Tap V Siphon

[bennyc]

Hi All,

I'm about to embark on my first AG brewing escapade tomorrow (wish me luck!)...

I think (!) I'm pretty much prepared, but I'm just curious as to what people think about moving the beer to a secondary fermenter via the tap (and tube) of the primary (one of the standard 30 L plastic fermenters) versus siphoning, in terms of spoilage risk. I'm thinking that it might be safer to siphon into the secondary and then use the first fermenter as the bottling bucket.

Thanks

Ben

 

[Andyd]

I did it that way once with all fresh gear and it worked fine. The next time I tried it it all went pear shaped.

So now I siphon (with an easy-start siphon gadget - don't let the name fool you !) for any transfer. You then have much better control of the transfer conditions.

Andy

(p.s. I still have taps - I only use them to sample the work, but I disassemble them for each new batch).

 

[Cortez The Killer]

i've just been using hose on the tap with out issue

If you are paranoid maybe give the tap a clean with some idophor or alcohol before transferring

cheers

 

[Hogan]

Hi All,

I'm about to embark on my first AG brewing escapade tomorrow (wish me luck!)...

I think (!) I'm pretty much prepared, but I'm just curious as to what people think about moving the beer to a secondary fermenter via the tap (and tube) of the primary (one of the standard 30 L plastic fermenters) versus siphoning, in terms of spoilage risk. I'm thinking that it might be safer to siphon into the secondary and then use the first fermenter as the bottling bucket.

Thanks

Ben

I use the tap for all my transfers. Isn't that what it's there for??/ I would think that using the syphon would leave you considerably more open to bugs than by using the tap. If you didn't have a tap then it's a different matter. If you've got one I would use it. My 2cents worth.

edit: Obviously proper sanitation is the keystone to all tranfer processes.

Cheers, Hoges.

 

[Stuster]

Both will work fine. I use an auto-syphon as you transfer less trub that way. There's no problem if there's a big yeast cake at the bottom for example.

But for the first time I'd just keep it simple and use the tap. As long as you have a hose on it going to the bottom of the cube/whatver you are racking to, then there little risk of spoilage/oxidation.

 

[bennyc]

Great, thanks everyone