At the entrance of the Ville basse street in Silly, a huge crane spreads its boom high above the houses.

The operation is precise and delicate: to “straddle” the roofs to install four new fermentation tanks in a part of the brewery recently fitted out.

“These 3.5 T tanks will allow us to increase the fermentation space from 420 hectoliters to 2,000 hectoliters,” explains Bertrand Van der Haegen, the brewmaster and designer of the plans.

This project fits into our investment plan of ten million euros over ten years. This plan began in 2018, says Lionel Van der Haegen, the sales manager. The first phase was a new bottling line, the second, a new barrel filling facility, the third – the current one – are the fermentation tanks. To this phase we have added a centrifuge and an automatic cleaning system.

We will continue to invest one million euros per year until 2028. This will allow us to increase our production capacity: today we produce 25,000 hectoliters per year. Once the new equipment is installed, we will be able to produce up to 60,000 hectoliters.

Moreover, the work will be simpler, more fluid for everyone and the different phases of production will be even more finely controlled for the benefit of the quality of our beers.

From an article by Daniel Pilette published on 29-03-22 in Vers l’Avenir.