Hello everyone,

I will take off on may to go find some cacao beans to start my business, I will need an moisture meter to be able to control the beans. Can someone advise me about which one to get. I found those ones on ebay will they do the job?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grain-moisture-tester-rice-corn-wheat-barley-oat-USA-/221264440374?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3384636c36

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sinar-moisture-meter-/321344659865?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item4ad1a26199

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRAMINSKI-TWIST-GRAIN-hygrometer-Portable-moisture-meter-for-seeds-grains-/170930553557?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item27cc4142d5

And by the way if you also know where to get a guillotine at decent price, that will be wonderful.

Will I need something else?

Thank you very much by advance for your precious help.

Thomas

updated by @delcour-thomas: 04/19/15 19:41:10

I never could figure out why a person would need to be traipsing around the world with a guillotine. A sharp knife is a much more versatile tool and works just as well.

...just sayin'

Delcour, what is it you're looking to accomplish? If you're looking to understand if potential vendors are sufficiently drying their beans, the items you note could work for that - but i've never used those ones personally. I have had great success in working with Dickey John Mini GAC units - and it should be noted that the units you've posted (and the mini gac) will likely require a calibration curve to be loaded for it to correctly interpret the 'atmosphere' around the grain or seeds that it specifically is being used for - so you'll want to look closely at those units to see if they've got cacao specific calibration curves available. Alternatively, i know folks have also used aqua boy moisture meters - and i've tried them myself, but find them far too bulky and less accurate, plus i had to answer a lot of silly security questions when airport police scanned my luggage.

I'd concur with Brad on the value of a good knife. a guillotine may be useful for you to do an assessment at home quickly, but you'll find it very expensive and a knife will give you the same results.

Thank you Sebastian for your useful answer.

I go to south east asia find and buy some beans, so I wanted to be able to control at least if the beans are dry enough and well fermented. I just check the Mini GAC 2100 and it looks like it is what i was looking for. I found this one to http://www.farmcomp.fi/en/wile/products/wile-coffee so now the price will help me do the final choice.

And I will forget the guillotine I know it cost a fortune like 1000$ so I will use a good old fashion knife, or i was thinking maybe i could use that http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000RLJED6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE . It has a wider and flat base as bottom blade so it might work and it is much lighter.

Do you think of anything else I could need?

Thanks you very much.

Where in SEA are you going to be? Note that in much of that part of the world, it's not a part of their agricultural culture to ferment beans, and knowledge about things such as cocoa pod borer and bean maturity are very low. If you give a sense of where you're traveling, i can help you better understand what to expect and what to look for. Moisture and fermentation level may be the least of your concerns, depending on region...