Sanitizing Homegrown Hops

Ingredients
1

Hey there!

So I’m in CO and I’ve just harvested my hops (Cascades). I plan to use them on my brew this Saturday where I’ll be dry hopping. How should I sanitize these?  I’ve heard that hops are naturally bacteria free, but considering I dry them out naturally, I’m worried that dust, etc could infect.

  1. How do I sanitize hops (if needed) w/o destroying any volatile oils?
  2. How worried should I be about this?

Thanks!

2

You don’t need to sanitize them. Your beer will be fine. Many people, including myself, have made thousands of batches of beer with home grown hops, and have had no problems. At least not from the hops.

3

Awesome!! Thanks!

4

I run mine through the dishwasher, then microwave them for 20 min,. then dunk them in boiling water…

NOT!!!

Just use 'em…you’ll be fine!

5

Denny, I do the same thing when I want a substitute for three year old hops for my Belgiums, Ha Ha
I prefer pellet hops for dry hopping as they are easier to add to carboys than leaf and they dissolve/soak in faster than leaf.

6

I boil mine for 60, 30, 20, 15, 10 or 5 minutes or soak then in a 5 - 7 % alcohol solution for a week or two. No problems so far.

7

Pragmatic!

8

I am getting 2 lbs of fresh hops from a local hop grower (Niwot Hops) on Thursday. I am picking them up and plan to be brewing with them a half hour later. They said there acids analysis came back and thier Cascades were 8.7 AA  :o Something about the climate and soil here so yours may be pretty high alpha too.

9

I only dry hopped with mine. Good to know though! Haven’t heard that before! My brew is in the secondary now and it smells/tastes great so far.