Small scale grain dryer

[scholland]

We propcorn our barley normally but I fancy saving a few ton of seed this year, is there a simple and cheap way to dry a few ton? Say 5 ton.
No dryers based locally at all.
Would a Martin Lishman spear and fan do enough? Hopefully we will cut it pretty dry but it could easily be in the low 20s.
Thanks

 

[Flat 10]

I would say yes at a guess. For seed I would think 16-17% would store fine. If it was in a small trailer with a fan in and you pulled it outside on a nice sunny day that would help. You could also tip just inside doorway of shed on a nice day and stir about manually and reload. Done this to dry a few tonne of FSS Mustard in a previous life.

 

[B'o'B]

If you’ve got a few pallets and some hessian you can make a pretty good false floor dryer

 

[scholland]

If you’ve got a few pallets and some hessian you can make a pretty good false floor dryer

What kind of fan though?

 

[B'o'B]

Anything from your grain spear fan upward. A small grain spear fan would keep it right but probably won’t do much drying. A 1.1kw pedestal fan would be able to dry 5t. The more airflow they faster it will dry.

 

[DrWazzock]

The first drier we had here was a petrol engine driving a fan which blew air under a frame on which you laid the grain in hessian sacks. The heat of the engine was used in the drying. It was very effective but a laborious.

 

[DrWazzock]

The first drier we had here was a petrol engine driving a fan which blew air under a frame on which you laid the grain in hessian sacks. The heat of the engine was used in the drying. It was very effective but a laborious.

 

[shakerator]

The first drier we had here was a petrol engine driving a fan which blew air under a frame on which you laid the grain in hessian sacks. The heat of the engine was used in the drying. It was very effective but a laborious.

Doubley so !