Cleaning homebrew tubing is essential to ensure the health and safety of your beer.
It is also imperative to maintain the quality of your beer by removing any bacteria or contaminants that may be present.
Cleaning your homebrew tubing is an important part of homebrewing.
It’s essential to keep your tubing at all times to produce the best-tasting beer.
It’s also important for preventing contamination that could lead to off-flavours in your beer.
What is Homebrew Tubing and Why Should it Be Cleaned?
Homebrew tubing is a plastic tube used to connect your kettle to your fermenter.
It is the equipment used to connect two pieces of equipment close to each other, such as a fermenter and an airlock.
It’s also used to connect the bottling tube to your keg. Homebrew tubing can be made from either plastic or metal.
It’s usually 1/2″ in diameter, although some brewers use 3/4″ tubing for their kettles.
This tube is typically soldered onto the bottom of a siphon-style fermenter, but some brewers will solder the pipe directly onto their kettle.
There are several reasons you should clean homebrew tubing.
Leaving beer residue in the tubing may get into your fermenter and affect its performance.
If you have a lot of yeast buildup in the tubing, it can clog up your siphon and cause problems with your brewing process.
Metal tubing can erode over time due to contact with the liquid or stored in a damp environment.
You’ll want to clean your beer tubing with wire brushes and steel wool before using it again for brewing purposes.
Guide on How To Clean Homebrew Tubing.
The step-by-step guide on how to clean homebrew tubing are;
- Remove all the beer from the tubing.
- Remove the plastic from the tubing. The first step is to remove the plastic from the tubing. You can either use a knife or a pair of scissors. Using a pair of pliers is possible, but it is more difficult and will more likely damage the tubing.
- Put a small amount of dish soap, such as Dawn or Palmolive, into the tube and run it through for about 10 seconds. This process will loosen any stuck-on bits of dried hops or yeast that have adhered to the inner surface of the tube over time, making it easier to clean later on cleaning the inside and outside of the tubing.
- The next step is to clean both sides of your homebrew tubing. The interior should be cleaned using a cloth with some alcohol mixed in it. The outside should be cleaned using an alcohol-soaked material. This material will eliminate any dirt collected on your tube during storage or transportation.
- Wipe down the inside and outside with rubbing alcohol. Once you have cleaned both sides of your tubing, wipe each side with rubbing alcohol (or another similar cleaner). This will help prevent bacteria from growing in future batches of beer since there are no surfaces to latch onto.
- Empty any remaining beer from your keg coupler into an empty bucket or sink, then fill it with hot tap water (140 degrees Fahrenheit). Use a hose or spray nozzle to rinse your keg coupler and thoroughly wash away any remnants of dirt, gunk or crud that may have accumulated over time. Don’t forget to sterilize your cleaning equipment by rinsing them off in this same hot water bath once they’re done working on your keg coupler!
The Different Types of Cleaners & Sanitizers for Homebrew Tubing.
The choice of a brewer’s cleaning and sanitizing agents can be overwhelming.
There are various types of cleaners and sanitizers for homebrew tubing.
Here is a list of the most commonly used ones:
Alcohol-Based Cleaners:
These are the most popular types of cleaners and sanitizers.
They’re alcohol-based, which means they can be used in contact with water and affect glass, plastic, and rubber tubing.
Alcohol has some very good cleaning properties but can leave a residue on the tubing if not rinsed thoroughly.
Liquids:
Liquid cleaners are usually spray-bottle products containing ingredients such as sodium carbonate or bicarbonate, which help break down the beer’s proteins and cell walls.
You can also use these chemicals to clean up other types of organic material left behind by other cleaners.
Solvents:
Solvent cleaners are typically made from organic solvents like isopropyl alcohol or methylene chloride (methylene chloride).
These solvents have a low boiling point, so they evaporate quickly once applied to the surface of your beer bottle or glass tube.
Water:
Washing your homebrew tubing in water as a final rinse can help to cut down on the buildup of sediment in your tubing.
It also helps to keep your product tasting great!
Avoid using hot water for this step, as it can affect the taste of your beer by changing the pH level.
White Vinegar:
White vinegar is an effective cleaner for homebrew tubing because it has antibacterial properties that help prevent the growth of microorganisms that may cause infection.
It also helps to keep resins from growing inside your tubing, which makes it more durable than other types of tubing materials.
White vinegar has no odour or taste, so you don’t have to worry about flavour contamination when using this cleaner!
What Are the Benefits of Regularly Cleaning Your Homebrew Tubing?
There are many benefits of regularly cleaning your homebrew tubing.
It will help you keep a steady supply of sanitized beer tubing, which can reduce the risk of contamination and infection in your brews.
Your tubing will look better and last longer as well.
When your beer flows through it, the tubing will have a natural sheen and shine that makes it look great.
This is especially important if you’re using stainless steel or other expensive materials for your brewing equipment.
It will make it easier to clean. If you’re storing your brewing equipment in a closet or basement, it can be difficult to access the dirt every time you want to clean the equipment because this debris is hidden away in corners and hard-to-reach places.
However, when you have clean tubing on hand, there’s no need to worry about looking for a place where you can easily access them without having to pull things out from under other things first.
Regularly cleaning your homebrew tubing will also help prevent contamination from happening in the first place so that there’s no need for sanitizing after each use because there won’t be any bacteria present on the outside of the tube at all times!
Regularly cleaning your homebrew tubing will save you money on materials.
It will improve the taste and quality of your beer.
It will help you prevent infections from bacteria and other microorganisms within your beer.
Conclusion.
The cleaning and sterilization of your homebrew tubing are extremely important.
In many cases, you will be transferring highly corrosive substances (fermentation byproducts, caustic sparge chemicals, etc.) through your tubing, which can leave their mark on both the inside and outside of your tubing.
As a brewer, you should clean your homebrew tubing regularly, using the tips and guides summarized in this article.
