Facility Feature
Hanenkratt Grain Co. Adds Steel Storage Within Limited Footprint

Idaville, IN — Limited storage space has been a perennial challenge at Hanenkratt Grain Co.’s branch elevator in Idaville, IN (574-943-3215).

“We typically ship out everything as soon as we receive it,” says Brad Smock, location manager, who has been with the company since 1996.

One reason is that there simply isn’t anywhere to store grain on the ground at the site, which is located right off U.S. Highway 24 in the middle of town.

In fact, there wasn’t even a lot of room to build more storage, so Hanenkratt Grain chose to build as vertically as possible in 2017, with a new Brock 78-foot-diameter corrugated steel tank standing 107 feet tall at the eave and 126 feet tall at the peak. The tank is rated to hold approximately 421,000 bushels.

“It’s the tallest 78-foot tank we’ve ever built,” Smock comments.

The family-owned company took bids and selected Indiana Farm Systems, Russiaville, IN (800-352-0638), as general contractor and millwright on the $1.2 million project. “We’ve done business with them forever,” Smock says. The contractor’s Bob Resler designed, sold, and supervised the project.

Indiana Farm Systems broke ground on the project early in July and was done by the end of August.

Tank project support system described

The new Brock tank is equipped with outside stiffeners, a flat floor designed for full-floor aeration, a 5,500-bph Daay bin paddle sweep, and a 14-cable OPI/Integris grain temperature/moisture monitoring system.

A set of four Brock 40-hp centrifugal fans provide 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration. The fans are equipped with silencers for the in-town location.

Grain is carried out to the new tank from existing grain handling equipment via an overhead 20,000-bph Brock/Riley drag conveyor powered by a 50-hp Baldor motor and Dodge speed reducer. The conveyor is supported by a 150-foot-long LeMar catwalk mounted atop a 10-foot-x-10-foot, 130-foot-tall LeMar support tower.

For unloading, the tank is outfitted with a 12-inch sidedraw. When grain drops below that level, it empties onto a 10,000-bph Brock/Riley drag conveyor in an above-ground tunnel. Outside of the tank, this conveyor inclines, then drops grain into a 10,000-bph Brock jump leg for truck loading. The leg has 16x7 Tapco low-profile buckets mounted on a 17-inch Contitech belt.

Company Profile, Hanenkratt Grain Inc.

• Monticello, IN • 574-583-5044
• Founded: 1952
• Storage capacity: 2.5 million bushels at two locations
• Number of employees: 15
• Crops handled: Corn, soybeans, soft red winter wheat
• Services: Grain handling and merchandising, feed

Key personnel at Idaville:

• Brad Smock, location manager
• Cody Nettler, feed mill operations
• Ashlyn Imus, office manager

Supplier List

1. Aeration fans • Brock Grain Systems
2. Bin sweeps • Sioux Steel Inc.
3. Bucket elevator • Brock Grain Systems
4. Catwalks • LeMar Industries Corp.
5. Contractor • Indiana Farm Systems
6. Conveyors • Riley/Brock
7. Elevator buckets • Tapco Inc.
8. Foundation • Concrete Construction Unlimited Inc.
9. Foundation engineering • Keeler-Webb Engineering
10. GPS locating • T-Bird Engineering
11. Grain temperature system • OPI/Integris
12. Leg belting • Contitech
13. Millwright • Indiana Farm Systems
14. Motors • Baldor Motors

- Ed Zdrojewski, editor

Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL May/June 2018 Issue