How should you sanitize for dry hopping and how do you do it? We break it all down in this week’s episode of BrewTalk with Mr. Beer.

So Dry hopping, it’s a pretty cool thing. Adding hops late in fermentation for aroma can add that extra element to your beer.

A lot of our recipes, especially IPAs call for dry hopping. Not a lot of people are sure how to sanitize the hop sack for dry hopping though. Yes, you do need to always sanitize everything that will come in contact with your beer.

Depending on what recipe you are brewing we will have you dry hop with our without a hopsack. This is mostly dependent on how many hops you are adding. You don’t want to add 3oz of loose hops into your LBK, you might have a few issues when it comes time to bottling.

Okay so to sanitize your hopsack you can do a few things.

If you have any extra sanitizer packets or something like Star San you can mix it up and let hop sack soak in that.

If you don’t have any extra sanitizer you can boil the hop sack in water for a few minutes to sanitize it that way.

Always make sure to sanitize any other equipment you might be using as well. That would be scissors to open the packet of hops and then tongs to get the hop sack out of the boiling water.

If you are not using a hopsack then you just want to make sure to sanitize your scissors and you will be good to go.

When adding the hops to the hop sack make sure not to touch the outside of the hop bag with the hop sack. The risk of infection this way is very low, but you don’t want to take the chance!

Once you pour in the hops you will want to tie off the hop sack. Make sure to tie the knot a little high as the hops will expand once they get soaked up in the beer.

From there you open your lid quick and gently drop them in.

If you not using a hopsack then you would just gently pour the hops in the keg.

Then once you're done put the lid back on and your good to go.

Just remember when doing this always be careful about sanitization. Make sure to wash your hands and that everything is clean. This is a place where a lot of people can get infections to make sure to be careful.

Cheers,

Robert