Huisbrouwerij Sint Canarus

Sint Canarus, the biggest and the best brewery downtown Gottem – city. Small but beautifull.

History

I think it was about 1988, as a beerlover and dedicated beertaster, I got a brilliant idea. Let’s make our own beer. Mother was kind enough to lend me some old pots, and with the help of a book (this was in the prehistoric area without www) , and a gassburner from tante Soes, the first batch of 10 liters of beer was brewed and appreciated.

It couldn’t be that bad, considering we did it again and again.

After a couple of years I found an old laundry-kettel, thanks to Donald D.D. The capacity increasedfrom 10 L to up to 70 L. Around 1993 we moved from Astene to Gottem, where we rented a small house from Rita van Aarsele. She and her son Christophe, were already dedicated beerlovers, but things got even worse, having a brewer in their house.

The next logical step was that the brewery moved to their former drycleanersfactory in Aarsele. And then an incredible thing happened.

We were invited on a local happening about art, craftmenship and hobby. We demonstrated the noble art of brewing beer. There I met a manager of the RIVA-brewery in Dentergem. To be short, a couple of weeks after the fair, I brewed in the 270 hectoliter kettles in Dentergem. That was March 1993. After one year of brewing there, I could move to the hart of the brewery. The whole day I managed millions of yeast cells. I was in charge of all yeast, fermentation and refermentation operations, including the microbiological control.

At the end of 1999 we found an old small cottage near the church of Gottem. Whithin a couple of days it was ours. The house included a chalet, ideal for tasting beer, and even place for a pony and a brewhouse.

Meanwhile in the RIVA-brewery, I found some old stainless steel kettles. After some though discussions, I got the permission to take them home. So the capacity raised to 200 L / batch.

Then the time was there to take the bussines serious. In the summer of 2004 we destroyed the brewhouse and a part of our house. We constructed a new brewhouse end a nice pub. In 2009, I met Peter Kindts. Starting from some old kettles we build a 800 Liter brewhouse, with a gasburner and speedcontrolled mixer.

The lautertun is made froman old milktank. The heataxchanger and the fementation tanks (two 1.250 L and one 3.000 L) are new. In october 2011 we finally found a bottlefiller at Smisje – brewery (Mater). And in januari 2012 we purchased a nice labelling machine in the Mosel – area, Germany.