Grassy smell

I harvested some of my Cascades a few days ago, dried them in a food dehydrator, and now they have a grassy smell.....No hop smell at all....

Any chance I picked them too early....

Chlorophyll "off gassing". It's normal and will fade. Over the years, it's a smell you will come to appreciate immensly.

I noticed this as well, even though my Cascades are beginning to brown on the edges and look ready for harvest. The Centennials on the other hand have a wonderful smell already. Saturday is BBQ and harvest time! :rockin:

So, when does the Chlorophyll off-gassing stop and that Cascade aroma develops?

Sorry, the best I can say is 'eventually'. I have never found it to be consistent from batch to batch, year to year. Furthermore, the grassy aroma lingers in my garage so long I don't ever notice the actual hops aroma until I am bagging them.

So, are they maybe not dry enough yet...

They were in the dehydrator for about 8 hours at 95 degrees.

They seemed dry...but I don't want to get mold

Grab a cone and bend it. If the strig (the spine all the leaves emerge from) snaps easily, they are dry enough.

If the strig bends considerably before it snaps, they aren't dry enough.

That, or weigh the wet hops before they go in and periodically while they dry. IIRC, they are dry enough when they are 10% of their original weight. I have NEVER tried that tho'.

I doubt 8 hours at 95F was enough to dry the hops completely. 20% of wet weight is realistic.

My garage sits at about 120F in the middle of the day, dropping to 90F at night. Last year I set the hops out on a screen to dry for 2 days. For those of you that have harvested hops before, do you think this is enough time to dry the hops or should I give it more time?

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

My garage sits at about 120F in the middle of the day, dropping to 90F at night. Last year I set the hops out on a screen to dry for 2 days. For those of you that have harvested hops before, do you think this is enough time to dry the hops or should I give it more time?

Click to expand...

There is no way hops can be dried on a screen in 2 days, at least I dont think so, I dry mine in the house, and it takes at least 5 days on the screen before they snap in the middle, sometimes longer, good luck.

I harvested here in Sacramento with the hottest time of day at 4-5 p.m. being 102. I used a screen and let air dry in the garage with the garage cracked open about a foot. Well over 150 degrees in there. Took less than 2 days and they were bone dry breaking in half. Weather out here is very dry and hot with no humidity.

Wait I thought I read you can dry them in just a few hours?

i'll be putting them on a screen in a greenhouse. 120 degrees or so, I'd guess.

They will be dry in that heat in two days.

I use a homebuilt oast. 1x3's and windowscreen bottoms. Stacked 6 high. For the heat I use a bonnet type hair dryer. On low heat it pushes 110 degree air through the screens and out a 1 Inch diameter vent hole. On high heat, it pushes 140*F.

I am able to fill all 6 screens to 1 or 2 Inches deep and dry the lot on low in 3 days. 24 hours on high.

I was gone for two days after harvesting so I put them on a screen in the garage probably around 100-110 degrees with no air movement. When I came back two days later they weighed exactly 20% of what they did wet. Plus, it was all I could do to put them into a bag without them deteriorating in my hand.

Those of you drying to the point where the stig (stem) snaps or the cone is falling apart are drying too long.

The whole point of drying is to remove enough moisture so the acids and oils don't oxidize and the cone doesn't rot or mold. If you get rid of most of the moisture and then freeze the cones, they will keep 6 months to a year without worry. If you overdry, the lupulin (yellow-gold powder) will fall out and reduce your hops' quality. If you dry with too high of heat (110F or above), you risk vaporizing the oils and loosing some of the flavor.

Set them on a screen in a dry place, garage usually works. Gently blow air across them if possible. In 12 or so hours, you should be ready to freeze them. The cone should open slightly. The stig should be dry but not brittle.

Back to the OP's original question about "grassy smell". I harvested a bunch of Chinook cones last weekend and they smelled great - distinctly hop like. After drying on my patio for 4 days in about 90° heat they are completely dried out but now they smell like grass.

Is that OK? Also, my drying area gets son on it all afternoon. I didn't think this would hurt the cones but am I wrong?

Edit: my earlier harvests didn't stay out as long and didn't smell like grass when they were dried. The hop smell isn't as potent as when first picked but still very noticeable.

Just picked a few Cenennial and Cascade and let them dry. Smelled like grass before, still smell like grass. No real hop aroma to speak of.

Just a first time grower looking for some reassurance...

Just got off the phone with Hops Direct and they're aware of the grassy aroma. Mentioned something about baby hops and using a new field to grow the hops (Amarillo). When they sent it off to the lab and New Belgium they reported back with the grassy aroma as well. They said to use them in boil and if steeping (whirlpool) to leave them exposed to the heat a little longer to drive off the grassy aroma. Definitely do not use them for dry-hopping. Said I could sen them back but it would probably cost me half of what I paid for them to ship them back. So I have a butt-load of boiling hops...

Whoa there chief...you just pulled up a zombie thread from 2009. I'm guessing from your post that you picked the wrong one.

I would be interested in the original thread, if you could post that here.