The Art of Siphoning Homebrew
Learning How to Properly Transfer Your Beer
Once your beer is fermented, it must be transferred, or “racked” over to another vessel in a way that does not expose it to air or other contaminants. In the absence of a spigot on any of the vessels holding the beer, siphoning is the only recourse.
The widespread use of carboys in homebrewing –which don’t come equipped with spigots- requires you to practice your siphoning techniques. To siphon beer from a carboy or other similar vessels, you need a curved racking tube, or cane, as they are sometimes called, along with your plastic transfer hosing.
The Most Effective Beer Siphoning Method
The most effective siphoning is done when the end of the siphon hose (in the direction the beer is flowing) is lower than the bottom of the vessel from which the beer is being siphoned -the lower the better. By keeping large air bubbles out of the siphon hose, you also increase the siphoning efficiency; air bubbles can actually slow or stop liquid flow. Air bubbles can also oxidize the beer.
You can use a handful of ways to start a siphon, but not all of them are recommended for homebrewing. For speed and simplicity, sucking on one end of the siphon hose surely gets a flow going, but this opens the door to all kinds of contamination possibilities. Some brewers feel that a good gargle and rinse with whiskey or vodka prior to sucking on the hose is a good temporary cure for this problem –but this should only be done in if there are no alternatives.
A Better Way to Siphon Beer
A better idea is to add a false end to the siphon hose that can be removed as soon as the beer begins flowing. A stiff straw, a piece of copper tubing, or a short piece of small diameter hosing can be fitted snugly inside the siphon hose. After starting the flow of beer by sucking the false end, you can remove it and allow the flow to continue. Some brewers even use the cylindrical part of a turkey baster to accomplish this. With the baster’s bulb off and the thin end held tightly inside the siphon hose, one good inhale and the beer is quickly flowing.
Another, more widely-accepted practice is to fill the plastic hosing with water just prior to fitting it onto the racking tube. After the tube and hose are connected (with the tube already resting inside the carboy opening), just drop the open end of the hose into the other vessel and the beer automatically starts to flow. This method may take a few tries before you get the system down. And there’s no need to be concerned about the miniscule amount of water that exits the tube ahead of the beer.
Yet one more option is to buy a relatively inexpensive plastic gizmo called a siphon starter. When fitted at the end of your transfer hose and shaken briskly, the liquid begins flowing due to the ball bearing action within the siphon starter.
Lastly, there is still the opportunity to modernize and mechanize your home brewery, but this option comes with additional costs. You can purchase a small liquid pump (these are typically peristaltic types) with the appropriate hose sizes that will quickly and easily transfer your beer –even uphill.
Whichever method you choose, just go with the flow!
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