The first college brewing program in the state is moving out of a forensics lab at Flathead Valley Community College and into a newly built microbrewery.

The FVCC Brewing Science and Brewery Operations Program plans to move into the craft brewhouse this summer. Program Director Joe Byers said the new space and equipment will allow the class to move from the ability to produce 500 gallons of beer each year to 11,000 gallons, or 360 barrels.

“The move really gives them a look at what brewing entails aside from just the bookwork that goes behind it,” Byers said. “And, though it’s down the road, this could open up the program to eventually selling craft beer.”

To get in the door of the brewhouse, which is located on an off-campus school property, the college needs to secure a pilot brewing license. The license would allow the school to use the new building for educational purposes.

The program currently works off a home brewer’s exemption, which limits each student to roughly 12 batches a year. The exemption also restricts students to testing the product in microbiology labs — not through consumption.

The FVCC brewery program is in its first year of existence. It was created in response to growth in the craft brewing industry, Byers said.

“Since I started brewing about six years ago, the number of breweries in the state of Montana has nearly tripled,” he said.

A new craft brewery opens every 16 hours in the United States, according to the Craft Brewers Association. In 2014, the industry was a $55.7 billion market and sustained more than 424,000 jobs.

Montana ranks fourth in the nation for breweries per capita.

Montana breweries support more than 500 jobs and have an economic impact of more than $60 million annually, according to the Montana Brewers Association.

But more breweries means an increased labor demand — one that Montana hasn’t supplied, said Joe Barberis, the head brewer at Great Northern Brewing Co.

“We’ve had to advertise three out of four of our positions on a national level,” Barberis said. “I’ve actually been working short-handed because there hasn’t been locals to pull from.”

He said brewers who graduate from more well-known East Coast programs often are attached to large student loans, making it hard to attract brewers to Montana’s market.

Barberis said he wants to hire local as a way to create stability within Great Northern.

“We’ve kind of acted like a stepping stone, training people, then watching them go to more well-known breweries out of Montana,” he said. “I’d love to have people working here who already have ties to the valley.”

Brad Eldredge, the director of institutional research at FVCC, said local brewers in the Flathead Valley approached the college in 2014 with a need for trained brewers.

“We’ve always tried to be very responsive to the needs of the community,” Eldredge said. “So, we built a brewery.”

He said the program was designed last January. The first class enrolled last August and is set for graduation next year with an Associate of Applied Science degree.

Eldredge said brewery leaders have continued to play an important role in the program’s development. Every year, FVCC brewery program leaders meet with craft brewers to talk about training that could be pulled from the classroom into local businesses.

Eldredge said the pilot brewing license the school is working toward wouldn’t allow students to sell their product, but that is something FVCC has in mind down the road.

Byers said he wants to make sure the beginning brewers have a good product coming out before seeking a license to sell.

“The last thing we’re trying to do is compete with local breweries — we’re trying to educate future employees for them,” he said. “But at the same time, it would be really neat for the program and students to have that experience. And it could be a good marketing angle for the program.”

He said learning how to make a good product with the new brewhouse equipment will create a learning curve for the young program.

Byers walked through his soon-to-be classroom and pointed out a mash tun students will use to extract sugars from grains for fermentation.

“They’ll be performing the cleaning, the milling, yeast handling and analysis, quality control for micro-organism and testing the product — it’s huge,” he said.

Attached to the brewhouse is a typical whiteboard classroom. There’s also a lab that will be used for analysis of the product.

The class is capped at 10 students, though Byers said that has potential to grow with the new space. The program’s first class has six students, and Byers said four have obtained internships in breweries in the Flathead Valley.

He said a survey of the program revealed each student is interested in small-scale, craft brewing.

“But with this set-up, we’re exposing them to what larger, even domestic-style breweries do for a technology basis,” he said. “We’re trying to give them as broad of an experience as we can so when they do get out in the world, they can specialize or potentially open their own breweries.”

Enrollment for the Brewing Science and Brewery Operations Program is now open. For more information, go to www.fvcc.edu/programs/agriculture-natural-resources-forestry-brewing/brewing-science-and-brewery-operations/.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.