dry hopping and contamination

[bottlebomber]

I have never dry hopped before, but I am about to do a batch. I have never heard anything, though, about risk of contamination with putting dry, unboiled hops into the nearly finished beer. Isn't this a concern? Is there something that needs to be done first? It seems like hop cones would be a wonderful place for bacteria to stow away into your brew...

 

[AustinBrewDawg]

Hops are anti-bacterial. Its what our ancestors used before there was Starsan.

 

[stevo155]

Nope, just dump them right in.

 

[ChillWill]

As long as they're not ridiculously old. Some bacteria must be able to live on them to break the down / decompose them I'd have thought, whether or not they are the sort of bacteria that would survive in alcohol is something else.

However, I'd be surprised if anyone got infection from dry hopping, unless they used a muslin bag which may harbour some stuff. If using whole leaf in muslin bag, I boil the bag for 15min before putting the hops into it.

Oh... and make sure they're just hops, I have found a lady bird (or love bug as you call them?) in some hops at a brewery I was at, it wasn't in the best shape after being dried and vacuum packed. Also found a safety pin, some sticks and string from the hop farm lol.

 

[elproducto]

Just dump them in, they were originally used to preserve beer from spoiling on long trips across the ocean.

Also keep in mind by the time you dry hop, your beer has fermented, so it's pretty hard to infect at that point.

 

[bottlebomber]

Ok thanks for the feedback guys