In the process of making an ESB yesterday, I noticed my last ounce of hops addition sitting on the counter as my wort was cooling past 120f. This addition was supposed to be made at flame off but instead of grabbing the hops, I grabbed another beer from the fridge and forgot what I had gone in there for! I stopped the cooling of the wort, added the hops and waited about five minutes with some gentle stirring. At this point in my blurred state of mind I figured I did not want my wort open to contaminants at this fragile temperature so I continued the cooldown and on with the normal process. I noticed the typical 'oil slick' on top of my wort as I usually see from an addition of aroma hops as the oils from the hops are released so I felt good about this. I'm sure the beer will turn out fine since this was not a bittering hop as to throw off the balance of sweet/bitter. Any ideas on how the temp of the wort affects the extraction of the aroma agents in the hops? Something else I have since become concerned with is the sanitation of the hops I added to less than boiling temp water. I guess time will tell on this issue. I have pretty good success with quick and agressive fermentation so I am thinking that the yeasties will take care of this for me and eat up everything that may be a threat.
Next brew... I'm keeping my consumption under a 6 pack till I'm done (how boring).
Next brew... I'm keeping my consumption under a 6 pack till I'm done (how boring).