Others have cautioned me on using grease and lubricants as well for the same reasons you state. Saying they can fuse the hose to fittings when they need replacing again in the future. Making it a much more difficult job later.
I don’t “think“ getting the new hose back on the fittings will be a real hard issue, given that they did slide off easily by hand. And all the fittings still have a slick feel to them if you touch them.
Except the mixing elbow that needed a little persuasion with my oil filter wrench.
I’ll try dry fitting them first and see how that goes. If not, your hand sanitizer or plain water seems like the best way to go.
Thanks for the advice.