Hop bag sanitation - How?

I immerse them in boiling water for 5 minutes or so, never had a problem.

 

When I dryhop I just plop them in. I want to know how everyone uses these bags without introducing a bunch of oxygen to the beer. It reminds me of taking a sponge and submersing it into a liquid, its got to give off all the air that's held in there.

 

Boil it.

 

Not if you dip them in boiling water first.

 

I don’t use a bag when I dry hop because I like the hops to spread out and cover the surface of the beer. My thinking on this it that greater surface contact should maximize the extraction of the essential oils of the hops, and I don’t have to worry about getting hops into a hot, wet hop sock. When I’m done dry hopping I sanitize a strainer and spoon and scoop out the hops. While doing this, I gently press some of the beer out of the hops. I haven’t noticed any oxidative effects or infections from doing it this way.

 

So you boil it with the hops in it? That doesn't even make sense. And I haven't started drinking yet either.

 

Of course you don't boil it with the hops in it. If you're implying that a bag full of hops gets more oxygen into the beer than simply dumping the hops in I doubt that's true, or if it is the difference is marginal.

 

I have used bags during my boils to keep hop / adjunct debris to a minimum and when you. Submerge the hops in the bag it releasesreleases all the air that's Trapped between the hops slowly through the bag as the air can't instantly permeate the bag.

 

I understand what you're saying, but I wouldn't be too concerned about it, I think the difference is marginal at best. When you dry hop the bags float, its not like they sink to the bottom and the air bubbles up through the beer like it does when you submerge a bag into the boil.

Whenever you dry hop you're introducing some amount of air and contamination (yes hops have antimicrobial properties, that doesn't mean they're sterile), as that same air is trapped between the hops and its going into the fermenter regardless of whether they're in a bag or not. Is it ideal? No, but its a risk/reward decision that we make as part of the process.

 

A thought occurred to me, but has anyone tried taping/affixing O2 absorbing sachets to the inside lid of their keg? I don't understand the mechanisms at work to determine if this would work or not...I should think someone would have thought of this before me, though...if it were doable.

 

It could be done and it would be much the same as using oxygen absorbing caps when bottling, which many people do, the easier way to solve this issue when kegging though is to purge with CO2.

 

Right, I was more thinking of it being used in conjunction, as the break-down of the hop pellets release O2...after you've purged. It would be difficult to determine when the hops stop breaking down, and releasing trapped O2, but I guess you can always purge ever so often during the dry-hop.

 

How much O2 can there be trapped inside of a hop pellet?

 

I've wondered that myself, it may be a negligible amount...but without knowing I just try to think of ways to remove it.