South Bay, Los Angeles County, California

By Jim Hilbing

Willamette Valley Hop Field Tour

On the first day of the Northwest Homebrew Express, conference attendees were given the chance to take one of three optional tours. My wife and I went to visit the hop fields in the Willamette Valley, about half an hour south of Portland. The other tours were to the Great Western Malting Plant, which is located just across the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, and to the Momokawa Sake Brewery.

Ralph Olson and a few of his coworkers from the hop distributor Hop Union led a bus-full of 45 or so people to a hop farm just east of Mt. Angel, about 25 miles from Portland. As we approached the farm, we passed the fertile fields of the Willamette Valley in prime growing season filled with flowers, grasses, and berries (much of the flowers and grasses are grown for seeds). Some of the hop fields we passed were empty-the wires and trellis poles were just sticking out of fields of dirt. Ralph explained that some of the fields are idle due to a glut of hops on the market. The empty fields are an attempt to get the supply back in line with the demand. From the homebrewer's perspective, hopefully this won't lead to higher hop prices.

At the farm, we got off the bus into the hot afternoon weather. The valley temperature was up in the high 80's and low 90's during the end of July. In addition to a house, the farm consisted of two main buildings nestled in the middle of the hop fields: the first building is used at harvesting to separate the hop cones from the bines; the second, to dry the cones before packaging and shipping.

The hop plants grow on an 18 foot-high trellis system, constructed of wires strung between tall, wooden stakes placed at the edge of the fields. These are shown in the first two photographs. Strong paper twine rated at about 100-pound test is strung from the high, horizontal wires to the ground. As long as they are trained in the right direction, the plants grow up the twine to the top of the trellis wire, naturally circling the twine as they follow the sun. If they are started incorrectly, they fail to grow up the twine.

When it's time for harvest, the plants and twine are cut off the trellis system together, brought back to the first building at the farm, and hung upside down on a system of rails. The rails lead into the machine shown in the third photograph, with the tour guide shown providing a frame of reference on the size of the machine. A rectangular opening lined with wire "feelers" as shown in the fourth photograph is used to knock the hop cones from the bines. The separated plant material is then passed to the next stage of the machinery. The stripped bines are composted; they aren't used for fodder since animals don't care for the bitter taste.

When the hops are separated from the bines, some leaves and branches also knocked in with the cones. A series of inclined conveyor belts arranged in a sawtooth fashion is used to separate the good cones from the unwanted material. As the harvested material is passed up one belt and dumped onto the bottom of the next, the heavier hop cones travel up the belts differently than the lighter leaves, and the two are separated.

The separated cones are transported into the next building for drying and packaging. This building is heated by propane and is shown in the fifth photograph. The hops are spread in large bins on the second floor and allowed to dry. The first story below was mostly open, providing an area for the dried hops to be collected or stored before packaging. A conveyor belt is located at one end of the building, set to deliver the hops up to a hydraulic press. The dried hops are pressed by machine into bales about 4 feet long by 2 feet square. The bales are then tied and shipped to the distributor.

The separated cones are transported into the next building for drying and packaging. This building is heated by propane and is shown in the fifth photograph. The hops are spread in large bins on the second floor and allowed to dry. The first story below was mostly open, providing an area for the dried hops to be collected or stored before packaging. A conveyor belt is located at one end of the building, set to deliver the hops up to a hydraulic press. The dried hops are pressed by machine into bales about 4 feet long by 2 feet square. The bales are then tied and shipped to the distributor.

Many of the plants at this particular farm are Willamette hops. We also stopped at another field which contained Tettnang hops. Before taking the tour, I hadn't thought about different hop varieties maturing at different times during the season. As the sixth photograph shows, some of the hops we saw were still in the early stages of development, and resembled a flower much more so than a cone. We did see varying stages of hop cone development, even in the same field. The last two photographs provide more close-up views of the cones.

Besides touring the two hop fields, the bus stopped at the monastery at Mount Angel. No, they don't make their own beer, however the elevated vantage provided a great view of the hop fields from above. One other destination for the tour bus was an elephant garlic farm. While garlic is (usually) unrelated to beer, the tour guides figured we might enjoy a look at another type of farm in the Willamette Valley. Large bins of garlic heads were being sorted, cleaned and packaged for sale. Garlic deemed not good enough for sale went into a separate bin for next planting's seed. Interestingly, the packaged garlic was labeled Gilroy, California (which is not a surprise) however, nowhere on the label did it mention that the garlic was a product of Oregon.

Overall, the tour was an interesting success, providing a close-up look at prime hop fields during the growing season.

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