Boiled my racking tube. No longer clear.

Well, tonight I finally did my first 5gal batch using equipment I bought 2nd hand. I noticed the racking tubing had a couple spots of dried beer in it, so I stuck it in a pot to boil for about 20 min to loosen everything up in order to rinse it clean. Well, 20 min later, it went from transparent to opaque...Oh well...

Just a heads-up for anyone who was going to do this.

It's plastic! Boiling it would never occur to me. But thanks for the heads up.

Unless it's made of polycarbonate - which it probably isn't, more likely is acrylic - it's definitely not good past 200 degrees Fahrenheit (and that's a serious stretch). You need to use chemical sanitizers like StarSan to sanitize these rather than boiling them.

Sharp temerature changes to plastics like these will lead to cracks (or microcracks which you may not see) which will harbor bacteria that is not curable by surface disinfectants like StarSan, Iodophor, bleach, etc.

Summary: high temps bad, temperature swings bad, cracks bad, microcracks bad, chemical surface disinfectants good if there are no cracks.

The starsan was not getting the dried beer out, so hopefully the tubing is OK. I'll need it again in a couple weeks.

The cane should be clear so you can see if it's clean or not. Those things are dirt cheap- toss it and get another!

Yup, the heat causes conformation changes in the molecular structure of the plastic so instead of an ordered macro structure that would let light through, the molecules are all twisted and jumbled now making it opaque.

Just in case anyone was wondering about the chemistry of it :3

looneybomber said:

The starsan was not getting the dried beer out, so hopefully the tubing is OK. I'll need it again in a couple weeks.

Click to expand...

Tubing is cheap! Retire the boiled piece and swing by your LHBS and grab some more. I usually try to keep some extra around, just in case.

To clean up the died on bits, soak in Oxyclean for a little while. It just dissolves those bits and then a good rinse, and Starsan just before use.

thisoneguy said:

Tubing is cheap! Retire the boiled piece and swing by your LHBS and grab some more. I usually try to keep some extra around, just in case.

Click to expand...

The nearest one is ~30mi away and only open at weird times. I have a 30min windows on Monday's (between when I get off work and they close) to make it. So maybe in 2wks I can make it in.

beergolf said:

To clean up the died on bits, soak in Oxyclean for a little while. It just dissolves those bits and then a good rinse, and Starsan just before use.

Click to expand...

Now that is good to know. Thanks!

Buy one online. Probably including shipping it would not be much more that at the LHBS. Plus you're not paying for the gas to get to the LHBS.

If you have a Lowes or Home Depot near by you can buy tubing there.

I bought a little giant pump that I hook onto the tubing and circulate pbw or oxyclean through. Works like a charm and takes no work at all.

However, I broke like 3 of those canes in a row trying to take the tubing off, so I decided to finally upgrade to a stainless cane.

Stauffbier said:

If you have a Lowes or Home Depot near by you can buy tubing there.

Click to expand...

Oh nice. I have a home depot within jogging distance.

Andrew5329 said:

Yup, the heat causes conformation changes in the molecular structure of the plastic so instead of an ordered macro structure that would let light through, the molecules are all twisted and jumbled now making it opaque.

Just in case anyone was wondering about the chemistry of it :3

Click to expand...

hell yes. and this is why i love brewing. are there any of us that AREN'T nerds???

Just a heads-up, I saw that piece of tubing just the other day, and it's clear again...

It's vinyl tubing btw. You can find it lots of places. Definitely online, even in some hardware stores.

I haven't meet any non-nerd brewers personally but I heard there was one out there somewhere.

I buy my tubing at home depot and you can get food grade there, make sure you get that.

Are you talking about tubing, or the hard racking cane itself?

and just for future reference, Oxy Clean for cleaning, star san for sanitizing.

dfaridoni said:

I buy my tubing at home depot and you can get food grade there, make sure you get that.

Click to expand...

How can you tell if it is food grade at Lowes?

looneybomber said:

The starsan was not getting the dried beer out, so hopefully the tubing is OK. I'll need it again in a couple weeks.

Click to expand...

Star-san is a sanitizer not a cleaner.

H-ost said:

Star-san is a sanitizer not a cleaner.

Click to expand...

True, but if you mix it a bit stronger than you would for sanitizing the high acid content does amazing things that no cleaner will do. It only works on certain things, though. YMMV

vinyl tubing is food grade.