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Abstract. The market availability of farm-scale and laboratory scale fluidized bed dryers is insufficient. Additionally, an enormous debate among researchers regarding the effects of drying certain types of commodities in fluidized beds affects the quality of the end product. Accordingly, the goal of this research was to construct and evaluate a custom-made fluidized bed dryer, appropriate for lab scale. It could also be used to dry small and large size grains from high moisture content to a safe storage moisture content. The fluidized bed dryer was constructed in the Rice Research and Extension Center, Stuttgart, AR, USA. To evaluate the performance of the fluidized bed, a set of experiments was performed to dry wheat from an initial moisture content of 23.3% d. b. The effects of the aspect ratio (bed height to bed diameter ratio) of 2, 3 and 4 (m/m), the furnace temperature of no heat, 100, 150 and 200^oC and drying duration of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 minutes on the moisture content, drying rate, and dryer efficiency were studied. A reduction of 7.0 points of moisture content was achieved at the aspect ratio of 2 (m/m), the furnace temperature of 200oC and the drying duration of 60 minutes. On the other hand, a reduction of 4.3 points of moisture was accomplished at the highest aspect ratio of 4 (m/m), and the no heat condition. The drying rate of 0.468%/min was observed at the lowest aspect ratio of 2 m/m and the furnace temperature of 200oC after 10 minutes. The maximum dryer efficiency of 63.2% was achieved at the aspect ratio of 4 (m/m), the furnace temperature of 200^oC.