Cantillon is one of my favorite breweries and probably in my top three. Getting a chance to visit was truly inspiring and stunning. It is hard to believe that they produce as much beer as they do from this small space.
Wall o' stickers as you walk in. Nice to see some of the good guys up there like Firestone Walker and Victory.
Right past the entrance on the left is the taproom where you receive two free samples of beer after the tour. More on those later...
As you begin the tour, you walk down a corridor that leads to the actual brewhouse itself. This is where they bottle condition the beer in the brewery. Cantillon also rents space in an old WW2 bunker in Brussels to age their beer. I believe they started this back in 2011 and have enough space for ~80,000 bottles. Right now they have no plans to sell any beer that is aged in this bunker. Bummer...
Up close shot of the bottle stacking
More bottles and crates.
On the first floor in the back of the brewery is where the actual brewing equipment is located. The mash tun is located on this floor. The grain mill itself is located on the floor above the mash tun. In the back ground you can see the bottom of the boil kettle that is on the second floor.
Inside shot of the mash tun. They mash the grains in steps which will take 2 hours to complete. Grain bill consists of 65% barley and 35% wheat.
Everything in the brewery seems to be pulley based. This is a shot of what seems to be one of the pumps on the ground floor.
You take a very narrow staircase up to the second floor where the grain mill and boil kettles are located.
Up close shot of the plate on the vent hood.
Inside look of the boil kettle. Looks like they purchased the whirlpool attachment for the boil kettle from morebeer.com. The copper rings inside the kettle is where steam is pumped through to boil the wort. Cantillon boils the wort for 3-4 hours and will lose ~2,500 litres of liquid during the boil.
Grain mill. Again, everything seems to be belt driven.
After the boil is complete, the hot wort is pumped into the attic onto the cooling ship where the wort cools and is infected with wild yeast from the cool air that flows through the vents in the rafters. The cooling ship was made by a coppersmith who only used rivets to construct it; there is not a single weld in the entire vessel.
Here is a better look at the vent holes. It was hotter than hell up here during our visit; that day it was 92F in Brussels but during the brewing season (Fall and Spring) the temperature is much cooler and conducive to brewing.
After the wort is cooled, it is then gravity fed into the square, open fermentation chamber. Either fermentation takes place here or the wort is pumped into oak or chestnut casks for fermentation.
Brewers desk where they keep notes on the brew process. This is behind the fermentation chamber.
A shot of the attic area and my wife. They use this for extra storage and hop aging.
Bales of hops that are being aged. Note the date on the bales.
We proceeded back down to the second floor where the barrel aging occurs. A sign as you enter the barrel aging chamber. Translated: Time does not comply with what is done without him.
Wood! Literally! Sweet Jesus....
I want to know how to get one of these!
I thought this was very cool. This is their old bottling machine that I assume is still used from time to time.
Back down on the ground floor. A shot of the bottling and label machine.
And now that the tour is over, on to the drinking! First up, we had the straight Lambic.
Next, the Rose de Gambrinus. The beautiful red color is imparted by the raspberries used during fermentation. Absolutely wonderful beer.
Sadly we had to leave and I really hope we get to visit again one day while they are brewing to see some of the process. They only brew the wild beers from mid-October to early April.
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