Drying hops in a mesh bag?

[StonesBally]

I have second year hop crowns in the ground from Great Lakes hops, a number of varieties and based on the initial growth this year I expect a much larger harvest than the few ounces I got last fall from some of my plants. Last year I just dried my hops in open brown paper bags in the garage, which worked fine for the amount I had. Well I have a large number of mesh bags, the kind used for holding things like onions. I could fill those with hops and hang them in the garage to dry quite easily. This would offer air circulation all around the cones and would probably dry them quite quickly. Anyone done anything like this to dry hops before? Do you think it is good idea? Would there be any downside? I just sprained my ankle and after being quite bored I started thinking about ways to dry the hops this year. Thanks in advance for any help/advice/concerns/questions.

 

[reinstone]

I'd be concerned of rot. Use a screen if you can, the onion bags may be too large and air may not circulate.

 

[ArrowheadHops]

The center of the bags won't dry very well. Get them spread a few inches deep will work much better.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I just pull two or three mesh screens from the bigger windows in my house and stack them with hops in between and blow a fan across.

You could always make your own drying screens with a bit of screen material tacked to some 1x2's or something.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I made mine like FuzzeWuzze suggested. Cut and screw pieces of 1x2 firring strip together to make a shallow frame. Then staple window screen onto them. Label them with a permanent marker as to variety for each.
Then I put a pulley on the ceiling of my garage and stack the trays and use a rope to hoist them into the nice warm air near the ceiling. In about 2-3 weeks they are typically dry.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Don't put them in paper bags, don't stick them in mesh...spread them out as others have said.

Think of it this way...what removes the water from the hops? Air. The more contact the hops have with air, the more/faster the moisture can be removed. The sooner they are dry, the sooner you can throw them in the freezer to preserve them.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Don't put them in paper bags, don't stick them in mesh...spread them out as others have said.

Think of it this way...what removes the water from the hops? Air. The more contact the hops have with air, the more/faster the moisture can be removed. The sooner they are dry, the sooner you can throw them in the freezer to preserve them.

And the sooner they dry the less likely they are to rot.

Think of it like chilling your wort, you should do whatever you can to get it cold asap so you dont get infections. Same rule applies to fresh hops and rotting if you dont try them properly within a few days.

 

[StonesBally]

Thanks for all of the input, looks like mesh bags are not the way to go. I already have a crude idea of a more complex setup, but was really wondering if I could use the mesh bags for this season before putting the real work in next. I guess I'll have to put in some work on what I had in store for next year. No biggie, I have till the end of summer anyway. Hops look way better, and bigger this year too. I can't wait!