2019 In Review

As 2019 comes to an end we decided to take a look back at some of Skagit Valley Malting’s highlights and achievements throughout the year. This year was our biggest year for growth yet, we increased malting production, we increased our storage capacity, we had our largest harvest to date, we started a charity brew program and introduced new varieties of barley to brewers! 

Charity Brew Program

We started the year off with the launch of our charity brew program and set a goal to partner up with a brewery every month to brew a beer that would support a cause in their community. We had no idea where these charity brews would take us but they ended up taking us all over the northwest to amazing breweries with great people who are passionate about beer and their community. From Bellingham to Portland we turned 12,000 pounds of malt into 200 barrels of beer and over $15,000 donated to local charities! Thank you to all the breweries and charities that teamed up with us and who made this year of giving back to our communities possible!

Single Vessel Malting Machines and Granary Infrastructure 

In 2018 we built and installed two more single vessel malting machines and in May 2019, we installed another machine and finally, in December we began installing one last machine for the year. SVM went from three malting machines to six in less than a year bringing our total malting capacity to 300,000 pounds of finished malt each month. With the expanded malthouse up and running we then focused on building up the infrastructure that would support increased production while also building up our raw grain storage. This process started back in February when we had installed four more 350 tons silos bringing our total storage capacity in silos to 10 million pounds of raw grain. 

With increased storage capacity we then turned our attention towards increasing the efficiency and speed of harvest. During harvest, the raw grain is brought in from the fields in trucks that hold around 7-13 tons. Based on our harvest we were expecting over 250 trucks to weigh in and then unload at our facility. With the new system up and running we were able to unload one ton a minute! This is by far the fastest we have ever been able to take grain in and the system we have built can support much more grain. Our new grain handling system also included a new and redesigned grain cleaning system that will greatly decrease the time it takes to clean grain. We can now pull directly from silos and start our cleaning for malt ready grain, it used to be we cleaned grain in another facility so having the system and the grain in one place has been a big improvement. Click here for Infrastructure Update

The malthouse will start off 2020 with a capacity of 350,000 pounds of malt per month. Installing machine number 7 is a big step for us because we also have to install another boiler and chiller to run the machines and then build out the piping that will connect them. This also means we are one step closer to reaching capacity in this current facility and one step closer to planning a larger production facility for the future. 

Overall in 2019, we spent a great deal of time building up our infrastructure to support our storage, handling and malting capabilities. If you haven’t been to the malthouse in over a year you should come to pay us a visit because you will hardly recognize it with all the changes. All of these improvements are planned for long term use and in many cases, they will be the primary infrastructures for years and years to come.  

Varietal Exploration 

As we have done every year since this company was founded we also explore new grain varieties for malting. 2019 brought SVM several new barley varieties and other grains to begin working with. We have been having a great time working with and exploring Bow, a new barley variety, Obsidian, and black oats. We planted, in partnership with the WSU Research Center in Mount Vernon, 24 test barleys. We are really excited how several of these trails turned out and we are already moving forward in testing them further and maybe one-day malting! Click here for 2019 Harvest Update

Setting Sustainability Goals 

Our biggest sustainability achievement has been our impact on climate action by transitioning to all renewable electricity! Malting is an energy-intensive process with demands for sustained heat and steady airflow. The energy used to power the process is derived from natural gas and electricity which both can be sources of greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide. We buy the majority of our electricity through our utility who produces it from both renewable and fossil fuel generation. About 60% of it was coming from burning coal and neutral gas, but we wanted to move from 40% to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible. Last month we made a big change by converting all of our purchased electricity to Puget Sound Energy’s Green Power Program.

Purchasing renewable energy is tied up with how the US power grid functions. The grid is an open and interconnected system with producers generating energy and consumers using the energy. All emissions occur at the producer’s site of generation and then that fossil fuel energy flows into the grid to mix with all the other available energy. This means our consumption has to be matched to an equal amount of renewable production to ensure we are meeting our goal every month.

SVM is excited to continue to explore and work on our sustainability goals next year and into the future. We are especially excited to be able to offer Salmon-Safe certified grain to our customers as well as many organic grains. Sustainability has become a part of our mission and ethos, perhaps it is because of our connection to the Skagit Valley and a result of seeing what it takes to make an agricultural region viable. The Valley is our home and we believe we can have a positive impact on the future prosperity of this land for generations to come. 

Thank you to everyone in 2019 who worked with us, came to tour our facility, brewed a beer with Skagit malt, drank a beer with Skagit malt and supported Skagit farmers through your support of craft malt!