I picked a good sized amount of hops today. Loaded up my oast and thought, last time I did this I couldn't share photos because I was a HBT Freeloader.
Anyhow here is my Hops Oast. I made use of an old dresser or chest of drawers from the basement.
1st I removed the drawers, then drilled holes into the bottoms. (Used a hole saw.)
Then I got some bulk do-it-yourself reusable furnace filters and cut them to size so I could line the drawer.
I rigged a fan to blow air up through the bottom. I usually leave the top drawer cracked open so the moist air gets pushed out. Drying usually takes 3 days.
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Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie
How about Alton Brown's method of drying beef jerky? Get a bunch of home air handler filter panels (use the non fiberglass ones) and sandwich your hops between them and attach the stack to a box fan. Probably much less bulky than a single task dresser like that.
How about Alton Brown's method of drying beef jerky? Get a bunch of home air handler filter panels (use the non fiberglass ones) and sandwich your hops between them and attach the stack to a box fan. Probably much less bulky than a single task dresser like that.
Yes maybe so, but I have a dresser that not being used and I had furnace filter material. I also have a much greater capacity for drying hops than you would with the stacked filters. There's a limit of how high you could stack them without it getting all wobbly and having a fan sitting on top. Not to mention you would start crushing the hops.
With my set-up I could fill the drawers full of hops and fluff them once a day. It's also a lot easier to keep the different hop types separate. One drawer, one hop type. I only have two types...
I could still use it store home brew stuff if I wanted. I just never thought of what I'd put in the thing. I'd rather keep my gear in dust free boxes anyhow.
The pro's use an oast similar to this for drying hops I saw one pictured in my hop book and thought that using this set-up was easier than making an Oast. The typical oast has a box frame with a screen attached to the base and has short stubby legs. The frames are all stacked on top of each other with the top frame covered with plywood. Hot air is pumped into the top via a hair dryer. The hops are supposed to be away from daylight too once picked so this does a good job of drying and sheltering them.
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Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie
Oooh! I just moved an old dresser to my new brewing area. This will work perfectly! I will still be able to use it for brew gear 95% of the year, and it can double up as an oast! I even already have all the bits I need! THANKS!!
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Why do they never tell you they are a guy until AFTER you put your hand up their skirt?
How about Alton Brown's method of drying beef jerky? Get a bunch of home air handler filter panels (use the non fiberglass ones) and sandwich your hops between them and attach the stack to a box fan. Probably much less bulky than a single task dresser like that.
Worked well for me when I found an ad on craigslist that simply read "free hops-u harvest" and listed an address. I felt like a hopburglar but the mystery ale was a hit!
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In process- Jamil's 70/-, Ken schramm's vanilla mead, lemon wine Kegged-Flemings Finest IPA
Planning- Black Butte Porter
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Clay
Last night, as I cleaned out four carboys, two corney kegs and lots of lines, my 12 year old daughter noted: "Dad, it looks like brewing beer is mostly about washing dishes."
Worked well for me when I found an ad on craigslist that simply read "free hops-u harvest" and listed an address. I felt like a hopburglar but the mystery ale was a hit!
So how did you dry them? I assume these were wild hops or a leftover variety from a one time home owner/brewer.
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Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie
So how did you dry them? I assume these were wild hops or a leftover variety from a one time home owner/brewer.
I used the alton brown box fan method, I had used it before to make jerky. It took a little more than a day to dry.
As for the variety, who knows! they were definitely low aa hops, maybe just decorative. I made a SMaSH with english pale and some re harvested yeast.
Malty beer but quaffable and total cost was just 9 lbs of grain!
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In process- Jamil's 70/-, Ken schramm's vanilla mead, lemon wine Kegged-Flemings Finest IPA
Planning- Black Butte Porter
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Clay
Last night, as I cleaned out four carboys, two corney kegs and lots of lines, my 12 year old daughter noted: "Dad, it looks like brewing beer is mostly about washing dishes."
Easy Hop Drying Oast
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