BeerNewbie

Recipes 

Can I French Press whole leaf hops right into primary before pitching, without the fear of contamination? -- I plan to French Press the hops (boil wort, cool 8 cups to 133 degrees, add to French press), add the "tea" to the primary, then use them for bittering and/or flavor in the boil.

homebrewer_99

Recipes 

Since you're supposed to add boiling water to the press I'd say science says 160F for 5 minutes and it's pasteurized...there shouldn't be any contaminants in there...

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Parker36

Recipes 

You can dry hop without sanitizing the hops, so I wouldn't worry about contamination. Trying to extract the flavors/bitterness from the hops at a temp that low, on the other hand, may prove problematic

david_42

Recipes 

The way I've done it: I boil the hops for 5 minutes in a quart of water, then strain them. The hop water goes in the fridge and the hops in the boil for bittering. The chilled hop water goes into the fermenter with the cooled wort. I was quite happy with the results. I tried using a French press, but mine is too small.

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EvilTOJ

Recipes 

Here's a HUGE thread on using a French Press, along with some people's results.

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BeerNewbie

Recipes 

What my plan is is to make "tea" with the hops, pour the water/"tea" off into the carboy, then take the hops out of the press, and put them into the boil of my wort (for the bitterness/flavor).

BeerNewbie

Recipes 

Oooo, I like that idea too.

The way I understand it, though, is that the best way to do this, is that I need to use wort (whether doing it your way or mine) to best extract the aroma from the hops.