Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 2 Summer 2019 | Page 13

kiln he uses can dry 50 pounds and
must be checked often to prevent
over-drying.
“He used to come in every few
hours through the night, so he
would drive into campus at 2 a.m., 4
a.m., 6 a.m. and come check on it,”
Ringer said.
After hearing the limitations of
existing oasts, the team set to work,
prioritizing a steady airflow for even
drying and an effective controls sys-
tem that ensured Jackson and hops
growers wouldn’t have to check on
their hops so often.
Inside the 8-foot-tall wooden
oast, 18 hops crates are monitored
with sensors to track temperature
to prevent over-drying, and crate
weight to track the moisture content
of the hops.
The control system will allow
growers to check their hops without
opening the door and will let the
farmer know when the hops reach
the ideal moisture content of 8 to 10
percent.
“I’ve been extremely impressed by
the professionalism and enthusiasm
the students have brought to this
project,” Jackson said. “They have
been highly engaged and want to
learn more about this emerging
industry, and are using technical
knowledge and creative solutions
to solve a real problem for the hop
producers in this region.”
The assembly and operation
instructions for the oast will be
published later this season on the
Virginia Cooperative Extension’s
Hops webpage, which contains
additional resources for hop produc-
ers in the region. The unit will also
be demonstrated at Virginia Tech’s
Hops Field Days and other educa-
tional events.
"Being able to apply what we've
learned to help the local community
really embodies Ut Prosim,” Ringer
said. “We're hoping that by design-
ing a way for growers to dry their
own hops that the barrier to getting
into the industry is lower.”
The student design team consists
of eight seniors studying mechanical
engineering: Justin Bakie, David
Blackwood, Tim Garnier, Josh Gray,
Austin Muff, Marianna Pittman,
Alexandra Ringer, and Johnathan
Russell.
The 8-foot-tall wooden oast will be used at the hops research yard at the Virginia Tech Urban Horti-
culture Center just off Prices Fork Road.