Squeezed bag while straining out hops after wort was cooled -- Did I infect?

[polamalu43]

Here’s a classic is this infected question:

I strained my wort through mesh bag with elastic band that fits around my brew bucket. Because I used an obscene amount of hops (7 ounces), they absorbed a lot of the wort. Thus, in order to get the liquid out of the mesh bag, I squeezed it. In fact, I squeezed it a lot. A good deal of cooled wort ran over my hands as I squeezed it into the fermenter.

What do you think are the odds this will infect my beer?

My hands were definitely clean. I also had been dunking them in some iodophor throughout the brew session, but I’m not 100% confident that they would qualify as sanitary when I squeezed the wort. They might have been, but I don’t know.

I’m not a total noob—this was my 10th batch. Thus, I know the only way to tell will be to just wait a few weeks and see. In the mean time, I’ll RDWHAHB.

LESSON FOR OTHER BEGINNERS: In the future, if you need to squeeze the nylon bag used for straining, make sure your hands are SANITARY!

 

[Engelramm]

I'd say your chance of infection is about 7%. :cross:

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

I think closer to 6.5% +/- 0.5%

You are probably fine, wait and see.

 

[Revvy]

I use the same thing as you, and I squeeze all the time...No infection yet!

 

[solidghost]

Always better to use glove? And dunking in saniziter, you should be quite safe.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Don't worry, I'm sure that your beer will be just fine.

 

[MikeB]

How the hell can you afford 7 ounces of hops?

 

[blacklab]

No.

While some remote possibility remains that you did, you most likely did not.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I usually sparge them then dip my hands in sanitizer first.

 

[EdWort]

I squeeze my hop bag immediately after flame out, but I wear neoprene lined gloves. Works great and takes me less than 30 seconds to drain the bag.

 

[polamalu43]

How the hell can you afford 7 ounces of hops?

It wasn't cheap, but I wanted to make a massive IPA. What can I say? I had Pliny the Younger for the first time ever, and I was inspired...

Essentially, all I will do is cut out a couple of nice six packs from my monthly supply or eat one less meal out for the month. The way I look at it, an extra 4-5 ounces of hops are the cost of a couple of nice beers at a beer bar here in DC.

We'll see if it's worth it though, seven ounces in a five gallon batch and an ounce of centennials for dry hopping may be pushing it.

 

[Liquidicem]

I'm in the glove camp as well. The main reason is the smell. I enjoy the smell of hops as much as the next guy but after squeezing out the hop bag it can take quite a while to get the smell off your hands. That, and sanitation is much easier.

 

[EdWort]

I'm in the glove camp as well. The main reason is the smell. I enjoy the smell of hops as much as the next guy but after squeezing out the hop bag it can take quite a while to get the smell off your hands. That, and sanitation is much easier.

Especially if you are handling a 200+ degree hop bag.

 

[Danek]

FWIW, I use sanitised tongs - by squeezing the hop bag and pressing against the side of the kettle, I get a good amount of the liquid out. Sometimes it's a few extra bottles' worth of beer, which it would seem criminal to lose.