Dry Hopping

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I'm planning on racking a pilsner into the secondary tonight and am intending to drop 35g of Saaz pellets into it. I just occured to me - 'what about sanitation' :unsure: Should I boil it for a bit ? - wouldn't this defeat the purpose to some dregree.... Will the beer be inhospitable enough (alcohol etc) to allow direct addition?

What is the usual technique with this?

TIA
 
you can just drop the pellets into secondary without too much trouble. the alcohol already in the beer should prevent any infections.
if you are worried you can soak them in boiled water for a minute or two but it is unneccessary. im sure others will know more about it so we will seewhat others think.
joe
 
i think the majority myself included put the hops in a s/s mug or similar and pour boiling water over the top of the hops and let steep for a few minutes or more to remove the initial grassy taste/smell then pitch into secondary
 
its like this,

germs wont grow in bleach, so you wouldn't need to "sanitise"it before use, Well hops are similar (taste better and wont kill you though:) )

hops i think are a aint germ thingy and hence germs wont grow with them, so adding hops to the fermenter wont infect it unless they were kept warm damp and in a place germs would want to grow.

add them to a cup with hot water for 2 min, the green / grass will leave and pure yummy hops will remain i have done this for a yr now and never a infected brew!!!

anyway to many beers for me tonight time for bed :) this cascade pale ale is just so yummy
 
ben i know what you mean with the pale ale.
i have made my last few extra extra potent they are killers.
anyway like you said, it is a common statement that if you get a infection from dry hopping then you may well be the first brewer ever to do so and the unluckiest brewer on earth.
The alc in the brew has nothing really to do with it unless it is very high in alcohol and finished with a very very low f.g.
The reasons are the hops themselves are what the germs don't like.
 
I've never heard of an infection due to dry hopping.

Dry hops were originally used back in the day as a preservative in the beer! They actually help to keep *out* infection aparently :)
 
You guys are great !

I post the question as I leave work, get home and do the usual chores, jump online and there are half a dozen answers to my question - I love this site !!!

Thanks chaps...
 
I think i remember hearing that hops where used as "beer preserver" in days gone, hence why ipa are so hoppy. So they would keep from england to india.

Wouldn't the hops than kill any germs?


Wedge

ps. i could be wrong :huh:
 
Wouldn't the hops than kill any germs?
Not kill but create a enviroment that bacteria would not like.
This is also why there had to be a low F.G because that left very very little sugars left for others organism to consume.
This combined with the high alcohol all helped to create a enviroment that would not be any good for any other bacteria or anything to grow in.
I don't know if dry hopping was for this reason, maybe it was just to make the beer better when it got to india, but it would go a lot further to help keep the beasties out but not kill i don't think.

JAYSE
 
cheers for the clarification. New i heard something like this before. (It wasn't a dream.)



Wedge
 

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