Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84To expand or not to expand: that is the question. How to expand: that is the second question. A company with answers to both is the Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds. “We have gone for growth,” says head brewer Alex Dodds. “And found a great way of doing it –including finance and technical support from our malt suppliers.” Six years ago, a small 8-barrel plant was installed in a Leeds former dairy. Kirkstall was soon brewing to capacity and demand was outstripping supply. The installation of a new 30-barrel plant has recently been completed, giving the capacity to produce 60,000 barrels (over 17 million pints) a year. The challenges faced in implementing this nearly four-fold growth were many, as much in the sphere of malt handling as in the sphere of brewing equipment. “The smart move was to involve Crisp Maltings from the outset,” says Dodds. “It helped us to apply new thinking to our malt storage, logistics and processing. Carl Heron, Crisp’s sales manager, has been fantastic. His brewing experience, technical expertise and commercial understanding have been invaluable. And the finance deal he offered was a no-brainer.” Capital provided by Crisp was used to buy two pristine 20-tonne malt silos and what Dodds describes as “a beautiful new mill.” Now, rather than buying malt that’s ready-milled, he can order it whole. Specialist varieties are still delivered by the sack load. But large volume base malts can now be bulk delivered by Crisp’s blower truck straight into the new silos. This reduces price and saves space. “Most importantly, it gives more control to the brewer,” says Dodds. “We draw whole malt from the new silos as and when it’s required. Then it’s freshly crushed just prior to mashing. And of course, we can fine-tune the milling to suit whatever we’re brewing at the time. It’s great to be fully in charge!” Carl Heron points to the growing interest from brewers in malt silos and mills – with their ‘crush-on-demand’ facility. He says this indicates strong sales and a belief in the sustainability of those sales. As he says, “All this is an extremely encouraging reflection of the success of the craft sector. Some brewers told us that logistical considerations and costs of capital investment were barriers too big to overcome. That’s exactly why we developed our finance packages and bought a new blower truck for bulk deliveries. Our consultation, technical support and advice (from years of experience) comes as part of the deal.” Record year for Muntons 2016 was a record year for Muntons Flamborough maltings, breaking through the 100,000- tonne barrier for the first time. When the plant was first built at Bridlington in 1964, it had a capacity of just 45,000 tonnes and was ideally situated to serve the needs of the UK’s northern breweries and the Scottish distilleries. Investment in the 1990s in two planned phases lifted Bridlington’s capacity to 84,000 tonnes, still some way off the 100,000-tonne barrier. Subsequent investments have been targeted towards working smarter; allowing greater throughput and improved levels of malt quality and it has been these minor yet important changes that have seen output increase to today’s record level. Guy Newsam, Muntons General Manager Malt Production, said: “In 2016 the maltings at Bridlington made a total of 102,922 tonnes of malt, which is a new high for the plant and is the result of great teamwork.” 74 BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS Bulking up opportunities by working with maltsters There’s a new face, a promotion, and a farewell to a long-serving employee at Warminster Maltings. Pat Thomas has joined the staff as office administrator. She is already making a difference and is using her experience of working in similar roles to streamline and improve company procedures. The company has also announced the promotion of Avril Royster to the position of maltings office manager. Avril joined the company in 2006 and has gained valuable experience in many roles jobs. She will be assisted by Pat Thomas. On Friday 6th January the maltings said goodbye to Stephen Pyne who, as he approaches his 69th birthday, has decided it is time to retire. Stephen has manned the Customer Enquiry/Orders desk since 2003, joining Warminster Maltings at a time of considerable hiatus. Presenting him with a Silver tankard, engraved to mark his near 14 years at the maltings, chairman Robin Appel (above right) thanked Stephen for his outstanding contribution of tact and diplomacy in dealing with sometimes ‘difficult situations’, and “always keeping customers happy, even when they had forgotten to order their malt or ringing in an order after the lorry has left the yard. We wish Stephen a long and happy retirement.” Welcome and farewells! Showcase INGREDIENTS www.muntons.com For more information visit: www.crispmalt.co For more information visit: Tom Pyke, Kirkstall brewer and Carl Heron, from Crisp. Before the expansion, Kirkstall would need to carry 12 of these sacks for each brew. Now they'll only ever need to do it when they are using specialist malts. www.warminster-malt.co.uk For more information visit: 74_Layout 1 13/02/2017 10:00 Page 1