Drying Hops Idea

[CarolinaMatt]

Hi All-

I believe I'm quickly approaching my first harvest of my cascade hops (located: Charlotte, NC). I had planned to brew a wet hop IPA, but life/work is getting in the way and I don't believe I will be able to brew before they need to be harvested. So now I'm coming up with ideas to dry them.

Would it be best to setup a fan in my garage and have it blow on the hops while they are between some AC filters or would I be better served to keep them in a spare bedroom between filters while having the fan on them and a ceiling fan above for a few days?

Being in the 90s it is easily in the 80s-90s in my garage during the day. We keep our house around 70.

Also, do I need to then vacuum seal them after they dry out or can I simply put them in zipblock bags, push the air out and then put in a plastic tupperware?
Would love any feedback/suggestions -- Thanks!

 

[okiedog]

As long as you have good ventilation, your drying hops in a hot garage should be fine. I like to dry my hops in hot direct sunlight, spread out in a single layer, on clean cookie sheets or parchment paper. I flip them over about every 30 minutes, so they dry evenly. It usually takes 2 -3 hours. As long as they kept clean, and are completely dry in just a few hours, they should be just fine.

If you want to save some as wet hops, I've had good success with fresh (wet) Cascade hops packed in a sealed oxygen barrier bag, flushed with nitrogen. They were stored in the freezer for a bout a week before I was able to brew. I could not believe how much flavor and aroma I got out of those hops, but I did use a lot of them!

 

[BrewInspector]

Never used the filter method. You could lay them out on screens as well.

I use a dehydrator. Rotating the layers as the bottom layer dries more rapidly.

I then vacuum seal them with a food saver and freeze them. I use the long rolls and create bags from it. Occasionally a bag will leak and loose it's vacuum. The hops seem fine so I suppose a hand squeezed zip lock would work.

The trick for me is getting them in the bag. An ounce of well dried hops is pretty bulky. I weigh them out in a large bowl and then I stuff the bags I make squeezing air out to get them in before vacuum sealing.

(The no bowl method)

I harvested about an ounce of early bloomers this season. I've got lots of hops on the bine. None ready right now.

 

[nagmay]

Drying:
Air movement is key. Sandwiching the hops between filters really only works if you have a box fan connected directly to the filters (see Alton Brown).

Otherwise, it is best to lay them out in a single layer on a filter, screen, sheet and blow some air over top. A pile of cones will also work, but they will need to be mixed periodically to dry evenly. 70/90 will both work fine, with 90 drying a bit faster. You just don't want to get much higher.

Storage:
Vacuum sealing + freezer will keep the hops good for many years. If you're going to use them within a few months, a regular ziplock is fine in the freezer.

Other thoughts
1) Are you sure that they are near harvest? I'm across the country, but picking here does not start until late August. The hops should be feel very papery before you harvest. You can sample by weight, or look closely at the glands:
(see threads/are-your-hops-ready-to-pick-take-a-closer-look)

2) If this is a first year plant, the alpha levels and flavor may not be fully developed yet. First year hops are a joy to use, but often not at their full potential.

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Drying:
Air movement is key. Sandwiching the hops between filters really only works if you have a box fan connected directly to the filters (see Alton Brown).

Otherwise, it is best to lay them out in a single layer on a filter, screen, sheet and blow some air over top. A pile of cones will also work, but they will need to be mixed periodically to dry evenly. 70/90 will both work fine, with 90 drying a bit faster. You just don't want to get much higher.

Storage:
Vacuum sealing + freezer will keep the hops good for many years. If you're going to use them within a few months, a regular ziplock is fine in the freezer.

Other thoughts
1) Are you sure that they are near harvest? I'm across the country, but picking here does not start until late August. The hops should be feel very papery before you harvest. You can sample by weight, or look closely at the glands:
(see threads/are-your-hops-ready-to-pick-take-a-closer-look)

2) If this is a first year plant, the alpha levels and flavor may not be fully developed yet. First year hops are a joy to use, but often not at their full potential.

