National Homebrew Club Ireland

Has anyone else bought on of these automatic siphons lately ?

Make is enoladia.

I have noticed when you get it started the beer flows but if you watch the hose it also sucks in bubbles of oxygen from other side of the seal.

I hate to think after all the hard work purging oxygen from the keg im then adding it with the siphon. I cannot remember the make of the last one i had for years but it had a double sided lip seal but these new ones have one sided lip seal that stops beer flowing up the back of the tube but oxygen gets easly sucked in.  :'(

Having vbad run on equipment these days :'( :'(

My autosiphon does the same, even starts gurgling when I'm filling. One of the reasons I'm moving over to a tap in my fermenter. :/

But the old ones didn't !

The only problem with tap is your adding another point for infection. I added the tap to fast fermenter but it adds time to cleaning and again infection point. Mainly decided after i disasembled the FF valve and found gunk in behind ball valve after one use.

Poor quality auto siphons and again i returned first one and stupidly didnt ask for make on the second order from another shop. My own fault for not checking. Wish i remember the make of old one i guess im just gonna order one from hop and grape uk to be sure.

Yeah I hear ya. As long as you clean thoroughly, they all work. Taking samples without a tap means opening the fermenter and putting something in, which as to be cleaned, so a tap is just less to clean overall in my mind.

Watch me bitch and moan about taps now in 6 months!

Look forward to that  :P

Thing with FF you have to open fermenter to agitate it as all yeast drops into ball at bottom and shaking it like plastic buckets fermenters ect is not option realy so im in there anyway so dropped the tap. Usually drop stainless pipe down to ball and open C02 to agitate no issues yet.

Auto siphon is for beers like chocolate stout adding nibs or a mad ipa dry hopping. I discovered the crap siphon bubbles when transfaring chilli cream ale so u wont taste the diffarence for sure  :D

I've the exact same issue with my new auto syphon. My old one worked perfectly until I went and broke it.
Have given up on the new p.o.s. It's not fit for purpose imo.

But why are they being sold ....am I the only one to point this issue out... doubt it.

I'd hate beer tasting like cardboard or something sucked in with air to spoil the beer that's just not fun  :P

Joys of brewing.

mine does the same.  Terrible engineering and design. 

I pour a bit of pre boiled water into the top of the siphon , so it sucks in a few ml of water instead of  bubbles.   Works a treat.

My last one was/is like that. Can't remember the manufacturer. Got another one which is from an Italian manufacturer and it's fine. Got it from homebrew company I think

I found a Youngs telescopic lying around recently.
Brand new, sucked air badly - Bin.

Well that explains it! My last two batches had a cardboardy taste to them couldn't figure it out, I was blaming the year old bag of Maris Otter. 

I'm glad I was too lazy to rack off my IPA this evening.

Might look at finding thick o ring to place behind lip seal.
Or maybe if anyone knows where to buy a good siphon .....it's not rocket science.

Someone mentioned Italian one that's the one I got two of from separate Irish vendors both leak you must have got one that was out of spec and works !

Every time I get a trip to the states I buy an autosiphon. Had no issues. I realize that doesn't help :)

It does help now i know who to ask to grab me an auto siphon that works from states  :P 8)

I had never thought about this as a potential problem but it makes so much sense as to why I get oxidised beers. Gonna try a bucket with tap now and see if I get any improvement.

Try a simple syphon filled with starsan - works perfect every time, especially into a keg if you attach the black disconnect on  to it with a barb.

Quote from: mr hoppy on July 06, 2016, 06:58:54 PM
Try a simple syphon filled with starsan - works perfect every time, especially into a keg if you attach the black disconnect on  to it with a barb.

Sounds interesting.  Could you not just drop the tubing into the keg and bypass the disconnect, or am I missing something here?

By the way I have an auto syphon that has been letting air in since day one.  I have tried lowering and raising height of source and destination vessels, slowing the flow and nothing worked.  If I put boiled water into the top surely it will just leak through like the air bubbles.  Got mine from HBC.

Found fix for issues.

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/47e416484b2195971f3ee06906d1741e.jpg)

Squeeze o ring I to lip seal this expands the lip seal putter surface making air tight against inner tube.

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/37fa9d326ce44d98f67e054ab9d1dba0.jpg)

R-07 from this kit allot have them from lisle or aldi

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/11d6f9479cac424224f46dbf60ba1fed.jpg)

Ring squeezed into lip seal hard to see

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/6f5914c670e7b06563fdeb6c1058ae69.jpg)

Reassemble and it will feel tighter as ring expands against inner wall. Tested it and no air bubbles.......simples

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

Nice fix!

