The Oerbier figure explains ↘

How we brew.
Since 1980.

Ten steps from grain to bottle. Nothing filtered, nothing pasteurised, and with equipment from around 1900 that is still in use, like the mash tun and the coolship.

Start at step 1 ↓

Step 1+ malt

Malt

It all starts with malted barley. Sack by sack the malt goes into the hopper, on its way to the mill.

Step 2

Milling

Our old malt mill cracks the grains open, so the starch inside can do its work. That faithful machine has been running here for decades.

The old malt mill in the brewery — The real one, still in service

Step 3+ water

Mashing

The milled malt goes into the mash tun with water from our own wells. We rest it at 63 °C and then at 73 °C, so the enzymes turn the starch into sugars. Then we filter off the sweet wort. The mash tun is probably even older than the coolship.

Mash tun no. 1 in the brewhouse — Mash tun no. 1, still in use

Step 4+ Belgian hop cones

Boiling

The wort comes to the boil in the brew kettle. In go the Belgian hop cones: for bitterness, aroma and natural protection.

Step 590°

The coolship

The hot wort, still around 90 °C, flows into our coolship: a wide, open copper tray. Copper, just like our fermenters. Here it rests while the sediment settles. The coolship dates from around 1900 and still does its job.

Step 6↓ 25°

The cooler

Then it runs over pipes with cold running water and drops to about 25 °C. Just right for the yeast.

Step 7+ yeast

Fermentation

In our open copper vessels our own house yeast gets to work. It turns the sugars into alcohol and CO₂. A big part of what makes a De Dolle Brouwers beer so distinctive.

Yeast foam in an open copper fermenter — Open fermentation, for real

Step 84° · 2 months

Maturing

After fermentation the beer rests for at least two months in the lagering tanks, at 4 °C. We take our time: that's where the flavours round off.

Steel lagering tanks with ladders in the brewery

Step 9+ sugar & yeast

Bottling

Before bottling we add a little sugar and fresh yeast. Then every bottle is filled and capped.

Step 10

The warm room

The crates go to the warm room, where the beer referments in the bottle. That's how every De Dolle Brouwers beer gets its natural sparkle.

An extra step, sometimes

And then a year in the barrel.

Now and then a batch of Oerbier, Dulle Teve or Stille Nacht doesn't go into the bottle after fermentation but into old wine barrels. It stays there for at least a year, sometimes much longer. It started in 1998, when Kris laid the first Oerbier to rest in old sherry casks.

To the Reservas