How low do you go?

[orlando]

If like me you dry hop towards the end of fermenting then the alcohol is a great help in keeping infection at bay and as I read somewhere, brewers have been doing this for centuries so if it didn't work we wouldn't be having the conversation. As for 50c steeping that is different so I am happy to hear others experience and as you say hops are known for their preservative character and maybe this starts early in contact with wort.

[charliefarley]

Personally I routinely leave wort to settle for 30-60 mins after cooling before filling FV's. I don't see much difference with having a break half way through and adding hops. Hops are known for their preservative nature in beer. 50c should be high enough to kill off any wild yeasts on them I would guess, ok not enough to pasteurise them.

[orlando]

Up to now I have waited for 1/2 hour or until the wort is at 80c before adding steeping hops and then another 1/2 hour if steeping then straight to the plate chiller. So it can be up to 1 hour after switch off before cooling but to date I don't think the wort has ever gone lower than 70c before chilling. When steeping I've usually gone for a lot of hops but now think I may be wasting them at 80c and wary of going down to 50c, particulalrly now in Summer as it will now take longer to cool and be exposed to more problems than Winter. For any more Summer brews I will give up on steeping and go for dry hopping which has always made the biggest difference to aroma. For flavour I will go for more late hops in the boil. The other change that video has stirred is to cut boil to 60 minutes and see what difference that makes.