[homoeccentricus]

And you bottle with a plexi-glass  auto-siphon? I find it not very handy as it is too big relative to size of the 1 gallon fermenter.

[reverseapachemaster]

I bought a two gallon bucket and drilled a hole for the usual bottling spigot as close to the bottom of the bucket as I could and still be able to tighten the nut on the back. I marked it off in increments of quarter gallons so I can a pretty good idea of how many bottles I can fill. A gallon usually gives me 8-9 12oz bottles.

There is a smaller autosiphon meant for one gallon batches.

[erockrph]

Oh, one more thing: any tips on how to bottle these one gallon batches efficiently? I have four or five one gallon meads that I need to bottle this weekend...

That's the one thing I still struggle with. I'm not as concerned with yield, since my 1-gallon batches are mostly test batches. But bottling is a one-man job in my brewery, and it's kinda tough to pump the auto-siphon while pressing down on the bottling wand and keeping the bottle low enough to keep the siphon going.

I keep saying that I'm going to rig something up that lets me rack under CO2 pressure, but I've never gotten around to it.

[Stevie]

Yep, getting the siphon started with a bottling wand on the end is a complete PIA when operating solo. The clip the make for the autosiphon helps a bit, but have a third hand would be more helpful.

[erockrph]

Yep, getting the siphon started with a bottling wand on the end is a complete PIA when operating solo. The clip the make for the autosiphon helps a bit, but have a third hand would be more helpful.

I end up using my teeth to push it up & down. It helps to have some Pantera blasting for a little headbanging inspiration.

[dmtaylor]

I have never used an autosiphon.  Set your full fermenter or racking bucket on a chair.  Have your bottles and an extra dump glass on your floor next to the chair.  Fill tygon tube and racking cane with water (from your sink) and ensure no major bubbles are present.  Place a sanitized finger over an open end.  Attach the two together.  Set the racking cane gently into one of the bottles.  It helps to have your bottles well supported in a 12-pack or case so they don't fall.  Place open end of filled hose into your primed beer.  Immediately move your racking cane to the dump glass and drain the water out.  Then keep hose submerged while you fill every bottle.  After you do this process twice you will learn it by heart and probably never have any problems.  I have bottled more than 3000 bottles like this.  It just works and is not difficult.

[homoeccentricus]

Could you post a movie please?

[dmtaylor]

Uh..... not a bad idea.  Maybe I should.....

The following video comes close.  I just do not have a valve on my bottling bucket so repeat the part about filling the tubes with water and draining the water into a glass.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4x0m0cdp9c

[homoeccentricus]

Srsly, I don't understand what you do...

[reverseapachemaster]

Uh..... not a bad idea.  Maybe I should.....

The following video comes close.  I just do not have a valve on my bottling bucket so repeat the part about filling the tubes with water and draining the water into a glass.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4x0m0cdp9c

So you're creating a new siphon with water for each bottle?

[dmtaylor]

No way, certainly not!  As long as you keep the top end of the hose submerged at all times, and the lower end of the hose connected to a racking cane (the kind with the little spring valve at the tip), you can move the racking cane from bottle to bottle 50 times to bottle all your beer without having to re-establish the siphon.

Siphoning is not difficult to do.  Maybe a little difficult to understand, but the main thing to remember is to keep the top end submerged at all times.  And it certainly helps to have a valve on the lower end, as opposed to using your thumb to stop and start flow over and over.

Perhaps I am confusing the terms "racking cane" and "bottling wand"?  Yeah, maybe that's causing the confusion.  Sorry about that.  Substitute "bottling wand" everywhere I have said "racking cane" above and things might make more sense to ya'll.

Cheers and good luck!

[homoeccentricus]

I already know now that the water will be in the bottles and the beer on the floor :-(

[dmtaylor]

So practice with water a couple of times until you get the hang of it, then it will be a piece of cake when you transfer the beer! 

[homoeccentricus]

The combination of the SMALL autosiphon + clip did it for me! No messing with water for me, thank you!