A Collab with Brew Moersleutel

Posted by
Mike Benson
on 23/01/25

About Me

Mike is the sales manager for Wales and the West of England and is located in Wigan.

You can read my bio by clicking the button below

I first encountered Brew Moersleutel when I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the founding brothers at a brewing show in Italy. We began discussing the company’s engineering side but quickly moved onto its beer side, as we sampled some of the best stouts I have ever tasted. Even Stuart was impressed!

Fast-forward three years, and it’s January 2024, and my first Monday morning email is about a heritage brew. Nice start to the week. The email said, ‘I want to brew a Triple Mashed Imperial Stout in September’. If there’s one thing I love above a heritage brew, it’s a heritage brew resulting in an imperial stout – did someone say COLLAB?

Moersleutel is based just north of Amsterdam in Alkmaar, NL. We would need to use our distributor network. Select Brewing Ingredients (SBI) has been supplying brewers in Europe with the best ingredients and service since 2009 and Pieter (SBI Director and owner) was more than happy to get involved.

The year passed, and the plan for a triple mash changed to a quad. With the brew day fast approaching, the malt bill was significant, but SBI made the process easy. I was slightly concerned about brewhouse issues, with such a brew. My worries were put to ease when Rowan, Head Brewer, described the brewery process, which included a mash filter. Things just keep getting better and better with this collab.

The 700kg malt bill was complex:

Chevallier 375kg
Plumage Archer 100kg
Black Malt 13kg
Roasted Barley 13kg
Crystal 240 50kg
Crystal 400 13kg
Brown Malt 50kg
Chocolate Malt 13kg
Amber Malt 50kg

We mashed at 68^oC and stood for 60 minutes; I was nervous at this temperature. We usually recommend a lower mash temp to increase the enzyme activity. The pH was adjusted to 5.2 using the standard brewery additions of Calcium Carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and calcium hydroxide. Wort separation was a breeze; the first and only worts, was 28 Plato. The 30hl kettle came up to temperature, and the steam left on. We were making more wort with four mashes than the kettle could hold. But it’s not going down the drain, the 10-hour boil begins. Mash follows mash and after 9 hours of boiling, the kettle was full and the standard 1 hour boil begins. 15IBU’s worth of Columbus was added, followed by 25IBU worth of EKG 30 minutes later. Flame out came after 10 hours of boiling with the addition of Bramling Cross taking the IBU up to 60.

The 33 plato wort was cooled to 18^oC and WLP037 Yorkshire Square was the chosen yeast. The temperature was held for 3 days and then allowed to raise to 24^oC until fermentation was complete.

Moerslutel beers were impressive, but I was blown away by the continuous improvement journey, including the adoption of 5S and daily huddles with all team members, who all buy in and contribute. Rowan has an insatiable appetite for product development and pushes boundaries while controlling processes. Rowan knows flavours. I was delighted 3 weeks later he gave feedback on the beer – “The beer turned out great, fruity and full; the marmalade character from the Chevallier Malt works with the yeast’s strawberry/dark fruits. The beer is quite roasty right now, but I expect it to mellow out”.