Advice wanted on drying hops

[Drunk Az]

Hi all,
I have been growing my first hop bines this season and they are nearly ready to harvest but I had a couple if questions I was hoping someone can answer;

1/ what is the best way to dry hops? I am currently thinking about using my fermentation fridge to dry them - set at say 25 degrees C for ??( not sure) Amount of time. This way I can control my temp and also there will be no UV light effecting the hops.

2/ is it necessary to have a vacuum sealer to package the hops prior to freezing.

3/ any other thoughts or ideas that I don't know about!

Cheers, Az.

 

[wynnum1]

Silica Gel may be worth looking at to remove the humidity.

 

[MaltyHops]

1/ ... I am currently thinking about using my fermentation fridge to dry them - set at say 25 degrees C for ??( not sure) Amount of time. This way I can control my temp and also there will be no UV light effecting the hops.

Probably not as the moisture leaving the hops would have nowhere to go, probably making your hops mouldy.

 

[glenos]

On an open rack in your shed/garage with a fan blowing across them, this will get you to 20% moisture. Removing the 12% is the tricky bit I haven't worked out my strategy yet.

There's a Basic Brewing Radio podcast on this exact topic 27/9/2012 http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2012 they stop talking crap at about 20 minutes.

 

[slcmorro]

I dried my hops in two days by stacking them 1 layer deep in milk crates, in front of a large sliding door with flyscreen and a fan blowing on them. Gentle shake every few hours. It was 35c over the two days I did this.

Doing in in the ferm fridge won't work IMO, you need airflow not just heat.

 

[wynnum1]

I dried my hops in two days by stacking them 1 layer deep in milk crates, in front of a large sliding door with flyscreen and a fan blowing on them. Gentle shake every few hours. It was 35c over the two days I did this.

Doing in in the ferm fridge won't work IMO, you need airflow not just heat.

What was humidity not good here in Brisbane the fridge would be OK if can draw off all moisture.

 

[Camo6]

Someone once told me putting the flowers into cardboard boxes and storing them in the cool darkness under the house for a week worked well. Hold on... was that for hops?

 

[wynnum1]

SILICA GEL HAS MANY USES AROUND THE HOME, BOATING, CAMERAS, SPORTS EQUIPMENT, PACKAGING, FLOWER DRYING AND MANY MORE. ANYWHERE WHERE DAMPNESS OR MOISTURE CAN BE A PROBLEM.

 

[slcmorro]

What was humidity not good here in Brisbane the fridge would be OK if can draw off all moisture.

Not humid at all. Dry.

 

[wynnum1]

DampRid 3.4kg Moisture Absorber Economy Refill

 

[Mardoo]

The crystal cat litter is said to be silica gel. Cheapest source there is.

 

[wynnum1]

Calcium chloride concrete additive water hardener and deicing and Moisture Absorber.

Heats up if mixed with water.

 

[Drunk Az]

Great, thanks for all of the feedback and advice. The podcast was particularly useful.

I have managed to borrow a mates dehydrator that has a low heat setting for drying herbs etc so I will see how that goes.

Cheers, Az.

 

[stux]

I used my wife's deyhydrator this time round...

(somebody bought it for her )

800g of chinook so far

seemed to work well, at 35C, I figure that's like using the flyscreens on a dry hot day

 

[Judanero]

I also use a food dehydrator but have a pedestal fan on low pointing at the unit from ~2 metres away.




If you go down the dehydrator path I think it's best to invest in a drawer one, and spend a little to get a half decent one.

I got this cheap with intentions for jerky but it really doesn't heat up anywhere near what it claims to, with a fan on it it does dry the hops nicely... rubbish for jerky.

 

[Scottsrx]

How long are you guys keeping them in the dehydrator for? I ran mine last night for a few hours on low and halved the total weight of my hops.

 

[Judanero]

I run mine for ~ 7 hrs, turn off overnight, run about the same the next day and it's usually done. My dehydrator is cheap and nasty though so ymmv.

 

[Drunk Az]

Harvested 208 grams of Goldings and dried them in the dehydrator that I borrowed - 6 hours at 35 degrees C initially that dropped them to 98 grams, put them back in for another 3 hours and they dropped to 68 grams, back in for another hour and they dropped to 61 grams. I stopped there and packaged them as I was concerned that I was starting to cook them and there was some lupulin dropping out. Following the the guidance in the podcast that was posted above I was aiming for around 40 - 50 grams so hopefully they will be ok.

As I don't have a vacuum sealer I just packed them in vip lock bags that I purged with CO2 to get rid of the oxygen then squeezed and sealed.

I have another harvest on the Goldings bine to go (although may do a wet hop brew tomorrow with them) and then I have my Willamette bine to harvest as well so I have a few goes to get it right.

Once again, thanks everyone for your advice!

 

[Drunk Az]

The packaged hops

 

[Bats]

I'm also a first year hop harvester.
Didn't get many being a first year bine. I dried them in my garage between 2 flyscreens in a single layer. I checked on them today after about 5 days and they're as dry as anything. They've lost a lot of colour and shape. They are now a very pale green browny colour and the lupilin is falling out easily.
Have they dried too much? Are they ruined?
They still smell ok.
I only have about 20g dried so was just going to dry hop a brew and hopefully get a bigger yield and be a more experienced hop farmer next year.
Any replies are appreciated.