How do you clean a blowoff hose?

[sonofgrok]

I recently finished a hefe that provided me with a nice big blowoff. Fortunately I had a 1/2 inch blow off tube set up on it.

I am having a dickens of a time getting everything out of the tube now though. I soaked it in starsan for a week to no avail. There is still a bunch of gunk in there. Running water through it doesn't seem to help either. It doesn't help that I used the only hose I had at the time to set up a blow off which was 6 ft long...

Advice?

 

[duboman]

Star San is a sanitizer, not cleaner so I would soak it again in either PBW or Oxy. In addition, the plumbing supply dept should have long handed pipe brushes you can use to ream through it to help, that's what I use and it's great!

In addition, if you really don't need the full 6' then just cut it down to the proper size so next time you are good to go!

 

[vetbrewer]

Use your gun cleaning kit and a patch Clint.

 

[Golddiggie]

If it's clear vinyl tubing I clean the tough ones by giving it the old 86. Seriously, you'll spend more in time, and chemicals than replacing it. If it's silicone tubing, you could boil it in water to break the gunk up then run water through ti really fast. Depending on the ID, you could just run a bullet through it to clean too.

You know, they have this wonderful invention called scissors. You can use them to cut all kinds of things. You could even use a knife if you can't find your scissors (or someone is running with them). :smack:

If you need more, just go to Homeless Depot, or Lowe's and get some of the right size. My blowoff tubes are all 1/2" ID. :rockin: Actually, I should probably pick up a few (maybe 10) feet of it next time I'm at Lowe's (the coming week).

I actually have a brush that's about 1" diameter, on a long handle (flexible, about 4-5' long) that I can run through my 1/2" ID hoses. I have others that are more for the corny dip tubes, but can used for other things. Those are just a bit short for the 6' length sonofgrok has. Seriously, though, if something is in there that badly, just chuck and replace.

 

[Gear101]

Use your gun cleaning kit and a patch Clint.

that is what I use

 

[stonebrewer]

Soak it in PBW for 24 hours, ensuring the entire tube is filled. Rinse with hot water and that should take care of almost anything. Don't leave it for longer than 24 hours and makes sure the whole thing is submerged. PBW can leave a residue...

I also have a long brush that I have only used once when I did not have time for the soak and rinse approach. I forget where I got it from, probably morebeer or one of the large suppliers. Good luck!

 

[Nightshade]

Soak it in hot water and cleaner for a while then run hot water through it followed by sanitizer. I would be surprised if that doesn't do the trick.

 

[sonofgrok]

Use your gun cleaning kit and a patch Clint.

Strangely enough I probably have enough of them to make it long enough to do that...

I think I am just going to follow GDs advice and toss it.

I have to go to home depot this weekend anyway to get a Christmas present for the wife.

 

[vetbrewer]

So what ya gettin the wife for Christmas?? power tools should be a big hit

 

[RainyDay]

So what ya gettin the wife for Christmas?? power tools should be a big hit

Dude, they have cleaning supplies there too...





(no offense intended)

 

[Golddiggie]

Strangely enough I probably have enough of them to make it long enough to do that...

I think I am just going to follow GDs advice and toss it.

I have to go to home depot this weekend anyway to get a Christmas present for the wife.

Bet she'll really like that new drill press.

 

[Calder]

I have a 5 foot blow-off tube that I've been using for the past 15 years. It is a 1 inch ID tube.

I rinse it well with hot water, then leave it full with water for a couple of hours, then rinse again. After that I coil it up and leave it soaking in a mild bleach solution until I next brew. I use in on just about every batch. Just rinse it out with hot water before use to get rid of the bleach.

 

[Golddiggie]

I have a 5 foot blow-off tube that I've been using for the past 15 years. It is a 1 inch ID tube.

I rinse it well with hot water, then leave it full with water for a couple of hours, then rinse again. After that I coil it up and leave it soaking in a mild bleach solution until I next brew. I use in on just about every batch. Just rinse it out with hot water before use to get rid of the bleach.

