Replacing hoses, tubes, siphons etc....

[Megary]

It occurred to me today that I haven’t changed out my auto-siphon and hose in a long time, maybe 30 brews worth. I can definitely see some surface scratches on the siphon tube (I’m sure those scratches aren’t new!) and I’m wondering if maybe now might be a good time to replace the whole racking shebang. Knock on wood, I haven’t had any issues but why tempt fate? Proactive or unnecessarily concerned?

Curious as to how often others replace miscellaneous equipment like this.

 

[Herm brews]

I am still using most of the same tubing as when I started 2+ years ago. My auto siphon has been in very limited use since I attempted making wine from my own grapes a few times starting in 2016. The hose from that setup is the one that gets the most use since it serves as my bottling tube. When I got my Speidel fermenter, I bought some new tubing to fit the bigger diameter spigot. None of the tubing appears stained, so I clean, sanitize, use, clean and sanitize again before putting it away for its next use.

 

[Josh Hughes]

I’m on #2. I think I got 40 brews out of the first one. I was a little concerned but not a n actual reason to be

 

[Herm brews]

Now that I have 2 ported fermenters with spigots, it is rare that I use my auto siphon. As I stated earlier, the hose from that tool gets regular use. However, the auto siphon will be put into use when I rack our cider for bottling. At that time, I’ll give it a close look.

 

[Hawkbox]

I can't honestly remember the last time I replaced tubing for anything. I don't use the siphon much with brew buckets but I know for my keezer lines I just ran BLC (Beer Line Cleaner) through them and it made a huge difference.

The stuff is pretty cheap so if you have a doubt I would say swap in new line but I don't think the "replace all your line every 6 months or 10 brews" kind of mindset is necessary.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I try to replace hoses every two years. Invariably I forget and it's probably more like three or so. I wait for evidence of scratching on the non-tubing parts before replacing them.

Haven't had a problems with cross contamination that wasn't me forgetting to sanitise a wine thief when sampling from two batches. And mine's a brewery with brett, sach, lacto, pedio, etc. If I was superstitious it'd probably be time to cross or knock various things.

 

[Sunfire96]

I'm about 50 batches in and I just recently replaced some tubing and my siphon. I use Iodophor, so I replaced the tubing because it was too stained to see if mold was growing. I replaced the autosiphon because it had formed tons of micro fractures along the racking cane and outer tube. Not sure why the cracks formed, but there are too many to check for microbial growth so now I use it for pushing water or cleanser during cleanup.

 

[Donoroto]

Typical polystyrene crazing. Due to age, mostly, loss of plasticizers at the surface adding stresses.

 

[Sunfire96]

Typical polystyrene crazing. Due to age, mostly, loss of plasticizers at the surface adding stresses.

Yes. I think that siphon was $12, so it seems I got my money's worth. My other guess was continued exposure to chemicals wore down the plastic maybe? I'm trying to be nicer to my new siphon and not leave it submerged in iodophor or oxiclean for longer than necessary

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I have had the same auto-siphon for 5-6 years. With anything plastic, I will use a bleach/vinegar solution soak to sanitize with each use, after that I rinse with clean water and then it gets a Starsan rinse or soak.

I started doing this after I infected 3 batches in a row from a vinyl tube I used to aerate the wort/must. It looked perfectly good, wasn't old and it got soak in a Starsan bath. Despite the soak, I still got an infection. Since adding the bleach/vinegar soak I have not had a single infection in nearly 4 years, even with old vinyl. Starsan is a great sanitizer, but it can't get to the bacteria that can hide beneath the surfaces of some plastics, but bleach can.

Just as note, never use bleach on stainless unless it's very diluted. That being said, clean stainless steel really doesn't need it anyway, Starsan works really well in those conditions.

 

[Hawkbox]

At some point I'm probably going to get bit but I've gone 3 years without a major issue. I flush a lot of hot water through my lines and then star san them just before use. So far so good.