Rusty hoses from "Stainless" hose clamps

[ViciousFishes]

After brewing last Sunday, I left my silicone hoses soaking in a plastic bucket fermenter filled with Starsan solution. When I finally got around to the last bit of cleanup a few days later, I found my hoses in a rusty looking solution. Apparently, while the clams themselves are stainless, the screw that opens/closes them is zinc, or something.

Anyone else have this experience? How do yo sanitize hoses without ending up with this? Would you toss the hoses and replace them at this point? Should I toss the fermenter to make sure no lingering metallic flavors end up in my next brew?

 

[Epimetheus]

If the steel oxidized, you would see some discoloration directly on the steel. The zinc oxidized black as you can see on the screw. Something else is going on here, I don't have enough info to determine exactly what is causing the discoloration on the outside of the hose.

This will not help you right now: I disassemble every hose for sanitizing. I have learned soaking clear vinyl tubing in chemicals for days often clouds the plastic. Now I dip the hose through or let it soak just an hour while I clean up the other stuff, then hang the hose to dry.

I like to inspect the inside of metal fittings and verify the threads are not holding organic gunk. Once I got lazy and the gunk affected the next brew. I take the hose off to inspect them.

The fermenter probably will not give any metallic taste. Wipe it out with a non-scratch cloth or sponge until it looks clean. Swish some sanitizing solution around in there are go forth and brew.

 

[Hamaki]

If it doesn't come right off, I'd replace the hoses. Being dark & discolored it's hard to see what's going on inside.

For me, a 1/2" hose on a 5/8" barb stays put while brewing and can be removed with minimal effort. Reduces cost for a lot of extra fittings and many fewer places for gunk to hide. I also learned fairly quickly that leaving silicone hoses in starsan is not a good thing even where rust is not a concern. For me it's a lot easier to just rinse as soon as I'm done with them and sanitize immediately before use.

 

[CA_Mouse]

I've had 'Stainless Steel' clamps rust like this before. I replaced both the clamps and the hose. After going to cam-locks on my equipment, I run boiling water with PWB through everything, then a full rinse of clean water and finally a dunk in a bucket of StarSan and hang them to dry. Find a good retailer that has quality clamps, that will save you immensely.

 

[dmcman73]

Are you using these hoses during mashing/Boil? If so, why soak them in StarSan to sanitize them. The Boiling wort sanitizes the hoses and fittings better than Starsan.

In any event, replace the hoses for two reasons:

1. The discoloration on them
2. You're clamping down on the hoses to tight. If you tighten your clamps onto your hoses to the point where the silicone hoses starts to "squeeze out" between the slits on the clamp, you over-tightened it by...A LOT.

The large fittings your wedging those hoses onto create a tight seal already, the clamps should only be snugged on to prevent the hose from popping off from any pump pressure.