Dryin' em

[Padalac]

fellow hop growers... there must be some of you out there who are drying them at home.. how are you doing it? Pictures of your setup?? Would love to see some and learn from you guys

[Mr. Dripping]

A friend of mine dried a big batch in his loft. He tied an old bed-sheet up by each corner and spread the hops over it to dry. At this time of year the loft is still quite warm and you should get good airflow. Worked for him

[hophit]

Your hops are ready for harvesting already? I bough a plant this year and they are only now in burr. I panicked and thought they were producing male flowers but was informed that they are female flowers and will turn to hop cones ready for harvesting at the end of this month - can't wait, though was wondering myself the best way to dry them, or whether to just try using them fresh off the plant (I hear you can do this). I have no idea on the relative quantity of fresh and wet hops you would use compared to dried though.

[boingy]

I made big open envelopes out of newspaper and stirred the hops around every day. Seemed to work OK.

But, yes, do make a wet hop brew. They are excellent.
Assume wet hops are 4 to 5 times the weight of dry.

[YeastWhisperer]

I spread my cones out on elevated window screens (a.k.a., insect screens in the UK).

[keith1664]

I have a mini oast house made of 3mm ply, sticky tape, metal grill and the wife's hair dryer!

[Padalac]

Great ideas. I'd love an oast house! I've got a hair dryer and a dehumidifier.. maybe I can rig something together..

Also, no my hops aren't quite ready to pick yet, but I do have large quantity of big, fully developed cones, so I thought I'd better get goin'

What beer styles do you guys think are best suited to wet-hopping? I like the idea of a wet hopped saison. Also never made a saison, so good excuse?

[Blackaddler]

Here's another thread


Mushroom trays...

[hophit]

Is there any way of testing the alpha acid percentage or does one simply guess based on the strain?

[seymour]

I spread my cones out on elevated window screens (a.k.a., insect screens in the UK).

Me too. I don't have any photos, but I'll try to remember to take some this year.

[Subsonic]

I dried mine on cheap canvas camp beds in my shed. Its dark and sits at about 30c here. They dried really well and keep their colour fine. Couple of days and they were done.

Here is a link to a pic showing the cascade drying on their first day, I had about 4 times this amount from 2 plants. I then bagged them in big plastic bags loose, sucked the air out and stuck them in a big freezer. I didn't vac pack them in small bags as I just had way too many.

https://plus.google.com/photos/10895461 ... jruKy6jASQ

[Padalac]

heya guys. thanks for the tips/

anyone use a vacuum sealer? I'm considering buying one - they have some for around £40 on amazon, but I'd rather spend that on something else... does just sealing them up by hand and freezing them work?

[seymour]

heya guys. thanks for the tips/

anyone use a vacuum sealer? I'm considering buying one - they have some for around £40 on amazon, but I'd rather spend that on something else... does just sealing them up by hand and freezing them work?

Once my homegrown hops are dried (or whenever I get commercial hops in bulk) I use a vacuum sealer to seal them into smaller packs, usually 70-100g each. I stuff as many as I can fit into my fridge and share the rest with friends. Someday I hope to get a small dedicated basement fridge, but this way boosts my popularity better.

[Hogarth]

I lay them out in my airing cupboard on sheets of newspaper. They take four or five days to dry. I can't see any advantage in using fans or heaters.

[DeGarre]

I picked some 200+ grams of wild hops and left them green and put them straight into the freezer as I didn't have a chance to dry them. Will they be OK like this for brewing?