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Lambic Digest #0814
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Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 00:30:08 -0700
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Subject: Lambic Digest #814 (March 13, 1996)
Lambic Digest #814 Wed 13 March 1996
Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles)
Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Orval technical data (P. Edwards)
Orval History (pt 1) (P. Edwards)
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Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:09:37 -0500
From: pedwards at iquest.net (P. Edwards)
Subject: Orval technical data
So y'all wouldn't have to read thru the entire history lesson before we got
to the good stuff, here's the techincal data I was given at the brewery.
More explantion will be in tomorrow's installment of the narrative:
Characteristics of the product:
===============================
Top fermented beer with refermentation in the bottles.
Original gravity at 20 deg C (density of 1.05431):
13.4 deg Plato
13.3 deg Balling
5.3 deg Belgium
(Great Britain: "specifc gravity" at 60 deg f = 1055.0)
Amber colour = about 22 EBC
Bitterness = about 32 EBU
CO2 concentration 7 to 8 g/liter, bottled
Alcohol content = about 6 percent (6 weeks after bottling)
about 7.1 percent (10 months after bottling)
pH of bottled beer = 4.10 to 4.20
Calories = 163 kcal = 682 kjoules
(ie 42.6 kcal from the extract, 120.1 kcal from the alcohol)
Drink temperature = 12 to 14 deg C
Sell-by date = 5 years after bottling
Raw materials:
==============
a) The water used in the brewing process is collected within the Abbye
walls (the Fontaine Mathilde spring)
b) The malt comes from French, Dutch and German Barley.
Two types of malt are used:
- pale malt, of the lager type (86.5 percent)
- caramel malt, of the Caravienne type (13.5 percent)
The beer's final colour is obtained by the use of caramel malt
c) The yeast stains are kept in the laboratory:
1 yeast strain is used in the main fermentation process
5 strains are used for secondary fermentaion; the strain
used in the main process is also used for additional
fermentation in the bottle
d) The hops come from Germany (Hallertau) and Slovenia (Styrian)
Hops are added both in the brewing house and the lagering tanks
The beer has a very high hop content.
e) Chipped candy sugar is used in the brewing house; liquid invert sugar
is used in the addtional fermentation process in the bottles.
[from my notes: The brew length is 100 hectoliters. The brewery
produces seven batches in a six day work week. This works out to 36,400 hl
per year. Brewery claims to produce "nearly 38,000 hl, so maybe a few
extra batches are brewed. I could not discern, nor was I told whether
they employ a decoction mash or perhaps a step infusion mash. From what I
saw in the way of equipment, I'd _guess_ the latter, using steam heat. All
fermetation and bottle conditioning takes place at 15 deg C; primary
fermetation is 1 week, followed by secondary fermenatation they call
lagering for 3 weeks, It's at this point huge nylon bales of whole Styrian
hops are added. Beer is packaged and bottled condtioned for 6 weeks prior
to release. Date codes for beer exported to the US are bottling dates, in
Europe a "Best Before" dating system is used]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:09:36 -0500
From: pedwards at iquest.net (P. Edwards)
Subject: Orval History (pt 1)
This is the first installment from the information I was given at the
Brasserie d'Orval. Even though the document I was given was in English,
its obvious that it was translated from French, and might seem awkward in
spots. My parenthetical comments will be enclosed in square [] brackets.
Here goes:
"Under the auspices of father Marie-Albert van der Cruyssen, the Brasserie
d'Orval was established in 1931 within the Abbey walls - just five years
after the site had again become a Cisterian Monastery. The old monastery
had been destroyed by the French Revolution. [monastery originally founded
in 1132 & the ruins are open to tourists]
At the time of the reconstruction of Orval, the original driving force was
not that of developing a new monastic activity, since the monks already
worked in the bakery and cheese dairy. The intention was more that of
creating a small commercial venture that would generate considerable
financial means required for the reconstruction and maintenance of this
very large complex.
In the beginning, outside friends bought up shares in the company to show
their active committment to the resurrection of Orval. Once all the
founder shares had been restored to the community [of monks], this latter
would run its company with the principles of sound management.
>From the very start, the brewery employed mostly lay personnel. The tomb
of the first Master Brewer, a German by the name of Pappenheimer, is
located in Villers-devant-Orval. Today, the brewery employs a workforce of
some 28 people.
Henry Vaes' great architectural talent presided over the reconstruction of
Orval. Keenly interested in Cisterian architecture, he drew his
inspiration for the brewery from the beautiful ruins of the abbey in
Villers-laVille. The brewery of that monastery (30 kms south of Brussels)
was much larger than the one previously located on the site of the former
Orval abbey. Indeed, the new brewer's production was destined to go beyond
the local demand.
The reconstruction was completed in 1948, and from then on, the Abbey has
allocated all that it earns from the brewery to a very considerable social
budget. In accordance with the Rule of the Order, the Orval community
lives from the proceeds only of its own work: cheese-making and baking. A
particular feature of the communities of the Order is their provision of
assistance to the local population. A number of examples may be cited from
Orval's history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution whereby the
Abbey provided financial support for the reconstruction of this border
country, so often destroyed by wars. Today, the brewery enables the
community to fulfill this special role.
Among the Abbey's many projects, there was one in 1931 which considered
bottling and commercialising the water from the mathilda Fountain, the site
of the legend about the trout with a gold ring in its mouth (the emblem to
be seen on all products coming from Orval). Despite the many excellent
qualities attributed to the water by certain experts, this activity was
never started up. However, the very same water is still used today to brew
Orval beer.
end part 1
------------------------------
End of Lambic Digest
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