How do you clean and dry a long hose?

Just assembled my new fermentation chamber and added enough silicone tubing to pump straight from BK to primary in FC, no more lifting! But one question: Does anyone know how to properly clean and dry 50' of silicone tubing?

 

You could use Beer Line Cleaner and a small pump (I built a cheap bug sprayer system) to get the cleaner in the hose, then let the chemicals do their job.

I'm wondering how you are going to get the carboys out of the ferm chamber without lifting...

 

I would just recirculate some cleaning solution from a 5 gallon bucket.

 

The FC is slightly elevated. From here, I will siphon straight to kegs.

As far as drying the hose, I'm beginning to wonder if I should hoist the middle into a 25' tree. This was supposed to be easier. :/

 

My brew day clean up procedure it to recirculate StarSan through the pump, plate chiller, (and therefore the tubing).

I'm sure it leaves a small amount of StarSan in the tubing.
Why does it need to be dry inside?

 

Submerge in cleaning solution, ( weighted down if needed), suction on one end to full fill, when clean, rinse, and sling it around in a circle to remove excess water, hang to dry.

A 50 ft. length?

Why?

 

Most of the water will evaporate. I think you are over-thinking this a bit. Just because it's 50', treat it like any of your other 2-3' hoses as far as cleaning and drying

 

As for drying my 12 ft hoses I go out to the yard and look like a dork spinning round and round to let centrifugal force get most of the water out. With a big yard it might work for 50 ft if you grab them in the middle. Then just let the rest evaporate or for small diameter I use my air compressor to blow them out.

Have not tried PBW but just star san still leaves a coating in my siphon lines. But they are only about 4 ft long so I have a bead on fishing line that I can "rinse" through the line with a little water or blow through with air and then pull a bit of cloth through them to clean them out.

 

Once you hit them with a no-rinse sanitizer you should be good. Even if they take a while to dry, there is nothing left inside them to grow. I've got 12ft beer lines that take weeks-months to dry and never had any problems.
If you're paranoid hook up an aquarium pump with a filter and let it continually blow dry air through them until they dry inside (assuming it can generate enough pressure to move anything through 50ft....)

 

What if you cut it in 10 ft chunks and then use some splicers?

10 ft would be easier to dry


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That is an option.

Is there an easy/quick/cheap way to do that?

 

Connections seem less sanitary.


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1/2"x1/2" barb is extremely easy to clean and sanitize compared to a threaded fitting or even a QD.

 

i tell you what i would do but idk if its really the best way to clean it.

Id run a cleaner through it. then plain water to rinse, then a sanitizer to kill any germs. i wouldn't worry about drying it, i would just roll it up and put it in the freezer and store it there. When its time to use again id run very hot water to loosen it up and then more sanitizer.

 

Sorry for the off topic question, but...

You spent over $100 on silicone tubing to pump your chilled wort into the fermenter? Why?

And that's gonna be a pain... How many gallons of beer will be left in the line once your pump is dry? You'll have to disconnect and manually get it all into the carboy.

Seems like a pita to me

 

Usually with a towel after a shower...

 

He was probably 'inspired' by the carboy horror thread.

I've gone to siphon, only to find mold growing in my 5' hose. Maybe it missed the Star-San rinse? Anyhow, I would share the OP's concern.

As for leaving wort in the line, it seems simple to connect the line to either an air pump or CO2 to blow them out.

 

Even so... It's chilled wort. Why Silicon? Why not just do vinyl. it's a hell of a lot cheaper. But to each their own I guess.

 

I agree with above response. 1/2 x 1/2 barb. Would not have a sanitation issue with the barbs


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Own a shop vac?
Tape it to the suction side, and turn it on 'til it's dry.

 

Nice idea! I might start doing this with my ordinary hoses.

 

Some of you folks have WAY too much time on your hands to worry about a dry hose

 

Like i said in my post above, just put the hose in the freezer and dont worry about drying it. I do this with my beer gun after i run sanitizer through the line. It mitigates the risk of mold or bacteria growing in the tube. just run hot water and sanitizer through it before using again.

 

To quote Monty Python "Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?"
and to quote Guinness "BRILLIANT!!"
The extremely low humidity will dry them out fast and thoroughly by diffusion. Great tip.

 

Because "chilled" is relative. Summers here can get 110 plus, during those days I'm lucky to get my wort below 100.

I understand plastics can be a personal issue, but I wouldn't put >80 wort through vinyl/pvc. I have been working toward eliminating all plastics from the "hot" (to me >80) side of brewing. Last piece is that nylon paint strainer bag on the hop spider.

I appreciate all the ideas from everyone on my dilemma. Here is what I found that works for me:

Start a 5 gallon boil in BK, hook up lines through pump, plate chiller, out through 50' silicone hose to weedy section of yard where I boil the crap out of them. After 5 gallons of boiling water I feel it's clean enough for me.

I have lots of weeds.

 

To drain the hose wind it around one of your kettles, and let it drain.

 

Air compressor