[Dangle_kt]

the advice above wasn;t very clear - you can bleed by filling with fluid from the top, but you MUST have some way of keeping the bleed nipple submergered or it just sucks air in.

A long bit of see through tube is the best, push it on, loop it up over the bars.

keep the res topped up (or air gets in)

open nipple, pump, close nipple, release - continue till you have no bubbles and the lever feels good.

by taking off the master cylinder you let a ton of air in, thats why it didn't work- pouring the fluid away wasn't a mistake, you would have replaced it anyway whilst bleeding up.

shringe/vacuum methods work, but unless you have the kit then just try with the standard method first, most times it works great.