22 replies to this topic

[cbbrown40]

So with alot of you growing hops now, lets see some posts/pic of how you dry them.I usually put in a paint strainer and toss them around in it for a few days.How about everybody elseI really think I probably need to build some sort of hops drying box so looking for ideas

[Greatfookin]

Last year I put them on a screen door screen, and put it in my Bronco resting on top of the seats. The Summer heat, and the partially open windows made short work of it. It sure did make the truck smell good. Way better than a "little tree air freshener". This method would also work in a garage/shed on sawhorses.The most ingenious method I heard of otherwise was a refrigerator box, with furnace filters at both ends, with a box fan pulling air through it.

[RommelMagic]

I made a series of walls (basically a box) and stapled some screen onto it. I would then stack them and place a fan underneath and allow to dry for however long it takes, usually no more than a couple days in a hot room.

[stellarbrew]

I wonder how well it work to use one of those stacked tray food dehydrators, the type you would use to make beef jerky.

[shmgeggie]

I used a food dehydrator for part of the harvest. The rest I spread out on a screen door in the garage, with one of those little clip-on fans blowing across it. Spokane has very low humidity, so it worked well. I don't know if you could get away with that in the Midwest or Southeast, with the high humidity.

[MyaCullen]

I used a food dehydrator for part of the harvest. The rest I spread out on a screen door in the garage, with one of those little clip-on fans blowing across it. Spokane has very low humidity, so it worked well. I don't know if you could get away with that in the Midwest or Southeast, with the high humidity.

I am also in Spokane and have used the spread out on a screen door method exclusively.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I saw Alton Brown drying herbs using HVAC filters stacked together and then hooked up to a box fan. Has anyone tried this?

[Kremer]

Last year, my first hops harvest, I used a huge screen propped up on something with a little fan circulating past it. It worked well but took up a lot of space and all those little stamen (?) that the cones shed as they dried ended up all over my garage. This year I think I'm going to build a compact grain dryer type thing. Find a pair of cardboard boxes that can stack nicely on each other and replace the bottom in one with window screen, then cut a hole in the other one (hehe, hole in a box...) for a little 12V PC fan. Stack/wedge the box with the screen bottom on/in the one with the fan, load hops in the top box and turn the fan on blowing air into the enclosure and up through the hops, like a false bottom lauder tun operating in reverse. If I get lazy I might just punch a crapload of holes in the top box instead of doing the window screen.

[TheOtherNate]

I saw Alton Brown drying herbs using HVAC filters stacked together and then hooked up to a box fan. Has anyone tried this?

My only concern with that would be possibly wicking the moisture away from the hops would take some of the lupulin with it.I might do the same thing with window screens, though... less surface area and possibly less capillary effect, thus relying more heavily on evaporation directly off the hops.Admittedly, I may be making a tempest in a teacup.WHOA! But if you did use the filters and then used them in you AC unit, afterward, wouldn't the house smell heavenly. ... Nate

[NomNomHopzinator]

My only concern with that would be possibly wicking the moisture away from the hops would take some of the lupulin with it.

This is my first year that I will harvest some cones so I am going to experiment with a makeshift desiccator. Blowing with a fan concerns me exactly about that...blowing away the lupulin residue. Also, protecting them from light sounds like a good idea to me as well since the compounds aren't light stable. I am thinking some sort of box with a smaller box that has some well contained sodium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (baked epsom salt). No fan, no light, well contained, reusable, non-toxic...win win.

[Greatfookin]

This is my first year that I will harvest some cones so I am going to experiment with a makeshift desiccator. Blowing with a fan concerns me exactly about that...blowing away the lupulin residue. Also, protecting them from light sounds like a good idea to me as well since the compounds aren't light stable. I am thinking some sort of box with a smaller box that has some well contained sodium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (baked epsom salt). No fan, no light, well contained, reusable, non-toxic...win win.

[Don't worry dude, just dry them.

[shmgeggie]

I think it's hilarious how many of us have extra screen doors lying around. Is this normal?

[Greatfookin]

I think it's hilarious how many of us have extra screen doors lying around. Is this normal?

Apparently so.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I think it's hilarious how many of us have extra screen doors lying around. Is this normal?

I don't know but I wouldn't mind having some :PSo anyone have anything to say about the HVAC filters? Should I just try to get some window/door screens instead? I've currently got nothing to use...

[Greatfookin]

Furnace filters work well for those who use them, so I say do it.Works for this guy............. https://hbd.org/jdbrown/dryer.htm

[Kremer]

Should I just try to get some window/door screens instead? I've currently got nothing to use...

I took the screen out of our big back window for a couple days, the wife wasn't pleased, but it worked.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I took the screen out of our big back window for a couple days, the wife wasn't pleased, but it worked.

i actually have one small screen that won't stay in for some reason I can use - since these are 2 first year plants it will probably be big enough for my harvest

[MyaCullen]

i actually have one small screen that won't stay in for some reason I can use - since these are 2 first year plants it will probably be big enough for my harvest

You might be amazed at the volume that a couple oz of dried uncompressed hops take up!

[Stout_fan]

... Also, protecting them from light sounds like a good idea to me as well since the compounds aren't light stable. ...

The hop isomers in wort aren't light stable. The hop cones themselves have just spent 3 months in sunshine when you think about it. They've had no problem up till now.And I used a temp controlled dehydrator bought at wally world. But all my fresh hops have gone directly into beer.I haven't used the thing in three years.

[NomNomHopzinator]

That is true, the iso-AAs are unstable but the AAs are pretty unstable along with the other slurry of lupulones, flavonoids, and chalcones and whatever else is there. They are stored in bags that help keep light out, vacuum sealed, and are held at cold temps for a reason. The oil from hops are light, heat, air, and acid/base sensitive. Overall, they are a bugger to handle. Besides air, there are studies showing that the AAs are sensitive to oxidation from other components in the oils such as mycrene! This is just my speculation but when the cones are on the plant, they continuously produce the oils which should compensate for the natural degradation. When they are plucked off, then oil production should stop. Also, the source from above indicates that the oils are somewhat separated in the cone which helps add to the stability of whole hops where extracts seem to degrade quicker. This is also one aspect of the supercritical CO2 extractions. Instead of using vacuums and heat to distill off the essential oils at higher temps, supercritical CO2 is used to extract and preserve the oils at very low temps. There is a ton of patents and research trying to circumvent the degradation of the oils...SC CO2 extractions are a child of that. I am just being anal about the storage but that is my profession...being anal!Here is a good articlehttps://www.brewingt...2.1/garetz.htmlThere is a great article in the journal of Agr and food Chem but you need a subscription so I can't link to it. Sorry for the rant but it is all pretty interesting.