Siphon vs. tap and cane

Dr_Unkenly · May 27, 2016

Hi, newbie here.

Just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the preferred method for bottling/kegging from the bucket.

What are the pros and cons of siphoning vs. using a tap with a wand?
What are you guys doing and why?

klaus · May 27, 2016

I always syphon, either straight into the keg or with the stick for bottling. I don't have FVs with tap. I started off with it many years ago and am comfortable with it

Graz · May 27, 2016

I've not done any bottling in a long time, my brews normally go straight in the pressure barrel, however I've decided that I'm going to start doing a few brews for bottling.

For me as it's a one man operation I think I'm going to go down the bottling bucket route for ease, i.e. a fermenting bucket with a tap and a bottling wand ala http://www.home-brew-online.com/equ...ncluding-little-bottler-lid-with-grommet-p809

Intention would be to syphon my brew from a normal fermenter to this leaving most of the crud behind and so I can batch prime. Then it should (I hope) be a simple job to bottle from this bucket without needing a helper.

Dr_Unkenly · May 27, 2016

I'm using a combo of MKs and bottles so I don't think I can batch prime due to the different carbing levels required.

I could either siphon or use the tap but I'm wondering if there is any technical advantage for one or the other and how easy each method is.

FYI I siphoned my one and only brew to date. I found it a bit messy to get started with but ok once it got going (albeit with a bit of a 'seat of the pants' feeling throughout). The last bottle I filled from the batch had quite a lot of sediment in it.

Covrich · May 27, 2016

I syphon into a bottling bucket with priming solution already in.. this has teh tap and wand in.. with the stuff off the trub I find it easier to tilt and bottle and racking onto the solution I do not need to stir and I can do this..

works for me anyway

nigelnorris · May 27, 2016

When batch priming I just syphon the beer off the sediment into a secondary FV. add the priming liquid, then just dunk the bottles straight into the bucket and fill them directly. Just hold the bottle opening level with the top of the beer so it pours in and careful that there's no bubbles or splashing and I've not had any issues with oxygenation. I use either the tap or a syphon for the last litre or so. I only do that with kits [Festivals mainly] where a bag of priming sugar is included so it's difficult to separate out into the right number of dollops for the number of bottles.

Individual bottle priming I use a syphon.

MyQul · May 27, 2016

nigelnorris said:
When batch priming I just syphon the beer off the sediment into a secondary FV. add the priming liquid, then just dunk the bottles straight into the bucket and fill them directly. Just hold the bottle opening level with the top of the beer so it pours in and careful that there's no bubbles or splashing and I've not had any issues with oxygenation. I use either the tap or a syphon for the last litre or so. I only do that with kits [Festivals mainly] where a bag of priming sugar is included so it's difficult to separate out into the right number of dollops for the number of bottles.

Individual bottle priming I use a syphon.

I've never heard of anyone filling their bottles like this. Do you sanitise the outside of the bottles as well as the inside? Because of course dunking unsanitsed bottled into your beer risks infection (I'm not criticising your method btw, It's always interesting to hear about other brewers methods)

chub1 · May 27, 2016

I rack onto required boiled and cooled sugar then bottle via the tap and little bottler:thumb:

Covrich · May 27, 2016

MyQul said:
I've never heard of anyone filling their bottles like this. Do you sanitise the outside of the bottles as well as the inside? Because of course dunking unsanitsed bottled into your beer risks infection (I'm not criticising your method btw, It's always interesting to hear about other brewers methods)

Also even though your hands may be clean you'd probably have to constantly dip them in.

Its different Ill give him that

MickDundee · May 27, 2016

I just bottle straight from primary using my tap and bottling wand. My last beer in particular has come out crystal clear so I'm not bothered about a bottling bucket at the moment.

nigelnorris · May 27, 2016

MyQul said:
I've never heard of anyone filling their bottles like this. Do you sanitise the outside of the bottles as well as the inside? Because of course dunking unsanitsed bottled into your beer risks infection (I'm not criticising your method btw, It's always interesting to hear about other brewers methods)

Sanitizing it all is easy. I use pet bottles which when I've used them I clean and sanitise thouroughly and dump in a big box in a cupboard with the caps on and half an inch of no rinse sealed inside. FV next to the kitchen sink filled with hot water and more no rinse. 15 minutes before bottling dunk them all into the sink along with syphon, bungs, and other paraphernalia, swish it al about then stand the whole lot on the [also sanitized] drainer to dry. Obviously while doing this I'm getting my hands well and truly immersed into the sink too, splash it all about making sure everything in sight gets well and truly soaked and left to dry. Then just proceed as described. Been doing it as long as I can remember and never lost anything to infection yet.