Food grade o-rings in Lidl, yay!

Quote from: ianm on July 13, 2016, 05:48:27 AM

Quote from: mr hoppy on July 06, 2016, 06:58:54 PM
Try a simple syphon filled with starsan - works perfect every time, especially into a keg if you attach the black disconnect on  to it with a barb.

Sounds interesting.  Could you not just drop the tubing into the keg and bypass the disconnect, or am I missing something here?

The idea of attaching the disconnect is that you can purge the keg and avoid adding air during syphoning plus you attach the disconnect to the syphon before you attach it to the keg so the flow only starts when the disconnect is attached to the keg. Also the liquid dip tube runs to the bottom of the keg effectively making it an extension of the syphon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: johnrm on July 13, 2016, 08:30:09 AM
Food grade o-rings in Lidl, yay!

An oxymoron, those cheap rubber rings contain peroxides and definitely not suitable for contact with either alcohol or cleaning agents.

I guess the real issue is why are 2 of the main brew supply shops and prob more selling crap siphons

There isnt much contact time for these rubbers so id rather go as is than have bubbles air in the beer but im sure people will buy and install food grade o-ring...permanent temp fix one sniggers  ^-^

BUT if the designers cannot get the basic siphon system working aka Double or two way fu...n lip seal right...then when you think about it.... how much time have they spent on the *grade* of plastic,rubber ect it took to manufacture these siphons !

I thought it was just me. Could not for the life of me get my auto siphon to work well, it's the biggest piece of crap. I eventually just installed a tap in my fermenter to save me the hassle and annoyance. The question is, who does sell a siphon that works properly? I'd like one as backup.

As we push HBS to provide us cheaper and cheaper products, I guess we only have ourselves to blame if some of the quality turns out to be complete shit.

I bought one of these this week and guess what.

https://vimeo.com/174560722 (https://vimeo.com/174560722)

So observations v's what I have already;

The tube is made from PVC v's the previous polycarbonate.
The shore hardness of the current plunger is harder than that of previous models I have resulting in a poor seal between the inner side wall of the tube and the stem.

The siphon exceeds the capability of the seal and needs a mod.

Messing around with it I came up with the following solutions

1.Remove the trub guard, it works, but is pretty pointless as that defeats it's purpose.
2. Rubber washer forcing out the flange against the side wall. This works but be aware that every litre of beer you siphon passes that washer and so if it's not food approved you will contaminate your entire batch.
3. Pour a Starsan solution above the plugger cutting off the supply of air. The issue with this is that the solution also gets drawn slowly into your beer and you may suck it all in to the point there is no water left and starts to draw air in.
4. A smearing of this around the plunger is just enough to make and keep a seal, the pain will be reapplying it. I tested it a couple of times and it works ok.

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/97eaac73540b46df01550d62fc622239.jpg)

Conclusion; The product is not fit for purpose and the vendors need to flag this up to their suppliers, in the meantime as its an integral part of my process I'm off to find one in stainless with a rubber plunger wild horses can't move

I gave up on this piece of crap in the end it's now in the bin, a classic you get what you pay for

Can Ye grab me a stainless one also  :)

I got an email asking for a write up on this product for some reason it wasn't published  ;D

Great review CH I bow to your publishing skills.

That explains why the gurgling only started after I had to replace one recently as well. Thought I had just gotten a bad one. Good to share. Guess I'll get my next one from the states.

My best auto syphon was my first one the fermtech auto syphon.

Ch what shop did you purchase this siphon from as im sure people will not buy from this shop ( siphon wise)
we are not politicians just homebrewers looking after each other

Quote from: CH on July 13, 2016, 07:54:54 PM
As we push HBS to provide us cheaper and cheaper products, I guess we only have ourselves to blame if some of the quality turns out to be complete shit.

I bought one of these this week and guess what.

https://vimeo.com/174560722 (https://vimeo.com/174560722)

So observations v's what I have already;

The tube is made from PVC v's the previous polycarbonate.
The shore hardness of the current plunger is harder than that of previous models I have resulting in a poor seal between the inner side wall of the tube and the stem.

The siphon exceeds the capability of the seal and needs a mod.

