So the other day I added some dry-hops after a week of my brew day. Fermentation was pretty much done. And I came up with a couple of questions I hadn't thought about before: - Why do we not sanitise hops (at least I never have) before dry-hopping? Shouldn't it be a concern? Do hop sellers do anything to sanitise them before putting them in the bags? What about using your own home-grown hops? - I waited until fermentation was done to add the dry-hops to the fermentation vessel. Would I get different results if I just dry-hopped at the same time I am adding the yeast? I am not doing any secondary, so it all goes in the same vessel. I was just wondering if dry-hops affect fermentation or something. Thanks,
Hops themselves have antiseptic properties, which is why they don't require any sanitation when dryhopping. There are differing opinions on when its 'best' to add dryhops. Firestone Walker adds theirs just as fermentation is puttering out (like you did) and they produce world class hoppy beers. Russian River waits until fermentation is 100% complete, then removes the yeast, then adds dryhops (this is more typical than FW's approach). If you are dryhopping in a bag (like I do), its important to sanitize the bag and any weights you may be using to hold the hops under the surface of the beer.
Compounds in hops have natural anti-microbial properties (regardless of who grew them). If you added the dry hops at the beginning of fermentation, a lot of the flavor and aroma compounds would be scrubbed away by the fermentation. Hops do suppress yeast activity, but not to any great extent when we're talking about Sacch beers strains and the amount of hops normally used.
Hops and and of themselves are antimicrobal. Dry hopping is best done after fermentation is over for two reasons off the top of my head. CO2 produced during fermentation will drive off hop aromatics and the more yeast that is in suspension will take hop compounds (oils?) away from the rest of the beer as it flocculates out - leaving you with less of the desired effect of dry hopping.
Thanks for the quick responses. I did boil the bag I used for the dry hopping. This time around, I just put it in there with no weights.
Only the bitter resins? I was under the impression that it affected the dry hopping as well. Very good info, thanks!
It affects the bitterness that comes from Iso-AA and also the perception of bitterness added by the soft resins, IIRC. Some strains of yeast are thought to remove more i.e. the flocculant ones.
