or maybe a big cobweb wraps itself around the end. It's always difficult to decide when my sanitation efforts have been completely negated and I need to start again.

How do you others handle a couple of metres of floppy sanitised tube in a domestic environment so it stays clean?

[grmills]

have brewed over 500 pints this year, used my gob on the syphon tube for every batch, never had a problem

Quite.

[roddy.beveridge]

Hi guys

There is a way to do this and it is incredibly simple. Just fill up the sterilised tube with water by dunking it, you then lift up the ends and take it to your brew, still full of liquid, you then just put one end in the beer and lower the other end which will start a syphon. However, I do remember reading a recomendation many years ago to have a good swig of brandy before you go to syphon normally do just stick my mouth over it to get things moving.

Regards

Roddy

[grmills]

But why bother? Give it a good suck (check the quality while you're at it) then do something more interesting. There must be thousands of gob-syphoners out there who don't suffer any problems due to this non-issue.