What are you guys doing to clean your auto siphons? I recently had a two batches go bad and the only culprit (in my mind) is my auto siphon. I think the problem is the black gasket on the siphon, it is two pieces of plastic and i can see where nasties could be harbored in there. I haven’t tried taking it apart yet, but thinking i’ll have to.
Mine comes apart, in two peices, and I soak it everytime in pbw along with dirty carboys. I also change the line every five to six batches.
I run water through it after use and then star san before use. Never had a problem in about 4 years and never needed replacing.
This is what I do also. With hot water.
Yeah If you pull down on the end piece it comes apart so that you can clean it. Im in the same boat as everyone else after I use it I plug the kitchen sink turn it on hot then pump it a bunch of times to wash everything out of it then I pull the hose off of it and I stick everything in a bucket of star san. I have been using the same hose for 3 years now. This is my second auto siphon I broke the end off my last one where you hook the hose to it.
Same here. It also gets some Oxiclean or PBW run through it after every carboy cleaning, then rinsed thoroughly with hot water.
I do exactly the same as brwrboy69. If I happen to be using PBW, then I will soak the siphon and tubing in the solution. I will sanitize with star San before storing it, then re sanitize before use. Just make sure that when you soak the tubing, you fill it with what you are using at the time. Give it it’s proper contact time, then roll t he tubing in the bucket to move the air pockets that are in hidden so you cover those areas also.
I run a little PBW through mine and pull it apart for a quick clean and rinse. Then I store mine with apart.
I do everything as everyone else. Maybe i just had some really bad luck this time. I recently siphoned two batches to secondary and both ended up contaminated.
I soak mine in a wallpaper tray. It is the perfect size.
Just curious on how you found out the two batches were contaminated ? Off flavors ?
They formed a pellicle on the surface of the beer. Not to mention, if you smell the beer it has a pretty unmistakable smell.
I had been searching for something like this so that i could totally immerse it. I knew there had to be something out there but couldn’t think of anything. thanks.
I plug one side of my sink, let it fill with hot water, then I pump it into the other side to drain using my autisiphon to rinse it out after use.
If I’m cleanimg more than 1 vessel with PBW, then I’ll mix it in one and siphon it while its hot into another using the autosiphon. I always flush the PBW out of the siphon instead of letting it sit, though. If it sits too long it leaves a residue behind that’s hard to get rid of.
When I drain and rinse my fermenters after they’ve soaked with PBW, I use my autosiphon to drain them (wife doesn’t like PBW in the sink, so I stick the end of the siphon hose in the tub drain) and also to fill them with hot rinsewater. That is generally sufficient to clean the siphon and tubing, since it has already been rinsed pretty well at that point.
I use the siphon to fill anything that needs to be sanitized, so it’s good to go when I use it to rack from 1 vessel to another.
I’ve been using the same autosiphon for years, and never cleaned it with anything stronger than hot water. Immediately after use, I pull the plunger bit out, rinse everything, and then run some hot water through it. Immediately before use, I spray it down with starsan, and then use it to transfer some starsan. I’ve replaced the tubing a few times if there’s some obvious residue that isn’t rinsing off, otherwise I don’t even bother taking it off the raking cane, I leave the tubing on all the time.
Now, all that being said, if you have a pellicle and bad smells and all that, you obviously have a problem. You may as well replace anything you even faintly suspect, cause its cheaper than ruining a batch of beer. In the future though, if you just make it a point to clean it immediately, they’re really not that hard to keep clean.
[quote=“Nate42”]I’ve been using the same autosiphon for years, and never cleaned it with anything stronger than hot water. Immediately after use, I pull the plunger bit out, rinse everything, and then run some hot water through it. Immediately before use, I spray it down with starsan, and then use it to transfer some starsan. I’ve replaced the tubing a few times if there’s some obvious residue that isn’t rinsing off, otherwise I don’t even bother taking it off the raking cane, I leave the tubing on all the time.
Now, all that being said, if you have a pellicle and bad smells and all that, you obviously have a problem. You may as well replace anything you even faintly suspect, cause its cheaper than ruining a batch of beer. In the future though, if you just make it a point to clean it immediately, they’re really not that hard to keep clean.[/quote]
I have always done basically everything you mentioned so i was quite stumped by my situation. I have gone crazy cleaning and recleaning this week. Just really sucks cause, i’m doing my masters and it creates so much homework that i usually don’t have the time to do a batch. Only two weeks into current class, so 8 more weeks before i have the free time to brew…lame!
I feel your pain on the homework thing, I’m going back to school now myself. Really cuts in to the brewing and drinking time.
I’m a little suspicious of your autosiphon really being the problem, because it doesn’t sound like you’ve done anything wrong. I wouldn’t chance it though. Replace the autosiphon, and all tubing and plastic things in your system, and clean the crap out of everything else. A soak in bleach water wouldn’t hurt either, just don’t forget to rinse well afterwards. Best of luck.
