The Encyclopedia of Beer by Christine P. Rhodes

Author:Christine P. Rhodes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Published: 2014-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

Dried hops are aged in bins for 1 to 12 days.

The typical procedure in the United States is to cut the vines and take them to a mechanical harvester housed in a shed. A typical large-scale picker, or harvester, has wire picking fingers or loops mounted on bars that travel over the vines, plucking the cones as they pass. Portable machines and other picking designs are also used.

Once the hops are picked, they are gathered and taken to a hop kiln, or oasthouse, as it is called in England. There they are loosely and evenly scattered on a slatted floor covered with burlap or wire mesh. The bed of hops may be up to 40 inches in depth. Hot air is then allowed to pass through the hops by natural convection or by forced air for deeper beds. Fresh hops have a moisture content of around 80 percent, which is reduced to about 8 percent by drying. Temperatures are usually 140° to 150°F (60° to 65.5°C) for bittering hops and 130°F (54°C) or less for aromatic hops. The drying time ranges from 6 to 20 hours depending on the depth of the hop bed, humidity, air temperature and velocity, and original moisture content of the hops.

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