I stopped in at my LHBS this afternoon to pick up some silicone tubing to use for the plate chiller I just bought. I was sad to find out they were all out of stock, and wouldn’t be getting any more back in 'till sometime late next week.
I’m a bit bummed since I was hoping to brew a batch this weekend, which now, seems to be in jeopardy, as I don’t have the high temperature hose I need to run from my kettle to the cooler.
I then had a thought, that cars use silicone tubing to run coolant - and I can get those at pretty much any auto parts store. The only question that is unanswered is - is it ‘Food Safe’?
Has anyone used coolant hose to transfer hot wort from your kettle through a chiller and not have any taste/flavor issues?
Why don’t you run by homedepot or lowes and buy their clear vinyl hose. They are rated for only 155F but i have used them once in an emergency because the silicone tubing i bought were not here yet. I had no off flavors due to the vinyl tubing or experienced any funny taste the only thing that i noticed was that the tubing turned from clear to hazy then back to clear when it cooled down. Some will say that it will leach chemicals into your beer if it is past 155F but like i said i didn’t see the harm if i was only racking from kettle to CFC only 5 mins of contact time.
I bet everyone wants to drink my beer now, huh???
Haha!
I figured it as a possible option, but hadn’t done anything yet. I have about 10 feet of the braided vinyl here, but haven’t used it yet because I didn’t want to take a chance. I’ll give it a shot if there was no issue…
Sucks when that’s the only think keeping you from whipping up a batch!
