Is it safe to dump pellet hops from a sealed package into your carboy? I had either bacteria or wild yeast cause my first dry-hopped beer to go sour and I'm re-evaluating my sanitation procedures. I've never heard of anyone doing anything to sanitize their hops before. Does Hopunion sterilize their hops before sealing them? I know hops have some antibacterial properties. Just wondering because I'm brewing another IPA today that will be dry-hopped with citra.
Dry Hopping & Sanitation
- Thread starter Chris135
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
phoenixs4r
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
- Messages
- 1,566
- Reaction score
- 93
I, and a lot of folks do it all the time with no I'll affects. I suppose if you want to be absolutely sure you can soak in vodka. Not sure what that would do with the hop oils if anything at all.
I've always just dumped the hops in regardless of manufacturer. There's always the chance that you have that 1% of hops that caused your infection. But, I'd start looking other places first.
I have pulled hops straight of the vine and put them into secondary. No sanitation and I handled them with my dirty hands. There was no infection. Hops are very resistant to any beer spoiling organisms and I would not worry about that being a source of infection. If you bag your hops it might be worth sanitizing the bag, which is how I go about it.
I remember hearing on a brew strong episode that vacuum sealed pellet hops go through a heat treatment process that Pasteurizes them.
I would be more hesitant to dry hop with cones directly off the vine, as there are tons of wild yeast all over vegetation. The guys on brew strong mentioned it was best to use wet hops at the end of the boil for this reason. I've never tried wet hops either way, do cant comment from experience.
I would be more hesitant to dry hop with cones directly off the vine, as there are tons of wild yeast all over vegetation. The guys on brew strong mentioned it was best to use wet hops at the end of the boil for this reason. I've never tried wet hops either way, do cant comment from experience.
My experience disagrees. Like mentioned above, I've used hops right off the bines (not vines) many times and never had a problem. I probably dry hop 75% of the beers I make and I've never had an infection caused by dry hops in hundreds of batches.
kingwood-kid
Well-Known Member
By the time you dry-hop, beer is fairly infection-proof. It's 4-10% alcohol, hoppy, slightly acidic and relatively devoid of anything edible.
Interesting to hear...I defer to your personal experience.
Interesting to hear...I defer to your experience.
kingwood-kid
Well-Known Member
I may print that out and frame it!
Not trying to argue, but the only infection I ever had was when adding a cinammon stick to a pumpkin ale after it had finished fermenting and the yeast had dropped. Large white sheets of what appeared to be a lacto infection appeared a few days later. So while it may be less common, I don't think its safe to assume the beer is protected from injection just because alcohol is present. If that were true, santizing racking equipment/vessels would also be of little importance.
kingwood-kid
Well-Known Member
I said it was fairly infection-proof, not absolutely infection-proof. I've had a few batches that have brought the difference into focus for me and for the plants I watered with those batches. If your beer was done fermenting, it probably wasn't lacto; most lacto wouldn't be able to survive in that amount of alcohol or find much to eat. Molds, brett and wild yeasts are more likely culprits, as they are generally hop, acid and alcohol-tolerant and good at eating saccharomyces' leftovers. I'd feel comfortable putting packaged foods straight into secondary; with fresh hops or fruits, I would pasteurize or vodka-ize to be safe.
Thanks for the replies. I was pretty sure the hops were not the cause of my infection/wild yeast issue. I just drank some of that beer and its pretty sour but still kind of drinkable. It looked like the hops were still floating but it turned muddy looking. I'm still looking for a thread that accurately describes infections and lacto. I've heard from some that lacto won't take until alcohol is present and the opposite from others. In the meantime I've got a decent wit bier and red ale carbonating in bottles. If those recipes turn out well maybe I'll post them. I'll be dry hopping another IPA in a week with an ounce of citra. Gonna try a four day dry hop. Should I increase the amount or add another hop variety?
