Drying Hops

[stickyhops]

Looking for tips, and resources related to drying hops for finishing into pellets. Hoping to dry the crop that I grow which should not amount to more than a pound. Wondering what the best way to dry the cones is, and how the strategy changes as my harvests get larger.

 

[bovine_OB]

Well for starters, you shouldn't need to extrude the hop cones into pellets unless you invest in some industrial processing equipment. But what I did last year was manually pick cones off the bines (about an HR of work for 6 plants growing up a 1 story house), weighed altogether the wet weight, then dried in several batches on a food dehydrator down to about 10% moisture - which took only a couple hours on the dehydrator. As your harvest gets larger you may need to employ additional dehydrators or the method that entails drying on window/door screens payed horizontally in the garage.

 

[SEndorf]

Well for starters, you shouldn't need to extrude the hop cones into pellets unless you invest in some industrial processing equipment. But what I did last year was manually pick cones off the bines (about an HR of work for 6 plants growing up a 1 story house), weighed altogether the wet weight, then dried in several batches on a food dehydrator down to about 10% moisture - which took only a couple hours on the dehydrator. As your harvest gets larger you may need to employ additional dehydrators or the method that entails drying on window/door screens payed horizontally in the garage.

Interesting post.
I've looked into this but concluded it was unworkable (for me) due to the drying issue.
My wife won't agree to me drying hops in the oven. It would need to be outdoors.
For the average homebrewer, drying large volumes on screens seems problematic.
Using a food dehydrator looks interesting. How much hops were you able to get?

 

[bovine_OB]

Oven temps even on low will be too high for drying hops. You want to remove the moisture from the plant material, but not volatilize the oils. Food dehydrators accomplish this quite well. I had 6 plants and obtained 6.1 oz dried on first year plants. I vacuum sealed them after drying in 1 oz pkgs.

 

[bovine_OB]

Drying outdoors on a surface that allows air passage using a box fan works well too, but would require using window screens or storm door screens. This is more of a passive method and can take a few days but does not volatilize near the oils that other methods do.

 

[Farside]

So I just tried drying some hops for the first time. I had quite a lot, so I laid some newsprint down on the ground, and laid it out on the floor. I then redirected air from an air-conditioner outlet so that there was a cool gentle breeze blowing over the cones, and I closed the blinds.

24 hours later and the hops were done. No heat required.