Best method to clean/sanitize tubing and siphons

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doublebogey10

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Thread pretty much says it all. Just looking for the best method and product to clean and sanitize my tubing, racking equipment and siphon.
Right now, all I have to work with is bleach, Star-San and the no-rinse cleanser that came with my kit.

Thanks!
 
Soak or spray starsan solution through the racking cane/tubing. With my autosiphon I normally make a small amount of starsan solution in the sink and pump it through the autosiphon & tubing then spray starsan soln all over the outside of the autosiphon and tubing.
 
jaycount said:
Soak or spray starsan solution through the racking cane/tubing. With my autosiphon I normally make a small amount of starsan solution in the sink and pump it through the autosiphon & tubing then spray starsan soln all over the outside of the autosiphon and tubing.

Ditto
 
I like to fill a bucket with starsan, and soak all the stuff in there. Then I attach the hose to the siphon, leaving the other end in the bucket, and pump the siphon to get all the interior surfaces of the siphon.
A spray bottle works for the parts which don't fit in the bucket.
 
I am partial to One Step. I know it's technically a cleaner and not a sanitizer, but as far as I can tell it works equally well, and saves having to rinse.

Methods-wise, I agree that filling up a bucket with cleaning solution is a good way to go. You can let your loose items soak in there and use it to clean out the inside of the auto-siphon.

(Also, am I in before "just pee on it?" I hope so...)
 
I've been using b-brite and star san. I may switch to oxyclean once I'm out of b-brite though. It's supposed to to be similar and a lot cheaper!
 
I use Star San to sanitize. For anything that is too long to fully submerge in a bucket, I use a wallpaper tray. Works well for the auto-siphon, ranking cane, etc.
 
I really only have to rack from fermenter to keg, so I fill my bucket with hot water and oxyclean free and let the bucket, tubing and other misc parts soak a couple hours. Rinse and dry.
I think the key to tubing is to clean immediately so gunk doesn't have time to dry in the tubing where you can't reach and dislodge.
 
I keep 5 gal. of Star San in a bucket at all times. Star San is reusable as long as the pH remains at or above a certain point. I test the pH each time I use it and dunk my equipment in there (tubes as well, I make sure they fill with solution). I pour it into my carboys, let it soak a minute, then pour it back into the buckets. It lasts quite a while, I've really only had to make one or two batches of Star San in the last couple months. (I've spoken with representatives from Five Star and they have agreed about the reusability.)

If you're rinsing your Star San off, you're doing it wrong. All you're doing is recontaminating your stuff. Star San is perfectly safe. Yes, the foam is safe. It means that it's doing its job.
 
I think it'd be fun to film a brewday where everything gets "sanitized" heavily with urine and then sacrifice a urinal cake to the beer gods if the batch turned out halfway decent.


lol
yeah if you can see the errors of this method, then you are on your way to a sanitized future.

surprised nobody said idorophor yet.

anyway, I soak 24-36 hours in oxyclean.
then soak 24 hours in idorophor solution.

i own a ale pale fermenting bucket that bleach wont eliminate some infection on it though. i use that bucket for my sour beers and my other fermentors are glass carboys.
 
I rinse my tubes,auto siphon,etc in the sink to get the gunk out of them 1st. Then soak in my Homer Cheapo bucket with enough PBW to fill/cover them for a couple days. Then rinse & dry. I run star-san through them on bottling day. I even wait to clean the spigots on brew day before sanitizing (they've been cleaned with the FV already). I don't want moisture sitting in & around the seals & spigot holes while sitting till the next brew day. Cleaning them before sanitizing on brew day ensures their cleanliness.
 
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