Drying out hops

[Capper20]

I have a crop of Northern Brewer and Cascade growing in the back garden, the cones are starting to form which is good news. Before they are ready I want to make sure I can dry them out properly. Before I set off and build a hop rack with heater and fans for the very small first year yield would a food dehydrator be the best way to go. I've seen some with a low end temp of 35C. Is this acceptable or a bit too high? Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Northern Brewer photos:


Slightly earlier photo, gone wild since then with all the sun...

[seymour]

Food dehydrators work fine, though I've heard their amount of heat and air flow can be fairly severe on the hops. I often place my homegrown hops on a window-screen, laid across two folding chairs or saw-benches or something, in an open, lit but not too direct sunlight, breezy part of the yard and let them dry naturally for a couple days. I carefully move the frame inside at night to protect from dew, rain, etc, then rake them around a bit and repeat until they're dry enough. It's easy and affordable at least, and not too tedious.

[barneey]

Last year I borrowed the net curtains, made a hammock, got a desk fan with swivel 5 or 6 days later they were a 1/4 of the weight.

House smelt of hops for a week, net curtains turned yellow - but it worked

[Capper20]

OK, thanks, will see what I can conjure up.