Starsan back flow onto hops while dryhopping

[josedelosgranjeros]

Hello yall,

I used my first harvest of patio grown centennial hops to dry hop an imperial ipa. The dry hopping is two days in, and I noticed that half of the star San in my air lock had disappeared, and also that my once verdant hops had turned brown.

I proceeded to refill my three piece airlock and noticed that the cap that moves up and down was immobile when it should have been floating. I tapped it and half of thr star San was sucked into the carboy, on top of my dry hoppin hops. Yes this is likely due to temperature differentials and all that.

If in fact the star San leaked onto the hops slowly over the course of thr past day, will this have ruined the aromas, or worse madey beer a funky flavored mess?

Thanks in advance for any comments!

 

[dubbwelsh]

Lots of people have gotten Star San into their beer (like me) with no problems, it can actually turn into a benefit in fermentation, becoming food for the yeast.
But it sounds like you're concerned about the reaction to hops. I can't imagine Star San affecting aroma noticeably, possibly AA (maybe), but that's not the point of dry hopping.
As far as funky, I highly doubt some wilting of the hops would contribute in any off-flavor.
I've dry-hopped with homegrown hops, which are sometimes "over-dried" and they have absorbed a lot of beer, making them look brown (SRM). So the color may have nothing to do with the Star San.
Of course I could be full of ****. I'd hit it with another round of dry hops (aroma security) for 5 days and call it a doner.
Side note: Don't leave the homegrowns in contact too long, I got a wicked grassy flavor, here.

 

[josedelosgranjeros]

Dubbwelsh, thank you for your reply. Also I like your Blog post, and per your experience in dry hopping that resulted in compost flavors, I will not dry hop for too long. Hopefully as you said, the hops color change was caused by the beer and not any reactions with the star san.

I don't think that I will add any additional hops to thr carboy, as I want to only have whatever aromas come from the small amount of hops I have harvested this year on my patio in Houston Texas. Many thought I was crazy for trying to grow hops in Houston, but my south facing covered apartment patio allowed very little afternoon direct sunlight which I think was essential for the flowers that I was able to get.

 

[dubbwelsh]

I guess I should've asked if you had more homegrown. I assumed, I still have a freezer full. Agreed on not adding more hops, I wouldn't use commercial if I was trying to showcase the fruits of my labor.
Thanks for checking out the site, figure I should share my f-ups with someone! Good luck yo.

 

[josedelosgranjeros]

Patio grown centennial hops used to dry hop this imperial ipa.

Hops clogged the bottle filler and so there was a lot of siphon pumping and consequent aeration of the orange capped bottles. Filled the bottling carboy with co2 to help reduce the oxidation... will taste what happens.

Didn't taste the beer pre sugar priming and champagne yeast. Hop aroma was wonderful!