Silly Question

[EHCosbie]

Hi All,

Am currently fermenting my first AG batch, and am about to "dry hop" once the SG has settled. As I have taken lots of time and care to sterilise everything, my question is: Do I need to sterilise/ prep the hops for this process or will it be fine? Should I try not to handle the hops? sterilise any utensils that come into contact with the hops before being added to the beer?

I guess the same questions for the priming sugars (when I get to that process).

Any help/ advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ed

 

[YeastFace]

Hops are antibacterial so you don't need to do anything to them. I dry hop in a bag, so I boil that to sterilise. I also sanitise some baking beans in starsan to weigh the hops down.

 

[JapanBrew]

Yeastface nailed it.

 

[klaus]

I must admit I have never sanitised the hop bag for dry hopping or the container for priming sugar .... Sloppy or what? Kegging the other day the float wasn't staying upright so wash hands quickly with plain water and fixed. Just done the quality check - all fine. Not suggesting we should be careless and maybe I have been lucky over the years.
Anyway good luck the AG brewing. Way to go!

 

[JapanBrew]

Klaus, you are lucky.

 

[Hoppyland]

Hops are antibacterial so you don't need to do anything to them. I dry hop in a bag, so I boil that to sterilise. I also sanitise some baking beans in starsan to weigh the hops down.

Yep, sounds fair.
But, then, I'm always a sceptic.
So, I briefly "sweat" the hops by pouring boiling water over them. This also means that they cease to float! Then bung them directly into the beer so as to minimise loss of volatiles.

For me, hops might be "anti-bacterial", but that doesn't mean they're sterile. Your dry hops might not support growth of bacteria or wild yeasts. Leave them sitting as a wet topping on beer that has stopped fermenting - i.e stopped producing CO2 - and I reckon you're asking for trouble, especially if you have oxygen present.
I give the hops a very brief boiling-water bath, then flood the FV/cask with CO2

 

[dad_of_jon]

just had a bad thought. hops are grown outside, are they washed or treated? before packaging, what if a bird craps on a hop plant, the hops may be anti-bacterial but the bird crap wouldn't be :sick::sick:

 

[sven945]

Hi All,

Am currently fermenting my first AG batch, and am about to "dry hop" once the SG has settled. As I have taken lots of time and care to sterilise everything, my question is: Do I need to sterilise/ prep the hops for this process or will it be fine? Should I try not to handle the hops? sterilise any utensils that come into contact with the hops before being added to the beer?

I guess the same questions for the priming sugars (when I get to that process).

Any help/ advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ed

For what it's worth (and I can offer no help or advice), but it's not at a silly question at all!

 

[Simonh82]

I think it is always possible that hops could introduce an infection but anecdotal evidence would suggest that if this does happen it is a very rare event.

As far as I'm aware commercial breweries don't wash their dry hops and they will be using many kilos as opposed to a few grams.

I'm happy to keep checking mine in after fermentation has finished and stiring gently with a sanitised spoon.

 

[EHCosbie]

Thanks for all the replies people. Some good advice and points. In the end, I boiled the bag, filled with hops, then dunked into boiled water for 15 seconds, then added to the beer.

So now I'm thinking about the priming sugar. Would it be wise/overkill to dissolve it into boiled water and add as a solution?

Again, any advice or opinions welcome.

Thanks

Ed

 

[Hoppyland]

Yep, that's what I do. I batch prime (add all the sugar to the whole batch of beer) rather than bottle prime (put the required small amount into each bottle separately. I always boil & then cool the sugar before adding it.

 

[Simonh82]

I do boil my priming sugar as I think you have more chance of getting an infection from anything that's sat in my kitchen cupboards or the water from the tap than from the hops.

 

[Fil]

a lot of the delicate aroma oils will be destroyed by heat, so i would avoid boiling water for aroma hops

if fermentation has completed the beer is in no risk from a wild yeast or 3million gaining access,bacteria are another matter, but as hops are naturally anti bacterial due to the hop oils dropping the dry hops in a brre isnt likely to be a problem..

 

[JapanBrew]

And if you don't want to just throw in the hops straight into your FV, you can make a hop tea. I have done it a few times and works good. I just boiled my water then let chill a little till it got 80 degrees. Added my hops in a bag and let sit for 30 min. Removed the hop bag and chilled with ice bath. Then added the tea mixture into the FV. But I've heard of people adding it to the bottling bucket with the sugar as well.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I do boil my priming sugar as I think you have more chance of getting an infection from anything that's sat in my kitchen cupboards or the water from the tap than from the hops.

+1 for boiling priming solution