I bought a corny keg lid that has a gas-in ball lock installed on it and comes with a .5 micron diffusion stone and two feet of tubing (I assume food-grade vinyl rather than silicone; it hasn’t come in yet). I believe I have the gist of using it: attach stone to tubing, hold stone in boiling water for several minutes, spray tubing with StarSan to be safe, assemble with keg lid, pop it in, slowly increase pressure to desired PSI.
How do I clean the stone/tubing effectively? I know the stone can simply be boiled again, but I’m concerned about the effect of repeated boiling on the tubing (whether its vinyl or silicone) causing leakage or having it slip off. Replacing the tubing after each batch is not crazy expensive but I’d prefer to not add more to my batch cost if possible.
Any tips/tricks? Also please let me know if I’m off on using the stone in the first place. I splurged on the keg lid assembly over just attach a stone to my gad-in post to make things simpler, so I’m hoping it’ll work out that way.
This is a case of homebrewers “over doing” it. I use 3 bright tanks and they all share different beers and the carb stones only get “thoroughly” cleaned about once a quarter. The tanks themselves are simply cleaned under pressure, not completely broken apart, except for once a quarter. This allows me to keep the DO at a minimum in the BBTs because the tanks are simply acid looped, then sani looped under the pressure of Co2. I’m much more concerned about the effects of O2 as opposed to the very minor risk of cross contamination at this point in the process.
So, as long as you aren’t using it on sour beers it will be fine. If a few cells of Belgian yeast cross contaminate your already finished German helles they really aren’t going to have much work to do and will remain dormant.
I would use the stone, sanitize it afterward, then store it dry (maybe in a zip lock bag). Perhaps boil it after every 10-20 uses.
I’m with Major on this. I sanitize my stones before and after use. I blow out the sanitizer with oxygen and store them dry with my immersion chiller. I’ve never had an issue in the last 10 years or so, at least not from the oxygenation stone.
The entire time they’re in use, you’re pushing O2 through them so I don’t think anything should get lodged in the stone.