Cleaning plastic tubing?

What's the best way to clean your tubes. I noticed one of my tubes developed some mold I believe. What's the best way to clean tubes?

after using them i run warm water through them, then when i am sanitizing i siphon some of the sanitizing stuff and water through them and let them sit with it inside the tube just the same as the carboy. after flushing the tubes of the sanitation solution i run water through them again.

Not sure if this is correct but this is how i do it.

Before use, I flush with water to get any dust out that may have settled, and then sanitize with starsan before putting beer through them.

After use, I flush with hot water and then run starsan through as a final rinse. I let them drip drain for a bit before storage so there isn't standing water in the lines.

If there is mold, I'd just replace the tubing. Tubing is cheap.

Keep your stuff clean - rinse immediately after use with warm water to flush any sugar. I store mine with iodophor in it, then run some water and more iodophor through before use. I know that's overkill, but I'd rather do overkill than underkill.

I don't reuse tubing anymore. Not worth it. It's cheap.

If you believe there is mold in one of your hoses throw it out! Syphon tubing is too cheap to risk it. I flush my hoses with hot water after use and sanitize before use.

I've seen mold in my tubing 1 time. I easily got it out with warm water and then ran oxi clean through it for 24 hours. After I rinsed the oxi out, I hit it with star San and it was good as new

Unibrow said:

I've seen mold in my tubing 1 time. I easily got it out with warm water and then ran oxi clean through it for 24 hours. After I rinsed the oxi out, I hit it with star San and it was good as new

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All for two bucks? I admire your patience. I buy it by the spool and cut off what I need when I need it.

Not worth risking a 5 gallon batch, especially after all the work of brew day, ruined over $4 of tubing...

If its expensive high temp tubing, boil it.

If its not, chuck it and replace it

Well I may just pick up a spool then...I ain't never bought a spool of anything before in my life

I've been using the same tubing 7 batches(new brewer). All I do is rinse right after using, using hot water, shaking out the tubing. Always rinse out the tubing at next use and run sanitizer through it before I use.

I have a 6 ft section of 3-inch PVC pipe with a cap on one end. I fill with Oxi or Starsan and put all my tubing in it to soak. It works pretty well. Since the tubing doesn't bend the tubing gets filled and the interior stays in contact with the cleaning agent.

What's the average price for a spool of tubing?

I always have a bucket of Oxiclean and water sitting around (that's where my empty bottles get cleaned). When I'm done bottling I drop one end in and lower it into the Oxi until there are no bubbles and let it soak awhile. I hang it from a clothes pin turned upside down over a wire and try and keep it as straight as possible until it's dry. When that's done I put it in a plastic bag until I need it again.

benzy4010 said:

What's the average price for a spool of tubing?

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$.38/ft for 5/8".

Too cheap to clean and hard to deal with anyway. They make line brushes but it's still not easy to clean with them. I replaced my vinyl with silicone except for the siphon tubing, which I just bought new. I'll use it a few times but the first sign of any buildup I'll replace it for a whopping $5.

It costs about $2 for 10' of 5/16"ID tubing at Menards. I hate throwing it away but if it is questionable at all, you might as well just buy new.

Do they sell it at like homedepot or is it a food safe tubing?

I use one of these jet bottle washers to flush my tubing with hot water after use. I just use the hottest water my sink will deliver and then a soak in StarSan. And as has been posted by several others, if it gets funky, just replace it.

benzy4010 said:

Do they sell it at like homedepot or is it a food safe tubing?

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I think it is food safe and I am pretty sure they sell it at home depot as well. I would guess you can find the stuff at most hardware stores as well. Probably not as inexpensive though.

Vinyl tubing, food-safe. Not particularly great at higher temps, though. As I've said, I switched to silicone for all hot-side and kettle-to-fermenter transfers.

I assume that jet pictured above can apply the most force to clean out a tube. I sometimes leave my tubes in Starsan too long and it winds up with a film on it. I tend to use my racking cane to blast a small piece of lightly snug paper towel through it that cleans off the interior of the tubing. It's not 100%, but gets most of it, usually takes a couple of times.

If there is mold, chunk it. Not worth the risk.

So the local home brew shop is where I should get a spool?

benzy4010 said:

So the local home brew shop is where I should get a spool?

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I buy mine at Lowe's.

benzy4010 said:

So the local home brew shop is where I should get a spool?

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If you want to spend the extra money. A few extra bucks there might be worth it in the long run but it will probably be at least twice as expensive. OF course you are looking at maybe $8 vs $3.

I bought a tube cleaning brush,,,,,,have yet to use it. But buying a spool of tubing is going to take up more space in the garage

This thread has been inspirational. I broke my arm about 4 weeks ago and haven't been able to brew and it has been pretty lame. This would be a good time to give my little brewery operation a good clean and let my tubing soak in some oxiclean. Before this, I have always just rinsed the tubing with hot faucet water after using it and whipped it around to dry it, and then just sanitized it before use. Hasn't failed me (yet).

dbsmith said:

This thread has been inspirational. I broke my arm about 4 weeks ago and haven't been able to brew and it has been pretty lame. This would be a good time to give my little brewery operation a good clean and let my tubing soak in some oxiclean. Before this, I have always just rinsed the tubing with hot faucet water after using it and whipped it around to dry it, and then just sanitized it before use. Hasn't failed me (yet).

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Yeah just about what i do but as im cleaning i rinse use oxy,rinse again, the flush with starsan.

Always have funning wipping it around.

I would not use a brush on soft vinyl tubing. I would be afraid of scratches.

PackerfaninSanDiego said:

I bought a tube cleaning brush

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I made my own with a long, rigid wire and a cotton ball on the end. I soak the tube in PBW and then pull the homemade tube cleaner thru. It works like a charm. Makes your tubes look like new again...

i would use a long piece of tie wire with a small cloth looped and smashed on the end. soak the hose in a bucket of cleaning solution first .

