A British brewer describes Belgian beers in the 1880s (part five)

The final part today. With some more desriptions of Belgian brewing methods. His contempt for which the aouthor makes no attempt to conceal. While also bigging up British beer. I suppose he couldn't help himself.

We start with a piece of of brewing equipment I've never come across before: Rechauffeur. Which literally means "reheater" in Frenvh.

"The first runnings are conducted into what is termed a Rechauffeur, a vessel heated with steam, so that the wort can be gradually raised to a temperature of about 158° Fahr. When this is attained, and when all the worts have been gathered in this vessel, the temperature is kept constant for about an hour, when the wort is pumped into the copper and boiled for about three hours.

This extraordinary procedure is the rule and not the exception in Belgian breweries and, upon consideration it will not cause suprise that this method of manufacture should fail to produce an article equal in quality to those to which we have, fortunately, become accustomed."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Wednesday 01 July 1885, page 14.

I guess that's sort of raising the worts to mashout temperature. Though the author is clearly unimpressed.

Some more details of the brewing methods.

"When two mash-tuns are erected it frequently happens that brewers openly evade the law by refusing to convert their first runnings into a return wort, by causing it to pass over the grist in the second tun. By so doing they can effect a very considerable saving in duty. Curiously enough, they seem to make no secret of the evasion. Whether this be attributable to the fact that the Excise officers are susceptible of manipulation, I am not prepared to say; but several brewers with whom I conversed made no secret about the matter, but freely admitted that a large proportion of their profits were made in this manner."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Wednesday 01 July 1885, page 14.

If you remember my last post, The first wort from mash tun 1 had to be used for mashing the grains in mash tun 2. That's what "return wort" means. A wort - in the UK usually the last runnings with an OG of 1005º or so - used as mash water.

Were Belgian excise officers easily corrupted? Who knows. It does seem odd that the law was so blatantly broken. Not sure why this should have made brewers' operations more profitable.

The next bit is rather vague:

"As a rule the cleansing, not the skimming system is pursued; and the remainder of the process greatly resembles our own. The manufacture is altogether so unique, and so interesting from certain points of view, that it would be a mistake for any visitor to the Antwerp Exhibition to neglect paying inspection to some of these Belgian breweries. It is to be hoped that the above explanations may be of service to them, in forming some conception of the rationale of a very involved and clumsy process."
Holmes' Brewing Trade Gazette - Wednesday 01 July 1885, page 14.

Cleansing was a process for removing yeast from beer. The best known system being Burton unions. But there were others, such as the dropping system or pontoes.

Overall, this article has convinced me more that tax is one of the biggest driving factors in the development of beer styles.