How to quickly dry harvested hops?

[carlosolavoneto]

Hi! I will pick my hops this week but I am concerned because I will take holidays the day after harvesting and I am afraid I will not have time to dry my hops using for example the window frame technique + Fan, which I think could take some days.

What is the best solution in order to quickly dry the harvested hops in a few hours? Otherwise I will loose my production!

Thanks,
Carlos

 

[brewcat]

How long will you be gone?

 

[nagmay]

You can dry hops fast - or - you can dry hops to taste good... but you only get to pick one.

I'd start them on the fan and get a friend to check in on them.

 

[carlosolavoneto]

Hi, thanks for the replies, I understand. I will pick-up next thursday, and I will be out of home for a week, going friday morning :/ I want to have the hops in better conditions as possible, unfortunately on this time I will not have availability during the full week... What are your suggestions?


Also, how much time does the fan takes? I read it could be a minimum of 16h, sometimes up to 3 days, is it correct?

Thanks! Attached is a photo of my hops, my 1st production, the plant came directly from Poperinge, in Belgium

 

[porterpounder]

The drying time depends mostly on the power of the fan and the depth of the hop-bed. Better air-flow is going to give you quicker drying. Another option is leaving them in the oven at night at a very low temp. I've heard that 140F is where most commercial producers kiln hops at. Some oven have a dehydrating function. It only takes about 8 hours at this temp in my oven to completely dry hops.

 

[dmtaylor]

I lay my homegrown hops on a cookie sheet to a depth of just one inch and lay in an oven down at like 150 or 175 F or whatever the minimum oven setting is. Then about every 30 minutes, stir the hops so they don't turn brown on the bottom. They'll stay moist for a very long time, takes like 3-4 hours to dry them. You'll know they're finished when they are all very fragile and fall apart when you touch them. I use these for bittering hops mostly. After many years I know that my Hallertau hops average about 4.8% alpha so I use them just like that and it always turns out great. My Cascades average 6.1-6.2% alpha. Your own plants will have their own specs which you can figure out through trial & error, or just use them for finishing hops where it doesn't matter. I think this oven method evaporates too much of the flavor oils so that's why I tend to use mine mostly for bittering, but if you could get your oven as low as like 130-140 F, these oils would not be lost, but of course then it would take a whole day or two to dry them.

 

[lurker18]

I made myself a frame, 4 by 7 foot, covered in window screen, put that up on sawhorses in the garage that sits at about 25C this time of year. Layer the hops as thin as you can on this and walk away. No fan needed and the hops are dry within a week. I can fit what ends up to be at least 2 pounds dry, not sure on the wet weight. Total cost maybe 20 bucks.

 

[GVH_Dan]

As nagmay said, you can either dry fast or dry them for flavor. At 212F (100C), you can get them dry in an hour or two but they will be worthless.

Above 140F (60C), the alpha acids start breaking down and you loose bittering potential. At 140F, you should be able to get them dry in about 9-10 hours with enough airflow.

Above 100F (38F), you lose oils and aroma at a fairly decent pace. Try to stay under this for the best quality.

Drying time in all these cases really depends on the relative humidity of the air. The warmer the air, the lower the RH and the faster they dry.

My advice, if you can, pick them and lay them out on your screen in a thin layer. put the screen someplace out of the sun where they can just sit and dry. you probably won't overdry so just leave them until you return.

 

[B-Hoppy]

As nagmay said, you can either dry fast or dry them for flavor. At 212F (100C), you can get them dry in an hour or two but they will be worthless.

Above 140F (60C), the alpha acids start breaking down and you loose bittering potential. At 140F, you should be able to get them dry in about 9-10 hours with enough airflow.

Above 100F (38F), you lose oils and aroma at a fairly decent pace. Try to stay under this for the best quality.

Drying time in all these cases really depends on the relative humidity of the air. The warmer the air, the lower the RH and the faster they dry.

My advice, if you can, pick them and lay them out on your screen in a thin layer. put the screen someplace out of the sun where they can just sit and dry. you probably won't overdry so just leave them until you return.

A few years back I picked my Mt Hood and placed them in one of my drying trays (about 3ft x 3ft and 2-3inches deep) in preparation to position them in the exhaust stream of my dehumidifier down in my cellar. I got busy forgot about them until a few weeks later. To my surprise, when I checked them, they were dried perfectly ~ without the aid of any supplemental air flow. Your experiences may be different, but just sharing mine, Hoppy Trails~

 

[NickTheGreat]

A few years back I picked my Mt Hood and placed them in one of my drying trays (about 3ft x 3ft and 2-3inches deep) in preparation to position them in the exhaust stream of my dehumidifier down in my cellar. I got busy forgot about them until a few weeks later. To my surprise, when I checked them, they were dried perfectly ~ without the aid of any supplemental air flow. Your experiences may be different, but just sharing mine, Hoppy Trails~

Yeah in "drying" you're more looking for dry air, and the best way to increase the water holding potential of air is to heat it. Hot air can "hold" more air than cold.

But your dry, cold air worked ok, just not as quickly as if it were hot air.

If I were the OP I'd try to rig a way to slightly heat the air, but it may be tough to do and keep under that 100°F mark that Dan recommended

 

[B-Hoppy]

. . .

But your dry, cold air worked ok, just not as quickly as if it were hot air.

. . .

This was kind of the point I was getting at. If you don't have time to dry and package them right now, there's nothing wrong with letting them dry on their own and deal with them when you come back from vacation.