The best time is once you decide you are serious about wine making, yes it will transfer from a bucket, plastic carboy, barrel. It will transfer to a glass carboy. Not plastic. It will do 1 gallon jugs but you will need to practice filling.
When is the best time to buy this unit?as soon as you get tired of fooling around with siphons or auto siphon, then you must decide if you are serious about your wine making.
Will it transfer from the primary if it's a bucket?Yes
Will it work on 1gallon jugs?[/QUOTE]Yes
I know that the purchase of the AI1 pump increased my production and helped me further climb down the rabbit hole.
I could rack wine in minutes.
As long as you have glass carboys, it will do any racking, filtering, degassing, and bottling that you can come up with. You can rack, filter... etc FROM a plastic carboy or bucket but not TO plastic carboy or bucket.