# Silicon Hose



## Dazzling (5/8/05)

G'day all, I have recently made the big plunge and purchased a march pump  now I am in need of hose and connections to pump from vessel to vessel. As you could have deciphered from the post title I am interested in what people are using as hose and is expensive silicon hose necessary? Grain and Grape in Melbourne sells silicon hose for $12.50/m and my investigations have proved this to be quite a reasonable price for silicon food grade hose. Any suggestions welcome

Dazzling out..... B)


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## Doc (5/8/05)

Like Asher I use the high temp silicon tubing that you can get from MoreBeer link
Not sure if this is the same as what Grain and Grape sell, but if it is, it is great stuff.
As for necessary, I put it down to piece of mind. It works, doesn't give off flavours and is rated for higher temps than my hot wort.

Beers,
Doc


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## Justin (5/8/05)

I love the stuff. I bought 5 foot of the 1/2" silicone hose from morebeer when I was there, I should have bought 50 ft . Great stuff. No memory, nice and flexible-will kink if you bend it enough but its soft and pliable and easy to manage. It's great for filling kegs too because you can easily lower it to the bottom of the keg to prevent splashing-try and do that with clear vinyl hose without having to stick your arm in the keg to get it to the bottom.

From what I've seen plenty of people are using this hose in a pumping situation.

And yes from my research too, $12 a metre from G&G is a good price. I've been quoted $18/m for a thin walled silicone hose. I think the stuff G&G sell is thick walled and the exact same stuff as from morebeer.

I'm buying more of it very soon.

Cheers, Justin


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## Pumpy (29/5/07)

Advantages of Silicone rubber tubing 


1)You can see the colour of the wort going through the pipes 
2)insulates recirculating wort.
3)you can see what is going on in the pipes 
4) easy to keep clean 
5) inert ( not copper sulphate build up like copper )

One of the best investment I ever made 


Pumpy


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## Kai (29/5/07)

When I set up my outdoor all grain brewing setup, I just used cheaper PVC racking tube from the LHBS. It did not taint my beer but I don't know if it was rated for the use I put it to... somehow I doubt it was.


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## Screwtop (29/5/07)

Pumpy said:


> Advantages of Silicone rubber tubing
> 1)You can see the colour of the wort going through the pipes
> 2)insulates recirculating wort.
> 3)you can see what is going on in the pipes
> ...




I love my petro chemical tubing Pump, got home this arvo to find it hanging there all slimey and gooey just waiting for me to put some hot wort through it. What is it with this stuff, after a lot of heating and use it becomes slimey and leaves a residue on your hands that takes a lot of washing to get off. Yummy, next batch "Homer's glow in the dark beer".


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## goatherder (29/5/07)

I chose not to buy silicone hose. I'm using food/petrol contact rated reinforced hose, about 5 bucks per metre at clark rubber. The reinforcing braid keeps it from kinking when hot. I haven't found any flavour transfer from the hose at high temperature even though I'm using it past it's rated temp. I'm very happy with it.


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## Doogiechap (29/5/07)

I can't comment on silicon hose for brewing but it seems to be well liked. Like Goatherder, I use hi temp reinforced food grade hose that I got from a local independant hose supplier called Couplers (like Pirtek but reasonable prices). For 18mm it was about 2.50 a metre and about 1.80/m for 12mm so it's very cost effective and seems to be holding up well. I'm green with envy over Goatherders camlock connectors though  .
Cheers
Doug


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## BrissyBrew (30/5/07)

Silicone hose is my fav. piece of brewing equipment, no memory, can be boiled, sterilised used and abused. Easy to slide on and off.

Of course I am bias because I sell the stuff. Jye tells me that my hose has a thicker wall than the G&G stuff but cant confirm that personally.


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## SpillsMostOfIt (30/5/07)

BrissyBrew said:


> Silicone hose is my fav. piece of brewing equipment, no memory, can be boiled, sterilised used and abused. Easy to slide on and off.
> 
> Of course I am bias because I sell the stuff. Jye tells me that my hose has a thicker wall than the G&G stuff but cant confirm that personally.



Send me down a sample (two metres should do) and I will confirm.


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## Jye (30/5/07)

BrissyBrew said:


> Of course I am bias because I sell the stuff. Jye tells me that my hose has a thicker wall than the G&G stuff but cant confirm that personally.



Yep, the walls are slightly thicker but it is a lot firmer, so much so that my pump wouldn't turn.


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## Pumpy (30/5/07)

Screwtop said:


> I love my petro chemical tubing Pump, got home this arvo to find it hanging there all slimey and gooey just waiting for me to put some hot wort through it. What is it with this stuff, after a lot of heating and use it becomes slimey and leaves a residue on your hands that takes a lot of washing to get off. Yummy, next batch "Homer's glow in the dark beer".




After watching you guzzle all that Bock at the George IV with no after effect , all that slimey stuff from you petro chemical tubing would not upset your stomach Screwtop .

