Rahr Shakopee Malt House Number 5

Shakopee, Minnesota

Kiewit subsidiary, Ibberson, provided construction management and engineering services for Malt House Number 5, which included the first vertical tower in North America with both germination and kilning capabilities. The unique design contains all processes in one building rather than the typical multi-building layout. It is also one of the first-round malt house facilities in the country and uses 300 tons of barley each day to produce malt for the brewing industry.

The slip-formed structure is 270 feet tall. The interior tower floors were cast at grade and post-tensioned after the concrete achieved the specified minimum strength. Each floor, weighing over 2,000,000 pounds, was lifted in place with six cable jacks. The clear span of each of these floors is 79 feet and supports a live load of barley and water of over 1,000,000 pounds while deflecting only one inch.

Combined, the fans for the malting process have over 3,000 horsepower. The malt house design uses kiln fans that were placed on the cool side of the kilns instead of the traditional hot side. Placing the fans on the cool side allowed Ibberson to decrease fan size by 3.5 percent and use carbon steel rather than stainless steel. Although the fans were reduced in size, they are still over 13 feet tall and weigh over 21,000 pounds.