New to dry hopping

So I have a rye ale that I brewed 2 and a half weeks ago. I was going to bottle this past weekend but chose to wait and contemplate a possibility. I have 3 hops vines in my yard that have cones on them. It’s the first year for my hop growing and I am not sure how much I will get or when I will have them to harvest. DOes it sound reasonable to wait a few weeks and then when the hops are ready, harvest them and just throw them into the bucket and wait another 2 weeks before bottling? Witt the fact that these came from my yard and are not processed in any way cause contamination? I think that if I go this route I will end up with this ale in the fermenting bucket for close to 8 weeks before bottling. Is that too long?

To dry my hops back when I grew them I just spread them out on some window screen in my shed. I tossed them in secondary or the keg when dry. In secondary your beer has about a 5% or more alcohol solution so it is pretty safe. They could be Pasteurized in 170° water then the solution added with them but that would add a small volume to your beer. I think they could also be microwaved but for how long?

It’s my understanding the oil in hops make them resistant to harboring any nasties capable of infection. Not sure if that applies to full cones though.

Here is a good guide:
http://beerandwinejournal.com/dry-hopping/

I have a related dry hopping question.

  1. Don’t have a secondary.
  2. Brewing Dead Ringer IPA extract kit from NB.
  3. Instructions say to add the dry hops to the secondary “1-2 weeks before bottling day.”
  4. Also say “If you do not have a secondary…may skip…and add an additional week to primary before bottling.”
  5. So if I’m doing three weeks in primary and bottling, I’ll be taking the lid off my 6.5 gallon bucket and sprinkling in the ops at week 2.

Is there any contamination danger to doing that? Does the three weeks sound in primary reasonable to other Dead Ringer brewers?

thanks!

[quote=“Grants”]I have a related dry hopping question.

  1. Don’t have a secondary.
  2. Brewing Dead Ringer IPA extract kit from NB.
  3. Instructions say to add the dry hops to the secondary “1-2 weeks before bottling day.”
  4. Also say “If you do not have a secondary…may skip…and add an additional week to primary before bottling.”
  5. So if I’m doing three weeks in primary and bottling, I’ll be taking the lid off my 6.5 gallon bucket and sprinkling in the ops at week 2.

Is there any contamination danger to doing that? Does the three weeks sound in primary reasonable to other Dead Ringer brewers?

thanks![/quote]

Not a problem on either count.