GRAIN DRYER & PARTS BOOK - Opico

MOISTURE TESTING
Since grain must go into storage at not more than specified moisture content, it is necessary to use a reliable
tester to determine moisture content. When marketing grain from the dryer, it should be only dry enough to eliminate
moisture discounts. The moisture tester may also be profitably used to determine when to harvest.
COOLING OF GRAIN
It is very important to cool grain. Grain being put in storage should be cooled after drying to within 20 degrees F
of atmospheric temperature or, 10 degrees F of grain already in the storage bin. Moisture migration from the air
to grain will occur if the grain is not colled to these limits.
GRAIN SHRINK
Grain “shrink” is the weight loss which occurs when grain is dried. The dry matter of grain does not change, consequently
when a percentage of water is removed the “shrink” percentage is greater than the percentage of
water removed. For example, if you dried a bushel of corn from 27% down to 15%, the corn loses 14.2% of its
weight and the moisture content was dropped 12% (27% –15%). To find this weight loss from the chart below,
follow the horizontal line (27% moisture at start) across until it intersects the 15% inclined line (moisture at completion
of drying).
The final weight of any amount of grain can be figured from this formula:
Original Weight X
100 – Moisture content of Wet Grain
100 – Moisture content of Drying Grain = Final Weight
Example: 100 bushel of corn weighing 6200 pounds at 25% moisture content dried to 15%.
PERCENTAGE OF MOISTURE AT START
PERCENTAGE OF ORIGINAL QUANTITY
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