How do you clean silicone hoses?

[htims05]

Just hooked up some silicone hoses/camlocks/pump for transferring wort to my fermenter. I'm wondering how best to clean these hoses? Just pump PBW through them at the end, seems very expensive to mix PBW for that...or even oxy free. Read online to pump 1cup bleach to 1 gallon of hot water?

An added bonus question is how do you store them to keep them from getting dirty...seems like the outside is always dirty, but I'm overly paranoid about sanitation in general.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hot side hoses you can just rinse with water if you don't want to bother cleaning them correctly.
Sanitation only becomes important for things that touch the wort after it's chilled.

I make my own PBW, which is less expensive than even Oxiclean.

Bleach is not good for cleaning.

I just set my hoses on a shelf in my house for storage.

 

[lump42]

When I first receive them I use a mild dish detergent and warm water, then a thorough rinse with clear water. Then after each use they get rinsed immediately with clear water (maybe followed by star san if it's handy) and hung to drip dry.

 

[htims05]

Hot side hoses you can just rinse with water if you don't want to bother cleaning them correctly.
Sanitation only becomes important for things that touch the wort after it's chilled.

I make my own PBW, which is less expensive than even Oxiclean.

Bleach is not good for cleaning.

I just set my hoses on a shelf in my house for storage.

I'd like to clean them properly - is that just a PBW (or alternative) soak and then hot water flush?

 

[RPh_Guy]

The optimal cleaning process:

• Water rinse
• Warm/hot soak or recirculation with PBW or other alkaline cleanser (removes organic residue)
• Water rinse
• Acid rinse (removes inorganic residue)
• Water rinse

To make my own PBW I bought sodium percarbonate and sodium metasilicate in bulk and mix 4:1 as needed, adding a little Jet Dry liquid as well, which duplicates all the components in PBW. It does an excellent job.

For the acid rinse I use about 1 Tbsp citric acid powder in a gallon of water.

Cheers

 

[augiedoggy]

Just hooked up some silicone hoses/camlocks/pump for transferring wort to my fermenter. I'm wondering how best to clean these hoses? Just pump PBW through them at the end, seems very expensive to mix PBW for that...or even oxy free. Read online to pump 1cup bleach to 1 gallon of hot water?

An added bonus question is how do you store them to keep them from getting dirty...seems like the outside is always dirty, but I'm overly paranoid about sanitation in general.

yeah we use about 2 cups of pwb with 10-15 gallons of water for cip at the brewery and it works very well... if the makers of pbw had their way though we would be buying 5 gallon pails every other month.

 

[htims05]

The optimal cleaning process:

• Water rinse
• Warm/hot soak or recirculation with PBW or other alkaline cleanser (removes organic residue)
• Water rinse
• Acid rinse (removes inorganic residue)
• Water rinse

To make my own PBW I bought sodium percarbonate and sodium metasilicate in bulk and mix 4:1 as needed, adding a little Jet Dry liquid as well, which duplicates all the components in PBW. It does an excellent job.

For the acid rinse I use about 1 Tbsp citric acid powder in a gallon of water.

Cheers

Fantastic - thank you - I've basically been recirc-ing in hot water immediately after use.

 

[day_trippr]

Nobody is claiming how clean their silicone hoses appear after cleaning. In my experience circulation of hot pbw seems to barely change the color - and even that perceived change might be optimistic bias on my part...

Cheers!

 

[brewbama]

I run a brush through them. I loop safety wire to the brush, thread it through the hose, and pull it thru to clean it. I hang them from one end to drip drain.

Right clean, left not so much:

 

[RPh_Guy]

Nobody is claiming how clean their silicone hoses appear after cleaning. In my experience circulation of hot pbw seems to barely change the color - and even that perceived change might be optimistic bias on my part...

Yeah they'll still look discolored.
Silicone is permeable to gasses and it'll hold onto odors and colors, but not enough to affect the beer. Cleaning removes surface residue and probably some of the odor and color.

Now my hot-side hoses are wrapped with adhesive PTFE tape to prevent oxygen transmission, so I can't see the color.

 

[day_trippr]

Out of sight, out of mind! I should do that

Still...I replaced my ~2 yo brew rig hoses in early December because frankly I left them - purportedly clean - in my mlt with the lid on for a few weeks of down time and when I eventually took the lid off the blast of ripeness said "It's time"

Cheers!