Messing around with it I came up with the following solutions

1.Remove the trub guard, it works, but is pretty pointless as that defeats it's purpose.
2. Rubber washer forcing out the flange against the side wall. This works but be aware that every litre of beer you siphon passes that washer and so if it's not food approved you will contaminate your entire batch.
3. Pour a Starsan solution above the plugger cutting off the supply of air. The issue with this is that the solution also gets drawn slowly into your beer and you may suck it all in to the point there is no water left and starts to draw air in.
4. A smearing of this around the plunger is just enough to make and keep a seal, the pain will be reapplying it. I tested it a couple of times and it works ok.

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/97eaac73540b46df01550d62fc622239.jpg)

Conclusion; The product is not fit for purpose and the vendors need to flag this up to their suppliers, in the meantime as its an integral part of my process I'm off to find one in stainless with a rubber plunger wild horses can't move

Something like this as you use carboys should work.
http://brulosophy.com/tag/auto-siphon/

Shanna

Cheers Shanna I already have a stainless cane those caps and tubing so will give that a try, must remember to brush my teeth first

I knew I saw a stainless version recently, https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pro-brewers-siphon-a-home-brewing-essential#/

Quote from: CH on July 14, 2016, 09:07:21 AM
Cheers Shanna I already have a stainless cane those caps and tubing so will give that a try, must remember to brush my teeth first

Have heard of beard & even minge yeast being used for brewing :) but mouth yeast might a step too far. Save the toothbrush for cleaning ur heating elements as the gear has an in built hepa filter.

Shanna

I was only tweeting to "John Beernut" the other day to save his "washings" after a visit to the dental hygienist, the yeast that must have passed those teeth, sigh..

Quote from: CH on July 14, 2016, 04:28:08 PM
I was only tweeting to "John Beernut" the other day to save his "washings" after a visit to the dental hygienist, the yeast that must have passed those teeth, sigh..

Mental image I will struggle to suppress. On a more relevant note if you figure out how to jerry rig something that works with the racking cane please document it.

Shanna

Well I have all those bits
Orange carboy cap
Tubing
Hepa filter
Long stainless racking cane
Do you need a pic

I bet that's what you say to all the ladies ;)

Quote from: CH on July 14, 2016, 05:12:26 PM
Well I have all those bits
Orange carboy cap
Tubing
Hepa filter
Long stainless racking cane
Do you need a pic

No my preference is for 1000 words :) especially if you assemble your bits and get it working. Failing that one of ur patented viddoes would be great.

Shanna

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160714/f4261ea46a54b53f81a41386e9eef11a.jpg)

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160714/ea8b221e9f274030e4618c913894246f.jpg)

Have to give up the Major no way I was going to have enough puff to blow through that Hepa, it worked without it but didn't think that was sanitary so I cheated.
Must remember to make sure not 6bar on reg. And that I'm not standing on the tube.
Talk about over engineering but hey that's what Homebrewers do.

Great looking solution. As soon as I saw yerman blowing into the filter I thought "that's a job for co2". Let's do an overly emotional kickstarter!  :-*

I had a further play with the faulty one for a hour tonight and lots of fecking around resulted in nothing. It's getting closer to the bin by the minute.

Quote from: CH on July 14, 2016, 08:05:12 PM
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160714/f4261ea46a54b53f81a41386e9eef11a.jpg)

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160714/ea8b221e9f274030e4618c913894246f.jpg)

Have to give up the Major no way I was going to have enough puff to blow through that Hepa, it worked without it but didn't think that was sanitary so I cheated.
Must remember to make sure not 6bar on reg. And that I'm not standing on the tube.
Talk about over engineering but hey that's what Homebrewers do.

Great pictures CH maybe it's time you started a blog as you have a knack for this stuff, cue inevitable question. Not having seen the underside of a carboy cap are those two tubes sticking out of it connected or independent? I am struggling to figure out how blowing Co2 through one tube can cause the liquid to flow? Wondering could the same principle be applied with a rubber bung with two holes in it and put two plastic pipes or lengths of silicon hose directly through. Another use for the stainless carbonation caps I see :)

Shanna

Independent
Same as a corny you create a pressure differential, with a high pressure in the vessel wanting to escape.
A bung and 2 bits of tubing would do same thing.

I like. Where do you get a long stainless racking cane?

https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/
Is where somebody kindly picked one up for me, it was going to be made into a thermowell but not now

Hop & Grape linky
Racking Cane - Stainless Steel (https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/racking-cane-stainless-steel.html)
£10
304 Stainless Steel Racking Cane for siphoning beer and wine.
3/8" diameter, 26" long.
Fit 8mm syphon & silicone tubing.
Complete with sediment trap.

