Benefits and drawbacks to different tubing types?

Question

We're making some big upgrades to our homebrew system and one of them involves moving everything to 1/2" fittings and barbs. This means we need 1/2" tubing that will easily and reliably fit on the barbs.

My question is regarding different options in tubing. I've been using the 3/8" clear plastic tubing from the LHBS, but I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on other options. Silicon tubing has better temperature characteristics I hear? Does it last longer? Do you worry at all about impacts on the beer? Are there other better options out there?

Specifically I will need tubing to recirculate (I suppose by hand for now) and sparge in our new converted keg mash tun, as well as standard racking needs of course. Eventually (hopefully not too long) I plan on adding a march pump as well.

I haven't been worried about tubing up to now because racking just doesn't take that long, but I was curious if anyone had strong feelings on the matter. Do you all use the clear plastic tubing or have you found a way that works better?

Answer 1

I used to use the clear vinyl tubing also. The pros for this kind of tubing are

• it's transparent, so you can see the contents clearly
• it's relatively inexpensive
• it's food safe at room temperature

But there are some significant cons also

• at typical mash temperatures, the tubing becomes soft, and doesn't support the weight of the wort, so it collapses and kinks, sometimes cutting off flow
• it's not food safe above 135F, since there is risk of leeching plastic into the wort. Also the pressure tolerance drops with higher temperature.

So, pvc tubing is recommended for cold wort transfers only, such as when racking.

For hot transfers, there are a couple of alternatives

Silicone tubing

Pros

• Highly temperature resilient, up to 480F,250C. Can be put in the oven at 350F to sterilize.
• Semi transparent - you can see the presence of liquid and/or air bubbles
• Fairly rigid, doesn't kink under typical brewing use.
• Flexible, has a bend radius of a couple of inches
• Little absorbtion and cross contamination
• No "memory" effects - can take on any shape after being coiled

Cons

• Max pressure is 30 psi. Fine for pumps, but will balloon if connected to water mains.
• Can be split/shred by sharp objects, such as the hose barb and worm clamp - special worm clamps can be used to avoid this.
• Can be expensive - look around for good deals.

Thermoplastic tubing

Pros

• temperature resillient, up to 275F, 135C
• very thick walled, rugged, does not collapse or kink
• retail price cheaper than silicone

Cons

• completely opaque, not possible to see the contents
• inflexible - has a minimum bend radius of around a foot - coiling smaller than that restricts the flow even though it doesn't kink.
• memory effects - after being coiled for storage, it will want to stay in a coil
• difficult to clean and sanitize without a pump. The rigidity made it difficult to put this in a bucket of PBW or sanitizer.

There is also norprene tubing, although this is more expensive than both of the other tubing types, and also fully opaque, so it's seldom used in brewing, other than for peristaltic pumps.

I've upgraded my brewery twice from the original PVC hoses, and over the years have used all 3 hose types. None of these hoses are completely ideal, but I have settled for silicone for most of the brewery since it was the easiest to work with - mash recirc, transfers between kettles, dumping to fermentor. I use braided vinyl for water supply and the water out side of the wort chiller since it can withstand mains water pressure, and regular garden hose isn't food safe.

Answer 2

I use 100% Silicon tubing like this stuff from MoreBeer. Its excellent heat range, very flexible at all temps. The walls are pretty thick so it'll withstand some pressure. I use a pump to recirc and transfer from vessel to vessel. Each tubing run isn't all that long so I can still easily soak it in a bucket of cleanser if needed. In fact my racking cane tubing is longer than any one run in my pump/brewing setup. It is opaque but you can see that beer is running through it, even pilsner worts. I don't use disconnects yet, so I just loosen a hose clamp and move it to the next fitting. I haven't seen any adverse wear or tear on the tubing. Despite its slightly higher expense over vinyl, its pretty rugged and I don't see a need to replace it any time soon (8 batches in). I imagine it gets expensive if you want to do a ridiculous amount of plumbing with it.

100% silicon is the stuff to use. Its what every brewer I know uses for this application.