Dry Hopping with wet hops.

I have a question.... I'm on the fence with dry hopping with fresh picked hops. I have to go one way today or tomorrow. I made a Harvest IPA with fresh Chinook and Cascade hops. It's time to dry hop and I'm worried about contaminating the beer with raw hops from the bine. I've heard the alcohol content will kill "things" and that as long as they are handled well there will be no problems. I've thought of misting the outside of the cones with Starsan.

Has anyone used fresh hops for a dry hop? Any comments or ideas?

Haven't ever done it, and personally never would. Too many unknowns for me. The hops I've grown are always chock full of spider webs, leaves & whatnot.

There's a bunch of threads on this if you search. Infection risk is super high apparently.

Bottom line - use only commercially sourced hops for any additions post-boil (or at least below like ~160F).

Yeah.... I'm thinking I'll just process as is and not to dry hop. I do just want my own hops in these beers.

I too was skeptical about dry hopping. But now I don't hesitate. Hops are a natural preservative and the risk is very low.

Great to see a fellow Buffalonian brewing! I've never used home grown fresh hops, but I have read that if they are rinsed (with cold water to remove dirt and grime), then the alcohol after fermentation should take care of anything that is left over. Just rinse them off to make sure they're as clean as they can get to the eye. Also, remember that the ratio between pellets and wet hops for dry hopping is about 5:1 wet to dry.

I use a 6:1 ratio and plug in an average if the Alpha high and low at Hopunion divided by 6 into Beersmith under my own Fresh hops listings and go from there. What I've decided to do is to keg the Harvest IPA taste it and see if it needs dry hopping.

Just dry hopped with home grown hops my batch of "hop harvest IPA" brewed with fresh cones off the bine. For dry hopping, I first dried, vacuum packed, and froze the hops so weight was accurate. I hope freezing would kill anything the alcohol would not. I also followed advice in running the cones through a food processor to increase surface contact and possibly lose less beer to the hops in the fermenter. I'll know in a few weeks how this works out.
Makes you appreciate what you can buy for a few $/lb as packaged, pelletized hops....