Dry Hopping: To Sanitize or Not to Sanitize?

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adamhimself

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So, I am having a bit of a dilemma. I intended to dry hop a few days ago, but have been weary since I have read mixed reviews on the subject. Some people steam their hops while others don't.

My hops have been in my freezer in freezer bags and only opened once. Can I just drop them in or do I need to steam them? To me, steaming doesn't seem to be a real effective means of sanitizing.
 
you don't get infections from fresh hops. hops are a natural preservative. as a matter of fact thats why people started adding hops and why an IPA has so much hops in it.
 
I've been brewing for a while, and I've never heard of anyone steaming or otherwise sanitizing hops. It honestly never occurred to me.

Just toss them in. If you use a bag, though, sanitize the bag first.
 
Like Yooper said. If you use a bag, string and weights, sanitize those. I use a few stainless nuts to weigh the bag down a little bit otherwise it just floats. I sanitize all of that stuff but the hops are cool as is. Never had a problem with it.
 
The alcohol in the beer after fermentation will help prevent infection in addition to the alpha acids from the hops. Just toss them in there if they are pellets as they will settle out to the bottom. Personally I use whole leaf in a tea ball after kegging and it works out nicely. Ofcourse I sanatize the tea ball before using, but not the hops. Like Yooper said I'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone steaming the hops.
 
Like Yooper said I'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone steaming the hops.

I think people were trying this more like ten years ago. I remember trying it back then. I think it was supposedly to soften any grassy notes but I don't think it really did anything. Some hops give grassy notes but I think most don't if you don't leave them in for a super long time. I think I only ever got grassy notes from a mix of Saaz and Hallertauer Mittelfrueh, so couldn't say which of the two gave that flavor. It was awful though. But anyway, I don't think steaming really serves any purpose.
 
That would be like sanitizing antiseptic.

I was listening to a lecture given by Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) about dry hopping. He just throws them. If that's good enough for him--
 
If you just throw the hop pellets in, do they break up into a lot of sediment into the beer? Does it all settle so it doesn't get racked from secondary to filling bucket?
 
If you just throw the hop pellets in, do they break up into a lot of sediment into the beer? Does it all settle so it doesn't get racked from secondary to filling bucket?

It is kind of up to the person racking the beer whether or not sediment goes into the secondary. If you're really concerned you can use gelatin before racking.
 
Along the same lines, do you need to be worried about infecting the beer if you are dry hopping with freshly picked hops from your own back yard?
 

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