Cleaning Vinyl Tubing

[homebrewkid]

hi guys,

i need to clean some vinyl tubing i have and was wondering what should i use, should i soak it in something or just run heaps of hot water through it
its clean but not been used for 6 months so want to make sure before i use it to bottle next weekend

will sanatise it after cleaning just not sure what is safe to use on it

 

[sah]

hi guys,

i need to clean some vinyl tubing i have and was wondering what should i use, should i soak it in something or just run heaps of hot water through it
its clean but not been used for 6 months so want to make sure before i use it to bottle next weekend

will sanatise it after cleaning just not sure what is safe to use on it

Anything works - sodium percarbonate is good.

However, that tubing doesn't last long, it deteriorates. It's cheap, consider buying more?

 

[stevem01]

I use silicone tubing, I used to boil it in pink neo, but after about a year it had built up a layer of gunk and gave me an infection.
Now I poke a length of wire (I used cat 5 cable) through the tube, tie a piece of cheesecloth soaked in cleaner or steriliser to a loop at the end and then draw it back through.
be careful there are no sharp edges to scratch the tube

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

soak in HOT nappy-san overnght, then rinse

 

[TidalPete]

I use silicone tubing, I used to boil it in pink neo, but after about a year it had built up a layer of gunk and gave me an infection.
Now I poke a length of wire (I used cat 5 cable) through the tube, tie a piece of cheesecloth soaked in cleaner or steriliser to a loop at the end and then draw it back through.
be careful there are no sharp edges to scratch the tube

Very similar to the old 303 pull-through routine but you'd be better off using a lightweight cord with an appropriate sized sinker on the end.
Dis-assembling & then soaking all hoses in a 2.0% caustic solution for a day or two before using the pull-through & then hosing out works ok.
I like to do this a few times a year despite running PBW through the HERMS after every brewday.

TP

PS --- Always happy to learn new things Ducataboy. Will a few hours of hot soaking the brewery lines in Sodium perc (plain, un-scented Napisan or 100% Napisan or both?) do the same job as PBW in getting rid of system gunk?
Always thought of trying but never have. Am assuming that leaving to soak at 100 deg c will work better?
Slowly getting rid of all my copper & brass which blackens\corrodes when soaking for too long in caustic.

 

[dr K]

Best advice, don't use vinyl for your beer, grab some beer line from your LHBS, it can be quite thin walled (say 8OD 5ID), its easy to clean and will not impart unwanted tastes.

K

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Very similar to the old 303 pull-through routine but you'd be better off using a lightweight cord with an appropriate sized sinker on the end.
Dis-assembling & then soaking all hoses in a 2.0% caustic solution for a day or two before using the pull-through & then hosing out works ok.
I like to do this a few times a year despite running PBW through the HERMS after every brewday.

TP

PS --- Always happy to learn new things Ducataboy. Will a few hours of hot soaking the brewery lines in Sodium perc (plain, un-scented Napisan or 100% Napisan or both?) do the same job as PBW in getting rid of system gunk?
Always thought of trying but never have. Am assuming that leaving to soak at 100 deg c will work better?
Slowly getting rid of all my copper & brass which blackens\corrodes when soaking for too long in caustic.

Nappi-san is not as good as PBW, but will do the job. The water needs to be over 70*c to activate it properly

 

[donburke]

PS --- Always happy to learn new things Ducataboy. Will a few hours of hot soaking the brewery lines in Sodium perc (plain, un-scented Napisan or 100% Napisan or both?) do the same job as PBW in getting rid of system gunk?

dont know if this applies to everyone, but yesterday's brew left some brown crud in my kettle that would not come off after an hour hot soak in napisan, i thought i rooted my kettle

i then got the gerni out with hot water, still nothing

then filled the kettle with hot tap water and threw about a cup of pbw in and within minutes the **** was just flaking off

let it soak for an hour then hose off, the kettle looks brand new

 

[spog]

db i had trouble with crud sticking/building up on my element in the kettle,
i used citric acid in a mixture ,cant remember the proportions but was a week mix this worked a treat in getting rid of the build up of scum.........cheers......spog.....

dont know if this applies to everyone, but yesterday's brew left some brown crud in my kettle that would not come off after an hour hot soak in napisan, i thought i rooted my kettle

i then got the gerni out with hot water, still nothing

then filled the kettle with hot tap water and threw about a cup of pbw in and within minutes the **** was just flaking off

let it soak for an hour then hose off, the kettle looks brand new

 

[TidalPete]

dont know if this applies to everyone, but yesterday's brew left some brown crud in my kettle that would not come off after an hour hot soak in napisan, i thought i rooted my kettle

i then got the gerni out with hot water, still nothing

then filled the kettle with hot tap water and threw about a cup of pbw in and within minutes the **** was just flaking off

let it soak for an hour then hose off, the kettle looks brand new

Thanks DB.

