How does everyone dry their hops who live in humid areas?

[bctdi]

Hey all, I've got 3 second year plants already starting to sprout little cones....just trying to plan ahead for harvest time how I'm going to dry them. My problem is that I live in a fairly humid area (GA) . I was thinking about putting them on a screen in the attic somewhere close to the attic vent fan so the fan can create a small airflow across the hops...I think my attic is between 90 and 120 degrees pretty much all summer. Has anyone tried this? My only concern would be the humidity, but it may be low up there since it stays so warm.
It'll be either that or I'll have to build a box with screens inside and a fan on top with maybe a hair dryer or something to create heat / lower the humidity.Although I'm not sure how to mount the hair dryer so that it creates even heat and not too much heat. I've read that 90% of the moisture of the hops need to be removed.Do you weigh the hops before and after or do you just judge by feel?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I did a sealed box and a bag type hair dryer. Bag removed. Positive pressure will work out the distribution. I could dry 6 racks at a time, 2 inches deep, in 16 hours on low heat and 50% to 60% RH.

I just dried them to feel.

 

[Bensiff]

The PNW is fairly humid but nothing like down south. I put my hops on 4x4 foot sifting screen I have so that they have a minimum depth. I then set this on a couple saw horses and leave in my garage which easily gets over 100 degrees that time of year and that is enough to dry mine out in about a day. A fan would really help dry them out, but I don't need it so I don't worry about it.

 

[Fid]

Though I've never personally dried any hops I'm reminded of an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown makes a homemade dehydration system for making beef jerky. Its a pretty simple system comprised of some box fans and furnace air filters... If it works for meat I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work for hops. I'll do some hunting and see if I can find a video link or something for you.

 

[Fid]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5912487412723519389#

Well that didn't take long to find. He makes mention of using the same system for drying herbs in this video as well.

 

[Retrofit]

I've read about guys using the Alton brown method there are threads at this site concerning it's success.

I'm cheap and poor. I take the screens off my windows book sone books on the dining room table and place the screens on top of the books. This allows the screens to float. The I take a cheap desk fan and let it air dry. As they dry you can tell to the touch what is dry and what isn't. I rotate or stir the hops to get the wet stuff dry. Cost: Zero

Having said this I have about twenty plants and I think last year I hit my dining room tables limit. Three and four year old plants will need an oast. The yield is to large for my window screen method.

 

[HARDHEAD]

food dehydrator? cost about 19 bucks

will dry your hops in hours

 

[Retrofit]

My first year hops-back when four ounces was a big deal was great for a food dehydrator. I'm not challenging that answer in any way. There are always a lot of first year growers at this site. I am suggesting that one day some of those guys will be three and four year old growers and a retail food dehydrator just won't cut it. Just material to consider. Not trying to be snooty.

 

[bctdi]

So it seems like this shouldn't be too big of a deal. I think I'll try the attic.I have 3 plants , so I expect a lot of hops this year, so a food dehydrator may be too small. It'll be nice to have to deal with the "problems" of having too many hops

 

[bctdi]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5912487412723519389#

Well that didn't take long to find. He makes mention of using the same system for drying herbs in this video as well.

Wow, how simple that looked. I may try that. I wonder if the humidity level in the air matters or if the airflow over the hops would pull the moisture out anyway?

 

[GVH_Dan]

Its way easier and cheaper to just lay them out on a screen in single layer and let them air dry. Then you don't need to wonder what's in those filters.

Lay them out on screens in your garage, attic, anyplace that is as dry as possible. Basements are usually bad. If it is really humid, leave them there until they have dropped to about 1/4 of the original weight and then bring them in an air conditioned (or at least dehumidfied area) for another day to finish them off.

In the end, they should be about 1/5 the starting weight. Trust me, you can't feel dry. They will be pretty brittle and the stig (stem) should not be soft and pliable, though if the stig snaps and crumbles...that's probably too dry.

 

[bctdi]

Its way easier and cheaper to just lay them out on a screen in single layer and let them air dry. Then you don't need to wonder what's in those filters.

Lay them out on screens in your garage, attic, anyplace that is as dry as possible. Basements are usually bad. If it is really humid, leave them there until they have dropped to about 1/4 of the original weight and then bring them in an air conditioned (or at least dehumidfied area) for another day to finish them off.

In the end, they should be about 1/5 the starting weight. Trust me, you can't feel dry. They will be pretty brittle and the stig (stem) should not be soft and pliable, though if the stig snaps and crumbles...that's probably too dry.

I plan on checking the humidity level in my attic to see how humid it actually is up there. So you're saying I should weigh a known quantity as soon as they are picked , then weigh the same quantity
when I think they're dry and they should be 1/5 the original weight?

