Tips for Using PVC Products to Brew Great Beer

How You Can Clean Your PVC Tubing for Brewing Beer

Cleaning your PVC tubing is essential to maintaining a high quality of brewed beer and avoiding contamination or infection. Cleaning the tubing typically involves the following steps:

Sterilize the Tubing

Sterilizing your tubing in a brewery is essential to preventing infections. Single-celled organisms reproduce rapidly, with bacteria doubling in population every four to twenty minutes. Therefore, if your brewery’s tubing remains unsterilized for a long time, it will develop plenty of bacteria.

You should thoroughly rinse the tubing using a strong cleaner. However, ensure that the cleaner suits your tubing and avoid highly scented variants that will leach their scent into your beer. Percarbonate cleaners are the most preferred option.

Soak the PVC Tubing in a Cleaning Solution

Rinsing the PVC tubing does little to remove hard stains of hops, yeast and other stuff stuck in it. You often won’t notice the stains until your equipment falls out of good condition.

The best way to deal with these hard stains is to soak the tubing. You should soak the PVC tubing in a strong cleaner for at least 20 minutes or overnight. A hot PBW solution is highly recommended for this job.

Wash the PVC Tubing Thoroughly

Once the stains have softened, you can thoroughly rinse the tubing to remove all stains and any remaining cleaning solution. You should not need additional equipment if you have performed sterilization and soaking correctly.

Nonetheless, line and tubing brushes can make the process much easier.

Dry the Tubing

You should properly dry the PVC tubing before storing it. Moist conditions encourage the growth of bacteria and other harmful microorganisms, forcing you to restart the cleaning process.

To thoroughly dry the PVC tubing, leave it hanging in a U-shape, with the ends facing down, overnight or for a couple of days until completely dry. Curl up the dry tubing and store it in a dust-free container.

Source Your Materials from a Trusted Brand

PVC is a viable material for tubing in your brewery. Ensure you’re using the right type of PVC at every stage of the process for the best results. Get in touch with a professional and learn which brands you should use in your process.

Author Bio: Mark Ligon is the Marketing Manager at Commercial Filtration Supply, a provider of industrial filtration products at discount prices. Mark enjoys writing about various liquid filtration applications, and he believes educating customers on liquid filtration best practices ensures they have the best experience possible with the product they decide on.