The drying of soybeans

The majority of folks can't recall ever seeing so much soybeans dried in one year as there were last year. There are yield advantages to drying soybeans since shatter loss varies from excessive at harvest times of 13% to very high at times of 12% and below. Less shatter loss occurs during harvesting at higher moisture levels.

Many soybeans will likely be dried again in 2019, but this time it won't be to stop yield loss from shattering. This year, it's unlikely that any of the estimates on higher revenue from decreased shatter will be relevant. In many regions, wet, unfavorable planting circumstances delayed plant development and harvest dates to the point where drying may be necessary and not an option.

What makes drying high-moisture soybeans unique? They need unique drying procedures since they contain more oil than maize, according to Gary Woodruff, district manager at GSI.

According to him, they must first be dried to 13% before being stored. Due of the low humidity needed, that is generally not feasible in a typical year with natural circulation in the bin from fans alone. Heat drying is thus necessary.

Second, soybeans cannot be left out at high ambient temperatures or moisture levels greater than 13% for very long without degrading.

Drying advice

Here are some suggestions based on how the various types of dryers effect the drying of beans. These suggestions may be helpful if you haven't dried many soybeans previously.

Drying in the trash

When the bin is full, all drying bins require an airflow of 1 cubic foot per minute per bushel. Sidewall heights ought to be no more than 21 feet. Due to how slowly soybeans would likely dry with ambient air conditions, using only a fan—often referred to as "natural air drying"—would probably not work.

Late-season circumstances can be addressed by adding a low-temperature (5 to 10 degrees F) upstream burner to a centrifugal fan. Beans may attain 13% of their final moisture content while drying 24 hours a day when a tiny quantity of heat is applied. You can use a manual humidistat, but you'll probably need to adjust it for night and day operation using a chart.

The ideal aeration controller has fan burner control and balance. Everything is automated as a result. Assuming an initial moisture content of 18% to 22%, this device can reduce soybeans to 13% typically in two to four weeks.

It is not advised to attempt to remove more than one or two points from higher bins or bins with lower airflow than 1 cfm per bushel. The lengthy drying procedure will reduce the quality of the soybeans. Before achieving a safe moisture level, those at the top could remain wet for several weeks or months.

Drying should be done in stages if a Stir-Ator bin drier with a higher temperature (100 to 120 degrees F) is utilized. At a time, keep depths to no more than 7 to 10 feet. Before drying a new batch, transfer dry beans to the ultimate storage location.

Portable and tower dryers

You shouldn't dry soybeans completely on fire before letting them cool in a bin. With 13% of the cooled soybeans departing the dryer and going into the storage bin, the dryer should be run dry and cold.

Plenum temperatures won't get over 120 to 140 degrees F, which is far lower than with maize. Consider that the dryer will remove half as many moisture points from soybeans as from corn because there are frequently no normal operation charts for them at these plenum temperatures.

For example, if the dryer has to operate at 30% unload speed to remove 10 points of corn, it will only remove 5 points of soybeans at the same setting.