Malting facility for beer connoisseur

With plans to develop a micro-malting capacity on his grain farm at Goomalling, Mr Rowles visited commercial operations throughout the US and Canada, took part in a specialist malting course and attended the Craft Malt Conference held by the Craft Maltsters Guild in Colorado over three weeks.

He was given an insight into the different systems and equipment used by the international craft brewing industry, the various scales of malt houses and how they were segregating their grain.

Announced as an award winner of the State government's Agriculture and Entrepreneurship Program in July last year, Mr Rowles received $13,000 for travel and research to progress product commercialisation, testing and training.

He said US and Canadian barley producers had different production systems to those in Australia, with the majority of their operations irrigated and having set contracts with malt houses.

"Their craft brewing industry is facing some challenges too, with malt houses that are based in non-traditional barley growing areas struggling to get good quality grain," Mr Rowles said.

A fifth-generation farmer, his family was one of the first settlers in Goomalling, with his ancestor, Joseph Rowles, a convict who established a farm in the area in the mid-1850s.

Mr Rowles crops barley, canola, wheat and lupins.

"Our crop rotations vary each year, but most years barley forms a quarter to half of our crop," Mr Rowles said.

Originally he planned to contract malt his farm's barley, but after some research he decided to do the process himself.

Mr Rowles said his passion for craft beer was first sparked by a student exchange to Austria when he was 17.

"In Australia all I had ever really drunk was VB and Crown Lager, so when I went over there I was amazed by the amount of craft beers they had," Mr Rowles said.

"When I came back, Little Creatures was really taking off and craft breweries were becoming increasingly popular and I became more and more interested in the industry."

Mr Rowles studied nursing before deciding to enrol in a post graduate brewing course at Edith Cowan University.

He worked at Little Creatures in Fremantle for just over a year before returning to the family farm in 2010 with his wife Simone, so his children could enjoy the same lifestyle he had growing up.

"When I left Little Creatures I told them I was heading back to the farm and there was a passing comment by one of the brewers that I should grow them some special Schooner malt for the brewery, so that was what first planted the seed," Mr Rowles said.

And things are developing well for the business with Mr Rowles, just last month, being one of eight recipients of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development's (DPIRD) Regional Economic Development (RED) grants, receiving $100,000 to support the construction of a seven tonne micro-malting processing plant on his farm.

As part of the State government's $28.8 million, five-year scheme to stimulate regional economies, Mr Rowles shared in the $690,000 pool of grants awarded to Wheatbelt projects in manufacturing, agriculture and tourism expected to drive jobs in the region.

Mr Rowles said he would employ local businesses to help build the project's infrastructure including its sheds, silos, tanks and plumbing services etc.

With the plant and infrastructure estimated to cost $800,000, the grants are part of a co-contribution scheme, with recipients required to spend their own money first.

Mr Rowles said part of his business plan was to bring back both the Schooner and Stirling barley strains, which were a mainstay of the industry in the 1980s and early 1990s, before being phased out by newer varieties.

"The older heritage varieties of barley are better suited to craft beers that are using 100 per cent malt, so they will be ideal for our operations," Mr Rowles said.

"I got hold of the Schooner strain and grew that last year and it did really well, but I'm having a bit of trouble in getting hold of the Stirling strain of barley."

With DPIRD holding special reserves of the Stirling strain in storage, Mr Rowles said he was working with them to try and access a few kilograms, which he would then bulk up.

Developed in WA, he said the Stirling variety was better adapted to the local environment, even more so than the Schooner strain.

Initially, Mr Rowles plans to only malt his own farm's barley, but said he would source more barley if he had an unsuccessful crop.

"The plant will process seven tonne batches, so we will produce about 350t of malting barley per year," Mr Rowles said.

"As the business scales up we will probably contract malt for brewers or farmers.

"We've already had a distiller tell us they want some rye, which we don't grow, so we will be using some of our neighbour's crop in that instance.

"We will work with local brewers and distillers to make specific products, so if a customer has a spirit or beer in mind, we will be able to tailor something for them."

With provenance an important selling point these days, Mr Rowles said creating a sustainable, premium product that was traceable back to his WA farm would work in his business's favour.

"Hopefully we will be pretty competitive on price too, because although there may be similar products that come from over east, New Zealand and internationally, they will come with a higher price tag because of their transport costs," Mr Rowles said.

With a proliferation of craft breweries in WA over the past decade, he said the industry had become increasingly competitive with a lot of smaller production craft malting breweries struggling to get shelf space at local bottle shops.

"Add to that the bigger breweries that are making craft brands, it can be difficult for the small guys," Mr Rowles said.

However on the upside, with an estimated 85 craft breweries in WA, he said there was a lot of market share to be had for malt producers.

"Our malts will give our farmers and brewers a real point of difference in the market with its story and providing a premium product," Mr Rowles said.

Once the farm's processing plant is up and running, he plans to fine-tune recipes for his malting business, aptly named Mortlock Malt due to the farm's locality on the Mortlock River.

"Because we only have a small farm, this on-farm diversification will hopefully make our business more robust and sustainable," Mr Rowles said.

"Our plan going forward is to offer our unique origin malting barley to craft breweries and distilleries.

"The provenance story is what a lot of businesses and consumers are looking for, so as long as we make a good product, we should have plenty of opportunities."