HOW TO CHECK MOISTURE CONTENT OF PINTO BEANS BEFORE LTS

[cato47]

Hi folks:

This this my first post & I'm hoping for some answers from the members. I just bought 4ea 50# bags of pinto beans. I have a large Excaliber dehydrator and wish to dry them enough to do LTS in mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and vacumm sealing. I put up hundreds of pounds of beans, rice, oatmeal,onions and other things in 2011. I bought this food from a Mormon food center so all items met the moisture requirements for LTS. The beans I just bought aren't dry enough to pack them up. When using my Excaliber, how can I tell when they are dry enough to bag up for LTS?

Thanks in advance to all who can help with your posts.

cato47

[LvsChant]

Wow! I have no idea. How do you know they aren't dry enough?

I've often put up dried beans in mylar after buying them in the grocery store and never even thought about checking the moisture levels. I like to put several different varieties of beans in 1-2 lb bags in a 1 gallon mylar bag so that I have a variety when I open it later. I do cut a hole in each of the plastic bags they come in to allow air to be expelled when I vacuum seal, but other than that, I have just put in the O2 absorber, vacuum sealed and called it good.

[cato47]

LVS:

When I did this back in 2011, it was my understanding that beans were not to exceed 3% moisture content in order to be put up for LTS. I broke out a 4# bag of pintos a couple of months ago that were 9 years old & they were great. The Morman food bank where I got the food required their suppliers to meet a certain moisture content beause those folks are all about putting up food that will last 25-30 yeaqrs. As to what will happen if my beans have too much moisture...

!.) I don't want to take that chance without knowing about the moisture thing for sure. If the moisture isn't correct, there is a
     strong possibility the beans could spoil quickly.
2.) I heard once that after dehydrating beans, take a couple and whack them on concrete with a hammer. If they are powdery
     looking they should be good to go. Anything less than this could spell trouble.
3.) This is why I've posed the question... if I'm going to put in all of the work to do the LTS, I don't want to take a chance it will
      be all for nothing. I hope you can help me find some answers, Thanks

The hammer technique will not be gospel for me unless I hear about it or other methods on this site.

[Stwood]

Weigh 1# of your beans out. Then put in your oven on low, 200 for 30 minutes
Re-weigh your beans and see how much was lost.

Can't find my chart at the moment, but if the beans haven't lost over about 5% weight I'd say they were already dry enough to bag.

[cato47]

Stwood:

So grateful for your reply. Please find your chart and some how get it to me if you would. It makes good sense what you've said about this, just need a few more facts?

Many thanks again

[Stwood]

Same method applies to lumber drying.
Google lumber drying weight method

[Morning Sunshine]

Weigh 1# of your beans out. Then put in your oven on low, 200 for 30 minutes
Re-weigh your beans and see how much was lost.

Can't find my chart at the moment, but if the beans haven't lost over about 5% weight I'd say they were already dry enough to bag.

interesting.  Thanks!
 
I had never thought that dry beans wouldn't be dry enough to LTS by themselves.

[cato47]

1 month ago I called Adobe Milling in Colorado, the company who's name was on the 50# sacks of beans I bought locally here in Virginia. If my memory serves me right, they said their beans were about 9-12% moisture content. They said it varies because they get the beans direct from the farmers and one farmers beans could be more or less moist than another. Regardless of their accuracy on the moisture percentages, they are likely too moist for me to take a chance. Someone out there has to know of a defintive way to dehygrate the beans properly, not to warm & not to cold and then some kind of moisture check. Weighing sounds ok but a pound of beans is going to weigh a pound no matter if its wet or dry. There has to be a cheap, down home way to check the moisture. I'm starting to think the hammer test is looking better so far.

[Redman]

Google is your friend.

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information-center/self-reliance/food-storage-frequently-asked-questions/moisture-content

[cato47]

REDMAN:

Your the man. I can't tell you how many different ways I did GOOGLE the moisture question about beans and LTS, to no avail. 

Many thanks again

Rick

[Redman]

You're welcome and no problem.

[Morning Sunshine]

welcome to the Forum, Cato.  You started with a great question.  This might explain why I had a 6-gal bucket of white beans go moldy.  I just figured one of the kids had contaminated it somehow, but now I wonder....

[Redman]

welcome to the Forum, Cato.  You started with a great question.  This might explain why I had a 6-gal bucket of white beans go moldy.  I just figured one of the kids had contaminated it somehow, but now I wonder....

Yeah I never thought about it myself. I'm going to need to watch my 2 buckets of pintos. I've started freezing all dry goods for a couple days before storing after I had an infestation of pantry moths but the majority of my pintos haven't been frozen, about 40 lbs.

[Stwood]

Google is your friend.

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information-center/self-reliance/food-storage-frequently-asked-questions/moisture-content

Yes, has the detailed oven/weight method in there.

 

[David in MN]

In the food industry we used very expensive and precise moisture meters that would tell the exact moisture content by going through a heat cycle. On the downside they need to be calibrated for every new product. So getting an accurate read from product to product meant a different cycle time and temperature.

If you put a gun to my head to determine moisture content at home I would first grind the beans, then weigh them, then put them in a low temp oven for a while and re-weigh. That should give you a ballpark estimate of the moisture. It won't be perfect but you will get an idea.

I did something similar while experimenting with dried/undried flour as a potential unit op step saving project. Once you ahve a process you feel comfortable with it's a simple procedure of drying and weighing to log variations.

If you do, please post your data. I'd be curious about variations and what the Gaussian curve looks like.

[LvsChant]

Very good information! +1 Red

[Redman]

Very good information! +1 Red

Thanks. Lots of good information on that website. They sell food storage supplies also but I make no recommendations about the pricing. I've never bought from them and am not affiliated with them.

[LvsChant]

I think I recall either buying mylar bags or O2 absorbers from them... but it's been awhile.