OK, dried, cooled corn into non aereated bins?

Dave from MN · Jul 28, 2011

Is addition to my last post. I have a older neighbor that has said I can use his bins free of charge since I have been plowing him out in winters. One 3800bu has the V vents in the conrete floor, with a good aereation fan. The rest are 1800-2200bu cheif/soiux bins with concrete floor's, no aereation. If I have dried corn, and cooled. Will the corn be OK, to store until next year? THis would give me 10,000 bu storage for no cost. Any advice on storing dried grain would be helpful. What higher moisture corn could I safely put in the aereated bin? 20%?

JMS/.MN · Jul 28, 2011

The Y aeration system is marginal, works but not as good as a full floor. No aeration on concrete floors can work, but requires more monitoring, and a plan to move it when needed.Occasional drawdown of grain helps keep it fresh, but for winter storage you need to get down to 15%, even a couple lower if you carry it to late spring or early summer. Helps a lot if you have roof vents, rotary is better than simple vents. There is air movement in bins as temps change, etc. Sun warming south side, etc.

GeneMO · Jul 28, 2011

Do you have access to electricity at the bin sites? We used the screw in, auger type aerators with pretty good success in smaller bins. Mostly the 1350 bu bins. Have you seen the type I am talking about? About 8' long, perforated tube with a pointed auger arrangement at the bottom. You screw it down into the grain from the top man-hole. Then a small fan fits on the top. We ran it 24/7 during cool, dry days. It helps to keep hot spots out of the center of the bin. Depending on moisture and temp. as a bin heats or cools it will start at the outside of the bin. This can cause moistue problems in the center. These little fans really help.

You need to make a practice of checking bins at least once a week.

Get a temperature probe on a long threaded rod.

Stick your arm down it as far as you can.

Notice any off smells.

Good luck,, Gene

Bob Bancroft · Jul 28, 2011

I store 350 tons of dried corn in a 30'x 8 ring bin with full perforated aeration floor, but no aeration- ( no fan- no transition- no vents.) The corn is bin/stir dried and cooled before transfer to about 14%. I take out 18 tons a week, starting soon enough that it's empty about wheat time (approx. mid July) I've never had a problem. All my other bins have aeration/heat/stirrer/etc. in some combination.
Often just being able to hold/control your own crop just beyond harvest pressure pays here. I would just plan on getting the grain off the concrete before a lot of warm weather.

Nebraska Cowman · Jul 28, 2011

Winter storage is easy. It's next summer that will get you in trouble.

hd6gtom · Jul 28, 2011

must be 12 to 14%

fixerupper · Jul 28, 2011

Cowman's right. Dry corn will store all winter but the warm moist spring air will cause condensation on the cool corn. The corn senses it's spring and time to sprout, and if there's moisture there it will indeed sprout.

In a bin without fans or even one with marginal fans I wouldn't store corn much past the middle or last of march no matter what the moisture is. With $7.00 corn there's too much money sitting in there to take chances. A bin with 2000 bu is worth $14000. Store it in town and pay them $.18/bu. and that's $360 storage for the first three or four months, which is only 51 bushels at $7.00. 10% loss in a 2000 bu bin is 200 bushels X $7.00=$1400 compared to $360 storage loss when stored in town. Jim

JDseller · Jul 28, 2011

Corn will keep for years IF it is dried to 12-13 percent moisture and cooled. In the 1980s I rented a 30 foot diameter 40 foot tall grain bin. It did have an air floor but no electric on the farm any more, last building standing. I dried corn in the bins at my house, took it down to 12% moisture. I then move it into the rented bin. I put 20,000 bushel in the bin. The next summer I pulled one 1000 bushel load out and it was fine. Corn was selling for $1.65 and the government would pay me $.25 a bushel to store it. So I left it. I did not worry about it too much as I could always have feed it if anything happened. Anyway the government paid me storage on that corn for three years. I did fumigate it for bugs twice each year. I sold the corn out of the bin in the forth summer it was stored with zero dock age. The price was in the low $3 and I got paid enough to help on interest.

Also the corn has to have good test weights too. IF it is chaff then it will not keep.

flying belgian · Jul 28, 2011

I have a 3250 govt. bin with solid cement and I would always have a couple hundred bushels moldy corn come out of that thing in June. No matter how dry or cool I put it in there. Over the years I tried every temp and moisture but always spoiled. Then last summer I cut a hole in the side wall and mounted an old furnace blower. No tube, no gutter. Just bolted it to the side with a home made transition and covered it with heavy screen in side bin. Just finished hauling the corn out last week. Started hauling the week before that. Presto, not one kernel moldy corn. Put it in warm at 14% moisture in Oct. and it came out cool at 13.5 to 13.8 This is in so. Mn. Moral of the story is on them small bins it don't take much but it does need something for air.

paul · Jul 29, 2011

20% is quite high, even if it's cold out. You could maybe put in 18% and get it to dry down. You don't have a full floor, just a Y setup, that leaves high-moisture pockets. 20 would make me very nervious - in a cold fall it would keep until Feb or March, but then you gotta haul it & it likely won't be dry and the elevator won't want to fire up the drier for just your loads of corn.... Don't like the thought of 20%, that's pushing hard on a no-heat, Y trench floor......

The no air concrete floors can lead to sweating in summer as things warm up, moisture will flow into the bottom layer of corn. Gotta watch it, if you can get a lot of it moved by March you should do fine.

Watch it closely after May, can turn on you for no reason in a week.... Most of the time it keeps fine. But - only takes one year of 'but'.

--->Paul

OK, dried, cooled corn into non aereated bins?

Dave from MN

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JMS/.MN

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GeneMO

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Bob Bancroft

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Nebraska Cowman

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hd6gtom

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fixerupper

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JDseller

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flying belgian

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paul

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