Bin drying flax

[helmach]

With every bu. taken off this yr tough to damp it has been a real struggle to say the least. Did some things I didnt think were possible. have dried cereals down from 19 mois as well as canola as high as 15 mois down to sellable. Now onto the last hurdle which has me again concerned. Have 18k bu of flax all testing anywhere from 10.5 to 11.5 with the last 4k bu. at 13 mois and feel dam lucky to even have it that low.

My setup I use is a 400k btu heater with 12in ducting that I've insulated and plumbed right into the suction on a I believe 6hp fan on a rocket. the bins I fill 1800 to 2100 bu. on a 1805 westeel bin depending on weather which is -20 this week and mois starting point I can lower about .8 to 1 point in a 24hr period.

Question I have is will this setup work on flax seed or have anyone tried bin drying flax with supplemental heat. reason I'm concerned is becuse on day 1 and 2 of bin drying canola you end up with a pretty substantial not quite a mush but significantly damp seeds as the bin is pouring out water out of the bottom gate and hopper for the first 2 days. Canola always ends up ok at the end of the cook but will the flax be able to handle that surplus deluge of water without being ruined? any insite or experience would be appreciated before I ended of with 2000 bu. of mush I can't afford to lose.

[Guest]

Before we had a dryer we dried flax at -40 without heat from 16
Worked good

[farmaholic]

The RH has been so high lately. Grain is already cool. We would like to be blowing on marginally tough wheat but the equilibrium moisture charts say we would be going backwards.....getting tougher.

A guy told me its pretty hard to re-wet grain with aeration. ????anyone????

[biglentil]

Before we had a dryer we dried flax at -40 without heat from 16
Worked good

Freeze drying, have to wonder how long to run those fans? From my experience once the grain is frozen drying slows to a snails pace, but on the otherhand propane and diesel are not cheap. Maybe the snails pace of running the fan for weeks on end is more cost effective?

[farming101]

The RH has been so high lately. Grain is already cool. We would like to be blowing on marginally tough wheat but the equilibrium moisture charts say we would be going backwards.....getting tougher.

A guy told me its pretty hard to re-wet grain with aeration. ????anyone????

Knowing absolute humidity is the key.
But like BL says when it is cold the process is ssssssslllllllllllloooooooooowwwwwwww

[VK58]

Hard to do when it is this cold. remove dry flax on bottom of bin daily, store elsewhere. Wet flax freezes/sticks to bin walls, not good but if only option it can work. Did it a few years ago still trying to get bin cleaned out. It only worked if I removed the dry flax on the bottom daily. Flax is tough to move air through even when the bin was 2/3 full and double the recommended fan size.

[6V53]

I reversed the fan once on a bin of barley and had lots of frost build up outside the bin . Can't remember the outcome but must of been OK otherwise I definitely would remember. 😣

[Sheepwheat]

My standing flax was testing 20 today. Ridiculous! Thought it might be 14 or something. Was minus 9 when I tested. My question is will it get any better? I am not taking it off at 20. That is scary it is like chunky stew...

[GDR]

Hard to do when it is this cold. remove dry flax on bottom of bin daily, store elsewhere. Wet flax freezes/sticks to bin walls, not good but if only option it can work. Did it a few years ago still trying to get bin cleaned out. It only worked if I removed the dry flax on the bottom daily. Flax is tough to move air through even when the bin was 2/3 full and double the recommended fan size.

How do you remove the bottom of the bin, does it not pull through the center from the top? Or you just talking a few bushels at a time?

[VK58]

How do you remove the bottom of the bin, does it not pull through the center from the top? Or you just talking a few bushels at a time?

Assuming he was talking hopper bottom bin, my experience would not want to try with flat bottom bin. My flax was probably tougher than his but the condensation with his heat source would be as bad or worse. Just my opinion

we took 100 -150 bu/day out. PIA but it worked

[helmach]

Assuming he was talking hopper bottom bin, my experience would not want to try with flat bottom bin. My flax was probably tougher than his but the condensation with his heat source would be as bad or worse. Just my opinion

we took 100 -150 bu/day out. PIA but it worked

this is canola juice that leaks/foams out of the bin. mind you this canola was borderline 16 moisture and it was -1 yesterday so lots of juice being driven out. This is why I'm hesitant to try flax as in my experiance the grain against the hopper is the wettest in the bin from the vapor condensing and running back down along the walls and hopper and out the seams and bottom gate. usually scrap out 5 plus sopping wet bushels clung to the hopper at the end of each cook. bought some ventilation fans to stick up in the manway to help pull the vapor out. Going to start on the flax in 4 to 5 days. will keep you updated on my success or failures.

[VK58]

Good luck, I always viewed every dry bushel a win, always hoped for another win tommorow