best way to siphon whey

[Majoofi]

I've been dipping/scooping whey from the pot. then when it's light enough picking up the whole pot and carefully pouring off the whey, which is tricky if you don't want to spill curd everywhere. So I've been thinking about using a tube to siphon  off the whey as I see some of you do.

My question is how do you siphon off the whey without putting your mouth on the tube and thus contaminating the whey if you want to use it later for ricotta or something?

[DeejayDebi]

I use a meat flavor injector and suck the air with that.

[Majoofi]

that's a good idea.
I guess that's another trip to the store.

[DeejayDebi]

A turkey baster might work if you have one. Sometimes I can just plunge the hose up and down in the whey while blocking and unblocking the open end to create a suction but it doesn't always work. It's all timing and keeping the hose ends at about the same level or slight lower on the open end.

[Majoofi]

oh yeah, physics.

[DeejayDebi]

Yep!

[teegr]

Hi, not sure if this would work for you but back in the 70's when I made alot more farmers style hard cheese...my late hubby used a contraption that he used for siphoning 50-100 gal. aquariums. He made the length of the draining tubes so they fit the size of my largest enameled canner...I suppose it could be shortened more.  It was based on a hand kerosene pump/siphon from my memory. I'll add a website that has something similar...but the one he used was handmade for his purposes.  http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1278396  The one we had was a thing with a stiff wide (3/4-1in) tube with a cut angle to the end of it that went into bottom of curd pot.  There was a smaller flexible tube that drained the whey into a bucket or pot. The one at this web link shows a flexible accordian tube which wouldn't work for cheese...but you get the idea.  He used his own tubes and a much larger rubber bulb.  The siphon was started by squeezing the collapsible bulb a few times.  I used to think he was a bit touched with some of his solutions...but it worked for what we needed which was simply to remove some of the whey.  The trick was to put it against the side of the pot...not into center of curds.

It worked...of course it took a bit of practice...he was able to get whey drained quite fast and without disturbing the cut curds much.  That was his job...that and carrying the large pot around...LOL.  The design of this thing kept the whey out of the bulb.  I was able to clean and sterilize it with bleach water.  It did require a good handmade bottle brush. 

There is another option that I saw today on an aquarium web site...I think the pic will give you an idea.  I personally don't think I'd use it because the hand bulb would obviously have whey in it...whereas the one we used the whey did not get into the bulb if done properly.  http://www.petsolutions.com/default.aspx?ItemId=94001319&EID=NX94001319&SID=NXTG

[DeejayDebi]

might work if you can sterilize it. I have an elcheapo plastic siphon I think was made for gas by I don't think it will boil to well. I did have a small wood dowel that fit nicely into my hose that worked well to start the siphon but I have long since lost it.It was a tight fit and just pulling it out would get it going nicely.

[teegr]

Hi, the tubing my late hubby used was able to be dipped into boiling water after it was sanitized...unlike the cheap pump I found on the internet link.  The bulb, and both tubes were able to be removed from the connector.  Actually the hard plastic that essentially joined the tubes and bulb reminds me of a really large y connector we use in nursing.  All I know is it worked  when I had a large enameled canner full of liquids and/or sitting inside another large pot.  Funny story is why he came up with this "siphon".   I was PG...short...and on crutches cause I sprained my ankle when I fainted.  I couldn't use my standard step stool so I could get up high enough to dip hot whey/water.  I wouldn't use the siphons he used for aquariums...so he made me one just for my kitchen.  It worked well for transferring water out of the canner so we could recycle it in the garden.  I wouldn't suggest trying it with really hot water as that might be dangerous.

[teegr]

http://www.canningpantry.com/a12.html

This link might give you an idea of something you could do yourself. 

[humble_servant7]

Me and John were having this discussion when I first joined here, when we were talking about Stainless Steel pots.

These pots come with a manual drain-ball-valve system attached to them:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_463&products_id=869&osCsid=940d02959b295848cc8d8e61fb4e256d

[teegr]

YEAH..now your talking...but I know back when 70's when I had a young family and usually fed many drop in's for supper daily... putting out money on such a beauty wouldn't have been an option.   If I was fortunate to have such a beauty...I can visualization my late hubby reaching for a little aquarium scoop net to solve any plugging problem, and I'm sure he'd have put one of those heavy but flexible tubes onto the outside of spigot so one could contain the draining so it wouldn't shoot out all over the floor.   :'(  What always seemed a problem for me he could find some simple solution for either in the garage or with his aquarium stuff when it came to large pots with liquid and a wife on crutches.  Perhaps a person could make their own that could be sterilized...for I wouldn't have let him use one of those nets of his near my cheese. 

For those worrying about sterilizing tubing and hand bulb or large T or Y connectors...medical field uses all of those sorts of things and they have to be sterilized.  Rubber tubing is able to be sterilized as well as the type of plastic he used.  In fact until recently folks who needed to cath themselves at home HAD TO sterilize their rubber tubes daily over and over again because insurance would not pay but for 1 every so many weeks or months perhaps.  While the tube my late hubby used for this handmade siphon was similar if not same type of large clear "plastic feeling" tubing used in medical applications such as suction in patients room.  Next time you visit a sick friend...look at the suction cannister in room,  that is sort we used but greater in diameter.  Clearly that can be sterilized so just use your imagination. Just don't "recycle" any medical tubing from hospital and bring it home. 

[DeejayDebi]

Looks like my brew pot. Cheaper to do it yourself.