# Food Grade Hosing? Where To Get It?



## pokolbinguy (29/11/07)

G'day all,

I want to get my hands on some good grade nylon hosing or similar to use in my AG set up for both water and wort.

Any suggestions on:

1. what type 

2. where should i get it from (Newcastle area would be great)

3. how much should I expect to pay / m?

Cheers, Pok


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## yardy (29/11/07)

the last stuff i bought was 10mm id and i got it from lhbs, cant remember how much, have you tried hbs ?


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## pokolbinguy (29/11/07)

yardy said:


> the last stuff i bought was 10mm id and i got it from lhbs, cant remember how much, have you tried hbs ?




Not yet. I thought that I may be able to get it cheaper from a local distributor. Was really hoping for suggestions and comments on different types etc.

Will check out the local HBS however.

Cheers, Pok


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## winkle (29/11/07)

Check the sponsers for silicon hoses - good stuff.


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## pokolbinguy (29/11/07)

winkle said:


> Check the sponsers for silicon hoses - good stuff.



Looks around the $12.00 mark for 20 mm stuff...seems a little $$.... the thing is i want some long lengths (about 5-8 mtrs x 2) to run back to the taps that supply our washing machine as I have put a sink in my brew bench.

Anyway thanks for the heads up on the silicon hose.

Cheers Pok


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## winkle (29/11/07)

There is always that reinforced drinking water hosing that Bunnings sells, how hot is it going to get?


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## pokolbinguy (29/11/07)

winkle said:


> There is always that reinforced drinking water hosing that Bunnings sells, how hot is it going to get?



Yeh I walked straight past that tonight and didnt even see it, turns out the girlfriend saw it but didnt think anything of it until later.


I guess it will need to take hot wort (so boiling I guess) and also the hot water from my hot water system...so pretty darn hot.

Any body tried the drinking water hosing from bunnings???? and what is it worth?

Cheers, Pok


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## chovain (29/11/07)

winkle said:


> Check the sponsers for silicon hoses - good stuff.



I expect silicon hosing is a bit too rigid for most homebrew purposes - I'd personally recommend silicone. 

Edit:

For reference, silicone is a rubber, while silicon is a metal that looks like this:


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## enoch (29/11/07)

Mark Chovain said:


> I expect silicon hosing is a bit too rigid for most homebrew purposes - I'd personally recommend silicone.


Although silicon would be handy for a nano brewery...


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## Sammus (30/11/07)

Go the reinforced drinking water hose. I used it for ages with no ill effect. Note there are two types. One of them I got from bunnings is light blue, and really stiff. The other is clear and much more flexible I got from a reece's (but I think bunnings sell it too in a different section or something). Both of them handled boiling wort no problem.

edit: if its going to run to the washing machine, don't use silicone - that stuff doesn't like mains pressure, they balloon up pretty easily under those kinda pressures!


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## sathid (30/11/07)

has anyone found a supplier for food grade silicone tubing that is cheaper than the $12 or so that HBS have it for?


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## mika (30/11/07)

Nope...if you do you might be onto the Holy Grail. Silicone hose is kinda like Divorces, they're expensive because they're worth it !


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## crozdog (30/11/07)

A while back I bought a roll of 12mm drinking water hose from Bunnings ($20-$25 from memory). It's blue on the outside & white inside. No worries with hot /boiling wort except it gets a little soft & kinks if you don't have it supported


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## justsomeguy (30/11/07)

Hi all,

I've tried a few different hoses with mixed success.

The blue food grade hose you can get from Bunnings is cheap and works reasonably well as long as you ahve it on the outlet of a pump. Don't put it on the inlet of a pump. As crozdog mentioned, when it gets hot it goes very soft. I found that when it was connected to the inlet of a March pump it couldn't hold its shape and collapsed restricting the flow from the pump. It was ok on the outlet of a pump though.

There is some re-enforced clearish food grade hose you can also get from Bunnings. You can see the re-enforcing braid running around the hose. I found that this didn't work for hot wort. The inner core delaminated from the outer casing and collapsed. Took me a while to figure out what was going on. The hose looked fine on the outside but the pump was being starved. What made it even worse was that it was difficult to see the delamination when the hose cooled down.

I'd recommend the silicone hosing some of the site sponsers have. Handles boiling wort and doesn't collapse either. It won't kink the way the blue hose does when that gets hot either. Expensive, but its really the best around. I've heard that you can get some other food grade hose from Clark Rubber stores thats supposed to be pretty good too and also handles the heat. Around $5-6 per metre. I've not tried any of those though.

If you have a good look at your system you may be surprised at just how little you can get away with. I have two lengths of silicone hose totally around 2 metres. Its used on the hot side of the brewery only. I also have a pile of the blue food grade hose that I use to run from the house to the brewery.

gary

ps: just looked at the length of the post. Damn I think I'm turning into a PP with the length of my replies. :huh:


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## Sammus (30/11/07)

Interesting to hear you say that gary because I've used both the blue and the clear reinforced hoses regularly on both sides of the (march) pump with near boiling liquids with no issues? I guess where the pump is situated in the brewery could have quite an effect on this...


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## sathid (30/11/07)

What is the silicone hose like at holding it's shape? I've got 10m or so of vinyl hose from bunnings, but it was wound so tight in the roll that it wants to keep that shape. Makes it really frustrating when racking. I'd rather a highly flexible hose that trys to stay straight, rather than curved.

Will silicone hose do this?


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## oldbugman (30/11/07)

sathid said:


> What is the silicone hose like at holding it's shape? I've got 10m or so of vinyl hose from bunnings, but it was wound so tight in the roll that it wants to keep that shape. Makes it really frustrating when racking. I'd rather a highly flexible hose that trys to stay straight, rather than curved.
> 
> Will silicone hose do this?


so was my garden hose I bought till I played tug of war with the misses.