Thanks for the feedback!

If I do lay on a screen/etc how long do you imagine it would take? Few hours of a fan or a few days?

Sounds good I plan to use them mid September so sounds like ziplock bag will work.

I did speak to someone else in my area that has cascade hops too and he told me I'm about a few weeks out from the looks of it so I think you are spot on.

So it is my first year with them, but the rhizomes came from a brewery that has been growing them for 5 years. Thoughts on what that will do/get me?

Thanks!

 

[nagmay]

If I do lay on a screen/etc how long do you imagine it would take? Few hours of a fan or a few days?

At room temps, it is hard to over dry, so give them a few days before bagging and freezing.

...but the rhizomes came from a brewery that has been growing them for 5 years. Thoughts on what that will do/get me?

How big was the section you planted - a full crown, or just a piece of rhizome? Planting a bigger piece will give you a jumpstart, but it can still take a few years to reach full potential.

One last piece of unsolicited advice: If possible, pick off the individual cones this year without cutting it down. Leaving the bines up for a while longer will allow the plant to recycle a bunch of nutrients back into the crown for net year.

 

[pvpeacock]

https://www.amazon.com/Growsun-Laye...t=&hvlocphy=9033187&hvtargid=pla-781525037433

I use one of these in my garage. Works great.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Never used the filter method. You could lay them out on screens as well.

I use a dehydrator. Rotating the layers as the bottom layer dries more rapidly.

I then vacuum seal them with a food saver and freeze them. I use the long rolls and create bags from it. Occasionally a bag will leak and loose it's vacuum. The hops seem fine so I suppose a hand squeezed zip lock would work.

The trick for me is getting them in the bag. An ounce of well dried hops is pretty bulky. I weigh them out in a large bowl and then I stuff the bags I make squeezing air out to get them in before vacuum sealing.
View attachment 638155View attachment 638156
(The no bowl method)

I harvested about an ounce of early bloomers this season. I've got lots of hops on the bine. None ready right now.

considering the lb's of dry hops I bought on sale and how much freezer space they take up i'm thinking i'm going to make one of those PVC presses and make some hop plugs to vacuum seal to save space.

good idea?
Bad Idea?

 

[BrewInspector]

Make me one too. Similar thoughts have crossed my mind but never got to the point of figuring exactly how to make pellets.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Make me one too. Similar thoughts have crossed my mind but never got to the point of figuring exactly how to make pellets.

plugs traditionally came before pellets and were sized to fit into bung holes of casks of beer.

That's what the interwebs told me at least.
they also told me hops were frozen beyond consumer temps and ground to powder then pelletized.

but, some pellets I get turn to a green sludge the consistency of Peanut butter in the hop bag and some expand to look like parts of hops a little so I don't believe all pellets are made equally.

to make things even more confusing some say you can't compress hops over a certain ratio when making plugs because it somehow damages whatever it is that contributes to beer which makes no sense if they are getting froen and ground up before being turned into pellets.

 

[ba-brewer]

considering the lb's of dry hops I bought on sale and how much freezer space they take up i'm thinking i'm going to make one of those PVC presses and make some hop plugs to vacuum seal to save space.

good idea?
Bad Idea?

do you have a link to one of those PVC hop presses?

I put my whole cone hops from the backyard in a vacuum bag and they compact pretty small by just pulling the air out but still much larger than pellets of the same weight. Getting them more compact would be nice.

 

[Still Brewn]

but it can still take a few years to reach full potential.

One last piece of unsolicited advice: If possible, pick off the individual cones this year without cutting it down. Leaving the bines up for a while longer will allow the plant to recycle a bunch of nutrients back into the crown for net year.

Second that.here was my first harvest, first year, individually picked without cutting down, picked about a third because they are not all ripe as is usually the case.

