Florian Schneider is new Head of Sales EMEA at Ziemann Holvrieka.

Florian Schneider is the new Head of Sales EMEA at Ziemann Holvrieka. The 41-year-old Schneider is responsible for the regions Europe, Middle East, Africa and Central Asia at the expert company for tanks and process technology for the brewing, beverage and liquid food industry. “We are pleased that we were able to win such an industry-experienced expert for this responsible position”, emphasized Lars Roed, Managing Director.

Schneider is not only a graduate industrial engineer, but also a trained brewer and maltster. After his vocational training, he worked in various Bavarian breweries for several years. Following his studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Landshut, Schneider continued his professional career in the sales department of a well-known brewery plant manufacturer in the Asia-Pacific region. There he gained valuable international experience. Florian Schneider says about his new position at Ziemann Holvrieka: “In the last ten years, during which I travelled a lot in Asia, I was able to acquire a great deal of intercultural understanding. Paired with my vocational training, experience and varied career, I am sure that I can advise our customers individually and at eye level at any time. I am looking forward to meeting future challenges together with our qualified and skilled team.”

The Russian River Brewing Company has chosen Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH to supply brewhouse and tank technology for its greenfield project in Windsor, California. Thus yet another leading American craft brewer has opted to go with the well-known Ludwigsburg company. The brewhouse supplied by Ziemann Holvrieka for the greenfield project will achieve a capacity of 88 hectoliters (75 bbl) per brew. Among other equipment, it will have a Colibri mash agitator, a Lotus lauter tun, a Shark boiler and a T-Rex milling unit. Another noteworthy feature is a special hopping system that will enable the brewery to produce a wide spectrum of aroma profiles. The brewhouse, which is a showpiece in every respect, will be a key element of the Russian River Brewing Company’s marketing strategy when completed. In addition to the brewhouse technology, Ziemann Holvrieka will be delivering 17 cylindro-conical fermentation and storage tanks and six pressure tanks for the cold block, which is being built at the same time.

Brewhouse and Tanks for Greenfield Project in Windsor

“We are very happy that the Russian River Brewing Company, one of the most creative craft brewers in the USA, will be using our technologies and products,” says Ralph Gehlhar, CCO of Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH. Russian River is known as the originator of famous brews like the strongly hopped Double and Triple IPAs (India Pale Ales), which are popular throughout the United States. One example is the Triple IPA called Pliny the Younger, which is available only for two weeks each year, and in pub draft only. This year more than 16,000 beer lovers came to the presentation. Another specialty of the company is its Belgian inspired sour beers, which are fermented with Brettanomyces yeasts. Ground breaking was March 2017, and the brewery will go into operation in June 2018. 

In the phase 2.75, the capacity of the Compañía Cervecera de Coahuila will be further expanded by another 2.5 million hectoliters to a total capacity of 27.5 million hectoliters. For this purpose, Ziemann Holvrieka will increase the fermentation and storage capacity with a dozen cylindro-conical tanks with a diameter of 10 meters. The bright beer tank area will be equipped with another 15 bright beer tanks with a diameter of 6 meters. In addition, the rest beer and yeast cellar will be expanded by one rest beer tank with 309 hectoliters and two yeast harvest tanks with a capacity of 360 hectoliters each. All large tanks will be manufactured on site. Moreover, the capacity of the cross-flow filtration system for the beer recovery in the third production block will be doubled. The refrigeration plant, the CIP system as well as the CO₂ recovery plant will be adjusted to the larger capacity. After completion, the beer from the new bright beer tanks of the third production block can be transferred to all bottling plants of the Compañía Cervecera de Coahuila and bottled there. Ziemann Holvrieka will also install the required cross-over piping.

The transition from phase 2.50 to phase 2.75 will take place fluently in order to make the project and site management as effective as possible. The project completion is scheduled for early 2018.

BrewDog was founded by the friends James Watt and Martin Dickie in 2007. Since then, the brewery company is moving in only one direction: upwards. In their first year the co-founders brewed 1,050 hl / 900 bbl in the then tiny brewery; today the annual production volume has increased significantly to 90,000 hl / 77,000 bbl. Over the last few years, the brewery has attracted international attention for their inventiveness: BrewDog successfully raised a large amount of capital, required for the brewery’s expansion, through a crowdfunding campaign called ‘Equity for Punks’. Since 2009, more than 14,000 ‘fanvestors’ have invested in the brewery via this campaign. The brewery is currently running its fourth round of funding; Equity for Punks IV aims to raise £25m from public investment. Another event that made headlines was the competition for the strongest beer in the world. With “The End of History”, BrewDog raised the bar to the current top value of 55% alcohol by volume.

In order to keep up with global reach, BrewDog will build a second brewery plant in a new 4,500 m2 building at their site in Ellon, Aberdeenshire. Ziemann will supply, install, automate, and commission the complete process technology, from the milling plant to the integration of the bottling plant.

”We are extremely proud that one of the most innovative craft brewers will produce its beer with our equipment. A decisive factor for being awarded the contract certainly was the fact that we offered the technology both in the brewhouse and in the cold block, required for the desired flexibility and quality, as a complete package,” summarized Thorsten Schwanzer, Sales Director Western Europe, at Ziemann.

Ziemann will equip the milling plant with a 6-roller grist mill as well as with the required silos. The brewhouse with the mash vessel Colibri™ and the lauter tun Lotus™ is designed for 12 brews per day, with a cast-out wort volume of 300 hl / 255 bbl each. With regard to the wort boiling, BrewDog decided in favour of an external boiler in order to be able to produce even smallest charges. In addition, the new brewhouse will be equipped with a spent grains silo, first wort vessel, hop dosing vessels, whirlpool, wort aeration system, water house and a brewhouse CIP system.

In the cold block area Ziemann will implement a yeast cellar inclusive of yeast propagation, yeast storage and pitching tanks; a fermentation/storage cellar consisting of eight CCTs with a capacity of 1,800 hl / 1,500 bbl, one bright beer tank cellar with two 1,800 hl / 1,500 bbl bright beer tanks as well as another CIP plant. A special feature in this area will be the new ZIEMANN system for cold hopping. The brewhouse as well as the cold block will be automated with the Braumat system V7.

The start of installation of the new plant at BrewDog is scheduled for August 2015, with the first brew anticipated in the 1st quarter of 2016. With this expansion stage, BrewDog will be able to brew an additional volume of approximately 200,000 hl / 170,000 bbl per year.

In the new brewhouse, the Brauhaus Faust will produce its beer specialities with the latest Ziemann brewing technology. The brewhouse is equipped, among others, with a Shark wort boiling system, a Lotus lauter tun and a mash kettle with Colibri agitator. In addition, the Brauhaus Faust decided in favour of a Diamond, which works according to the same principle as a continuous, dynamic coolship. After an optimization phase, Ziemann will finalize the brewhouse project in Miltenberg in the second quarter of 2015.