Tom Britz recently introduced the newest member to the Glacier Hops Ranch team — a 10,000-pound hops harvester named Hildegaard.

The harvester is straight off the boat, shipped over a few weeks ago from Germany, where it was refurbished.

“Hops grow well in Montana, and a lot of people could grow them,” Britz said. “But there’s always been a bottleneck with the harvesting and processing part.”

The goal of having Hildegaard is to widen that bottleneck, and eventually make harvesting a simpler process.

For the past two years, Britz has been part of a state Department of Agriculture grant to experiment with different processes for hop growth. The Flathead Valley has many of the same qualities as other areas where hops are grown in abundance, such as the Willamette Valley in Oregon, where over 70 percent of the nation’s hops is produced. The soil and weather are similar, but many farmers have steered away from hops farming, choosing to stick to more traditional crops, because information on hops growth is not widely published.

Several years ago, Britz decided to grow some sort of crop on his 30-acre farm outside of Whitefish. He consulted several friends and neighbors before settling on hops. He worked with Flathead County Extension Agent Pat McGlynn to apply for a grant through the Department of Agriculture, and was shocked to find he was chosen in February of 2012.

“It was a very competitive grant,” Britz said. “When I found out, I had a ‘pinch me’ type moment. I couldn’t believe it.”

After receiving the grant, Britz spent the next year preparing, conducting research and learning about different kinds of hops. Originally, he planted 17 varieties in 2013, but has boosted that to 40 different kinds this year. He experiments with fertilizer, growth styles and strands to find which kinds grow better in Montana conditions, and sends quarterly reports to the Department of Agriculture. The department is then able to publish these findings, so others interested in farming hops are able to research Britz’s process, successes and failures.

“I’ve learned more from my mistakes than anything else,” Britz said with a laugh. “But that is the best way to learn.”  

Last year, the farm was able to harvest some hops for the first time. The hops plants take four years to mature completely, so the farm only yielded a small amount of hops in 2013. However, the farming team, as well as local brewers from Tamarack Brewing and Great Northern Brewing Co., spent hours in the one-acre plot, gathering the hops by hand.

Britz recalls that the efforts were exhausting, and he knew something had to change for the following year, when the plants would yield much more crop.

So the team began to research its options again. They found that most of the hops farms in Germany are similar in size to Britz’s farm, and those farms used hops harvesters like Hildegaard.

Britz returned to the Department of Agriculture and applied for a second grant to continue his work, and received the grant in late 2013. Britz spent the winter researching harvester styles and consulting with national hops farmers.

At the start of 2014, Britz began the process to purchase Hildegaard. The harvester was originally built in 1972 near Munich, Germany. A company in Germany refurbished the machine for Britz, and began the arduous process of shipping the massive machine to Glacier Hops Farm.

The harvester left Germany on July 6, sawed in half to fit into a 40-foot shipping container. It was shipped through the Panama Canal, up to Tacoma, Wash., and trucked across three states to arrive at the farm on Aug. 18.

The name stems from Scandinavian mythology. Hildegaard was one of the angel-like creatures, called Valkyries, which lead fallen Viking heroes into Valhalla. However, that’s not specifically why Britz chose the name.

“She’s named for my great aunt Hildegaard,” Britz said. “I knew we needed something with class, and something matriarch-like when were putting her together, and that embodies the kind of woman my great aunt was.”

After Hildegaard arrived in Whitefish, the team had to put the machine together. The mechanical team spent nearly a week setting up the massive machine up, tinkering with tiny pieces, and welding Hildegaard back together.

“There were a lot of little adjustments to make,” Britz said. “There still are. We have to customize her for our needs.”

This year, all of the hops harvested from Glacier Hops Ranch will go to Tamarack Brewing and Great Northern Brewing Co. The two local brewing companies will use the hops in fresh ales. Since the ranch does not have a hop dryer yet, the hops must be used within 24 hours of harvest to ensure its oils and textures don’t dry out.

Britz hopes to build a dryer in the next few months so they can dry hops next August. This way, the hops can be used throughout the following year in different types of beers.

Hop plants will yield crops for 15 to 25 years. The first year, the plant is not expected to yield any crop. The second year, which is the stage Glacier Hops Ranch is in, yields about 40 percent of maximum crop. In the third year, the crop yields about 90 percent, before hitting its maximum yield in year four.

Hildegaard will cut down work that would normally take several hours to less than five minutes. Instead of spending several weeks in the field, Britz said Hildegaard will be able to harvest his one-acre plot in a day.

“At max, she should be able to harvest 30 acres per year, which would be the maximum size my ranch would be,” Britz said. “That’s if everything goes perfectly, which it rarely does.”

Britz hopes to rent his harvester out to other local hops growers once he streamlines the process.

Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com.