Siphon assists

[jaydub]

I just busted my Fermentap auto-siphon after several months of (more or less) happy use. The only problem came when I clogged it with whole hops and ran into a pretty miserable time trying to clear the little flap valve. Ultimately I broke it using poor technique - I tried to yank the siphon hose off the cane and snapped the cane at the crook.

Anyway, I'm curious about opinions on siphoning technique. I'll put up a poll with the ones I've run across in various discussions:

[pvignola]

I just noticed small pieces of whole hops in my autosiphon. How did you clean them out? I tired letting mine soak for a while but that did not do the trick.

[Dr Scott]

I still use a carboy on occasion.

I've modified a carboy cap so that my racking cane fits tightly through it. Then I use my CO2 to start the siphon by pushing CO2 though the other opening in the cap. You could use lung power too if you don't have a CO2 tank, which is probably better than putting your nasty lips on the end of the tube that will then be immersed in your beer. Remember to use low pressure to start the flow, (you don't want to over pressurize the glass, though the cap would probably blow off first)

Another hint: Fill the receiving vessel w/ CO2. That way you won't get any O2 pickup even if you splash the beer around. (No air) = (no O2) so splash away!

Cheers,
Dr Scott

[jaydub]

I cleaned out my autosiphon by filling it halfway with sanitizer and rocking it back and forth until I got a bunch of the hops into suspension. I'd then pull the sealed racking cane part out and pour the santizer/hop suspension out. Rinse & repeat until they're all gone, then TSP (or your favourite cleanser) to get it squeaky.

To be clear, I was using one of these

[Dogger Dan]

I have the same piece of kit Jaydub has

Dogger

[Lufah]

I have the autosiphon also. Never had any problem getting stuff out of it just by using the sprayer on the kitchen sink and hot water.

Travis

[BeerPal]

I do a "pressure transfer" using CO2 to rack from any vessel to another. Maybe the same as Dr. Scott's technique. Here is an illustration:

[colplink]

Yep... C02 for me also... Don't know what I ever did without it.

This is my little transfer bottle. That's about all I use it for... 1 or 2 psi into the carboy is all it takes.