I've been doing same as you for a few months. I don't use the cornies post though. Just put tube straight into the cap. Making sure to keep the pressure way down adds great excitement to kegging. 😅
You can get a ready assembled one from aliexpress

Quote from: imark on July 15, 2016, 02:17:07 PM
I've been doing same as you for a few months. I don't use the cornies post though. Just put tube straight into the cap. Making sure to keep the pressure way down adds great excitement to kegging. 😅
You can get a ready assembled one from aliexpress

do you have a link?
yep was thinking that but don't like popping those JG fittings too much as it rips the pipe after a loads of on and off.
I have 3 of those aliexpress carbonation caps and 1 has now got a permanent home.
In fact now if I am flushing a carboy I just use that cap.

Quote from: CH on July 15, 2016, 02:26:29 PM
do you have a link?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Siphon-Starter-Kit-For-Carboy-Homebrew/32224345213.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.92.wLhow2 (http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Siphon-Starter-Kit-For-Carboy-Homebrew/32224345213.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.92.wLhow2)

Quote from: CH on July 13, 2016, 07:54:54 PM
As we push HBS to provide us cheaper and cheaper products, I guess we only have ourselves to blame if some of the quality turns out to be complete shit.

I bought one of these this week and guess what.

https://vimeo.com/174560722 (https://vimeo.com/174560722)

So observations v's what I have already;

The tube is made from PVC v's the previous polycarbonate.
The shore hardness of the current plunger is harder than that of previous models I have resulting in a poor seal between the inner side wall of the tube and the stem.

The siphon exceeds the capability of the seal and needs a mod.

Messing around with it I came up with the following solutions

1.Remove the trub guard, it works, but is pretty pointless as that defeats it's purpose.
2. Rubber washer forcing out the flange against the side wall. This works but be aware that every litre of beer you siphon passes that washer and so if it's not food approved you will contaminate your entire batch.
3. Pour a Starsan solution above the plugger cutting off the supply of air. The issue with this is that the solution also gets drawn slowly into your beer and you may suck it all in to the point there is no water left and starts to draw air in.
4. A smearing of this around the plunger is just enough to make and keep a seal, the pain will be reapplying it. I tested it a couple of times and it works ok.

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/97eaac73540b46df01550d62fc622239.jpg)

Conclusion; The product is not fit for purpose and the vendors need to flag this up to their suppliers, in the meantime as its an integral part of my process I'm off to find one in stainless with a rubber plunger wild horses can't move

I gave up on this piece of crap in the end it's now in the bin, a classic you get what you pay for

Mines in the bin now, complete rubbish and a classic you get what you pay for lesson and I spent the money I should have done to start

Just a heads up on this product that appears to be sold by all the shops. I know it's not an auto siphon, but someone may find the information useful.

I bottled two batches of beer at the weekend using this faulty siphon. The black rubber piece isn't bonded properly to the tube and it sucked a load of air into the beer as I racked both to bottling bucket and bottles. Both batches likely ruined.

I have now been through three (!) of these crappy things and all have been faulty. Purchased from different shops too. Really pissed off. Please avoid.

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161214/47ec05b2592f958625835f23e943f1a9.jpg)

Quote from: Bubbles on December 14, 2016, 09:23:07 AM
Just a heads up on this product that appears to be sold by all the shops. I know it's not an auto siphon, but someone may find the information useful.

I bottled two batches of beer at the weekend using this faulty siphon. The black rubber piece isn't bonded properly to the tube and it sucked a load of air into the beer as I racked both to bottling bucket and bottles. Both batches likely ruined.

I have now been through three (!) of these crappy things and all have been faulty. Purchased from different shops too. Really pissed off. Please avoid.

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161214/47ec05b2592f958625835f23e943f1a9.jpg)

I still have one of them going on 3 years and it's the best one I've had funnily enough. No air getting through at all. Maybe the quality has deteriorated since. However, I bought this one cheap enough and fucked it in the bin half way through racking as it was sucking air in from all directions http://www.homebrewwest.ie/craft-range-45-cm-siphon-simply-demijohns-buckets-fermenters-5019-p.asp

Yes they used to be good quality. I have one that's around 2 years old also and it works fine. Problem is that I use it only for sour and funky beers. The latest run of these have serious issues, that's for certain.