Best way to sanitize dry hops?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hopper77

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2013
Messages
151
Reaction score
17
I've ruined a few batches dry hopping. One turned milky brown and another had a horrible taste. Having just dry hopped an IPA and an Amber I was wondering how people sanitize the hops? I've boiled them and the bag in water and cooled it then dumped it all in. Something about dumping green hop water into my beer I just can't get over. Last night I soaked the bag in one step then added the hops and pitched it. I've soaked frozen vaccum sealed hops in my 160f tap water then put them in the sanitized hop sack. Does microwaving the hops work?
 
If the hops aren't funky and your brew has made it through primary ferm, there really isn't much reason to have an issue with dry hopping. I might look elsewhere in the process....
 
If your dryhopped batches were ruined, it was NOT from the dryhopping. You add the hops, not boiled, into the beer. That's it.

Adding a bag or something may contaminate the batch, but I assume the bag would have been sanitized.

Next time, add the hops. Just hops, right from the bag you bought them in. That will make sure nothing else touches the beer, and the hops aren't boiled, or added to water or sanatizer or anything.
 
You don't need to sanitize hops. You can look this up for yourself on many independent sources. If you use a bag you should sanitize the bag in something like Starsan.
 
I've never sanitized hops for dry-hopping and it's never caused any problems. Even when the guy at my LHBS reaches into the bulk hop bins with his bare unwashed hands and handles them multiple times while he weighs them out. :cross: Hops are naturally antibacterial so you shouldn't need to worry about it. Here's a link if you want to have a look: http://www.lfl.bayern.de/ipz/hopfen/10585/poster1_01.pdf

Also, pre-boiling your hops kind of defeats the purpose of dryhopping, because the heat isomerizes the alpha acids, making them soluble and bitter, while driving off the aromatic compounds. I just toss them in, dry.
 
Hops make beer good.....grow'em, buy 'em, put 'em in your beer, no fuss no harm .....
 
Your supposed to be dry hopping not dry humping :D

As the others stated just dump them in. There is enough alcohol to kill any bugs that were on or in the hops.
 
I boil the hop sack for 10 mins...but that is probably overkill. I then add the dry hops to the sanitized bag and toss them in.
 
After the milky brown beer I asked the guy at the LHBS. He said they should be submerged in boiling water to sanitize. The batch before that one was a IIPA at 11% and he said that more than likely the high abv killed anything in that batch. The milky brown batch was around 5. I should mention that the milky brown batch I dry hopped in the keg. After not dry hopping for over a year and then coming back to it I am a little hesitant to do brews that need it. I have just tossed them in a carboy before but I couldn't stand to see them just sitting on top of the beer so now I put them in a hop sack with a whiskey glass so it sinks. Also I've bought hops from the store and found long strands of human hair sealed half in the bag and half outside of it. They get the hops wholesale and package them for resale in the shop. I've also noticed most of the bags are full of air. Some I them are vacuum sealed though. Anyways thanks for the info. Ill try not to sweat it and just trust the hops
 
I always dry hop in keg/secondary. Sanitize a muslin bag, add a sanitized ss or glass weight along with hops pellets,(different bag for pellets) or whole leaf. Works great for a corny keg. Bags help keep leaves or pellets out of the keg valve. Also the weight keeps the hops next to the liquid out tube. Intense blast of hops! Most of the time the hops spend over a month in the keg....never had a problem even dry hopping with home grown hops. cheers!

on tap; chocolate oatmeal stout
secondary; IPA
primary; american barleywine
 
Milky brown... When dry hopping in the keg i have noticed that beers tend to be cloudier. Did these hops actually darken your beer or just cloud?
 
Milky brown... When dry hopping in the keg i have noticed that beers tend to be cloudier. Did these hops actually darken your beer or just cloud?

They can add pectins to the beer that make it cloudy. Oscar Blue's Put out a beer that is dry hopped to the limit and they beer is cloudy.
 
DrunkleJon said:
Milky brown... When dry hopping in the keg i have noticed that beers tend to be cloudier. Did these hops actually darken your beer or just cloud?

It went from a normal looking golden IPA to chocolate milk and tasted and smelled horrible.
 
