Hops = sanitized?

[duskb]

So it occurred to me last night when finished a batch and dropping in the last .5 oz of hops at the end of the boil that the hops I'm dumping into my beer is essentially just compressed plant matter that's probably not sanitized. We spend all this time talking about controlling our sanitation and then at the last minute we dump in a bunch of possibly infectous matter. This seems counter-intuitive.

Plus my logic follows if the hot wort is so hot that any dirty matter that the hops carry dies off quick why should I be all that worried about super clean thermometers, pot lids, dirty water, and other kitchenware while the beer is cooling?

 

[arover]

Plus my logic follows if the hot wort is so hot that any dirty matter that the hops carry dies off quick why should I be all that worried about super clean thermometers, pot lids, dirty water, and other kitchenware while the beer is cooling?

Perhaps because steps are taken to make sure that those hops are sanitized, AND I'm willing to bet your equipment isn't all that acidic...which definitely has an effect in keeping some of that bacteria away. Iirc the oil on the hops wont allow any nasties to grow on them. Plus the temperature of that water at flame-out is probably enough to kill anything that may be lingering on those hops. The cooler the wort becomes, the less likely it is that the current temperature will kill off any bacteria that touches it as it's cooling.

 

[febbrewro]

From my limited knowledge, hops were originally added to beer for their preservative properties. Bacteria probably can't live on the hops because of their oils.

 

[red96jeep]

it's a mystery of the beer gods, try brewing a batch without sanitizing any of your other equipment and see how well it turns out.

 

[SumnerH]

it's a mystery of the beer gods, try brewing a batch without sanitizing any of your other equipment and see how well it turns out.

At least 8 times out of 10, it'll come out okay. People did it for centuries and made good beer (albeit not as consistently), and there are still people around who just rinse everything with hot water and call it good enough.

Sanitizing is about improving those odds as much as possible. It's also as much about keeping away off-flavors and getting consistent results as it is about preventing batches from being totally ruined.

 

[Grimm]

I would wonder more about the hops adding an infection when dry hopping.

 

[MikeG]

Even with dry-hopping I don't sanitize my hops, they go straight from the sealed bag into the bucket/carboy.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Infections from adding hops are almost unheard of - beer-spoiling organisms just don't tend to grow very well on them.

You don't need to sanitize thermometers, lids, etc. as long as they were in contact with the boiling wort or its steam for a few minutes. But after flameout, sanitizing equipment is definitely a must in my opinion, since wort is essentially just sugar water - in other words near-perfect growing media for all kinds of bacteria, molds, wild yeasts, etc. With a chiller, the wort temperature drops below pasteurization range very quickly, and you can end up with infections if you don't sanitize your stuff.

 

[springer]

bacteria cannot grow on hops you can pick them and throw them right into the beer (wet hopping) the hop has oils which keep it sanitary. RDWHAHB

 

[withak]

Infection from the hops just doesn't happen.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-1.html

 

[menschmaschine]

As far as equipment sanitizing goes, at flameout, with 200°F+ wort, anything that touches it is sanitized in seconds. (This is called heat sanitizing.) When you get down to 180°F, you need about 30 seconds of contact time for it to be sanitized (by definition). The lower the temp, the more contact time is needed to sanitize it. When you get below 140°F, the ability to heat sanitize is lost and you don't want anything previously unsanitized touching the wort.