Cleaning tubing?

Now that I'm fermenting my first batch of beer, I do have a question about proper cleanup. Specifically, about the tubing used with my auto-siphon. What ways do you all use to ensure it's cleaned properly on the inside and what ways do you use to dry it? What I've done is re-siphon cold water that had been mixed with iodophor as if I was sanitizing it and then hang to tube with both ends down to let it drain. Is there anything else I can do?

I typically just run hot water (not too hot to touch though) through the tube and let it drain into the sink for <1min. As long as it's visibly clean, you're fine. Then when it's time to use it again, I soak it in a bucket slightly filled with your sanitized water and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. I've never had any issues with infection, but then again I've only bottled 4 batches (and will have 4 more in about a month). I also just let it air dry after swinging it around in the garage a few times.

Soak in your favorite cleaner. Rinse. Run some sanitizer through it. Hang it up to dry...

I run hot water through the hose and then follow with a sanitizer. After the sanitizer is through it I go outside and swing the tubing around very fast over my head in a lasso type fashion. First one half and then the other. This seems to get most of the moisture out of the tubing. I then hang it with both ends down as you described.

Rinse well and sanitize well. Repeat before the next use. Replace the tubing yearly even if it looks fine - better to spend the couple bucks on new tubing than dump infected beer...

Thanks, that's pretty much what I've been doing. At least I know there's not much more I can do.

+1 on trencher.

The key is not letting it dry before cleaning it. I am luckly enough to have a basement shower that I can use to clean my brewing equipment, so I took the shower head off and replaced it with a hose and spray nozzle. This lets me put the nozzle inside the hose and run hot water through... that gets it all clean. Occasionally I will soak in PBW along with the rest of the equipment I am cleaning.

To sanitize I just use my auto siphon to pump starsan through. I make sure I do this after I cleaned it and before I use it.

I keep all my hoses and airlocks, etc in a cooler filled with bleach water. I brew pretty much every week and the bleach lasts longer than that. I fill my buckets up with bleach water, too.

Before I started doing that, sometimes I would get mildew or mold growing in them. I guess if I dried them better I would not get that, but this works for me.

I've ran a small wire through them, tied a rag to it and pulled in all the way trough. Particular with blow-off hoses because the gunk gets caked on. Elbow grease in my favorite cleaner.

apparatus said:

I run hot water through the hose and then follow with a sanitizer. After the sanitizer is through it I go outside and swing the tubing around very fast over my head in a lasso type fashion. First one half and then the other. This seems to get most of the moisture out of the tubing. I then hang it with both ends down as you described.

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I bet the neighbors get a chuckle out of that scene.

apparatus said:

I run hot water through the hose and then follow with a sanitizer. After the sanitizer is through it I go outside and swing the tubing around very fast over my head in a lasso type fashion. First one half and then the other. This seems to get most of the moisture out of the tubing. I then hang it with both ends down as you described.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing!

I am paranoid about tubing... plus its cheap. I replace every month or so.

JVD_X said:

Occasionally I will soak in PBW along with the rest of the equipment I am cleaning.

To sanitize I just use my auto siphon to pump starsan through. I make sure I do this after I cleaned it and before I use it.

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Agree with the PBW, I drop my tubing in my carboy when I'm cleaning w/ PBW. Then rinse thoroughly. Knowing that it is clean I Star San it before my next use.

PBW + Star San= no worries!

nice thing about an autosiphon is that you can pump sanitizer/cleaner through the tubing very easily. I use the autosiphon, then pump cold water through immediately, then pump sanitizer through it. Then hang upside down so it can drip dry, no issues in the 5-6 years I've been brewing.