1/2" vs. 3/8" bottling wand, racking cane

[Beer_Baron]

For those who bottle -

Has anyone switched from a 3/8" to 1/2" racking cane, tubing, and bottling wand? Did it speed up your bottling/racking process? I am trying to justify the expense of switching over all of my tubing to the larger diameter... How much faster is it to rack, say 5 gallons with the larger gauge?

[adamK]

I switched over the 1/2" a year or two ago, and it is significantly faster, though I have not measured the difference. If you are just trying to justify the expense, it isn't much more expensive, and it is always good to replace your plastic parts regularly (at least thats how I would justify it). Then you have an extra set for sours!

I have always wondered, though, if the larger diameter leaves larger volumes of air to sit and thus potentially add more undesirable O_2. It can also add slightly more turbulence when initially filling what ever vessel the beer is being transfered to (bottling bucket or keg), which could also lead to more O_2 pickup. I haven't noticed this effect, but haven't done a side by side and my process has improved (still not great) in many other places since the switch.

[jglowe74]

I started with 1/2" and was glad I never invested in the 1/2". It speeds up my transfer to secondary, my bottling, my transfer to keg...everything. I would say the extra few bucks is well worth the investment!

[MNHazmat]

Go big or go home!

[Beer_Baron]

Go big or go home!

Old thread, but I wanted to update... I finally got the larger 1/2" racking cane, tubing, and bottling wand setup a weeks ago. The local shop was out of 3/8" tubing so I switched everything over. The first time bottling and racking with it was a disaster. The new racking cane wouldn't fit through my siphon starter "http://morebeer.com/products/sterile-siphon-starter-3-5-6-65-gallon-carboy-smooth-necks.html", so I cut a bigger hole in the top with a razor blade. Still wouldn't fit, so I made a slightly larger hole in the top and then I lost the seal. I had to pull it out and start the siphon the old-fashioned way by jamming the hose was down in the carboy and plugging the end with my thumb until the beer started flowing. Then when I was filling the bottles the larger hose slipped off of the barb of the bottling bucket valve and spilled a few beers on me.

However, I fixed both problems with stuff I had on hand when I used it the next time. A Grolsch gasket sealed the gap between the racking cane and carboy cap, and a hose clamp cinched down the bottling tubing to the barb just fine. Now it works like a champ and the bottling and racking was much faster now that the kinks got worked out. I wish I would have done it a long time ago.