Home Brew - 4.5 Litre Auto Syphon - No More Sucking!

What a great piece of kit, I have the longer version for my beer making but found it a little unwieldly trying to use it in a gallon container so I bought this shorter one. It is so easy to use even one handed if balancing demijohns etc.The suction is great it works every time after a couple of pumps.

I was worried about making this purchase, read some reviews that said the seal was not great but after testing, i am very happy.

Extremely easy to use, quite solidly constructed. The tubing needs to be secured into wherever the liquid is going to or it will move when you start syphoning. I'd definitely recommend doing some tests with water before, instead of wasting precious beer or wine, as I ended up getting some all over the floor! So for this reason I'd mark it down one start. If it could be provided with a clip to secure the tube in place, then it'd be perfect.

Love this. Makes siphoning my mead and cider so easy. Simple to clean just plunge in warm soapy water as usual and then repeat in sterilisation fluid. Well made and good price.

So at first glance this is pretty alright. Good size, plenty of tube length and general good build.I've used it 3 times now and each time air enters the siphon part and ruins bottling. The seal allows air in. Pretty bad as this oxidizing my beers. Would not go near this with an IPA

Ordered this as I thought it would be easier to use than just a plastic pipe and lung power, which to an extent, it is.The problem I have - and this may be down to me being clumsy and/or not being an octopus (keep reading and I'll explain) - but I always end up making a mess when I'm using it.Let me elaborate: to use the syphon, you stick one end (the pump) into your vessel and the other (pipe) into whatever you want to syphon to (a bottle, for example). You then 'pump' the syphon a couple of times to get the wort flowing and then rely on gravity to keep the flow going.The problem I have is this (and again, these issues may be peculiar to my set up, so take heed): I'm syphoning from a 1 gallon glass demijohn. When I put the syphon in, I don't want it hitting all the gunk at the bottom of the vessel, so I have to hold it above this with one hand. I then have to use the other hand to start the pumping action, while the pipe end is in my bottle. When I start pumping, the pipe end of the syphon inevitably shifts (as I've no way to hold it steady - see my octopus comment above) and the bottle gets knocked over, resulting in me flailing to stop the flow of wort all over the place.Now granted, I could get a clip or something to hold the syphon in place at the top of my demijohn and I could buy a bottle filler or another clip to stick on the end of the pipe to stop the flow until I'm ready to let it go, but I'm reviewing THIS product on its own and not a bunch of other equipment + this.So to finish, it does work and it has the potential to make things a lot easier compared to syphoning using just a pipe and your lung power. Just be aware that you may need some extra equipment to get it working perfectly (or another pair of hands).

I bought this product about 4 years ago - I have been making cider for about 7 years - I have found it so much easier than the ordinary syphon - no more sucking - (so less risk of contaminating the brew) - I go from one demi-john to the next - shut the tap off with the liquid with a little bit of yeast on the first racking (check out the excellent book -Real Cidermaking - which recommends a little yeast is brought through) and it is a seamless operation -there is a bottom on the syphon so you can leave all the yeast behind if you want -just hold it slightly above the sediment- I don't use the clip as it rests fine in the demi-johns -a synch to clean just stick it in a cleaned demijohn with water to rinse and then some sterilising solution - after about 4 years of use I rate this as an essential piece of equipment

Omg! I wish I got one of these when I first started brewing.It makes syphoning so much easier, no sucking or filling the tube with sanitizer needed, just put this in your fermenter move the Syphon up and down a couple of times and Bob's your uncle.Highly recommended!