# Silicone milk hose cleaning



## lordoftheweeds (Dec 27, 2012)

I use silicone hoses on my surge milker, what is the best way to clean them? Currently I just run water with a little bit of bleach through them and hang them to dry.


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## rancher1913 (Dec 5, 2008)

we are way new to home milking but after talking to neighbors that dairy, we use a solution of hydrogen peroxide with acid that we get from dairy supply store. they rinse, then use hypoclorate (not the same as Clorox), then rinse, then use the hydrogen peroxide acid to sanitize, then a final rinse. we had some old calf bottles that had not been cleaned properly for years and used the hydrogen peroxide acid on them and they look brand new now.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

For a thorough cleaning you should take them off the machine and run a bottle brush through the milk hoses. I use silicone hose on my DeLaval and my milk line is 5 feet long. Even though I sanitize at each milking, before and after, the hose will eventually get gunk built up inside it. A bristle brush run through with an acid wash gets it clean. I acid wash once a week and run the brush though the milk hose about once a month.


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## carellama (Nov 12, 2007)

How exactly do you run a brush through 5 feet of hose. I have replaced my hose because I cannot figure out how to run something through it


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

I have it on the end of a 6ft piece of coated wire. I feed the wire through the hose until the end comes through, then pull it out with the brush coming along at the other end.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

The instructions that came with my DeLaval style milker said that all I had to do to clean it was to suck clean water through it then suck 1 gal of water with 1/2 cup bleach through it and let dry. It didn't take long to see that was not sufficient. I rinse every thing with cold water then wash everything in hot water with a dairy wash added. I clean everything with an acid wash periodically. I have a long cable with a brush on one end that I run through the long tubing when I clean it and use a brush made specifically to clean the rest of the milker.
I think the water/bleach combo didn't prevent milk fat from building up in the hoses.
The whole process doesn't take as long as it sounds and is certainly quicker than trying to milk my short teated cow by hand!


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