Easy Way to Sanitize Racking Cane?

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H0tshoe

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Does anyone have a simple and efficient way to sanitize their racking cane and hose? I keep my kegs sealed & santizied when not in use, so it seems a waste to mix up iodine in 5 gallons of water just so I can have enough room to submerge the hose and half the cane. I have a sprayer that I use to sanitize the inside of my kegs and fermenters but that doesn't help me in getting the inside surfaces of the hose and cane. HELP!
 
What I just did was mix up about a gallon of StarSan and run it through the racking cane and hose. You can also mix up a small amount in a spray bottle and force it through that way.
 
sanitizing the outside is obviously self-explanatory, but for the inside do this...

fill the tube with water, then start to "rack" the sanitation fluid, stop, then put the cane into your beer, start to rack it, but put the start(the solution) into a cup or glass... then as soon as it's running beer, put it in the primary.
 
I premix sanitizer in a spray bottle. I then just put the spray bottle up to the racking cane and give it a few squirts.
x2, same with my beer lines after a hot run of water through them. Seems to work well and true to the K.I.S.S. method :)
 
sanitizing the outside is obviously self-explanatory, but for the inside do this...

fill the tube with water, then start to "rack" the sanitation fluid, stop, then put the cane into your beer, start to rack it, but put the start(the solution) into a cup or glass... then as soon as it's running beer, put it in the primary.

why not just pump the racking cane when its in the bucket of sanitizer and then just empty the line then start racking immediately?
 
You will either love or hate this.

Wallpaper tray. Fill with sanitizer. Soak/ dip your items in the tray as needed.

Perfect for racking tubes, auto siphon, spoons, some tubing, oxygenation and bottling wands, and lots of other items. Get the sturdiest one you can find. The flimsy ones tend to rip. I am on my second one.

TD
 
I keep a sink full of ~3% unscented laundry bleach in hot water and just store all my tools in there on bottling day. No muss, no fuss, just rinse before you use it.

Now that I think of it, I have bottles to scrub right now.
 
You will either love or hate this.

Wallpaper tray. Fill with sanitizer. Soak/ dip your items in the tray as needed.

Perfect for racking tubes, auto siphon, spoons, some tubing, oxygenation and bottling wands, and lots of other items. Get the sturdiest one you can find. The flimsy ones tend to rip. I am on my second one.

TD

This seems like a great way to go. Don't do what I did though and forget to measure the items to be sanitized. The tray I bought was about 2" too short to fit my auto-siphon. :smack: Pretty epic fail on my part.

I'm thinking of rigging up a piece of pvc piping, closed off at one end, that I can toss the siphon and oxy-wand into. Haven't gotten around to it yet though, so it's the spray bottle for me as well.
 
I have also used kegs to store StarSan. I think this practice is debatable, but similar to the PVC idea, which I like.

Some guys have built wooden frames to support the wallpaper tray which can be flimsy, especially if its full.

TD
 
I have a starsan mix in a keg. I give it a shake so its all foamy inside. I stuff the whole autosiphon and hose inside and pump away. Then it comes out all bubly and clean.
 
I like that wallpaper tray idea. I use a shallow medium sized Sterilite tub (clear) that easily holds 2gal and I can lay all the items in it - but there's a lot of wasted space.

For sanitizing I use a large (80cc) syringe with a piece of 3/8" tubing on it, and just draw sanitizer into the cane and let sit for a while, then repeat with other items. Works well with tubing, canes, bottle wands, spigots, etc. Anything that needs to be flushed before or after use gets hit with the syringe.
 
I run a small batch (2.5gal) of iodine from my cleaning bucket to the bottling bucket with the bottling hose. This also cleans my bottling bucket.
Then I add the racking cane to the bottling spigot to empty the bottling bucket. this way I feel confident all the surfaces of the inside of the lines have had a thorough contact time with the iodine solution.
I clean the outside of the tube with starsan in a spray bottle immediately prior to use.
Maybe a tiny bit of overkill to use both iodine and starsan, but I feel confident with my peace of mind that it is as sanitized as can be.
 
I have a 5 gallon bucket of star san made up from distilled water. I change it every 3 weeks. When I go to sanitize the longer stuff, I now use a 30" wallpaper try. It's really so much easier now and wish I bought one sooner.
 
I have found the wallpaper tray ideal for sanitizing hose, autosiphon, wine thief, hydrometer, and all small parts. Uses less than 1 gal. Star San solution, which can be re-used. Be sure to get the long (30") tray.
 
I have a 5 gallon bucket of star san made up from distilled water. I change it every 3 weeks. When I go to sanitize the longer stuff, I now use a 30" wallpaper try. It's really so much easier now and wish I bought one sooner.

It should typically last longer than that. Check the pH if you have the means, though I don't immediately recall the acceptable level below which it is still effective.

TD
 
It should typically last longer than that. Check the pH if you have the means, though I don't immediately recall the acceptable level below which it is still effective.

TD

You are right but since I haven't the means to check pH, I pull the better safe than sorry card. Still, I should invest in something to test it regardless.

Also, I had to order my 30" tray online. Took nearly 2 weeks to get to me but it was worth it in the end. So much easier to sanitize anything long.
 
You will either love or hate this.

Wallpaper tray. Fill with sanitizer. Soak/ dip your items in the tray as needed.

Perfect for racking tubes, auto siphon, spoons, some tubing, oxygenation and bottling wands, and lots of other items. Get the sturdiest one you can find. The flimsy ones tend to rip. I am on my second one.

TD

A+ to this I use the same thing.
 
I mix up Starsan in a one-gallon milk jug. The mouth of the jug is just barely large enough to fit the auto-siphon as well as it's hose.

I spray the outside of the auto-siphon using a starsan filled spray bottle. Then I put the auto-siphon into the mouth of the milk jug, and snake some of the hose in. I give the auto-siphon some full strokes to get it filled with starsan. I then snake the hose into the milk jug, going round and round.

I can then leave it that way temporarily until I need to use it.
 
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