Sweet food dehydrator for my hop harvest!

[Brew Engineer]

So, apparently, once you impregnate your wife, it means that you have to go with her to every garage sale in the county looking for used baby gear. The plus side: I found a food dehydrator, never used, for $4!

Sweet!

[Mylo]

I got a food dehydrator, but mine cost me much more... her name is Mrs. Mylo - and you should keep her away from the grill at all costs...

....unless you like beef jerky.


Mylo

[Brew Engineer]

[nathan]

do not put hops in a food dehydrator. You will over-dehydrate it and turn it brown because of the heat. If you disable the heat, it still blows room air over it.

If you have an attic, an uninsulated shed or garage, or a car parked out in the sun, just put the hops on a screen or some sort, one layer deep, and set it in this warm location. They will be ready in 2-5 days depending on the temperature. I just put mine on the plates from the food dehydrator, stack them, and set them on a wire shelf in my garage, which is hot here in the NC summer, and they are green and dry and very good quality in a few days. Then I weigh and vacuum bag them and put in the fridge or freezer (depending on length of storage).

[Madtown Brew]

Pretty sure this has been mentioned on the forum before, but Alton Brown from Good Eats has a great dehydration method from his dried fruit show that works perfectly for hops. I couldn't find a youtube video from that episode, but I'm sure it's there if someone wants to search it out for better illustration.

All it requires is several cheap furnace filters and a box fan. Lay your hops out in one even layer on a filter, cover with another filter and continue to layer until all hops are spread out. Bungie cord (or tape) the whole stack of filters on top of a box fan that is raised off the floor a couple inches with blocks or books or whatever is handy. Turn on the fan and the hops will be dry in about 24-36 hrs.

[triple-oh-six]

This is what I use
Straight from Alton Brown



I sandwich cones between the filters about 3 rows deep at max then bungee to a $7 box fan.
Then I put another filter on the input.

[rhino777]

Here it is: Bonk!

[Mylo]

Dude! that guy took perfectly good tarragon and crushed it into shake! What was he thinking?


Mylo