My 2 fan window fan had them dry in 24 hours although I should have turned the chairs so I could use the rungs that were 6 inches lower, the hops, by the time they were dry, were blowing around and sometimes landing on the floor.

I ended up with 8 ounces wet, 3 ounces dry. Packaged in 1 oz packages.

I may have 2 more sessions of picking maybe three because ther ar a lot of cones that are just starting to develop.

To know when to pick them think of very thin tissue paper, the kind used in gift bags. Now imagine a small piece crumpled up. That is what your hops will sound like when you give them a light squeeze when they are ready to pick. They will also start to get Browning on the tips or/and base. They are easy to pull off the bine when they are ready to be picked (at least my centennial were). The individual petals of the cones will also start to develope a wrinkle/dimple wavy texture when they are ready.... again at least my centennial hops did. My Cones that were not ready did not make any noise when squeezed.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

do you have a link to one of those PVC hop presses?

I put my whole cone hops from the backyard in a vacuum bag and they compact pretty small by just pulling the air out but still much larger than pellets of the same weight. Getting them more compact would be nice.

I have a few things I found.

http://www.brew-dudes.com/whole-hops-hop-plugs-and-pellets/165


http://brewtech.blogspot.com/2008/09/hop-plugger-project.html

 

[ba-brewer]

I have a few things I found.

http://www.brew-dudes.com/whole-hops-hop-plugs-and-pellets/165


http://brewtech.blogspot.com/2008/09/hop-plugger-project.html

Thanks for the links.

Looking at the size of the 25gm plugs in the video it seems like maybe the vacuum sealer might be doing a pretty good job of compressing the hops.

The second link seem like a easy thing to try with stuff I have laying around so I might give it a try with a big C-clamp for compressing. ​

 

[Still Brewn]

If you want to compress your hops more like mine are... I stuffed the each bag with 1 ounce of hops and worked it down to the base until it was as small as I could get it. I then pinched the opening together and rolled the base back and forth while pressing down on the top again until I could get it no smaller. I then took the cylinder I ended up with an placed it between 2 pieces of wood and squeezed it with a bar clamp. While it was clamped I vaccummed and sealed it and Tripel sealed each.

 

[thaymond]

I made my own box fan past, which is able to get the 3 to 5 pounds of hops I gather each year dry in a couple of days in a hot garage. I'll spend an evening vacuum sealing them and store them in the freezer for use. I use gallon bags, and they can store 4 to 5 oz of dry hops in them without an issue. For your purposes, a hot garage on some window screens, a box fan over the top, and vacuum sealing will keep them fresh for a long time. I just pitched my left over 2014 bags on my last brew day. To be fair, they were stuck at the bottom of the bag pile, and I was using up all my new stuff first. All I have is the 2017 left in the freezer now. So they stay fresh when they are properly vac sealed. If you're using them in 4 to 6 months, you could get away with a ziplock, but after 6 months I wouldn't trust them. Could be just me though, I have no science to back it up.

I do like the idea of making plugs, but I then saw the end of the video that said "packing hands after 10 hours of labor" and decided that's a lot of extra work. Packing usually takes me an hour or two. Adding an extra full day of work just in packing wouldn't be feasible with my actual work schedule. I barely have the time to brew. However, plugs would end up using far less freezer space.

 

[Still Brewn]

I thought I would post a picture of how small I was able to get one ounce of hops. The bags were made by cutting food saver bags on every other line and then cutting down the center.

I have 8 inch bags

With marks every 3 inches.

I end up with a bag that is 4×6.

Ends up looking like this.
You could probably squeeze 2 ounces in each if you wanted to but I use mine in 1 ounce increments so I'm fine with it this way.