Yeah, from what you described, I'd find a new hops supplier... Sounds like your LHBS is not handling the hops at all correctly. They should be coming in sealed pouches from the manufacturer - some are vacuum sealed, some are purged with Nitrogen or some other inert gas that will not spoil them. But human hair? That'd end it for me.

I've dry hopped by just dumping the hops in, and also by sanitizing a muslin bag, dumping the hops into that, and dumping the bag in. I preferred the result I got from letting the hops float free.
 
80% of what I brew is dry hopped. Always dumped in and never in bags of any kind. Pellets, whole cones, plugs whatever and never an issue like yours. If you feel the need to bag hops, you need to sanitize the bags only and boil for 15 minuets and then place the raw hops in the bags. Our local Brew Shop advises against anyone dry hopping with bags as bags are the ussual source of problems at that stage.
 
I dryhop 3 and 6bbl batches regularly with the process described above by several...wash and sanitize hop bag, dump hops in bag and hang it in the tank using a line to be able to retrieve them.

Never had any issues whatsoever.

I would look for a new supplier from what you are describing.
 
Thanks for the input everybody. Sounds like ill be ok. I will definitely be looking for a new source of hops. I planted 6 plants last year and will be planting probably 10 this year. Over time I want to get to a point where I can grow and store enough of my own hops to greatly reduce my brewing costs throughout the year
 
Thanks for the input everybody. Sounds like ill be ok. I will definitely be looking for a new source of hops. I planted 6 plants last year and will be planting probably 10 this year. Over time I want to get to a point where I can grow and store enough of my own hops to greatly reduce my brewing costs throughout the year

First year hops won't be what you are looking for, my understanding is first year buds are a byproduct of growth and adjustment but second year they become stable and more useable.
 
you dont sanitize. your beer is already alcoholic. so as long as your hops dont carry some seriously developed infection you will be jsut fine
 
Yeah,I understand it takes like 3 years for the bines to mature. I'm still mulling over turning the usless garden out back into a large hop garden. Damn birds,ducks,deer,rabbits,etc cut off the seedlings as soon as they sprout. Hops might be a better choice. And I sanitize the hop sack/grain bag for pellet/raw hops then fill,tie,& pitch'em in.
 
Yah last years hops were first year. Planted 6 2 died and a few others stunted. I'm wishing now that I planted a bunch last year but since I didn't I might as well get the ball rolling this year. Hopefully in a few years the only things I will need to spend money on is grains
 
Last night I soaked the bag in one step then added the hops and pitched it.

For the love of beer, ONE STEP NOT A SANITIZER. One Step is a cleaner. It will not sanitize anything. Get yourself a proper sanitizer like StarSan or Idophor and quit blaming your hops.
 
I used to argue the same thing until I did some research. Actually, One Step is not rated for sanitizing but only because they won't pay the expense for the testing. It will sanitize but they cannot market it as one--according to their own website. I still prefer StarSan but One Step will work.
 
I've always used One Step. Carboys, buckets, kegs etc... never had any issues.
 
One set of comments I didn't see was about sanitizing everything else. I don't sanitize my pellets, but I sanitize the hop packaging and the scissors I open them with, the bucket/carboy lid, my hands, etc. before I open the fermentor and dump the hops in. Is this overkill? Probably. But I'd rather spend an extra 5 minutes being paranoid then waste the hours I spent brewing.

Old hops can leave off flavors (oxidation), as will hops exposed to sunlight for an extended amount of time. If your hops aren't vacuum packed and stored cold, they won't last long.
 
Oh - if you're going to sanitize your hand, wear nitrile gloves first. Nothing makes Old Man Winter happier than Star San hands. He barely has to work to make skin chap after that (ouch).
 
AmandaK said:
For the love of beer, ONE STEP NOT A SANITIZER. One Step is a cleaner. It will not sanitize anything. Get yourself a proper sanitizer like StarSan or Idophor and quit blaming your hops.

I've used star San and idophor. The Homebrew store was out of star San so I went with one step. Which I've successfully used to brew over 100 gallons of beer.
 
Back
Top