TQ6445 : Unconverted Oast House at Finches Farm, Five Oak Green Road, Five Oak Green, Kent
taken 21 years ago, near to Five Oak Green, Kent, England
An Oast House is a building used to dry fresh hops before they are sent to the brewers, to be used for flavouring beer. A traditional Oast House consists of the 'oast' and the 'stowage'. The oast was a kiln, with a plenum chamber fired by charcoal at ground floor and the drying floor directly above. The steep pitched roof channelled the hot air through the hops to the top. The stowage, was the barn section, it had a cooling floor and press at first floor and storage area at ground floor. Read more Link
Two round kiln oast house.
Once electricity began to be introduced to the oast house, fans were used to drive air through the hops, which was easier to control than the traditional vacuum of air through the cowl, and allowed a larger quantity of hops to be dried at one time. Some oast kilns were modified with louvred ventilators, to replaced the cowls which could not cope with the extra pressure. This example was called The "Watson" ventilator, designed in the 1960's.