Obviously the outside of the bottles get a bit sticky so there's an extra step at the end chucking them back into the sink and wiping them all down, but you get spillage and a bit of cleaning up at the end whatever method you use.

It's another advatage of PET bottles, you can chuck them about like this and dump them in and out of sinks and whatnot without too much care.

Robin54 · May 27, 2016

out of FV using tap and god forbid, I also use a funnel, into which Ive chucked in my sugar. Top up bottles using a measuring jug...there u go, yet another method...works for me and has done for 40 years. No method is right or wrong - use the one you are most comfortable with

MyQul · May 27, 2016

nigelnorris said:
Sanitizing it all is easy. I use pet bottles which when I've used them I clean and sanitise thouroughly and dump in a big box in a cupboard with the caps on and half an inch of no rinse sealed inside. FV next to the kitchen sink filled with hot water and more no rinse. 15 minutes before bottling dunk them all into the sink along with syphon, bungs, and other paraphernalia, swish it al about then stand the whole lot on the [also sanitized] drainer to dry. Obviously while doing this I'm getting my hands well and truly immersed into the sink too, splash it all about making sure everything in sight gets well and truly soaked and left to dry. Then just proceed as described. Been doing it as long as I can remember and never lost anything to infection yet.

Obviously the outside of the bottles get a bit sticky so there's an extra step at the end chucking them back into the sink and wiping them all down, but you get spillage and a bit of cleaning up at the end whatever method you use.

It's another advatage of PET bottles, you can chuck them about like this and dump them in and out of sinks and whatnot without too much care.

I'm liking your method. By the looks of it it save a lot of faffing. Might even give it a go, even though I use glass bottles. But I'm sure I can think of some work around

nigelnorris · May 27, 2016

MyQul said:
I'm liking your method. By the looks of it it save a lot of faffing. Might even give it a go, even though I use glass bottles. But I'm sure I can think of some work around

Only downside is it can get a bit messy, but I live alone so don't have to answer to anyone else worrying about puddles in the kitchen. Helps to chuck a couple of dishcloths into the sink as well so major drippages can be wiped with a damp cloth straight away.

MyQul · May 27, 2016

nigelnorris said:
Only downside is it can get a bit messy, but I live alone so don't have to answer to anyone else worrying about puddles in the kitchen. Helps to chuck a couple of dishcloths into the sink as well so major drippages can be wiped with a damp cloth straight away.

I usually do anything brew related when MrsMQ is not around so she doesn't see the mess

HebridesRob · May 27, 2016

I don't use the same method every time but more often than not... finish fermenting, cold crash for a couple of days, move fermenting vessel and leave to stand a few hours to allow sediment to settle back down, sugar in bottles, bottle with bottling stick fixed to tap on fermenting vessel. Seems to me to be the simplest way. Only mess is a couple of teaspoons worth of beer.

Slid · May 27, 2016

I usually rack my beers to a secondary FV with a tap after ~2 weeks. Bottle from the tap into PET bottles -2L or 500ml.

DarkHorse · May 28, 2016

I've always just syphoned into a pb or bottles (a tap in the tube makes a huge difference) but last week I treated myself to a little bottler and bottling barrel as I'm sure it will make life easier as I want to have a decent stash of bottles for Christmas.

gl0ckage · May 29, 2016

I use a syphon for demijohns but all my buckets have taps as it's much easier to bottle using the tap and a bottler.

LarryF · May 29, 2016

I've always used a bottling wand on the tap on my FV for beer bottling in to pre-primed 500 or 600ml bottles. When I've done TC/WOW or Fruit punch I've used a syphon from a 5L or 8L plastic water container into 1L plastic or 750ml glass bottles. I've always found the bottling wand so much easier to use and less messy and I lose next to nothing when doing my beer.

Siphon vs. tap and cane

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