Safe storage conditions no matter the weather

Isle of Wight Grain Storage

Isle of Wight Grain Storage is run as co-operative storage facility with around 50 members on the island.

The facility is located on the River Medina in Cowes and stores over 15,000 tonnes of combinable crops.

The store opened in the late 1970s and storage is provided by mainly 800 and 1,500 tonne round silos with ventilated floors. All silos were originally installed with provision for manually controlled ambient ventilation.

...we know that by the end of harvest the crop temperature in all our silos is below 12°C

Pete Thomas, Store Manager

GRANIFRIGOR™ grain cooling unit for cooling independent of weather conditions

In 2012 Isle of Wight Grain looked at options to improve the facility for long term grain storage. It was decided the best way to reduce the risk of long term grain storage was an investment in a GRANIFRIGOR™ KK 280 AHY grain cooling unit. This replaced the ambient ventilation system ensuring the store can achieve HGCA cooling guidelines independently of weather conditions.

Isle of Wight Grain’s KK 280 AHY was installed for the 2013 harvest. Store manager Pete Thomas explains how the unit is used and its benefits:

“Once a silo is full the cooling unit is connected to the air inlet and blows it until the crop temperature is below 12°C. The unit is then moved and connected to the next silo as required. It takes about 3 days to cool an 800 tonne silo with the unit we have”.

Isle of Wight Grain Storage’s KK 280 AHY grain cooling unit.

Store Manager Pete Thomas and FrigorTec Project Manager Marcel Berendsen.

Isle of Wight Grain Storage have operated the grain cooling unit since 2013.

Silos can now also be filled with warm grain

“We have to dry most incoming crops, the crop temperatures off the grain driers are usually over 30°C to maintain the drier output we need. Filling a silo with crop this warm is something in the past we had to try and avoid. Knowing we can do this and get the crop temperature down below 12°C, within 3 days, independently of weather conditions, gives massive peace of mind.”

“We are no longer worrying about controlling cooling fans all the way through autumn and nervously watching weather forecasts and crop temperatures.

In the past we saw silo condensation problems but these have been eliminated and the cooling unit has effectively increased the driers output too. With the new system we know that by the end of harvest the crop temperature in all our silos is below 12°C.”

“Once the silos are cooled, the temperature stays down as the grain is a good insulator. Occasionally we will put the cooling unit back on a silo for a day in the new year if necessary. There have been other operational benefits too, for example we can now keep malting barley for up to a year without loss of quality, in the past it needed to be gone by Christmas.”

HGCA Cooling Guidelines

1. Within 2 weeks of harvest grain temperature should be below 15°C
2. Within 3-4 months of harvest grain temperature should be below 12°C

source: Third Edition, HGCA grain storage guide for cereals and oilseeds, 2011