Did I ruin my silicone hose?

[karlosus]

Hi folks,

I was soaking some new stainless fittings in hot Tricleanium (trisodium phosphate) solution at 20g/litre. I'd just bought some heavy silicone hose and thought I'd give it a soak prior to use. After around 30 minutes the soak water had gone cloudy and viscous as though the hose had started breaking down. After rinsing and drying the hose looks and smells fine but I'm wondering if it will now leach flavours or other undesirables into my beer. Thoughts?

It might be that this is just junk grade hose but I thought silicone was inert to alkalis, isn't it?

The hose is this stuff:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111555489869

 

[SBOB]

pretty sure thats standard Keg King silicone hosing

 

[Mardoo]

As though, but had it? In my experience silicone hose goes a bit tacky/sticky on the surface when it begins to break down.

 

[karlosus]

I say "as though" because while there was cloudiness in the water, the hose now looks fine. It's not tacky and both the bore and outside are shiny.

 

[Mardoo]

Doesn't sound like there will be a problem. Try running some just-boiled water through it, let it cool, and see whether you can taste any difference.

MHB or someone else may have a more definitive answer than I.

 

[karlosus]

Thanks Mardoo, it passed the boiled water test. I'll sanitise with Star-san in future.

I'm still curious as to what happened but happy to use the hose. I wish I'd taken a photo, it was as though the hose was covered in Clag paste.