 

[Still Brewn]

And the sealed bags are almost rock hard

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I made my own box fan past, which is able to get the 3 to 5 pounds of hops I gather each year dry in a couple of days in a hot garage. I'll spend an evening vacuum sealing them and store them in the freezer for use. I use gallon bags, and they can store 4 to 5 oz of dry hops in them without an issue. For your purposes, a hot garage on some window screens, a box fan over the top, and vacuum sealing will keep them fresh for a long time. I just pitched my left over 2014 bags on my last brew day. To be fair, they were stuck at the bottom of the bag pile, and I was using up all my new stuff first. All I have is the 2017 left in the freezer now. So they stay fresh when they are properly vac sealed. If you're using them in 4 to 6 months, you could get away with a ziplock, but after 6 months I wouldn't trust them. Could be just me though, I have no science to back it up.

I do like the idea of making plugs, but I then saw the end of the video that said "packing hands after 10 hours of labor" and decided that's a lot of extra work. Packing usually takes me an hour or two. Adding an extra full day of work just in packing wouldn't be feasible with my actual work schedule. I barely have the time to brew. However, plugs would end up using far less freezer space.

I watched the video also.
it seems most of the time is getting the hops in the tube.
My hop baskets are a little over 2.5 inches diameter.
So I will use 2" PVC and i'll get a 2x4 pvc adaptor to make a sort of funnel to make it easier to put them in.
I'll probably do 2 oz plugs also because the hops i'll have this yr are aroma primarily.

If my cascade, sorachi ace, and fuggle produce next yr i'll try bittering with them and if they don't bring it i'll go 2oz there and dry hop with them only.

or...i'm getting a decent fridge from my dad to use as a keggorator in the house with an upper freezer which should hold most of my hops for now.
And worst case my mom has a full sized freezer with the coils in the shelves she isn't using...

but, I'm gonna try pressing them because dry hops make a mess when I try to fit them in my dry hop tubes and i'd like to fix that if possible.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

And the sealed bags are almost rock hard

So, you can bounce that quarter off them.

 

[ba-brewer]

quickie attempt at a hop press with stuff I had on hand. The opening of the C-clamp is 4in, I was able to hand pack the tube with 28gm of hops then put the wooden disk on top. The disks needs to be thicker to keep them from tilting. Seems to be more compressed than my hand held vacuum packer. I first left the clamp on for a few minutes but it did not stay compressed for long, I left the clamp on for a couple hours while I ran some errands, so don't not sure how long it would take to get a good squeeze that does not rebound too quickly. Middle pic are all 28gms of hops amounts.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

quickie attempt at a hop press with stuff I had on hand. The opening of the C-clamp is 4in, I was able to hand pack the tube with 28gm of hops then put the wooden disk on top. The disks needs to be thicker to keep them from tilting. Seems to be more compressed than my hand held vacuum packer. I first left the clamp on for a few minutes but it did not stay compressed for long, I left the clamp on for a couple hours while I ran some errands, so don't not sure how long it would take to get a good squeeze that does not rebound too quickly. Middle pic are all 28gms of hops amounts.
View attachment 639838 View attachment 639839 View attachment 639840

So I could make a much longer one and use my 3 or 4 ft harbor freight clamps to do more at once if leaving them compressed for a bit is the answer.

 

[ba-brewer]

So I could make a much longer one and use my 3 or 4 ft harbor freight clamps to do more at once if leaving them compressed for a bit is the answer.

That is like what the guy did in the video seems like that should work. When the hops are compressed they really stick inside the tube, getting a couple foot long hop plug out the tube could be difficult.

The guy in the video says only leave it a few minutes so maybe that is really all of the time you need. The first time I tried it with a few minutes it could be possible I did not have the plug as compressed as I did the second time. The second time I tried it I did try to get it really cranked down as much as I could. I wish I would of checked it out after a few minutes. Next time I will check again with a shorter compression time. I also only used my hands to tighten the clamp, I might of been able to get more compression by extending the clamp lever or securing the clamp while cranking it down.

