Did I trash my first batch? Siphon problems.

You introduced a lot of O2 to your beer, which will cause it to stale faster. Drink quickly.

 

You are talking about moving the unfermented wort into the carboy for fermentation, correct?

If that is the case, you introduced oxygen into the wort prior to yeast activity and that is exactly what you want to do. Yeast need oxygen and will preferentially consume all of the available oxygen prior to beginning fermentation. Oxygen helps the yeast colony to grow. Many of us, myself included, actually inject pure oxygen into the wort prior to pitching the yeast.

Once fermentation has begun the yeast will switch to an anaerobic mode and then you do not want to add oxygen. Oxygen will stale the beer, so bottle and transfer carefully. No splashing.
Cheers.

 

Filtering requires special equipment. But if you mean straining, I wouldn't do it.

 

Doh! Re-reading, he was talking about pre-fermentation.

OP: Ignore what I wrote.

 

I had to read it twice myself.

OP, for clarity and to help the older generation, refer to unfermented beer as wort (pronounced wert, impress your friends) and finished beer as beer. An old saying is brewers make wort, yeast makes beer.

Sounds like you will have fresh beer in a few weeks.
Cheers.

 

Actually, since we're talking pre-fermentation, straining is fine if you want to do that.

 

To clarify, I wouldn't strain it at this point. But for future batches, you could, during transfer from the kettle to the carboy.

 

There is no need to use a siphon to transfer from boil pot to fermentor. It can help avoid picking up hops and trub (that's the protein gunk that settles out after the boil. for the first few tries don't worry too much about it. It will all settle out in the fermentor, and you can leave it behind when you bottle with some skill. Siphon hose tends to get clogged up with gunk quickly. Keep a glass near by and you can run off the first few ounces of junk, then continue into the fermentor. And don't move the pick-up end of the hose once you get going or it will pull up gunk again.

Agitate, shake, stir, whip and anything else to get oxygen into the cooled wort. It will make a difference. The wort is basically free of oxygen after the boil.

Wort simply refers to the mass of water with malt, pre fermentation.
Cheers.

 

It should be sanitized (full sterilization is hard to do and not necessary) , just like anything else that touches post-boil wort (or beer).

 

If it's a auto-siphon racking cane, check the inside rubber stopper at the bottom. Had one that wouldn't seal right and took a lot of pumps to get it going. It's now in the trash.

 

Well, since we are on topic...
Do you have a bottling bucket? It's just a bucket with a spigot and it will make your bottling so much easier. Bottling with a siphon is truly a pita.
Transfer into the bottling bucket with a siphon. A good trick is to raise the beer a good deal higher than the receiving bucket. I used to put it on top of the fridge. Your hose should have a cane at one end to put into the beer. That is just a solid tube. Let it rest on the bottom of the bucket. Then suck in some beer. It will mostly be trub and hops. Once you get a good amount in the tube quickly drop the end into a pot and let the debris drain out. Then place the end of your siphon at the bottom of the bucket and let it flow with as little disturbance as possible. Anytime you transfer finished beer you risk oxidation. Don't move the cane or it will suck in more debris. Just let it go undisturbed. You'll get 99% of the liquid beer and leave behind the rest.

That's just about it. Racking beer is one of the headaches of brewing that most people find rather annoying. Stick with it and you will be into kegging in no time. Never in the history of brewing has anyone said "I wish I never started kegging".
Cheers.

 

A typical bottling bucket is merely a 7-gallon plastic pail that has a spigot attached that is near the bottom. They are not expensive and are the ideal size for 5-gallon batches but re okay to use for smaller batches. Your tubing is attached to the spigot on one end, and your bottle-filling wand is at the other end. Place the bucket higher than the bottle so that gravity will fill the bottle, and the spigot handle controls the flow of the beer to your wand. You'll still need to use your siphon to gently rack the beer from your fermentor, so make sure it is working correctly.

I use an inexpensive meat thermometer for determining the temp of the wort. I chill the wort while in the boil kettle, so it is easy to sanitize the the thermometer's probe and stick it into the wort. If you try to take the temp of the wort when in the carboy, I can't help you with that. I don't know if there is a good method for taking a temp then. Try to get the wort's temp down to 65 before pitching the yeast, and then place your fermentor in a place with an ambient temp that is also around 65. If you use your siphon to rack from the boil kettle to your carboy, place the siphon hose just inside the siphon's spout so that the wort splashes to the bottom of the fermentor. This is the only time that you want the wort to be exposed to air/oxygen for aeration purposes which the yeast will love. Also, try to leave as much trub behind in the fermentor as you can. Try not to place your siphon into the trub during the racking process.