Not sure if this is a stupid question, but I'm new to this and ordering if I've done something that might affect the taste of my beer.

Using a Wherry kit for the last time before I give extract brewing a go I poured boiling water over a handful of Northern Brewer to kill any nasties before tossing them into the FV for the finally week of the ferment. Cavalier? Definitely. Stupid? You tell me?

My problems started when I tried to syphon from FV to PB. Because I didnt have a long enough tube, I joined 2 together with an interconnecting tap. I did the water trick and everything seemed to be going well. A fair amount of hop went flying through the tube into the PB, will that cause problems?

Also, some hops got stuck before the tap between the tubes and a weird bubbling vortex appeared just below. Is that gonna aerate my brew and make it go bad?

I had to start the syphon again, this time using my mouth to get it going and in the end I left a good few pints in the FV because I didn't want to faff around any longer, potentially ruining my beer.

Piss poor performance on my part there, I wanted to get the basics sorted before I try my Amarillo kit next.

Any advice on syphoning? I've seen pumps advertised.

Thanks