How do you clean your siphon tubes?

How do you all clean your siphon tubes after racking a brew?

I have flushed my racking cane/siphon tubes with hot water and star-san'd them before and after each use but have noticed a bit of cloudiness in some of the tubing.

I was thinking of getting a big pot of water to boiling (or nearly so) and stirring in some Oxyclean or PBW and then running it through the racking cane/siphon tubing by just racking it into my sink. If someone has a good basic 'go to' way to clean this tubing, let me know. Or, if you can point me to a link that'd be cool too. (I tried doing a search but didn't find an answer)

Thanks! Cheers...

I rinse the tubing out in the sink with hot water after the transfer and soak for a minute in Starsan right before I use it again. Assuming we're talking about PVC tubing, it will become cloudy if left in Starsan for even a short period. I also replace my transfer tubing every year since it's rather inexpensive.

I run hot water thru them as soon as I'm done using them.
I also bought a little brush with a long flexible handle from my LHBS that I can use to scrub out the chunks.

You might want to get one of the brushes.

I'm with the first reply. Wrinse with hot water as soon as I've finished using them. Sanitize just prior to using them again... replace once or twice a year.

smccarter said:

I'm with the first reply. Wrinse with hot water as soon as I've finished using them. Sanitize just prior to using them again... replace once or twice a year.

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This. Of course, my lazy arse only changes the hoses every couple of years. Mine are stained. So what?

Cool. I guess I wanted to make sure the cloudiness of the tubing wasn't some latent sludge that's gonna come back to haunt my brews!

Klutz, I was thinking about some kind of brush for cleaning but my siphon tubing is about 3ft long.

Cheers

The cloudiness is from the hot water and prolonged PBW soaks. The plastic siphon pieces get micro fractures from hot water and extended cleaner soaks. Eventually they will form legit cracks and cause leaks. I flush mine with homemade PBW in slightly warm tap water for no longer than 30 min and it still looks crystal clear after 2 years.

I'm pretty OC about cleaning immediately after use (in a typical brew day there's a transfer tube I'll have flushed and sanitized at least three times). Beyond that, if something looks hazy I'll bleach-bomb it and if it clears up nicely keep using it. Otherwise, tubing is way cheaper than a lost batch...

Cheers!

Putting boiling water through a racking cane or auto siphon can definitely ruin it! I use warm but not hot water when I clean mine. As long as you flush it well immediately after racking and let it dry completely, you should be good to go.

Good, i'm glad i'm not the only one who just does the hot water rinse and sanitize. I thought everyone did chem soaks...guess i'm not that lazy.

I do a PBW or oxy soak for my blowoff tubes, but that's it. The autosiphon and tubing just gets a lot of warm water flushed through it, then I make sure I hang it up so it can dry completely. Run starsan through it right before I use it.

smccarter said:

I'm with the first reply. Wrinse with hot water as soon as I've finished using them. Sanitize just prior to using them again... replace once or twice a year.

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This is what I do. After rinsing I swing the tubing around in circles to get some of the water out, then hang up to dry.

TIPA0303 said:

The cloudiness is from the hot water and prolonged PBW soaks. The plastic siphon pieces get micro fractures from hot water and extended cleaner soaks. Eventually they will form legit cracks and cause leaks. I flush mine with homemade PBW in slightly warm tap water for no longer than 30 min and it still looks crystal clear after 2 years.

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Would a Star-San soak cause the same micro fractures? So far, I've only flushed with warm-hot water and submerged in my bucket o'star-san before and after use...(which could easily have been up to or even over 30 min while I'm doing other things).

Either way, thanks for the intell. And, I agree with ya 'day tripper'...tubing is a lot cheaper than losing a brew! Replacing every year or so is a good idea.

boondocksaint said:

Would a Star-San soak cause the same micro fractures? So far, I've only flushed with warm-hot water and submerged in my bucket o'star-san before and after use...(which could easily have been up to or even over 30 min while I'm doing other things).

Either way, thanks for the intell. And, I agree with ya 'day tripper'...tubing is a lot cheaper than losing a brew! Replacing every year or so is a good idea.

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Not positive on the Star-San. It is phosphoric acid... I'd just try to limit any soak on plastics to ~30 min. Glass is fine with prolonged soaks with either PBW or Star-San.

Also, as a side note, Star-San keeps it's potency for about a month. You can conserve sanitizer by keeping it in an extra carboy and reuse it several times.

boondocksaint said:

Cool. I guess I wanted to make sure the cloudiness of the tubing wasn't some latent sludge that's gonna come back to haunt my brews!

Klutz, I was thinking about some kind of brush for cleaning but my siphon tubing is about 3ft long.

Cheers

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Here is a link to a brush like I use, if you stick it in each and of the hose you can double its cleaning reach. I use it in my racking canes and bottling wands too.
https://www.midwestsupplies.com/liquid-tube-brush.html?utm_medium=feeds&utm_source=google&gdftrk=gdfV24959_a_7c1306_a_7c6184_a_7c5181&gclid=CIW44rWNobsCFWJo7Aod-3IAIA

Like the other said I run hot want through it right after using the tubing. I soak the hose in Starsan, but if you leave it in too long the outside of the hose starts to break down and get slimy.

Hose is cheap replace it when you need to.