NewDecadeBrewery
Well-Known Member
I have a pale ale that is on day 7 of dry hopping with a mix of Willamette and Cascade that I taste tested last night and was really disappointed to taste a hint of sour whereas before I added the dry hops it was great no hint of off flavors. This is the second time I have tried adding the dry hops before the completion of fermentation at 1020ish on a 1010-1009 fg beer in the primary, the theory being some of the low level churning action of the end stages of fermentation will help with flavor extraction from the hops and the co2 release from the finish of fermentation will ward off oxidation. The first beer I tried this pre-completion dry hopping technique on came out great. This one though has developed sourness and my gut feeling is that it has something to do with the addition of the dry hops, at least it coincides with the dry hop addition. A small amount of the dry hops were from last years harvest of my own home grown Cascade hops so maybe that factors in although I don't know why home grown hops would be "dirtier" than commercially grown hops. Right now I am starting to consider what a previous poster said about wild yeasts and bacteria growing on plants/fruit/hops/etc. Nonetheless I am so bummed that this is occurring with my pale ale right now. It's either the dry hops or some other coincidence of events. BTW I work in the medical field and I am a fanatic about cleanliness and sanitation. Just my .02 but I am thinking that wild yeasts and bacteria growing on hops could possibly infect your beer, especially if added before fermentation is complete. I wish I had the huevos or the luck to add stuff to my beer right off the vine with dirty hands and not get an infection. Sounds like most interesting man in the world type stuff.
Guidry
Well-Known Member
I can't imagine doing this. Would you dump the whole swollen mass, including the vodka into the wort?
phoenixs4r
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
- Messages
- 1,566
- Reaction score
- 93
Guidry said:
Hell yes! Where's your sense of adventure?
kingwood-kid
Well-Known Member
Who wouldn't buy a bottle of Absolut Humulus?
I dry hop in the keg and often times do this in my fridge. The reduced temp is also helping prevent spoilage on my beer, but it does reduce the extraction of those wonderful aroma compounds.
Guidry
Well-Known Member
Never been a fan of Absolut, but a hop infused vodka? Now ya got me thinkin'! Hmmmmmmm.....
kingwood-kid
Well-Known Member
Use vodka in your airlock for an ipa, then drink the vodka when fermentation is over. It's delicious, but a little depressing when you realize how much hoppiness is scrubbed out by fermentation.
NewDecadeBrewery
Well-Known Member
@bbrim I have a couple kegs with sure screens over the dip tubes just for the purpose of dry hopping in the keg. I hear ya - dry hopping in the fridge works although in the past I have drank most of it before it starts getting really good, plus the beer stays hazy for a really long time, at least the way I have done it. With my current beer I was trying to emulate the Firestone -Walker technique of dry hopping late in the primary. I got a little too busy this week to constantly keep up with ice additions to my son of fermentation chamber. Fermentation was kept at 63 to 65 F but for the "secondary" phase it has gotten up to 75 F, so maybe that increase in temp helped whatever potential there was for a souring organism to flourish. Why is there always a heat wave or unexpected cold snap when I am trying to ferment a beer? Murphy's law I guess. More most interesting man in the world stuff - "when he brews a batch of beer the ambient ferment temps are always perfect. His dry hops are always fresh and never contaminated with strange yeasts or bacteria. His beer drops clear in three seconds. He is the most interesting man in the world".
BTW I am not knocking you bbrim my brain lately has been thinking in most interesting man in the world sayings. I have a 5 year a 7 year old and a job still thank goodness. I have a batch of beer going bad in my too warm garage and I think I am starting to get nutty in a Clark Griswold sort of way.
BTW I am not knocking you bbrim my brain lately has been thinking in most interesting man in the world sayings. I have a 5 year a 7 year old and a job still thank goodness. I have a batch of beer going bad in my too warm garage and I think I am starting to get nutty in a Clark Griswold sort of way.
Similar threads
