Having decided to invest in a brand new dual-stream 60 barrel brewery in Newport, Tiny Rebel - the first Welsh brewery and the youngest ever to win Champion Beer of Britain - sought a streamlined bulk storage system that would help it grow capacity and improve handling. With popularity soaring and demand growing, the company recognised growth meant change, and bigger production needs meant bulk storage. “When you get to a certain size it becomes more economical,” said Gareth Williams, Tiny Rebel co-founder and brewer. “Manual handling just dramatically decreases. Also, your buying power becomes a lot greater because you’re buying in bulk. As you grow, your process changes and you need to invest in certain things like silos and auger systems, but you save on labour. You make the money back quite quickly, to be honest, the payback is there.” Gareth first heard of leading UK silo manufacturers, Collinson, from someone in the brewing industry: “I knew they had purchased from Collinson before so I contacted them and was happy with what I was hearing. Because I knew the other established breweries they had supplied it gave me a lot of confidence to go with Collinson for our silos.” After contacting Collinson and discussing particular needs, it was determined two County Range silos would suit Tiny Rebel’s brewing schedule, each storing a full lorry load of malt at 18 tonnes with capacity to spare. Each silo would have a conveyor discharge which would take the malt directly to the grist case. For Tiny Rebel, the Rotaflex conveyor was a great choice, allowing selection of components to shape the system to suit its building layout. As a final touch, and to protect the site from product dust, the silo exhausts were connected to a Cyclone Dust Collector designed to capture dust generated during filling, keeping the silo base clean for hygiene and biosecurity. Tiny Rebel’s impressive expansion has significantly reduced its manual handling load. The silos are now featured on the website wrapped with eye catching vinyl graphics to match Tiny Rebel’s branding. Sitting proudly outside the brewery, they’ve become a product not just of function, but of fashion. In essence, the clean-cut bins with their bright vinyl wrap act as a billboard to draw in customers. “It gets your branding out there, we want to get people into the brewery so it’s more awareness isn’t it — people come past and it’s the first thing they see,” said Gareth. “Another benefit of storing raw materials in Collinson silos is the quality boost that comes with the ability to crush their own malt. Obviously its fresher malt because it’s coming in whole, it’s not getting crushed. “We always used to buy it crushed because we didn’t have the facility to crush it but now we crush ourselves, and we can store more of it. It’s just generally much easier and more economical having silos.” Like Tiny Rebel, Collinson prioritises a good customer experience backed up by quality product. “It was a super easy process to be honest, it was one of the least headaches we had,” said Gareth. “Collinson were great to deal with. Communication was fantastic throughout, the driver was good and, most importantly, we were really happy with it, hence why we’ve come back for a third.” 12 BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS Collinson silos for Tiny Rebel PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT Showcase www.collinson.co.uk For more information visit: The Brescia-based multinational company, AEB Group, a leader in biotechnologies for the wine and beverage sector, has acquired the majority share of Innotec Tecnologie Innovative Srl, a company offering state-of-the-art plant and beverage solutions. The acquisition of the leading equipment manufacturer augments AEB’s innovative and leading product portfolio in the oenology and broader beverage industries: the offer of AEB equipment is further enriched and becomes one of the most complete and in the wine and beverage sector (beer, juices, soft drinks, mineral waters, etc.). Innotec, besides continuing the production of equipment that has made the company famous in the world of plant engineering, together with AEB will develop new technologies for the oenological sector, in order to optimise the management of cellar operations. Luca Zavarise, who will remain the Managing Director of Innotec, comments: "We are specialised in the production of high-level equipment recognized worldwide for their technology. Our systems guarantee the removal of microorganisms naturally occurring in beverages, in order to obtain the biological stability of the bottled product." www.innotecitalia.it For more information visit: AEB Group acquires equipment company 12_Layout 1 10/11/2017 09:30 Page 1