Drying Hops

[Swifty]

About to pick my first crop of hops but wondering how other people dry them?
I was thinking of putting them on a flyscreen and keeping them in the shade as much as possible but how do I know when they are dry enough to seal in a glad bag and store?
Any suggestions for any process after picking would be appreciated.

 

[Stinky Nightgown]

Hey Swifty.........there is a really cool article here.........might help

linky

 

[Swifty]

Thanks, just what I needed. Must be crap at searching 'cause I couldn't find that article.

 

[conradneilands]

About to pick my first crop of hops but wondering how other people dry them?
I was thinking of putting them on a flyscreen and keeping them in the shade as much as possible but how do I know when they are dry enough to seal in a glad bag and store?
Any suggestions for any process after picking would be appreciated.

If things get desperate you can just put them straight in the freezer (in snap lock bags). I know it's not ideal but it works well enough if you use them all up in a few months.

This was after I had a bumper first crop and being a first crop told not to expect much, so i didn't really have any of the equipment organised.

 

[Bizier]

Hey Swifty,

Be sure to get them onto your screens quickly because they develop mould really really quickly. I mean in a couple of hours given the right conditions.

 

[reVoxAHB]

I built an oast earlier in the week using a 20L handy pail, spare 80mm PC case fan, coat hangers and fly-wire screen:

Case fan blue-tacked to the bottom of pail on small 5mm risers:

Gradual flywire tiers.. I think I came in at 7 or 8 in total:

(pictured left: top tier, done. right: 1st level of hops with next screen tier ready for more hops)

Drying before:

Drying after:

I reckon they were completely dry in 24 hours; left the fan on for another 24 (48 in total) aiming for over-dry as per the AHB article. Took my inspiration for the oast from it too, "If I wanted dried hops, I would try to build something from a large cardboard box with a computer fan mounted near the base, circulating cool dry air to preserve the aromatics. You would still need to make mesh shelves. I have never heard of it, but you may be able to utilise a dessicant such as silica." Thanks to writer (Doc?)

reVox

 

[reVoxAHB]

Quick question, regarding usage:

1.) As these are home-grown hops and not commercially dried, how weary need I be of infection when used as dry-hop in secondary?

If necessary, I had thought I could steep them in boiling water for 10 mins (in tea/coffee press etc.) cool in a sink of ice then add (water and all) to secondary, rack on top?

Any suggestions or tips here?

Cheers
reVox

 

[Quintrex]

Quick question, regarding usage:

1.) As these are home-grown hops and not commercially dried, how weary need I be of infection when used as dry-hop in secondary?

If necessary, I had thought I could steep them in boiling water for 10 mins (in tea/coffee press etc.) cool in a sink of ice then add (water and all) to secondary, rack on top?

Any suggestions or tips here?

Cheers
reVox

Maybe if you're worried just add/up the flameout addition although I can't imagine the infection risk being much/any greater than using commercial hop flowers. Otherwise maybe freezing them would help kill off/maim any nasties.

Q

BTW what flowers have you got?

 

[reVoxAHB]

Maybe if you're worried just add/up the flameout addition although I can't imagine the infection risk being much/any greater than using commercial hop flowers. Otherwise maybe freezing them would help kill off/maim any nasties.

Q

BTW what flowers have you got?

I agree Q, flameout/boil would be fine. But I'm really wanting to showcase the flavour (Chinook, Cascade, POR btw) from a secondary addition or in keg.

To be honest with you, I'm not overly worried the hops have picked anything up but I guess I'd consider myself a pedantic brewer, erring on the side of caution as general practice.

Never thought of freezing, but certainly that's where they're going once I bag them. Wish I had a nitrogen system + vacuum sealer but then I wish I had a lot of things in my brewery

reVox

 

[Mardoo]

Howdy folks,

Having read through all the hop drying threads I could find using the (rather dreadful) app search engine I still have a question:

Do your hops smell grassy after drying? Mine have a general grassy smell. Nose-in-hop they smell incredible, but as a batch I smell grass. They were dried to 15% of their original weight.

I tried hard only to harvest ripe ones, according to descriptions I have read. However we were forced to move house right around ripening so may have erred on the side of too early on some. I harvested only from the tips of the bines - only if they felt ripe - and left plenty on the bines I cut away.

I certainly don't want that grassiness in my beer. Anyone have anything to help me?

 

[Mardoo]

Bump

 

[Mardoo]

OK, one final bump. Anyone?

 

[philmud]

Mardoo, my chinook seem the same - no where near as dank as I thought they'd be and a straw-like smell to them. I'm confident I didn't pick too early, they were papery, becoming brittle, had lovely lupulin and many had very slight browning at the edges. I'm not sure what to make of it and am considering making a crappy extract brew to test them (bittering and dry hop).

 

[Mardoo]

Inexperience can be so interesting! Thanks for your reply. When I vac sealed them tonight, compressing them à la the advice in the article, the hop scent after compressing and before sealing was far more evident. I too am going to proceed with caution though, however will likely do a split batch, one flavor-hopped with these, one with other hops.

 

[Yob]

The grassiness is attributed to chlorophyll, that should really dissipate with darkness and drying, usually in my experience anyway..

What aboutconce you give them a squeeze?

 

[philmud]

What aboutconce you give them a squeeze?

They give me a slap! No seriously, I get a hoppy smell then. Still more mild than I'd anticipated. I'd say about 1/5 of the whack you get when you open a bag of pellets

 

[Mardoo]

Yeah Yob, my guess is incomplete decarboxylation. Similar to other plants o_o