As published in The Brewers’ Journal – September, 1915
BREWING IN FLANDERS
By Alfred Kibble
This article originally appeared in the “Journal of the Operative Brewers’ Guild”
I have visited a few breweries with G.M. Parsons, of the Ram Brewery, Wandsworth. The breweries appear to be all small according to our ideas; except one which we came across in a town beginning with A, and appeared to be quite a modern place and has been running all the time despite the fact that the town has been frequently shelled, in fact, the town was being shelled when we discovered; the copper, however, was giving forth a homely smell of boiling wort. There were soldiers billeted in the stables and malt-house, so we could not get in to view the premises, but hope to at a future date.
The first brewery we saw was about four miles from the firing line where we had our transport billeted all the winter, which did not improve the cleanliness of the brewery yard. It had one or two bombs dropped on it which did no harm to speak of. They were doing a roaring trade, Friday’s brewing going out on Monday.
They mashed in a mash tun on the ground floor by pitching sacks of grist over the side, there being no grist case, otherwise the mas tun was exactly the same as in England, except the plates were galvanized iron. The mashing temperature being about the same; the rakes, however, were run considerably longer. The malt used was made in an adjoining malt-house from local barley of rather low grade with a mixture of some Algerian also of low grade.
Taps set in two hours, sparge s usual, then wort pumped up to two very good copers which were made up together, when they were made up0 to the required dip, then came the first difference from our practice. The hops used were local coarse hops, in fact, grown behind the brewery, and dried on the premises, not pressed but stored in bulk in a loft with a door opening to the air.
The wort is boiled for nine hours in this brewery, at least it is called a boil, but nothing but a simmer, being boiled up for about ten minutes before turning out. The extraordinary thing about it is, that although the bitter is unpleasant it is not as bad as one would imagine. They had no reason, except custom, for this peculiar proceeding.
The mash tun was used as a hop back, the wort was then pumped up to a small tank commanding the refrigerator, made on the Baudelot pattern and made locally; this in its turn commanded two tanks containing bout 10 bbl. Each where the wort was pitched, the tanks ae used alternately and the wort run straight down to the casks in the cellars where the whole fermentation takes place. The gravity, about 12 lbs., runs down to about 4 lbs. in three days, when it is bunged up and sent out.
The casks have very large bung holes, some being square, they are bunged up with huge wooden bugs which effectually stop any idea of rolling the cask; this doesn’t seem to worry them in the least, as they always carry them about; they are all measured and you buy it by the litre; casks holding about 50 to 100 litres.
Their capacity was about 40 barrels a length. They could only brew four times a week for lack of casks. The finings were added as the beer went out; they were low grade made locally from very poor skins.
The second brewery visited was as the one described but not as clean, and badly arranged.
The third was a modern building with fancy ironwork but not as clean as it should have been. There was no grist case, the grist having to be manhandled up some fifty stairs. The mash tun was about 10 qtrs. Capacity.
The coppers just below were filled up to about three inches of the top and were only simmering, in this case for four hours, boiling for a quarter of an hour before turning out. The coppers were supplied with glass graduated gauges. They had false bottoms and were steam-heated so no hop back was required, the wort running straight to the refrigerator, which was of the Baudelot pattern, with two liquor inlets of the same liquor which appeared to use a lot of liquor to little purpose; however, they seemed to think it was a good idea. The wort was as usual run straight to the cellars, which were very good; in fact, the whole place was well arranged but not in good order. The boiler was in the cellar very awkwardly placed; steam pressure equal to about 80 lbs. The cask washing was done with a machine similar to a Pontifex. They asked us for a cure for stinkers, we said the only cure was to burn them, and ask him theirs if they burnt them. He answered, “Not in France.”
I think the only thing we could learn from Flanders about brewing is that perhaps our plant is somewhat elaborate and expensive.
The yeast, as far as one could see, was similar to ours, though as we had no opportunity of seeing it under a microscope it is impossible to say more than that it was top fermentation, and fairly high temperatures, they pitched about 70o to 75o.
It is rare to come across really brilliant beer, it varies from bright to very thick; we have not yet seen any bottling plant but have heard of some in the neighborhood, and when we leave the hospital and can find time, hope to be able to see it. The brewers here are always pleased to see you and are most hospitable. I have not been able to discover anything as to the tax except that it is collected locally and does not amount to much. The price of beer is roughly 5 litres for a franc and sold at a penny a glass in “estaminets” (public-houses).
Crescent City Brew Talk 