Not many people still primary/ferment in glass carboys. While I do agree it can be easy (relatively speaking) to clean out the LARGE hoses you use when using them instead of stoppers, it's not always guaranteed that they'll come out clean. It really comes down to how long they were used, what went through them, and how long they sat (with nothing but air/gas going through them) before being cleaned.

Since the OP used a 1/2" ID hose, it's really not comparable to the 1" ID hose you've been using. I would also expect that hose to be pretty discolored after 15 years of use. IMO, you might want to seriously think about replacing it. I've also found that 1/2" ID hose works just as well as 1" hose. It also slides right over the fitting on my sanke fermenter cap (my own design, as well as the one from BH). I could also use some 1/2" ID silicone tubing IF I wished (I have enough in reserve that this is an option). With that, if I can't get it clean via normal methods, I can simply boil it to break up what's inside. Or just give it a nice long soak in hot PBW solution (either boiling hot, or just tap water hot). Boiling temps are not an option for standard vinyl tubing. Hell, I could put it into the oven and BAKE it at up to 500F IF I wanted to.

 

[Ericbme]

+1 for PBW. it works for me everytime!

 

[Golddiggie]

+1 for PBW. it works for me everytime!

Works great hot, or cold...

 

[stonebrewer]

Not many people still primary/ferment in glass carboys.

Not to go off topic, but of the two dozen brewers I hang out with, most of them use glass. A few use plastic and 2 use stainless conicals. I hate the weight, but love the ease of use of glass. Perhaps this time next year I will splurge for a Stout conical but for now my 4 glass carboys get 'er done.

 

[stlbeer]

Get a piece of nylon string that's about a foot longer than your blowoff hose. Tie something heavy on one end - like a nut or a bolt, then tie a small rag on the other end. After the hoses have soaked a bit, thread the string through the hose then pull the whole thing through. If you have difficult spots, squeeze the tube in that spot and pull the rag on through.

 

[Calder]

Not many people still primary/ferment in glass carboys. While I do agree it can be easy (relatively speaking) to clean out the LARGE hoses you use when using them instead of stoppers, it's not always guaranteed that they'll come out clean. It really comes down to how long they were used, what went through them, and how long they sat (with nothing but air/gas going through them) before being cleaned.

I would also expect that hose to be pretty discolored after 15 years of use. IMO, you might want to seriously think about replacing it.

Althought my tubing is of a different size, my point was that soaking in a mild bleach solution will clean it out, and keep it sanitized.

I do have glass fermenters that I use for sours and secondaries, but generally I primary in 30 year old HDPE barrel shaped wine fermenters. The 1.25 OD tube fits perfectly in the opening in place of a bung.

Although the tubing is discolored, I see no reason to replace it, why spend $10 to get a nice transparent tube when it is not necessary. It works fine, and is certainly clean since it spends most of it's time soaking in mild bleach solution. My fermenters, when not in use are filled with the same mild bleach solution. In every case, the tube and fermenters are rinsed several times with a little hot water to rinse out the chlorine.

I would replace the fermenters if I could find anything nearly as good on the market today. Neither buckets or better bottles are anywhere near as easy to carry and seal as these fermenters. They are a pain to clean, but when soaked with mild bleach solution, they come out looking great.

 

[DanH]

When I have a carboy it keg full of PBW, I drop the tube right in.

 

[Golddiggie]

I won't use bleach on ANY of my brewing hardware. Period, no two ways about it. I don't care if it's on a blowoff hose or anything else. Never mind the fact that I can't stand the smell of even a 'mild bleach solution' it's a crappy sanitizer (at best). With current/modern cleaning (and sanitizing) solutions/options, you don't need to rinse like a demon JUST to be safe for the batch.

Guess you've never checked into using sanke kegs to ferment in. VERY easy to carry (two super strong handles built in), seal without trouble (to about 60psi, if you want) and can take a huge beating.

Brew as you like, ferment in what you want, but [IMO] using bleach in this day and age is just not a good idea.

