Why not a dehydrator for drying?

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

In the past I think I remember people saying that you should not use a dehydrator for drying hops. I don't ever remember reading a good reason why not.

We have one of these, and have been using it to dry our herbs. It has a low setting of 95F for this purpose and we have extra trays already. I have put a single hop cone in with our herbs just to see how it goes, and it seems to be doing fine. (Not finished yet)

So...What are the cons with this apart from space limitations? Do these dehydrators push too much air past the hops or something?

A side question. When the hops are dried, is it necessary to shake off all the leaves from the stems so they are like the leaf hops you buy....Or can you leave them as complete cones and just allow a little tolerance for the extra weight of the stems?

 

[conpewter]

I think the only downside to a dehydrator is the volume, it is hard to dry many at a time. You don't want to shake the cones and try to get the leaves off, just use them whole. The hops we buy sometimes have whole cones in them (at least what I have bought). I think the hop flower parts all shake apart in shipment and how they dry them. If you try to do it you would loose lupilin.

 

[GVH_Dan]

The only problem I could see is if the air speed was too high. Like conpewter said, you don't want to shake or disturb the cone too much. I would use the lowest setting for both heat and air speed and see how it goes. Since yours provides a horizontal air flow, it should give a pretty even drying condition.

Keep the hop whole. It is NOT desirable to have the bracts (leaves) fall off as that is a sign of over drying. Use the whole cone and weigh it as such. The pelletized hops you purchase include the bracts, stems and everything chopped up. So you shouldn't have to adjust your recipes.

 

[johnnyc]

One other side effect basicbrewing.com mentioned and its either a pro/con depending on your take is smelling up the house with an overwhelming smell of hops.

 

[HenryHill]

A low heat dehydrator is what is needed. High heat to dry is not desirable.

Compare the average dehydrator to a tall chest of drawers fed by a hair dryer, for size, and the chest of drawers is preferable for capacity.

 

[GVH_Dan]

One other side effect basicbrewing.com mentioned and its either a pro/con depending on your take is smelling up the house with an overwhelming smell of hops.

Definitely a "pro".

 

[homebrewer_99]

I think that was mentioned on Basic Brewing Radio...

 

[MajorTom]

How funny... my parents just gave me the same dehydrator today and I was thinking of trying it and came here to do a search if anyone had tried using a dehydrator. I saw this thread before I even searched. I figured I'd try it and see what happens. Size won't really be an issue because mine are first year hops and I won't have that many.

Aside from that. is there any reason I couldn't just go ahead and brew with them not dehydrated? And If I did that, what would the weight difference be with them. I'm guessing they are 50 percent water? Maybe more when not dehydrated?

 

[ben the brewman]

i have one just like it and it works just fine. hops are dried with something like 120 deg air at the hop farms anyway.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Compare the average dehydrator to a tall chest of drawers fed by a hair dryer, for size, and the chest of drawers is preferable for capacity.

Yeah, I have a chest of drawers ready for conversion. I was going to go with that. Then I realised that I will probably not be able to resist picking my hops on an almost daily basis as they become ready. I think the dehydrator will be able to keep up with the volume given the OCD that I have developed regarding my hops. I'm thinking I will be picking them, drying them, and getting them vacuum sealed until the end of the season. Then I will break them all out and weigh them into 2oz vacuum sealed bags.

Thanks all!! This has been a very helpful thread for me.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Aside from that. is there any reason I couldn't just go ahead and brew with them not dehydrated? And If I did that, what would the weight difference be with them. I'm guessing they are 50 percent water? Maybe more when not dehydrated?

Do it. Its referred to as wet hopping and should result in more hop flavors.

Most hop cones are considered to be 80% moisture at the time they are picked and are 10 to 12% moisture when they are used.

So if my math is correct, for every 1 ounce the recipe calls for, you should add 4.5 oz of wet hops.