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## razz (30/11/07)

sathid said:


> What is the silicone hose like at holding it's shape? I've got 10m or so of vinyl hose from bunnings, but it was wound so tight in the roll that it wants to keep that shape. Makes it really frustrating when racking. I'd rather a highly flexible hose that trys to stay straight, rather than curved.
> 
> Will silicone hose do this?


No it won't, it's referred to as having no "memory"


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## Sammus (30/11/07)

razz said:


> No it won't, it's referred to as having no "memory"



Thats one of my favourite things about all my silicone hosing!


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## beerguide (30/11/07)

What about the helical wire at Beer Belly: http://beerbelly.com.au/fittings.html


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## winkle (30/11/07)

> There is some re-enforced clearish food grade hose you can also get from Bunnings. You can see the re-enforcing braid running around the hose. I found that this didn't work for hot wort. The inner core delaminated from the outer casing and collapsed. Took me a while to figure out what was going on. The hose looked fine on the outside but the pump was being starved. What made it even worse was that it was difficult to see the delamination when the hose cooled down.



I was using this stuff (maybe a year?) and had the same thing happen. Wasn't using it on a pump though, just gravity feeds. Now using the silicon and loving it.
2 cents


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## Sammus (30/11/07)

ive got a bit of it too. It's good because it cant kink or collapse either, even less prone to it than silicone. The wire does mean it keeps its shape a bit if you bend it, and I went through a stage of using barbs and worm clamps for all my hoses. i find it can be pretty difficult to get the hose off some barbs.. That said though, its damn cool looking hose, and still a good choice.


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## JasonY (30/11/07)

I used the blue drinking water stuff and had no worries but it was a pain to work with as it was quite rigid except when hot. Never had it collapse on me with a march pump. Since moving to th US I have gone silicon and it is brilliant stuff, a good investment. I would buy the good stuff now.


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## justsomeguy (30/11/07)

Sammus said:


> Interesting to hear you say that gary because I've used both the blue and the clear reinforced hoses regularly on both sides of the (march) pump with near boiling liquids with no issues? I guess where the pump is situated in the brewery could have quite an effect on this...



I had a short length of the blue stuff going from the output of the kettle to the pump. As the hose gets hot it becomes really soft. I found that the suction created by the pump was enough to suck the hose flat to the point where no wort was being pumped. The re-enforced stuff was better for a short while until it delaminated.


Just a tip for those having problems with very stuff rolled up hose. Chuck the lot in the sun for a while and it will start to soften up a bit. Then stretch it out across your backyard with a brick holding each end down. Let it heat up for a while in the sun and it should be a lot softer and easier to work with. Works wonders when laying out soaker hose before putting it in the garden as well.  

gary


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## pokolbinguy (30/11/07)

justsomeguy said:


> Just a tip for those having problems with very stuff rolled up hose. Chuck the lot in the sun for a while and it will start to soften up a bit. Then stretch it out across your backyard with a brick holding each end down. Let it heat up for a while in the sun and it should be a lot softer and easier to work with.



Yep this is the key to getting your hose straight if it tends to coil all the time. Great if your garden hose starts to make a mess. A day in the sun quickly fixed it and makes it easy to coil back up nice and neat.





Back to the main topic, thanks for the input so far guys, I like the look of the hosing from beerbelly (Helical Wire wound PVC hosing ). But seeing the long distance I want to plumb could be pricey. But then again you only do this once...well thats the thought 

Pok


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## enoch (30/11/07)

The stuff I use is a pale blue reinforcedNylex hose that is rated for 80ish Bunnings used to sell it but stopped.
Works fine on the suction side but if it knks when it really hot it a buger to get the kink out.


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## goatherder (30/11/07)

Sorry, but I haven't read most of the thread (it's kind of late) but I'm going to put my 2c worth in anyway.

Pok, I use the reinforced PVC stuff (food and petrol safe) from Clark Rubber. It's in the $3-$5 per metre range from memory. It's not rated to boiling but I put up to those temps on brewdays and haven't had any problems thus far (approx 20 brews). The reinforcing stops kinking. I've used the blue drinking water hose before and this is way better. I got it from the Singo store - they usually have it in stock.


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## simpletotoro (1/12/07)

dunno if it helps...i got my hosing from "clark rubber"
cheers ST


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## winkle (1/12/07)

simpletotoro said:


> dunno if it helps...i got my hosing from "clark rubber"
> cheers ST


 Ooops thought that you'd said *""DARK RUBBER""* for a moment, sorry its late.


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## Ross (1/12/07)

Just be careful with so called "food grade" hosing guys. A lot of it is only rated to certain temperatures, above this level all sorts of nasties can be leached out. Hosing that can handle high temps safely is generally expensive for a reason.
I'm equally careless in my set up, for transfer tubes etc... it's something I intend to address.

Cheers Ross


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## SpillsMostOfIt (1/12/07)

Occassionally when the subject of 'food grade' comes up, I spend a bit of time doing *cough* basic research *cough* into what that actually means.

I'd love to be able to find an official definition of the term and then a product whose manufacturer openly claims to comply.

Thinking that I knew better, for a couple of brews I syphoned hot wort through Bunnings PVC hose. It didn't take long for it to lose a lot of its flexibility - which I guess went into my beer - and its colour, which I couldn't boil out. Nowadays, everything hot goes through a length of silicon hose on the basis that (I think) it is heat stable to quite high temperatures. But I am assuming it is the same material they make oven trays out of.

What do real breweries use?


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## sathid (1/12/07)

I would think it means that it doesn't impart any flavour or chemicals to the food.

There would be an Australian Standard (or possibly CE) floating around somewhere I'm sure.


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