Bull City Homebrew

The auto-siphon is a replacement for a standard racking cane. Unlike the racking cane, it helps you get a siphon started when you transfer your beer or wort from one vessel to another. At a first glance, it’s the same long stiff tube shape, just a lot wider.

Before the auto-siphon, you had two ways to start the siphoning mechanism. You could pre-fill it with water, close off the end of the hose, then release the water. You could also suck on the end of the hose to get it started.

Starting a siphon using the auto-siphon is much easier than those original two options. It has an inner racking cane and an outer tube. The inner racking cane has a gasket on the end that allows it to slide along the outer tube. You always want to wet the this tip first… never insert it dry.

As you push the inner racking cane down, it builds up pressure in the outer tube and forces the liquid up through the cane. All it takes is a couple of quick, hard pumps to get the liquid flowing.

That’s pretty much it, once the siphon is started, just rack your beer or wort as you would normally. You also don’t want to siphon up any of the trub from the bottom of the fermenter, so be sure and pull it out just before you’re finished.

The auto-siphon takes a normally annoying task and makes it a lot easier… you can’t ask for much better than that in a homebrewing gadget! Want to see the auto-siphon in action? Watch this video!

Check out other ideas in our Bull City Homebrew Holiday Gift Guide. New stuff added every day!

Cleaning bottles is one of the least fun parts of homebrewing, but if you’re bottling your beer, you’ve got to do it. One tool that’s made bottle cleaning and drying much easier is the Vinator Bottle Sanitizer and Bottle Tree.

The Bottle Tree is really made of two parts; the Vinator Bottle Rinser and the Bottle Tree Drainer. The washer typically stays at the top of the tree and has a nozzle that sticks straight up which is the size of a beer or wine bottle opening. There is also a basin that goes around the bottom that holds a cleaning or sanitizing agent, such as PBW (cleaning) or Star San (sanitizing). You take a bottle and put it upside down on the nozzle, and then push down quickly several times. This blasts a stream of the solution in the basin straight into the bottle. This high pressure stream is great for blasting junk off the bottom of a bottle or for making sure that you’re covering the surfaces with sanitizer.

Once you’re done with the nozzle, you can put the bottle upside down on one of the arms of the tree to dry. As the bottles drip dry, there is another basin at the bottom of the tree to catch any run-off. If you are sanitizing, make sure that the arms have been sanitized before putting the bottles on them.

Just look at it! It’s just begging for some lights, a garland and a star on top!

How much does it cost?

The Vinator Bottle Rinser is $19.50. The bottle trees come in 45 bottle size for $29.90 and the 81 bottle size for $41.50.

What do I say when I give this to look super-knowlegdable?

“I know what a pain it is to clean and sanitize your bottles. Now you have an easy way to do it and let them dry.”

Why will the person I give it to think I’m awesome?

The bottle tree is not a required homebrewing thing but it makes a difficult, unfun process a lot more bearable. It’s little things like this that let the homebrewer in your life get through the work quickly and back to what they really love to do… brewing!

Check out other ideas in our Bull City Homebrew Holiday Gift Guide. New stuff added every day!

Bull City Homebrew has a tradition of t-shirts that save you money. This year, we have two styles that we think you’ll like. They do more than make you look like like a rock star… whenever you wear it to the store, we’ll pay your sales tax for the rest of 2012 and all of 2013. That’s right, when we say “Read our lips, NO SALES TAXES”, we mean it and it’s a promise we’ll keep!

2013 t-shirts come in two styles; “Homebrew Cowboy” and “Revoultion is Brewing”. Each shirt is available in small through 3XL. If you plan on spending some money on homebrew supplies in 2013, this shirt could easily pay for itself and much more.

Go ahead and let everyone know that you brew the beer you drink by wearing your Bull City Homebrew shirt. Just be prepared to have a lot of new friends once people find out that you make amazing beer at home.

How much do they cost?

Both styles are $15 each.

What do I say when I give this to look super-knowlegdable?

“This shirt makes you look awesome and you don’t have to pay sales tax on anything you buy at Bull City Homebrew from now through the end of 2013!”

Why will the person I give it to think I’m awesome?

It’s a wearable coupon that lets everyone know you’re a homebrewer. What could be more awesome than that?

Check out other ideas in our Bull City Homebrew Holiday Gift Guide. New stuff added every day!