Burning & Storing Corn

[jjk454ss]

i have a Quadrafire Classic Bay, I'm thinking of trying to burn corn this year, I live surrounded by hundreds of acres of it, I might as well. What do I need to know? Anything different? How does it affect feed rated as a mix? Size isn't an issue?

And if anyone here buys tons of corn, how do you store it to keep t dry and away from rodents, etc?

 

[Bioburner]

Corn per volume is denser. Depends on the corn too how well it will burn as some years the corn will have more oil and starches. Need to have corn under 13 percent moisture to avoid storage problems and to burn reasonable. I buy corn from local elevator or from farmer in a gravity box of around 150+ bushels and store in shed. Have transferred to sealable barrels and thrown in a handful of moth balls to keep moths and other creepy crawlly things at bay. A standard bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds but can range from high 40s to low 60s.

 

[jjk454ss]

Corn per volume is denser. Depends on the corn too how well it will burn as some years the corn will have more oil and starches. Need to have corn under 13 percent moisture to avoid storage problems and to burn reasonable. I buy corn from local elevator or from farmer in a gravity box of around 150+ bushels and store in shed. Have transferred to sealable barrels and thrown in a handful of moth balls to keep moths and other creepy crawlly things at bay. A standard bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds but can range from high 40s to low 60s.

Thanks for the info, I'll check into what's available. If I can find some below 13 percent moisture content I think I'll give it a shot.

 

[johninwi]

Have transferred to sealable barrels and thrown in a handful of moth balls to keep moths and other creepy crawlly things at bay

Is this in the house? considering a small corn crib for the basement but i'm concerned about the critters thinking they'll live here too. I've not seen anything that leads me to believe i have any rodents and would really like to keep it that way. i live in the city, neighbors are close and one next door commented on having a few mice. I can see it already, i'll be the pied piper with a path straight to my basement. They'd be fat and juicy in no time but i'd doubt they'd ever be tasty.

 

[Bioburner]

I used a non working chest freezer one year before I got moved. Easy to put on a small trailer and vermin proof. Can be found for cheap on CL.

 

[johninwi]

I'll need to find something to seal tight enough that they can't smell it or chew thru.

My house actually came with a international harvester topload chest freezer, it dated to about 1952, i tossed it when i gutted the basement. i'll never use that beast i though. Think again

 

[rona]

i have a Quadrafire Classic Bay, I'm thinking of trying to burn corn this year, I live surrounded by hundreds of acres of it, I might as well. What do I need to know? Anything different? How does it affect feed rated as a mix? Size isn't an issue?

And if anyone here buys tons of corn, how do you store it to keep t dry and away from rodents, etc?

You may have trouble finding corn at 13% moisture as most is only dried down to 15%. Some stoves won't burn 15% and the easiest way to cure it is to blend some pellets with the corn. Actually burning a blend brings out the best points of both corn and pellets. Sometimes pellets have a tendency to bridge in the hopper and corn will help prevent that. Corn seems to produce more heat but can cause problems with a clinker where as with a blend you can eliminate this problem. The big one is you should get exhaust pipe made for burning corn because the exh from corn will eat up pellet stove pipe. This is commonly called multi fuel exh pipe. A friendly housecat will overcome rodents and will provide entertainment value as well. If you don't get mice now in the fall I doubt you will get them.
If I was going to give advice it would be to be sure to burn it all by summer to avoid the possibility of weevils and white moths flying around. Even storing it in barrels won't prevent weevils. its best to error by being over cautious then notice the little white moths flying around knowing you could have avoided this added drama. Most women put white moths just below flying bats.

 

[Bioburner]

Spot on Rona.
Except for the pipe. If you run the fire nice and hot you should not have issues with corrosion as the condensate is the issue, not the gas IMO.

Darn hard to keep the flue temp up in a longer length of pipe when the outside temps are sitting below 0 F for months. I ran a stove in the garage on low to keep things from freezing and as it has no flue temp feed control like a Harman, things start to condense(3 ft. straight out). Even the Harman in the house started to condense as it has 12 ft. of pipe that extracts some of the flue gases heat.

 

[jjk454ss]

So with a 50/50 mix pellet/corn what moisture content is OK? Or pretty much whatever they offer will work? Thanks for all the info.

 

[Bioburner]

I did a little reading to figure why I was always taught to dry corn to 13%. I spent many sleepless nights during harvest in my youth babysitting portable driers. Short term storage of corn with ventilation is fine at 15%, less than 3 months. If more than that better run down to 13 or less. WI corn ag site and SE Farm Press was the sites in got the info from.

 

[rona]

I did a little reading to figure why I was always taught to dry corn to 13%. I spent many sleepless nights during harvest in my youth babysitting portable driers. Short term storage of corn with ventilation is fine at 15%, less than 3 months. If more than that better run down to 13 or less. WI corn ag site and SE Farm Press was the sites in got the info from.

If you have fans for air circulation 15% will keep but you can't ignore the bins. I farmed most of my life and had room for 75,000 bushels of corn and used it every year We had to dry using LP in dryer and had fans in all the bins to keep them in condition. The grain buyers tell us 15.6 % moisture is good enough to sell with no discounts. Normal years you can bin 17% corn and by running the fan at the right time bring the moisture down to 15%. The university's will recommend 14 or even 13 for long term storage but notice they aren't paying for the drying cost. They say that because a lot of people will bin the corn and ignore it until they sell it. They also don't tell you how much more grain damage develops from over drying corn. Kernels of corn will crack very easy if over dried so we end up with more fines which the elevator deducts from the check.
If you are able to do so the best place to buy corn is from a farmer. The reason is less damage to the grain. Usually the less times the grain is handled the less damage there is. Sometimes the corn will dry down to 15 or less in the field but then there is more grain loss between shelling on the head and ear droppage in the fields. I should also note that different areas have different maturity dates and different yield potential. In other words what works in one area won't in another area. Another favorite problem is the clinker produced when burning corn. The stove reps would use location or variety as a excuse for the clinker headache. Mixing pellets with corn makes a huge difference with this problem.
The percent or ratio pellets to corn will be a brand and model of stove issue. Some companies will say 50-50 others will say keep moisture to 13% or less, while others say straight corn from 17% down will burn. 50-50 seems a generic suggestion and a good starting point.
The pipe issue; I have seen pipe labeled for corn full of pinholes from one end to another in two years. They came out with better pipe later. This was a 36 inch straight out the back and through the wall so I would say it was as hot as practical. -20F is not unusual. I found the end of the pipe was where most of the damage was and if I put a 90 degree galvanized elbow on it that seemed to get all the damage so I sacrificed a couple during the season. People told me pipe for pellets wouldn't make a season burning corn so never tried it.