Maybe it is the heat, I wash the “dishes” with very hot water (over 125).
The cracking isn’t on the racknig cane, but on the siphon tube. I try to be very careful attaching and removing the tube from the racking cane, I can see myself snapping it into at the bend.
I too have been using the same auto siphon since I started brewing in 06 or so.
What in hell are you cave men doing to the poor things?
;D
I think people are more paranoid than they need to be. I don’t think sucking on the hose is a problem, then dipping the end in sanitizer for a bit. It’s not like you’re blowing bacteria back up into the tube and into the beer.
I agree it’s probably ok, but the lactobacillus and other things in your mouth would be a potential concern. To me, it’s a small thing to sanitize my hand briefly rather than put my mouth directly on the tube. But maybe it’s not actually doing anything, it’s not like I’ve tested it.
I too am a cave man who regularly breaks or cracks an auto-siphon, and have eliminated them from my life now with one technique or the other.
On those occasions when I have to rack from a plastic bucket, I use a lid with two holes so that I can mimic the carboy cap/sterile filter/stainless steel racking cane method. One hole to blow through a sterile filter, and the other for a stainless steel racking cane. It’s worked with every lid & bucket combo I have (except for one where I drilled the second hole a bit too big and the air escaped).
Sometimes I’m organized enough to have the cane in there during the fermentation, and when ready to rack I only have to pull out the air bubble lock to insert the sterile blow apparatus. Gotta watch the sanitation, but it’s way easier for me than dealing with the siphon pump.
I’ve used AS’s for years and have had them break. I recently broke my last one. I still have a regular “hard plastic” racking cane. I devised a new method of racking from my buckets to my kegs with no direct mouth contact to the siphon hose. Here’s what I do(this is a big help when dry hopping in the keg also) I have the racking cane attached to tight fitting hose so no air is introduced. On the end of the hose(where the beer comes out) I put a keg fitting and attach it to the “out” post on my keg. With the lid firmly on, I have a qd gas fitting with a snug hose on it and put it on the gas “in” side of the keg. I suck on the hose on the C02 “in” side creating a vacuum in the keg so the beer starts flowing down the hose, into the keg, down the dip tube and with the C02 side “open” it bleeds the air in the keg to keep the flow going. I love this new method because with dry hops, you don’t have the hose to pull out making a mess with hops spilling out of the keg.
I have the model with the red plastic end. Again, it is foolproof. There’s nothing to break unless one stepped on the plastic end. No silly sucking either. I was introduced to it by homebrewer Bill Pierce. He warned me that the copper ended model draws to quickly, sucking up too much trub/yeast. It is simply great.
This is a great idea! You could do the same thing when racking from a bucket to a carboy. Use a carboy cap and a second racking cane to fill the carboy, then suck on the other end of the carboy cap (or better yet, attach some hose to that end and suck on the hose) to start the flow.
Now, if I could only remember to put the fruit for my meads into a mesh bag before putting them in the bucket I’d be all set. I’ve been putting the mesh bag around the bottom of my racking cane, but often have trouble maintaining the flow as the fruit and bag get sucked around the end of the cane/thimbal. If anyone has figured out a way to deal with that, I’ll be much more enthusiastic about racking that peach mead I’ve got going now!
It occurs to me now that I haven’t really looked closely at my AS in a long time. Maybe years. I guess mine could be falling apart too, but it still seems to work just fine.
I suppose one could gargle Listerine or something beforehand to kill off most of those germs…
But what’s in your keg when you start this process? Just air? Then you’re still exposing your beer to oxygen during the racking process. I figure you don’t purge your keg with CO2 since you talk about sucking on the keg, and getting lungs full of CO2 isn’t pleasant.
I’m worried less about sanitation post-fermentation than I am oxidation. The alcohol and pH of the beer should take care of most of the bugs anyway. I’d rather make sure there’s no oxygen pickup. So I purge my kegs before filling, and rack under the CO2 blanket. CO2 is heavy, so it won’t just blow off quickly once the keg is open. The beer will displace it, but the blanket will remain. I guess you could use a lid and put a pressure relief fitting on the gas port of the keg, or crack the pressure relief valve in the lid.
I still pay attention to sanitation, but I rank oxygen avoidance higher. I just sanitize a hose, fill it with water, hold a (washed and sanitized) thumb on the end, and start a syphon that way. Once the initial water is clear, I put my thumb back over the hose while I move it to the keg. There is some splashing initially, but it’s under CO2. You can start the beer moving lots of ways, but please make sure that you aren’t oxidizing it during the transfer process.
To address Gordon’s comment about oxidation, you could push CO2 into the keg or carboy you are racking into then start your siphon with a pump like this instead of sucking:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NY1WF2?&tag=shopwiki-us-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325
That way there’s no danger from inhaling CO2.
So It’s a little off topic but… I do not have the space nor the money to start accumulating kegging stuff yet. Is there a cheap and small (doesn’t take up much room in my tiny house) way to get a CO2 blanket in my secondary before racking? I ask because I am goign to do an IPA soon and want to dry hop it but don’t want to oxidize it if I can help it. Would one of those cans of gas they sell at wine shops to keep an open bottle fresh work? normally I don’t do a secondary but…
Yes, argon will work. But you can get a small CO2 setup too that might still have some utility once you get around to kegging. You can get something like this, it’s cheap and small, although you have no control over how fast the CO2 comes out.
http://morebeer.com/view_product/18301//CO2_Injector_Ball_Lock
That looks like an option. thanks.
Use a carboy cap as shown and use CO2 to purge empty carboy and then siphon beer out of the primary.
I don’t have the AS, but I don’t need to suck on it either. I drop the dip tube in the carboy full of sanitizer, then pour sanitizing solution into the open end of the hose (maybe I just have steady hands) and when its full, close the hose clamp. Gravity does the rest when I drop the hose down and reopen it.
I can probably find room to store a couple carboy caps. but the little portable CO2 setup mentioned above needs a quick connect to work safely can one of those be attached to the carboy cap? I would also be somewhat nervous about hitting a glass carboy with 600psi (perhaps unfounded nerve but…)
A standard 3/8" tubing can be inserted into the port and I forget to mention to use a CO2 regulator with a pressure setting of about 5psi. 
This is tough to do with a 30" stainless steel racking cane. I’ve tried over and over and over. I could do it just fine with a 24" cane, but not this longer one…