I had broken the neck off of my auto siphon cane so I thought I would
just slip the siphon hose on a little more and clamp it. Well, the clamp kept
the plunger from going to the bottom of the cylinder because it wouldn’t
fit inside. So I took the clamp off and siphoned anyway. It sucked air like
a bitch. I hope I haven’t oxidized it to death. Then, I had enough beer left to fill
a few swing tops so I sanitized them and got out the Fermenter’s Favorites
Fizz Drops I had ordered. The instructions said “Simply drop in each sanitized
bottle and fill”. Well, the dam things wouldn’t fit in the swing tops so I drove
them in with a small hammer. Needless to say I was Pi$$ed. I used a Big
Mouth Bubbler for a primary. I think I have a better idea, though. Denny Conn
says he uses buckets exclusively for fermenters so I thought why not eliminate
the auto siphon completely and use a bucket with several holes cut at various
levels above the trub and installing spigots at each level and simply drain the
beer into the keg using the top spigot first and going lower until the beer is
drained off down to the trub? Any thoughts?
Sorry man. Days like that really suck.
Regarding your idea, I’m not sure multiple ports are really necessary. One port strategically placed should do the trick. When I was bottling, I was annoyed enough by the need to disassemble, clean and sanitize one port–and those were pretty clean. Fermentation gunk in multiple ports would be a PITA.
I know Better Bottle makes ported carboys that I’ve heard good feedback on.
An auto siphon works, just buy a couple of them. You could use a bottling bucket but it’s tough to sanitize a spigot just from the outside.
By the way, an auto siphon doesn’t have to stroke to the bottom to work, I think you could’ve used the thing with the hose clamped on. Just pump till the liquid rises in the barrel of the siphon.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]An auto siphon works, just buy a couple of them. You could use a bottling bucket but it’s tough to sanitize a spigot just from the outside.
By the way, an auto siphon doesn’t have to stroke to the bottom to work, I think you could’ve used the thing with the hose clamped on. Just pump till the liquid rises in the barrel of the siphon.[/quote]
That’s true, Lennie but as the level dropped I lost the siphon.
[quote=“1tun”]
That’s true, Lennie but as the level dropped I lost the siphon.[/quote]
When I rack using an auto-siphon, I always start higher in the beer and guide it down as the beer level drops. Unfortunately it’s a hands on process, but only takes a few minutes.
I would have thought the siphon would hold even if the level in the carboy dropped below the level of the tube in the auto siphon. I’ll have to give that a try to see for myself.
Now that the beer is almost certainly oxidized, what can I do?
What effects can I expect and is there anything I can do?
Should I try to consume it faster than usual?
Thanks
1tun, the extent of the oxidation really depends on how much air you’ve pumped into your green beer. You’re right, it will take some time to fully develop oxidized flavors, so if you’re very particular about everything being surgically perfect, you may wish to consume it rather quickly. Alternately, you can use it as an experiment and track the development of oxidized notes in the beer. This may be very useful in the long run, as it’s hard to figure out what is wrong with a beer when you’re not sure what you’re tasting. Alternately, you can simply adapt to the oxidized notes and compliment them with a modest dose of oak cubes and see where that takes you.
Regarding your thoughts on switching to a bucket with a spigot, I’ve used them in the past and decided I was happier with a racking cane and a carboy–just personal preference. Here’s the rig I use, it’s much less awkward than the auto-siphon and by tilting the carboy you can drain a carboy dry with next to zero yeast pick up.
Get one of these: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/30-s … -tube.html
Impale one of these on it: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/6-5- … gundy.html
Then stick one of these onto it: http://morebeer.com/products/sanitary-filter.html
Some technical problems occurred during the posting of the above post.
Some additional problems occurred during the posting of the above posts.
Intentional parallel to the opening credits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
[quote=“kcbeersnob”]
Intentional parallel to the opening credits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?[/quote]
Certainly not intentional, but I can neither confirm nor deny the involvement of llamas in my recent debacle.
