Heat source for an oast

[burdbrew]

I know I can get by pulling air through a cabinet with screen shelves, no heat required. I am not in denial that I may want to build something unnecessary. Mere curiosity.

I have heard of people using a hair dryer, but that doesn't inspire me. Generic space heaters scare me. I e-brew and use RIMS, so I have my brain around process control. I have a couple of PID's kicking around.

I tried searching, but I struggled to find reasonable hardware to get me to around 115 degrees. There are creative smart people out here, so I thought I would ask, does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Pappers_]

Could you figure out how to do it with a light buib? Or maybe swapping out big juice bottles that you've filled with hot water?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I ended up using a bonnet heater (glorified hair dryer) plugged into a Ranco controller.

 

[burdbrew]

Gila, how did that set up work for you? Did you shave any time off of the process? What temperature did you set it at, and how often did it cycle on and off?

I am appreciative...

 

[Ruint]

What is the expected yield of what you want to dry going to be? That is the main thing to think about...I believe. I have a furnace unit that provides the heat source for my drying kiln. It is capable of drying 900 lbs. of hops anywhere from 8 to 12 hours...depending on how much moisture is in them and the ambient air conditions..

 

[burdbrew]

What is the expected yield of what you want to dry going to be? That is the main thing to think about...I believe. I have a furnace unit that provides the heat source for my drying kiln. It is capable of drying 900 lbs. of hops anywhere from 8 to 12 hours...depending on how much moisture is in them and the ambient air conditions..

That is pretty awesome.

I planted 28 plants along a long fence line with a neighbor. I currently can see clearly into her back yard from one of doors. The alignment between privacy and home grown hops was too much to pass up.

This was year one, very little growth. Next year, I may well have a decent harvest. Not 900 lbs harvest, mind you. So I was thinking that getting the drying down to a couple of days would be helpful.

 

[MHBT]

ceramic heat emitter and controller

 

[imasickboy]

ceramic heat emitter and controller

+1 for this solution

+ :rockin: for that avatar

 

[burdbrew]

Brilliant.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Gila, how did that set up work for you? Did you shave any time off of the process? What temperature did you set it at, and how often did it cycle on and off?

I am appreciative...

Worked okay for me. I had 14 plants at the time and was getting 2 to 5 pounds of wet cones depending on season and plant varietal. Don't recall what temp or cycle times. Bonnet heater had a therm/limit switch built in that'd switch the heating element on and off. When the heating element was off it'd just blow air. The Ranco was more for overheat protection. Hops would be dry in 8 to 12 hours.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

ceramic heat emitter and controller

Need some kind of fan to help pull air through the oast.