BeerBorg

A while back - I dunno, maybe a month or so - I noticed my auto-siphon was acting up. It just took more than a couple of pumps to get things moving. So the next time I went to the LHBS, I bought a new one. I didn't start using it right away, figuring I'd have a fallback when and if the original one punted the pail.

Well, it happened today. I had just chilled a 2.5 gallon batch and was going to rack it to the carboy (which I'd already sanitized with the same auto-siphon), and there was nothing. No draw. No flow. Nothing.

So, I ran and opened up the new one, and things proceeded without a hitch.

A similar thing happened when my bench capper broke on me one day right at the start of bottling. I had a Red Baron wing capper than I'd never even used, and it saved the day.

Anyway, the point of this cautionary tale is this: Be aware! Have back-ups in place, and know when your equipment may go toes up, because it may happen at any time. There may be advance indicators, though, and the time to get backup is before you're bottling or racking a batch to the carboy. Because then it will be too late.

I agree Dave. I only broke my first hydrometer recently. But then I bought two. I already have two thermometers because of an upgrade. My last couple of batches have had a few flat bottles, and my capper seems a little wobbly, so I bought another. But I do have a couple of other backup bottling plans: I have two small kegs and a bunch of swing top bottles. I'm about to replace my autosiphon, it's become a bit discolored, and one of my recent batches had a slight infection. I do have a stainless racking cane as a backup too.

What made it stop pumping? Did the seal wear out?

I don't know; I didn't bother looking at it. My guess is that the seal in the plunger dried out or became warped, so it wasn't creating the proper vacuum/pressure to create liquid flow.

At the time, I was primarily interested in racking my wort to my carboy, so I dashed around getting that taken care of. I've had it for five or so years, so I'm not surprised it gave up the ghost.