If it really does need an extended time to keep it compressed you could have multiple pipes (they are cheap) and use a nail or bolt stuck in a hole thru the pipe and wood block to hold it compressed.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

That is like what the guy did in the video seems like that should work. When the hops are compressed they really stick inside the tube, getting a couple foot long hop plug out the tube could be difficult.

The guy in the video says only leave it a few minutes so maybe that is really all of the time you need. The first time I tried it with a few minutes it could be possible I did not have the plug as compressed as I did the second time. The second time I tried it I did try to get it really cranked down as much as I could. I wish I would of checked it out after a few minutes. Next time I will check again with a shorter compression time. I also only used my hands to tighten the clamp, I might of been able to get more compression by extending the clamp lever or securing the clamp while cranking it down.

If it really does need an extended time to keep it compressed you could have multiple pipes (they are cheap) and use a nail or bolt stuck in a hole thru the pipe and wood block to hold it compressed.

the slot with a bolt is a good idea.

I have zero idea how much hops weigh but from looking at my plants now and the way the chainlink top rails I used as posts and everything else is starting to sag since hop flowers started turning to hops...i'm thinking i'll have more than a few lbs once dried.

 

[Nate R]

As long as you have good ventilation, your drying hops in a hot garage should be fine. I like to dry my hops in hot direct sunlight, spread out in a single layer, on clean cookie sheets or parchment paper. I flip them over about every 30 minutes, so they dry evenly. It usually takes 2 -3 hours. As long as they kept clean, and are completely dry in just a few hours, they should be just fine.

If you want to save some as wet hops, I've had good success with fresh (wet) Cascade hops packed in a sealed oxygen barrier bag, flushed with nitrogen. They were stored in the freezer for a bout a week before I was able to brew. I could not believe how much flavor and aroma I got out of those hops, but I did use a lot of them!

For your wet hop cascade... how many ounces of hops did you use? How did you add then to the batch? Thanks.

 

[Sylvain]

my drying system is classic but efficient

 

[okiedog]

For your wet hop cascade... how many ounces of hops did you use? How did you add then to the batch? Thanks.

I'm not exactly sure what the schedule was because I lost to data on a crashed hard drive, but I believe it was like this: 4 oz. 20 min., 4 oz. 10 min, 2 oz. at flameout, 2 oz. whirlpool 25 min. starting at 180F, and ending at 148F, 4 oz. dry hop 5 days.

 

[Nate R]

I'm not exactly sure what the schedule was because I lost to data on a crashed hard drive, but I believe it was like this: 4 oz. 20 min., 4 oz. 10 min, 2 oz. at flameout, 2 oz. whirlpool 25 min. starting at 180F, and ending at 148F, 4 oz. dry hop 5 days.

Thanks... I did like ZERO research on this before I attempted my firs wet hop... I had about 16 ounces (1#) Cascade first year hops. I added them all at whirlpool.. about 170.
I had read that first year tend to have low AA% and potency. I did bitter with 2oz for 60 mins with about 12# 2-row. (getting about 65% efficiency). Pitched Imperial Flagship (Chico) that took off. I am cold crashing right now. I actually finally got some nice Cascade aroma from my first trub dump a minute ago. All of my gravity samples were kinda like meh.

Question for all- when you use Fresh Hops, how does one extract all the Lupilin (spelling?) from the cones? I noticed there were still some glands when I removed the cones.

Thanks all!

 

[okiedog]

Nate R, when using hops of unknown AA%, I usually like to bitter with hops of a known AA%. That leaves less to guess work. I add +/- 2/3 desired IBU's in FWH, then estimate mid range AA% for the specific variety of unknow AA%. With wet hops, I want to get a good charge of those fresh flavors and aromas. So, depending on the AA% range of the wet hops variety, I will adjust the amount of IBUs from bittering hops, to allow for the amount of wet hops I want to add. If you are using brewing software, it is easier if you work backwards, ie.: add the amount of wet hops you want, when you want, then add the amount of bittering hops needed to reach your total IBU target. I hope this helps. Prost!