My recommended dosage of PBW is 1.5 teaspoons/2.5 litres water @ 70 deg c. How does one kettleful x one cupful of PBW equate?
Last check on my Unitywater pH (Bastards!) was 7.8 pH. :angry:

TP

 

[Batz]

Best advice, don't use vinyl for your beer, grab some beer line from your LHBS, it can be quite thin walled (say 8OD 5ID), its easy to clean and will not impart unwanted tastes.

K

+1

Vinyl is for floors not brewing.

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=3255

 

[donburke]

Thanks DB.

My recommended dosage of PBW is 1.5 teaspoons/2.5 litres water @ 70 deg c. How does one kettleful x one cupful of PBW equate?
Last check on my Unitywater pH (Bastards!) was 7.8 pH. :angry:

TP

the container said 1oz to 2oz per gallon, which is a lot if filling a 98 litre kettle

i reckon i used about 300g for 90 litres of 50 deg water which is probably 1/2 oz per gallon

it did not remove the brown staining in my silicone hose, i think thats there for life

 

[donburke]

db i had trouble with crud sticking/building up on my element in the kettle,
i used citric acid in a mixture ,cant remember the proportions but was a week mix this worked a treat in getting rid of the build up of scum.........cheers......spog.....

funny enough, napisan usually does the job just fine, dont know what it was with yesterdays brew, but it just wouldnt cut it

the brew had a larger gravity than i normally brew, and it also had a lot more hops than usual, plus i used sulphate, maybe all this contributed, i hope the beer turns out as good as it smelt

 

[homebrewkid]

+1

Vinyl is for floors not brewing.

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=3255

bloody hell thats cheap ill have to organise some of that me thinks.

cheers: HBK

 

[TidalPete]

it did not remove the brown staining in my silicone hose, i think thats there for life

Thanks for that DB. I must agree that you're probably correct re the staining of the silicone tubing. I have however, found in my limited experience with the 1\2" reinforced clear food-grade hose from Clark Rubber ($10/metre more or less) that it seems to clean up very much better internally than does the silicone hose from the above sponsers. It's only drawback as far as I'm concerned is that it's not as flexible as the silicone & so needs a bigger radius when bending.
As for the vinyl tubing, being a cheap old bastard I've used this (sanitised) stuff from my K&k days (20-odd years) but only when draining from fermenter to bottle/keg & have experienced no problems whatsoever but that's as far as it goes.

TP

 

[Batz]

http://www.healthybuilding.net/pvc/HBN_FS_...n_Buildings.pdf


Apart from that it's all good.

 

[sah]

funny enough, napisan usually does the job just fine, dont know what it was with yesterdays brew, but it just wouldnt cut it

It helps to understand the cleaning products and the nature of the gunk you want to clean.

Sodium percarbonate is an oxidizing agent. It works well with organic material (wort, hops, protein break). It works perfectly well in cold but takes longer.

Sounds like you had some scaling from salts (eg. beer stone). It is non-organic and alkaline. A job for an acid cleaner like PBW.

 

[donburke]

It helps to understand the cleaning products and the nature of the gunk you want to clean.

Sodium percarbonate is an oxidizing agent. It works well with organic material (wort, hops, protein break). It works perfectly well in cold but takes longer.

Sounds like you had some scaling from salts (eg. beer stone). It is non-organic and alkaline. A job for an acid cleaner like PBW.

pbw is actually alkaline

it probably was beerstone

found this which helps explain whats going on ...

http://www.birkocorp.com/brewery/white-pap...eaning-methods/

 

[QldKev]

I used PVC hose the brewery when I first started BIAB for racking from the kettle into the cube. Was good for many brews and one day, my beers started to taste off it. I lost a couple of brews due to it. That was swapped out for silicone hose. When I build the 3V I went straight to silicone hose, no way was I risking hot wort and that pvc pipe again.

I also had it for a racking cane from the fermenter to the keg, I felt safe due to no hot water. Once the cold beer hit it, it goes hard and becomes a nuisance when swapping kegs. So that now has silicone hose too. After reading that doco from Batz, I'm glad I've got no pvc pipe left for any food products.


Either that thin walled stuff for racking canes etc, or the thick walled stuff for used in recirc'ing the wort. Gryphon has got the thick stuff cheap here


QldKev

 

[sah]

pbw is actually alkaline

Sorry. you know what they same about making assumptions.

So I'm wondering about how it removes the scale now? Heat?