 

[gestyr]

I use both a screen to air dry and I also got 2 food dehydrators at yard sales for almost nothing. They work good... unless you plug them in backwards... then you get a soggy mess.

 

[GVH_Dan]

OK, here's the long version. It originates from a newsletter article I did a couple years ago...http://www.gorstvalleyhops.com/uploads/September_newsletter.pdf

The basic equation for determining moisture content of anything (hops, hay, herbs, etc.) is:

M% = ((Ww ‐ Wd)/ Ww) x 100

M% = moisture content(%)
Ww = wet weight of the sample
Wd = weight of the sample after drying​

If you want to know the moisture content, take a small sample and weigh it to get Wet Weight (Ww). Then get the moisture out. Either bake it or put it in a microwave with some desiccant material to pull out the moisture. When you are sure it is completely dry, that is your Dry Weight (Wd). Now plug it in to see your starting moisture content.

I wouldn't use that sample in your beer, though. Especially if you used the microwave because most desiccants aren't food grade.

The problem for the homegrower is that you would need most of your crop to get an accurate enough reading of the moisture content. So it is somewhat pointless.

Instead, let's assume the starting moisture content is 80%. (I have seen from 93% when picked in the rain down to 74% for some smaller cones. So 80% is pretty much the middle.).

Let's pretend we have a 1/2 of a pound of cascade that we picked out of the backyard. Since we are assuming that it starts at 80%, we can use the above formula to calculate the Dry Weight....0.1 pounds.

Now let's say we want to dry down to a final moisture content of 10%. (Commercially, we shoot for 8%, but 10% is fine since you aren't pelletizing.) with a moisture content of 10% and a Dry Weight of 0.1 pounds, the "Wet Weight", which in this case is the weight of the dried hops, would be 0.111 pounds.

Working that out, the ratio of beginning to end weight is 0.111/0.5 = .222 or another way to say it is that the final weight of the hops is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/5 the starting weight.

 

[bctdi]

OK, here's the long version. It originates from a newsletter article I did a couple years ago...http://www.gorstvalleyhops.com/uploads/September_newsletter.pdf

The basic equation for determining moisture content of anything (hops, hay, herbs, etc.) is:

M% = ((Ww ‐ Wd)/ Ww) x 100

M% = moisture content(%)
Ww = wet weight of the sample
Wd = weight of the sample after drying​

If you want to know the moisture content, take a small sample and weigh it to get Wet Weight (Ww). Then get the moisture out. Either bake it or put it in a microwave with some desiccant material to pull out the moisture. When you are sure it is completely dry, that is your Dry Weight (Wd). Now plug it in to see your starting moisture content.

I wouldn't use that sample in your beer, though. Especially if you used the microwave because most desiccants aren't food grade.

The problem for the homegrower is that you would need most of your crop to get an accurate enough reading of the moisture content. So it is somewhat pointless.

Instead, let's assume the starting moisture content is 80%. (I have seen from 93% when picked in the rain down to 74% for some smaller cones. So 80% is pretty much the middle.).

Let's pretend we have a 1/2 of a pound of cascade that we picked out of the backyard. Since we are assuming that it starts at 80%, we can use the above formula to calculate the Dry Weight....0.1 pounds.

Now let's say we want to dry down to a final moisture content of 10%. (Commercially, we shoot for 8%, but 10% is fine since you aren't pelletizing.) with a moisture content of 10% and a Dry Weight of 0.1 pounds, the "Wet Weight", which in this case is the weight of the dried hops, would be 0.111 pounds.

Working that out, the ratio of beginning to end weight is 0.111/0.5 = .222 or another way to say it is that the final weight of the hops is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/5 the starting weight.

That's some excellent info GVH_DAN :rockin:.......that helps a ton. It may not be super critical for some to get the moisture content right, but for me if I'm going through the trouble of growing / harvesting / and vacuum sealing my hops, I want to get the most out of them I can. THANK YOU.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Right. I'm not saying the home grower needs to get to 10% on the dot. You just want to make sure you are under 20%. I find that most home brewers are anal enough to want to know where a rule of thumb originates before they use it.

 

[Bensiff]

My first year hops-back when four ounces was a big deal was great for a food dehydrator. I'm not challenging that answer in any way. There are always a lot of first year growers at this site. I am suggesting that one day some of those guys will be three and four year old growers and a retail food dehydrator just won't cut it. Just material to consider. Not trying to be snooty.

I don't think anyone could call you snooty for declaring a method simpler and cheaper than food dehydrators better. I completely agree, I have a 3 year old cascade and a couple two year old centennials that produce far more than I could reasonably deal with using dehydrators. Now, all I need is for someone to make a homebrewer size cone stripper...picking those buggers by hand sucks.