Cleaning/Drying tubing

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pgenius

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Anybody have any favorite methods for cleaning and/or drying your plastic tubing? I can never seem to get all the water out.

Cheers! :mug:
 
I don't worry about drying my tubing, but I do sanitize it before putting it away. The last thing that touches it is StarSan, so I'm not concerned.
 
I place mine over the sink and close the cabinet doors. It works well but I don't think you have much to worry about as long as you sanitize before and after use.
 
I always plug the end of it an fill with an oxyclean solution (if a tubing that gets skunky), let set 10+ minutes and rinse out, or simply rinse. I don't worry about drying all the way as it will be sanitized before next use.


Tubing so cheap if i feel it gets funked up, i just pitch it an go get more.
 
I leave my tubing in a five gallon bucket full of sanitizer and just pull it out when I need to use it.
 
I go to my driveway, hold the tubing at one end, and swing it in a 360. The centrifugal force makes most of droplets fly out and whatever drops are left are small enough to air dry. I started doing this after I found black mold growing in some tubing.
 
I usually just sling it around, then hang it up. But if i'm in a hurry to pack my hose away, I'll sling it around, then hook it up to my oxygen for a few minutes to dry it out quickly.
 
I leave my tubing in a five gallon bucket full of sanitizer and just pull it out when I need to use it.
I did this once accidentally and when pulled it out, had kind of a white, slick film on it.
 
I go to my driveway, hold the tubing at one end, and swing it in a 360. The centrifugal force makes most of droplets fly out and whatever drops are left are small enough to air dry. I started doing this after I found black mold growing in some tubing.
I do the swing-it-around thing as well.
 
I did this once accidentally and when pulled it out, had kind of a white, slick film on it.


This is what happened to the end of my blow of tube (which sits in StarSan). Doesn't seem to wash away, but since it's sole purpose is to sit in StarSan, I don't really care either.
 
I use an air compressor to blow dry the inside of my tubing and racking canes after washing them. I also push air through my copper immersion chiller and pre-chiller to dry them out as well for storage. It works great if you have an air compressor handy to use.
 
Anybody have any favorite methods for cleaning and/or drying your plastic tubing? I can never seem to get all the water out.

Cheers! :mug:

I prefer to hang all my hoses.
I had the guys at work make different hangers for different hoses.

Hose-hanger.jpg


Hose_Hanger2.jpg


beesy said:
I did this once accidentally and when pulled it out, had kind of a white, slick film on it.
Depending on the concentration and time left in the solution my SaniClean sanitizer does the same thing on vinyl tubing only.

Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
Rinse it out/ off after use, with tap water. Hold vertically to get the majority of the water out. Coil up, put into empty, dry mash tun and place into closet. Never a problem, and if there is I'll just H2O2 it until it's clean. It's just tubing. Kyle
 
I always do a final rinse with distilled water which will not leave spots (mineral deposits) when it dries. I also do this with things like my autosiphon and wine thief.
 
I always flush my tubing or anything immediatly after i am finished using it with hot water then it gets soaked in a large pot with hot water baking soda with other pieces of equipement that may accumulate after botteling or after brewing a batch. After they soak i do another flush/rinse with hot water then the tubing gets sanitized with my spray bottle inside to soak then drain, whip it around sometimes and just hang it up to airdry.Always resanitizing it before using it. I used one step with my tap water once and it left a white haze inside the tubing,i have since used filtered water with one step.
 
After I am done bottling I rinse the tubing out, let soak overnight in a 5g bucket of Oxyclean when I soak the fermenter/bottling bucket, and just hang. Then when ready to use I soak in sanitizer and run sanitizer through the tubing. So far haven't had issues but relatively new to 5g batches so have only done 4 batches thus far.
 
I put one end of the hose in vodka the other end in my mouth....drink and clean

I keep a large bottle of the cheapest vodka in the brewery for the occasional airlock fill or the odd germ killing mission. Your technique would give me a valid reason to drink some of it.

Which leads me to the next point...I think I'll have to start keeping Kettle One or Stoli in the brewery. Maybe keep it in a freezer...yeah...:ban:
 
lehr said:
I leave my tubing in a five gallon bucket full of sanitizer and just pull it out when I need to use it.

don't do this with silicon tubing, it will destroy it.
 
I go to my driveway, hold the tubing at one end, and swing it in a 360. The centrifugal force makes most of droplets fly out and whatever drops are left are small enough to air dry. I started doing this after I found black mold growing in some tubing.

+1
I never found black mold, but I am a swinger. Um.. er.. I swing my hose. No that didn't come out right either. You know what I mean.
 
Old thread, but adding an idea to it for future search function users.

I have a small plastic funnel, that I can hold the end either in, or on my tubing, and then with my other hand I use my wifes hair dryer and blast hot air into it, a few minutes = dry hose and hot hands
 
I just rinse with hot water and hang them draped over a hook in my brew storage room to drip dry. I can't believe how complicated some people make it, lol.
 
Just brewed my first Berliner weisse...should I get new tubing so as to not worry about lacto contamination? I figure it's so cheap...do it just to be safe
 
I just rinse with hot water and hang them draped over a hook in my brew storage room to drip dry. I can't believe how complicated some people make it, lol.

This is what I do. So long as there's no gross matter in it when it's hung up to dry, which it does very quickly in the absurdly dry climate of Denver, the sanitizing solution I put it in right before I use it will take care of everything else.
 
I decided to go with high temp food grade silicone, so i'll 'roast' it at 220 to dry and drop it in 200 degree water then star san prior to use...Im turning into a germ-o-phobe thanks to this hobby.
 
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