Pumpy


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## Steve Lacey (30/5/07)

goatherder said:


> I chose not to buy silicone hose. I'm using food/petrol contact rated reinforced hose, about 5 bucks per metre at clark rubber. The reinforcing braid keeps it from kinking when hot. I haven't found any flavour transfer from the hose at high temperature even though I'm using it past it's rated temp. I'm very happy with it.



Goatherder, is the rated temp 60 C? I bought some of this here in Japan to use on the the siphon from my mashtun manifold. It looked like stuff I've seen in photos of people's setups on this board, so I bought it. About 1/4 the price of silicon. I also use it to rack post-boiled, still very hot, wort to the fermenter or cube. So far it has been great. Much better than the vinyl rubbish that would collapse under the suction pressures when hot. So even though it is rated to 60, it still works pretty well at up to 80, at least for me, at least so far. I am sure the silicon is worth the extra if you have the readies.


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## peas_and_corn (30/5/07)

like Steve mentioned, the hosing doesn't collapse when hot liquid is going through it, which is great. I use it for just about everything now- transferring water into my mash tun, going into the fermenter, transferring into kegs etc etc. It is expansive but it's really hardy and incredibly useful.


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## SJW (30/5/07)

I was just going to use the reinforced clear food grade stuff that Goathearder and Doug use in the interim so I could get everything up and running, as the silicone stuff in not cheap. But I am finding it to be great. I got mine from Bias Boating supplies. One thing about the Silicone is (IMO) that it is too flexible and kinks easily


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## Blackfish (30/5/07)

related question

I pulled apart a dishwasher last weekend for fun (don't knock it till you've tried it)

and retrieved some internal hoses connected to the Hot & Cold water supply. They are approx 12-13mm, thick walled, made of what feels like silicone rubber. However, they are BRIGHT YELLOW!

**helmet on for the next bit**
SO, am I safe to assume they are useful and 'safe' to use for hot transfer. I'm using the PVC stuff now and do not, as yet glow in the dark. In their former life, they handle 70degC water from the tap and I guess a dishwasher is a food grade appliance soo....... what do you think? Might post a pic tonight if anyone would like, Thanks in advance

FHG


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## Andyd (30/5/07)

The hot side hose will certainly cope with the temperatures, but there's no guarantee that it will be food grade (in fact it's almost certainly not). 

Perfect for hot caustic transfer though


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## Blackfish (30/5/07)

Andyd said:


> The hot side hose will certainly cope with the temperatures, but there's no guarantee that it will be food grade (in fact it's almost certainly not).
> 
> Perfect for hot caustic transfer though



 OH well I guess I will only be able to use them for my Hot Caustic Imperial Stout then. Cheers anyway


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## browndog (30/5/07)

I initially baulked at the price of silicon hose, but I'm happy to tell you "it's worth paying the extra for" it has great insulating qualities, easy to keep clean, no memory, nice thick walls and very inert. 
Did I mention it also looks great?

cheers

Browndog


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## blackbock (30/5/07)

Yep. It is great. I can't see mine wearing out anytime soon...


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## Blackfish (30/5/07)

blackbock said:


> Yep. It is great. I can't see mine wearing out anytime soon...





browndog said:


> I initially baulked at the price of silicon hose, but I'm happy to tell you "it's worth paying the extra for" it has great insulating qualities, easy to keep clean, no memory, nice thick walls and very inert.
> Did I mention it also looks great?
> 
> cheers
> ...




Sounds like thats the consensus here, thanks for the tip. My extreme tightar$e tendencies have been acting up again lately.

Therefore, let it be proclaimed: "SILICONE IS GOOD!"  

 wait a minute....


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## jpiwek (6/6/07)

fhgwgads said:


> Sounds like thats the consensus here, thanks for the tip. My extreme tightar$e tendencies have been acting up again lately.
> 
> Therefore, let it be proclaimed: "SILICONE IS GOOD!"
> 
> wait a minute....



Yep thats what I thought after reading this thread so I headed over to Craftbrewer to check it out and also found Noprene Tubing.

"Sold in 35cm multiples - Formulated for flexural resistance & high temperattures - Does not easily crack or deteriorate even in physically demanding applications. The N0.1 choice for peristaltic pumps..."

so whats the deal with this? is it better then silicon? why would I want to get over/instead of silicone. Has any had any experience with it? Surprisingly a search for Noprene Tubing dosnt bring up anything.


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## Andyd (6/6/07)

The Neoprene tubing is smaller diameter...


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## Sammus (6/6/07)

The neoprene is for the peri pump...


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## Kingy (19/6/07)

im looking at getting some of this silicone hose from mashmaster,what do people mean when they state that its "no memory" is mashmaster the only place that sells this stuff?


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## Jye (19/6/07)

Kingy, when you bend silicon hose it will return to its original shape, unlike cheaper tubing which comes on a roll and will hold this shape.

All of the AHB sponsors stock it.


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