As I said earlier, I don't reuse the tubing. When I did, I did clean the tubing as well as soaking it. Didn't want to use wire, obviously, because I didn't want to scratch it. Here's what I devised:

I used a length of very heavy monofilament fishing line, like 40-100 lb test, a bit more than twice as long as the tubing. in the middle of the line I tied a small patch of cotton cloth, like a t-shirt cloth. I was able to thread the line through the tubing and pull the soaked (StarSan or Oxy) cloth through the tubing, and back and forth if I cared to. This allowed me to actually clean the tubing without scratching. By the way, this is the ONLY way I know to actually clean and not just soak an autosiphon.

Since we are on the tubing topic, Anyone use the high temp vinyl stuff? I use this from Northern Brewer:http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/3-8-clear-hi-temp-tubing.html.

I like to replace it when it starts to look stained but it's not really that cheap. Anyone have a source for a spool of this?

Just a quick tip, if anyone has an air compressor, that is what I use to dry my tubing. I run hot water through it right after use, then blow it out with the air compressor. This dries it instantly, no chance for mold or anything else to get settled in there. And I don't have to wait for it to dry, this way I can put all my equipment away right away.
For those of you who don't reuse tubing, did you have any issues when you were reusing it, or is it just convenience?

rideincircles said:

I assume that jet pictured above can apply the most force to clean out a tube. I sometimes leave my tubes in Starsan too long and it winds up with a film on it. I tend to use my racking cane to blast a small piece of lightly snug paper towel through it that cleans off the interior of the tubing. It's not 100%, but gets most of it, usually takes a couple of times.

If there is mold, chunk it. Not worth the risk.

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I also do the paper towel thing. I just hold it to the faucet to push the paper towel through, then soak in idophor. Then store dry in a sanitized bucket with other stuff that has been rinsed and idophor soaked. Bubblers, bottling wands, stoppers, etc all go in the bucket. Anything used next time gets a fresh idophor soak.

Though I have a pretty big issue with waste I agree about mold, I would huck it, tubing is cheap.

lschiavo said:

Since we are on the tubing topic, Anyone use the high temp vinyl stuff? I use this from Northern Brewer:http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/3-8-clear-hi-temp-tubing.html.

I like to replace it when it starts to look stained but it's not really that cheap. Anyone have a source for a spool of this?

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Home Depot, Menards, Lowe's, and probably any other home improvement/hardware store.

One more vote for "when in doubt, throw it out."

For my siphon tube, which is probably 6 feet long, I run hot water, then sanitizer, then water again through it immediately after use, drain it as much as possible, and leave it. (I rinse after the no-rinse sanitizer because I've had stability problems with my sanitizer.) Siphoning doesn't get it very dirty, so there's no need for anything more than a little hot water.

For my blow-off tubes, there is often significant gunk that's been there for a week. It's short enough that I can soak it in PBW or OxyClean and it comes right off. If it looks at me funny after that, though, I throw it out and replace it.

zeg said:

One more vote for "when in doubt, throw it out."

For my siphon tube, which is probably 6 feet long, I run hot water, then sanitizer, then water again through it immediately after use, drain it as much as possible, and leave it. (I rinse after the no-rinse sanitizer because I've had stability problems with my sanitizer.) Siphoning doesn't get it very dirty, so there's no need for anything more than a little hot water.

For my blow-off tubes, there is often significant gunk that's been there for a week. It's short enough that I can soak it in PBW or OxyClean and it comes right off. If it looks at me funny after that, though, I throw it out and replace it.

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There's a real fallacy here. Visibility of contamination? We're talking microbes here. Tossing it when you see it is a bit late, no?

Pilgarlic said:

There's a real fallacy here. Visibility of contamination? We're talking microbes here. Tossing it when you see it is a bit late, no?

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I don't see the fallacy. Sure, I can't see an individual mold spore, but when I've had trouble it's been obvious---macroscopic colonies growing after a week or two. If that happens, then I'm not going to rely on sanitizer to clean it out, I'm going to drop the $0.50 on a new hose.

If you mean the "looks at me funny" bit, that's just a phrase. I mean if I have any reason to suspect it's not entirely clean or has a scratch that may harbor bacteria and be difficult to sanitize. In other words, when in doubt, I'm going to replace the hose. But most of the time, washing and sanitizing is going to do the job.

So, no, I'm not just taking a look to make sure there aren't any bacteria hiding out in there.

zeg said:

I don't see the fallacy. Sure, I can't see an individual mold spore, but when I've had trouble it's been obvious---macroscopic colonies growing after a week or two. If that happens, then I'm not going to rely on sanitizer to clean it out, I'm going to drop the $0.50 on a new hose.

If you mean the "looks at me funny" bit, that's just a phrase. I mean if I have any reason to suspect it's not entirely clean or has a scratch that may harbor bacteria and be difficult to sanitize. In other words, when in doubt, I'm going to replace the hose. But most of the time, washing and sanitizing is going to do the job.

So, no, I'm not just taking a look to make sure there aren't any bacteria hiding out in there.

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First, I didn't mean to single you out. I hear this all the time from many people.

Of course you should ditch the tubing if you see any kind of growth on it. But any implication that the visibility of the microbial growth is a reasonable benchmark is misleading. If you're not suggesting that, good. But, you seem to be. You see, you say "when I've had troubles it's been obvious," the implication SEEMS to be that if you DON'T see it you're unlikely to have troubles. And that's a fallacy. Wrong and misleading.

If that's NOT what you intended to imply, I'm sorry. But your words SEEM TO suggest otherwise.