 

[mooshimanx]

Oxyclean Free works very well (as does PBW), but yeah, its a bear getting the whole tube to submerge (I use 1" OD blowoff tubing for my glass carboys). I typically coil it as tight as I can in a sink or a rope-tote tub with Oxy (which is very cheap when you buy generic) and shove it to the bottom until its totally full of water.

Another option that works decently well is getting the hottest water out of your bathtub spigot and shooting it down the line with as much pressure as you can get to remove larger pieces of debris. It works, but its often not too helpful on debris that's all the way down the tube or just caked on krausen since that stuff sticks to the sides like glue.

 

[sonofgrok]

Bet she'll really like that new drill press.

She better. And if she doesn't I guess I'll just have to use it for her!

 

[beeber]

The last time my brew tubing got gunked I fed a string through it, then I tied on a small piece of rag which was doused with a cleaner. Pulled it through and it got the job done.

 

[ryanmx48]

The key to soaking tubing in a cleaner is to get it completely submerged. For example, in a kitchen sink place one end of the tubing into the liquid, place something on it to keep it submerged (like a glass, anything), now slowly submerge the rest of the line from the submerged end forward ensuring all air escapes and the entire ID of the line is filled with the solution.

 

[Golddiggie]

She better. And if she doesn't I guess I'll just have to use it for her!

Such a cross to bear..

The key to soaking tubing in a cleaner is to get it completely submerged. For example, in a kitchen sink place one end of the tubing into the liquid, place something on it to keep it submerged (like a glass, anything), now slowly submerge the rest of the line from the submerged end forward ensuring all air escapes and the entire ID of the line is filled with the solution.

Depending on your setup, and what you're soaking, you might need to put something on top of the tubing. I typically try to have all the tubing on the bottom of the PBW bucket, and put heavier (stainless steel) items on top of them.

 

[zeg]

I don't bother soaking the tube. If something is caked on strongly enough that it needs a soak, I'll drop the $0.25 on two new feet of tube. While a blowoff tube is probably the least critical piece of plumbing to keep sanitized, I don't see it being worth much effort to clean a 2-3 foot piece of tube.

However, I don't like generating needless waste, so I do try to reuse hoses as long as possible. I've only gone through two in my year of brewing. My strategy for doing this is to first of all try to avoid letting things dry in the hose. The difference between 3 days and a week can be pretty significant here, so if at all possible, I pull off the blowoff after 3 days. Usually I replace it with an airlock, but if I'm not sure it's done blowing, I may clean and reattach the hose.

The second is to use a favorite cleaner (PBW or Oxyclean so far) mixed in hot water and give it a couple minute dip, then spray hot water through using the spray nozzle on my sink to flush it out. This pretty much always gets the gunk out.

For my siphon hoses, I generally autosiphon hot cleanser between a carboy and a bucket to clean the autosiphon and hose insides. Then run hot water through for a while, and usually give it some sanitizer, and then flush with water. (I've had some problems with saniclean losing its antibacterial properties after a while inside the hose, so I flush it with tap water. It's perhaps not 100% sanitized, but it is chlorinated so it's mostly clean, and it removes any nutrients that might feed an infection in the tube.)

 

[Golddiggie]

Hey zeg, there's a great no-rinse sanitizer out there from Five Star called Star San... No need to use a chlorine based sanitizer/product these days. Maybe 20+ years ago, but not now. I've left my jumper hose full of it (as well as beer lines on tap) for weeks without issue.

 

[zeg]

There's no chlorine involved here. The chlorine was only mentioned because it means the tap water is pretty well bug-free as it comes out of the tap.

Saniclean is more or less the same thing as Star-san, from the same manufacturer, and the same principle. It doesn't foam as much, and it's not labeled as a no-rinse sanitizer, apparently because the rules changed between Star-san's certification to make it harder to obtain. So they sell it as a beer line cleaner or something.

Either of these can lose their sanitizing properties under some conditions.