Pages: 1
Can an Auto Siphon Work for Racking Hot Wort?
Hello,
As I'm preparing to upgrade my volume, I'm going to be using a chiller which will require racking my wort out of the pot. Until now I have just been pooring after swamp cooling my parital boil. I have a Fermtech A.S. but I can't find any info anywhere about whether or not it's safe to use with 200* wort. Anyone have any experiance with that?
Good Brewing,
Edds
I'd be cautious using an autosiphon with hot wort.
I don't have the specifics in front of me, but I am fairly certain that the material is not rated for that high of temperaure.
At best you could be looking at melting and ruining the autosiphon, and at worst you could be pulling who knows what kind of dangerous chemicals into your beer.
Again, I'm sure somebody will chime in with exactly why you shouldn't do it, but it seems like I looked down that road a while ago and found that it is a bad idea.
Out of curiosity, what kind of chilling method will you be using?
I'm starting to develop a plan to scale up to full volume boils. I have decided a counter flow chiller will be the best method for me. I'm starting to think i should just take a couple feet of copper tubing off the end of my coil and fasion a racking cane out of it. I'm worried about getting a siphon going since I'm going to have a large volume of tubing to pull vaccum on to get it going.
I've read some testimonials to racking wort in the 160-170F range but not +200F. Though I've also heard a decent amount of stories about auto siphons bending into U's and J's because they can't handle the heat. I also wonder how much heat the seal on the auto siphon could take before rendering it defective. I'd advise against it but if you do it, let us know how it works out for you.
Your best bet here is to install a bulkhead and ball valve to your boil kettle. In the long run it will save you a lot of grief. The weldless fittings work great. It seems that if you do go with your DIY counterflow, you will probably need to pump, gravity will not get it done, so if you are pumping, then a ball valve will make life easy.
edds,
when i considered the option of racking boiling hot wort out of the kettle, it was when i was thinking about replacing my immersion chiller with a plate chiller.
after some research i found that racking at that temp wouldn't be the best idea, and that i would at least need a bulkhead and ball valve. i also gathered that even though a plate chiller would work well with gravity flow, a lot of people seemed to think that a pump would really be needed to get all of the efficiency i could out of it.
so what it came down to was a plate chiller would take a bulkhead and ball valve and a pump for me to really get what i wanted out of it. i wasn't quite ready to go that route and decided to just make a bigger immersion chiller (with the old smaller IC as a prechiller), and i have been really happy with the results. and saved a good bit of cash for more ingriedients.
if you are dead set on the counter flow chiller, i think you will find you need the bulkhead and a pump, as thirsty suggested, to really make it work with the best efficiency.
just wanted to share my experience with you, but then again, you should try it if you want. thats what this hobby is all about. and if it gets you what you want, use it.
i am planning to move to a 64 qt pot soon and i will have to break down and get the bulkhead and ball valve.
i plan on going with the weldless. and i'll probably be shopping for a good pump before too long...
DONT DO IT! haha, I ruined a siphon trying to rack hot wort. They don't last in hot liquids. The little clapper valve at the bottom popped out after it warped into crecent moon shaped piece of abstract art
When I first started brewing and bought my stuff my LHBS owner told me "DO NOT USE THE AUTO SIPHON TO TRANSFER HOT WORT!"
Good to know. Between all of the great advice I've been given here and in the thread about cooler designs I have decided to just build a 50' IC. My tap water is 60* and I don't plan on graduating to more than 5 gallons at a time for a while to come. I have pot big enough for when I'm ready, but at this point I'm not even ready to go whole grain. I just got a great deal on a 40qt pot that set things in motion to do full volume boils. I will still have to shell out $50 for a burner, and It looks like I'll be able to build my cooler to abou $40 as opposed to over $60 for the CFC. I also have the old Soviet approach to all things I own: simple, cheap, and durable. I think the IC is more in line with that philosophy and though I don't mind to take on the extra duty of cleaing one, it's nice to not have to. Thanks to everyone who gave me input, and I'm glad I didn't stick my auto siphon in hot water!
I am the proud owner of a J-shaped autosiphon.
I put it into a kettle full of 180+ degree PBW and it slowly bent into a J.
Moving hot wort is best done through a valve.
Pages: 1
Search Home Brewing Knowledge Base
Custom Search
|