Temperature to turn canola bins? Aeration in winter?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Monitoring non aeration bins full of dangerously damp canola. I've been turning when any point in the bin gets over 15 C. At that point there is a bit of clumping already. But I can't find any info on what temp is safe, anyone here have a number they use? Have 2 bins right now that have layer that is at 15C but has been stable for quite a while. Only 14' bins, one 6 ring, one 8 ring.

Also, I have most of the bins with air, and it safely frozen. Am I doing any good to keep pumping cold dry air in, or leave well enough alone and wait for warmer weather? I ran them steady for over a month, now just run them occasionally when it is really cold.

And apologies for using the marketing forum, but so does everyone else....

[wmoebis]

Think elevators tun bins about every 3 wks dry or not. Safety sake.

[farmaholic]

Is it possible to get that stuff dried? Sounds like dynamite. If you have to keep turning it anyway and all the work involved, I would see if I could get it dried. I can't imagine any terminal would buy that stuff, even in small doses, and risk their stocks trying to blend it but you never know...maybe 15 tonnes at a time. At the very least you would probably have to take a damp discount. What is the green seed count like?

[mcfarms]

2 things you may already know but run the fans over night when temps get very cold and freeze it down youll be surprised how much water comes out. However be very sure that you open your lid to allow airflow as that moisture is going to ice up your rood bin vents grates and freeze them closed. The theory here is cold dry air will take on moisture as it warms up going through the warmer canola. That and it's not a bad thing to have cold canola .

[Guest]

I wouldn't worry at 15c if you have temp cables and can monitor. I would only turn if the temp starts to go up

[farmaholic]

[URL=http://photobucket.com/]/URL]

[farmaholic]

[URL=http://photobucket.com/]/URL]

This can help determine when the fans should and shouldn't be run... RH at cold temps needs to be low to get any drying.

[BreadWinner]

You need to pull the whole bin out and put it into one of your air bins. Turn those fans on for a few weeks. It will never be good unless you get it moved around to break up the crusting. It may be already too late if it has hot spots away from the cables. Unstable canola is a pain and breaking up the layers and lowering the temperature is the only sure way of dealing with the problem.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I've never quite understood how to apply the temperature moisture charts. Is that the temp and moisture at time of binning, or would that be true at any time if you measured both temp and moisture? I assume it is the former, otherwise, I would read that chart and say that in January, at 40 below, a bin that reads 30 C and has under 10 percent moisture should still be good for 2 weeks. Almost certain that would be the wrong conclusion?

I hadn't seen the equilibrium moisture chart before. Too bad they didn't take it down to more negative temperatures. By extrapolation, looks like even at 50% RH, I would be adding moisture on a cold night.


As for drying, the plan was to keep it cold and in condition until elevator could accept it and dry. That plan is not looking so good, since the closest elevator is a month behind on contracts right now, and not accepting new contracts before about April.

Most of the stuff on air ranges from 11 to 13. About 6000Bu without air went in around 11% but has crept up to 13 in places.

The worst of the worst is probably 18, not certain as I can't measure past 16%. Not a lot of that, and it isn't worth sacrificing good grain to make a home for it that has air.


If it was 15 degrees and on its way down, I wouldn't worry, but it is 15 degrees and gaining very slowly, so there has to be some activity.

[farmaholic]

In stored grain I believe temperature is your biggest concern. It could be tough but tough cold/frozen will buy time.

Warm and tough equals trouble. Bugs in cereals and heating in oilseeds.

For aeration, I see low relative humidity as a key ingredient to lowering bin moisture. New studies say cold air holds more moisture so cold and low RH should help.

Got any neighbors who would rent you any aeration bins. Unfortunately I say we never get paid any "extra" for "preserving" grain quality.... all you're doing is preventing loss. We never really get compensated for all the wear and tear and time needed to keep grain, like you're dealing with, from going out of condition. Do you have alot of options for delivery within a reasonable distance from you? Tell them what you want to do(get rid of some tough canola)... obviously being upfront will get you the best results.

Good luck with the stuff.

[MBgrower]

Id say your canola is too warm, i take mine down to freezing even when dry, never have trouble. If it is clumping u better seperate the clumped grain from the rest of the bin, as the tolerance for heated is extremley low.

[farming101]

I keep this chart handy. It is helpful in telling when you are out of time.

[URL=http://photobucket.com/]/URL]

In '09 we'd bin canola at 15 plus moisture and maybe 10 degrees. In 11 days just like the chart says it needed to be going into the dryer or it would have been ruined in short order.

[tweety]

They make these things called dryers.

They work real gooood.

Farmers spend 100000$ on recreational vertical tillage but won't spend 10 grand on a drier. Sheesh

[TOM4CWB]

We had Canola which the Opi read 40f and there were still hot heated spots in the 5,000bu bin... between the sensors on the Opi.

Go to the top of the bin... smell the air at the loading/filling hatch... if it is clammy and smells like heating canola... well... you should be prepared for the rest of the story. Usually if half the bin is emptied... you will know what is up. 2 Super bees were needed to get rid of our warm spot... and we thought it was safe because it was 9 moisture when we put it in... and it was cooled. We Thought.

[agchat]

Let me get this straight Tom. Your saying your opis were showing around 5-6 celsius between the readings, and the hotspots were 30 plus celsius. You would think that the temp would of slowly climbed a degree or two every week on the sensor above the hotspot. I know my are going down roughly 2 celsius every week on the fourteen foot diameters, and 1-1.5 celsius on the fifeteen foot.