Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1874 — Curing Hops. [ARTICLE]

Curing Hops.

An improvement in the method of curing hops has lately been introduced in England by a Mr. j. M. Hopkins, a hopgrower near Worcester, which is said to be of great advantage to the grower, especially in seasons when prices are high. The following is a description of this process :

“The hops being gathered, are brought to the kiln to be cured. There are three drying floors of rafters covered with horse hair so that the heat and air can pass from below through each of them and out at the top, where an exhaust fan i» kept in motion by steam supplied from a boiler in the basement-floor of tbe kiln. The hops are first put into the top floor, where they remain about four hours, until the 4 reek’ is oft them, when they are dropped (without handling) to the second, and ”nally to the lower Poor, which is movable, being, m fact, composed of two large trays which slide in and out of the building. The temperature of the kiln never exceeds 90° ; the fan gives the advantage of drying the hops at a lower temperature than by the

common process. Thus the aroma and volatile oil which would be driven away afcw higher temperature are saved. The fan system has been tried with success in the drying of malt without deteriorating its quality. Under theusual system the drying process in a malt-house occupies three or four days—by the fan system it has been done in twenty-eight hours.”