At a recent homebrew club meeting here in Hilo the subject of spent hops being poisonous to dogs came up. It seems that if dogs eat spent hops they can die from hyperthermia. Does anyone have any information about this? Is it just spent hops or can growing hops be toxic to dogs too?
i grow my hops on the side of the house where the dogs can’t get to them. that said i don’t think that dogs would like or eat enough of the growing plant to be a problem. i think they like the sweetness of the wort soaked hops which they suck down and cause the problems. there have been other threads on this but i couldn’t find the link
Yes, the sweet wort seems to make the hops attractive to the dog. Our dog hasn’t show any interest in the hops on the plants or while the were drying. Although I did keep an eye on this and he is normally eating about anything.
If you have a dog it is not a good idea to dump the spent hops on the compost pile unless that pile is safe from the dog.
Kai
Agreed that the sweetness of the wort attracts the dogs. Haven’t heard that dry hops are a problem. I recall a thread years ago on the Home Brew Digest. A vet had replied with specific info on the issue. You might search the HBD archives.
There was a letter to the editor in Zymurgy. I believe it was the “intro” issue that every LHBS has on display…