Bean drier design

[jjm]

Looks like I am going to start growing an increased area of beans opposed to OSR for obvious reasons. In the past I have put them through a continuous flow drier but that have caused real damage to the conveyors and elevators that service the drier. I am therefore thinking of making a 200 tonne “drying area” that I can put the beans in and dry them slowly without any moving parts. Any ideas on how to design and build it as cheaply as possible and whether it would work?.

 

[Brisel]

A ventilated floor would be best, blowing ambient or dehumidifier air through. Resistance to air flow is quite low.

 

[Drillman]

I’ve had beans in our Master drier in the past. It was a painful experience as they weren’t fit to cut till the end of October, therefore moisture levels were biblical and required 2-3 passes of 10-12hrs each time to get them dry. They certainly did the drier no good at all and I refuse to ever put them in it ever again.

I reckon a blowing floor is the answer myself.

 

[Brisel]

For the time of year you cut beans, you would want some means of reducing the humidity to dry them. For drive on floors, this is normally by a modulated gas burner. Grain stirring augers speed up batch drying.

Just an idea - see if there are any grain drying trailers around second hand. They won't hold many tonnes but would do batches for you.

 

[teslacoils]

Send them to a store and preserve your sanity.

 

[Rob Holmes]

For the time of year you cut beans, you would want some means of reducing the humidity to dry them. For drive on floors, this is normally by a modulated gas burner. Grain stirring augers speed up batch drying.

Just an idea - see if there are any grain drying trailers around second hand. They won't hold many tonnes but would do batches for you.

We’ve used a Farrell trailer dryer and whilst slow is ok for beans, although auger flights need to be in good order or will slice beans, we had ours reflighted

 

[Auckland Blue]

Put ours through a belt and cup elevator and chain and flight conveyor into an old carrier rotaflow drier. Normally takes to goes at getting them under 15% so is a slow process. The Elevators and conveyors generally cope with beans and peas fairly well so long as you dont push them through as you would wheat and barley. What i would say is, our conveyors and elevators are not kind on peas and beans especially as they get a bit drier. I would prefer to put ours on a ventilated floor and blow them if i had the choice.

 

[yellow belly]

For h c beans on floor drying floor with modulating gas burner

for feed the Opico will do

with beans it is often difficult to get an accurate moisture reading on freshly dried beans or fresh combined
if it has been dry for a period beforecombineing they are usually dryer than the test reading
with those just dried they often wetter than the reading

 

[jjm]

Would I need to agitate them if I was to put a ventilated floor down and blow warm air through?

 

[Andrew K]

No, but a Casella air flow meter is handy to check airflow thru the heap if you have one?

 

[grainboy]

I have a stirrer available, was situated in a 10ft x 10ft Crital bi,

 

[grainboy]

More pics

 

[Brisel]

No, but a Casella air flow meter is handy to check airflow thru the heap if you have one?

One of these?

A thin paper napkin would be much cheaper

 

[DanniAgro]

In the "olden days" one method of drying was to mix them with say barley and separate after drying.
The main troubles with drying beans are the low resistance to airflow, and the danger of splitting the beans if too high a temperature is used.

 

[Raggy]

Blimey. I was going to ask for advice ahead of trying to dry beans for the first time through my continuous flow drier in a week or two. Say compared to Osr settings or wheat settings etc. Then I searched and found this thread. Don't know what way to go now.

 

[Brisel]

I’ve done them in a CF drier. Keep temperatures low and only take a bit of moisture out each time. We ran them though then put them into a different bin, then repeated the process until dry.

 

[redbaron]

One of these?

A thin paper napkin would be much cheaper

Or a nice cotton "gentleman's" handkerchief - tuck edges into beans and compare balooning material in different places on heap.

 

[Renaultman]

I’ve had beans in our Master drier in the past. It was a painful experience as they weren’t fit to cut till the end of October, therefore moisture levels were biblical and required 2-3 passes of 10-12hrs each time to get them dry. They certainly did the drier no good at all and I refuse to ever put them in it ever again.

I reckon a blowing floor is the answer myself.

I've got that T shirt, if the price and yield is acceptable, I pay to get them dried. Bloody horrible things.

 

[Drillman]

I've got that T shirt, if the price and yield is acceptable, I pay to get them dried. Bloody horrible things.

I did about a wagon load for a neighbour as well as the store he normally sends stuff to had shut there drier down for winter.

cant remember how big the bill was I ended up sending him to do the job but know I cringed wen I worked it out. Can’t remember the exact figure but it was well over £1000

 

[Renaultman]

I did about a wagon load for a neighbour as well as the store he normally sends stuff to had shut there drier down for winter.

cant remember how big the bill was I ended up sending him to do the job but know I cringed wen I worked it out. Can’t remember the exact figure but it was well over £1000

I once tried to dry some without the burner working, it took days