1. What do you need to think about when drying grain?
Lecture 2
What do you need to think about when drying grain?

2. Disadvantages of grain drying
Cost of purchase (equipment)
Cost of operation
Cost of Maintained Equipment
Risk associated with storage of grain
Quality of grain deteriorates in storage

3. Requirements of a Grain System
Moisture Removal
Safe Storage
Grain Type
% harvest
% Moisture for storage
Corn
14-30
13.0
S. R. W.W.
9-17
13.5
Soybean
9-20
11.0

4. How is quality determined?
Government grading standards- no reduction in :
Germination
Stress crack occurrence
Susceptibility to breakage
Heat damage

5. How do you control? Dryer design Operation of dryer Drying air temp
Air flow rates
Cool down procedures
Know intended use afterwards
Feed Vs. Food

6. Sizing a dryer Operational issues $$$$ Labor
Moisture that must be removed

7. Calculation Abbreviations
Ww= Weight of water
Wt= total weight of sample
Wdm= Weight of dry matter
Mwb= % moisture on wet basis
Wt= Ww + Wdm

8. Formulas Mwb= Ww * 100/Wt Mdm= Ww * 100/Wdm
To Convert dry basis to wet basis (which all moistures test on the wet basis)
Mdb= (Mwb/(100-Mwb)) * 100
To convert wet basis to dry basis
Mwb= (Mdb/(100 + Mdb)) * 100

9. Moisture Tester Considerations
Several Types available
Oven most accurate, but takes several days to use
Most measure electrical property that is related to moisture content
Factors that impact these reading include:
Grain bulk density
Foreign material
Kernel shape & size
Chemical Composition
Getting a good measure of moisture is represntative of sample

10. Grain Quality 1 bushel = 1.25ft3
Bushel wt is based on minimum test wt listed in the USDA grain standards
Corn = 56#
Wheat = 60#
Oats = 32 #
Another reason not to over-dry your grain

11. Dry Matter Bushel
In this situation the amount of moisture in the grain is adjusted to a “standard moisture content”
Example in text
56# *((100%-15.5%)/100)= 56# * (.0845)= 47.3#

12. Shrinkage of Grain Loss of wt which occurs during the drying process
Should you 25%? Or dry to 15.5 then sell?
1000 bushel of 25% = 56,000# or
888 bushel of 15.5% = 49,704 #
= loss of 112 bushels
But remember docking for wet grain & cost of drying