Pump Hoses

So, I was researching hose labels.  When I take the hoses off the brew equipment to wash, I wanted a way to identify which hoses go where quickly.  The cost of laminated hose labels are ridiculous!

What should I do?  Create my own, of course!  Here is what I used:

1/2″ High Temp Silicone Hose x 25 feet – $2.40 per foot
1/2″ STAINLESS Quick Disconnect – Female x 1/2″ hose barb x 2 – $8.99
1″ clear heat shrink – 10 feet – $10.95

Note that you will need 2 of the female quick disconnects for each hose.  I am using 4 hoses, so I have 8 quick disconnects.

I had the stainless hose clamps left over from a project I did over a year ago.

I created 1.5″ square labels for the hoses and printed them on a sheet of computer paper.

Then cut them out and separated them

Here is what I will use to put the hoses together:

Slide on the heat shrink and hose clamp

Slide the hose over the quick disconnect and tighten the hose clamp

You don’t have to tighten the clamp with the strength of He-Man.  Just enough that the quick disconnect cannot be pulled out.

Slide the label for the end of hose on which you are working into the heat shrink

Use a heat gun (or hair dryer) to shrink the tubing.  Use the low heat setting and don’t get too close.  Take your time and don’t burn the heat shrink.

Hopefully this will also help to act as a strain relief for the hose.

Both ends complete.

Connected to my tiny pump

Fast identification of your hoses will hopefully make your Brew Day easier.  Less time figuring out which hoses go where means more time to drink beer!

I have done three batches using these hoses now.  I have found out that in pumping hot liquid, the heat shrink would soften and not provide the strain relief I was hoping for.  This is only evident on the hose to the Sparge Arm at this time, since it goes straight up from the pump and then does a 180 degree turn to connect to the Sparge Arm.  To help with this, I ordered an anti-kink coil used for liquid cooling computer systems to see if this would work.

PrimoChill Anti-Kink Coils 5/8in. – UV Green – $2.99

For the price, why not try it?  I got the 5/8″ coil since that is the OD of the hoses I am using.  It come in 40″ lengths, which should be long enough for my testing purposes.