I have a pale ale I’m going to dry hop tomorrow. Worrying about infection, of course. I wondered if microwaving the hops for a few seconds before adding them would
a - sanitize them
b - have any ill effects on them?
Sounds like a good idea, but I’ve never heard of it being done before.
Just toss them in, they won’t infect your beer.
Personally, I have never heard of craft- or home-brewers doing anything other than just dropping their dry hops into the fermentor, keg, or secondary. Not sure if there’s a technique that works effectively and doesn’t have downsides that outweigh the tiny theoretical possibility of infection by dry-hopping.
Maybe some others have heard or experienced something I have not, though…
Hops are natural preservatives. and their oil makes it hard to introduce an infection.
i have dry hopped A LOT of beers. and never gotten an infection from a dry hopped batch. not to say it CANT happen. but i’ve never heard of it
Also, by the time you get to dry hopping, the alcohol content and low pH of the beer makes it very resistant to infection. I’ve dry opped well over 100 batches and never had a problem due to it.
Thanks, guys. I’ll just toss them in and forget about them.
