Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast

366: St. Bernardus Uses Modern Tools and Ingredients to Stay True to Historic and Classic Recipes

Jun 28, 2024

Brewmaster Wouter Dely from St. Bernardus discusses adjusting classic recipes to modern brewhouse reality, using Belgian candi sugar in abbey-style beers, maintaining healthy fermentations, fostering ester production, and the mechanics of bottle conditioning. The episode delves into challenges faced by European brewers, the significance of water quality, and the impact of ingredients on drinkability and yeast performance in the brewing process.

01:20:35

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Episode guests

Wouter Dely

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

St. Bernardus adjusts classic recipes for modern brewhouse reality.

Brewmaster focuses on barley variations and fermentation techniques.

St. Bernardus utilizes precise temperature control for distinctive beer flavors.

Deep dives

Collaborating with Wine Stefan on New Beer Releases

St. Bernardis has begun collaborating with Wine Stefan, a long-standing brewery, to produce new beers. The collaboration started after St. Bernardis helped Wine Stefan find an importer in Belgium and later decided to import their beers. The two breweries have released a beer called Bropak 2024, a blonde ale created at Wine Stefan's facility in which both breweries had a hand in designing, resulting in a successful product. Additionally, both breweries are currently working on a new beer that will be brewed at St. Bernardis's facility, generating high anticipation for its release.

Intro

2min

Exploring the Historical Roots of a Brewery Founded After World War II

3min

History and Evolution of a Trappist Brewery

11min

Exploring St. Bernardus Brewery's Approach to Beer Making

4min

Water Quality and Ingredients in Brewing Beer

12min

Exploring the Influence of Ingredients on Drinkability and the Legacy of Abbey Yeast

5min

Optimizing Yeast Performance and Cooling in Brewing Process

15min

Brewery Growth and Collaborations in the Modern Brewing Industry

21min

Exploring a Brewery Collaboration and the Creation of a New Beer

4min

10.

Innovative Stay Concept at a Brewery Bed and Breakfast with Panoramic Views and E-Bike Rentals

2min

11.

Enjoying a Relaxing Brewery Visit in the Beautiful Countryside

2min

Carrying the weight of history and expectation poses a particular challenge for some European brewers, but nowhere is that more apparent than in the world of Belgian brewing. How, in the face of changing technology and consistently variable ingredients, does a brewer stay true to the ideas behind the classic recipes that underpin the core beers that their brewery produces? Over the past two decades, these are exactly the questions that St. Bernardus brewmaster Wouter Dely and sales and marketing manager Marco Passarella have had to face.

In this episode, they discuss:

Adjusting classic recipes to today’s modern brewhouse reality
Working with barley that varies year-to-year by adjusting step mash times and temperatures
Using Belgian candi sugar in brewing abbey-style beers
Maintaining healthy fermentations using techniques like drauflassen
Fostering ester production by limiting head pressure in cylindroconical tanks
Using different temperature glycol in fermenter jackets through the course of the fermentation
Time as an ingredient in brewing
The mechanics of bottle conditioning

And more.

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