Hey,
How are you doing? I'm attempting ot siphon wine from my carboy which is on the counter to a container on teh floor in my kitchen. I place teh tube in just above the layer of sedement. When I suck on the tube to create the suction it does come through, but then immediately stops when I cease sucking and try to put the tube into the container. Any guesses on what I'm doing wrong? Thanks so much!!!

The technique (if you want to call it that) that I use is similar to yours. Carboy is on the counter and receiving *bucket is on the floor. I start my siphoning while standing above the carboy which helps to create a strong suction. when the tube fills with wine and the wine gets to my mouth I put my tongue over the end of the tube in my mouth to hold the suction pressure (much like putting your finger over the top end of a straw to extract liquid from a cup...I did that a lot as a child). Mind you, I've *cough* completely rinsed my mouth out with Listerine. I then crouch down very close to the receiving bucket and replace my tongue with my thumb (real fast) then I put that end of the tube as low as possible in the bucket before releasing. As long as the end in the carboy is completely submerged and the tube is full of liquid before you release, then the siphon will work. I hope that helps.

If its in a carboy the best thing to do is./
put end of tube into recieving container on floor lower than carboy.
Put racking tube in carboy.
Wrap a rag around the carboy neck leaving a small spot to blow into.
Blow into the carboy until the wine starts flowing good.
When you remove your mouth its gonna blow back at ya so cover the neck with rag real quick.
Works great & no sucking involved.

As I get more experience with brewing and winemaking, I've slowly upgraded most of my equipment (still have a lot more to do!) to devices that make the whole process easier. I'll tell ya, for the price, you cant beat an Auto Siphon. The next time you're looking to upgrade, its a very inexpensive piece of equipment that you really cant go wrong buying. PARTICULARLY if you are using carboys. You can look at what Im talking about here:

http://northernbrewer.com/siphon.html

***Sorry Jeepguy, I wanted to link to your site, but I didnt see any autosiphons in your inventory.***


Cheers
Dave

Thats ok, i just got them in yesterday!! I will sell it a bit cheaper though i bet!!
Another good thing for a carboy is the carboy hood.
It has 2 tubes(1 with a plug, & 1 with your airlock)
Then all you do is replace the airlock with the racking tube, replace the plug with a piece of vinyl tube & blow till its flowing good.(very easy)!
I do have those on my site!!

I am a slacker!!

Alright you slacker, you need to find some 10 gallon fermenting buckets that are as good a quality (and cool looking, dont forget cool looking) as your 16.5 gallon buckets.

Until then, I guess my 5 gallon at a time carboys will have to suffice. (sigh)




Im glad you got some auto siphons in stock. Those things are terrific!


Cheers
Dave

the 16.5 woorks good for 10 gallons because it gives you some headspace & you dont have to worry about spilling.