Jean De Clerck

Jean De Clerck (born December 24, 1902 in Brussels , † January 3, 1978 in Leuven ) was a Belgian brewing scientist . He headed the brewing department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Université catholique de Louvain , based in Louvain-la-Neuve, and was involved in research, teaching and advice on all aspects of yeast and beer . His textbook from the brewery Cours de brasserie , translated by Paul Kolbach , is still considered the standard work of brewing today. De Clerck is considered to be "the most influential brewery scientist of the twentieth century" .

His findings, in particular about the role of oxygen during the production of beer, the influence of pH value , carbon dioxide management and foam durability, as well as the quality of the raw materials used, have significantly influenced the modern brewing industry.

In his role as professor, representative in international professional organizations, advisor for well-known breweries, Jean De Clerck has made a significant contribution to the reputation of Belgian beers in public opinion and in professional circles. Together with others, he was responsible for the creation of Duvel and Chimay in their current form. In general, he had a great influence on abbey beers such as Trappist beer .

Life

Childhood and family

De Clerck's parents' house was on "rue de l'Escalier", not far from the Grand-Place / Grote Markt . Father and grandfather ran a grocery store. He was the youngest of three children. De Clerck was only 1 year old when his father died in 1903. His mother then left the center of Brussels and went back with the children to their parents, who were farmers in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert / Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe . In 1913 his mother died of tuberculosis. His grandparents died in the war years of 1915 and 1916. In the following period until his marriage at the age of 26, he lived with his sister and his eldest brother.

On May 23, 1928 he married Rosa Maria Debecker, with whom he had 11 children, 6 boys and 5 girls, who were born between 1929 and 1951. One of his sons, Étienne, born in 1935, became a professor and his colleague in the Chimay brewery.

education

Jean De Clerck completed his school days at the elementary school in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and then at the Jesuit college in Saint-Michel , where he graduated in Classical Philology in 1920. Due to the financial situation, he had to give up his plan to study medicine. Instead, De Clerck began training as an agricultural engineer at the Université catholique de Louvain in September 1920 . From 1924 he combined chemical process engineering with agricultural sciences and brewing beer. This dual training gave him an overview of beer production and led him to research the quality of the raw materials used in the brewery.

Brewery engineer

In addition to his military service between 1924 and 1925 in the mounted artillery regiment of Louvain, he worked in the laboratory of the brewing faculty of the Catholic University on behalf of Professor Verhelst, director of the brewery school, who made him his assistant in 1925. In order to gain experience in the daily practice of the brewery for his scientific research, he left the school's laboratory and was employed as an engineer brewer in the Haacht brewery , Boortmeerbeek, which meant that he had to cycle about 50 km per day , to work. From 1929 he found work closer to home, the Roelants brewery in Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek . Nevertheless, less than a year later, he went back to work as laboratory manager at the De Haacht brewery, which provided him with an apartment. In 1933 he joined the Artois Brewery , where he took on the position of head of laboratory and production. He has been invited to speak at several international conferences, particularly in London and Budapest. He advised numerous breweries in Belgium, Europe and worldwide, and worked as a consultant for some of them, in Belgium, but also in France (Brasserie de Nice, Brasserie d'Alger ...).

Together with Albert Moortgat he created the Duvel in its first version in 1930 and the current version from 1967. This beer is the origin of what the English expert Michael Jackson classifies as “Belgian Strong Golden Ale ”. He continued this brewery consulting business worldwide until 1973 (USA, Spain, Portugal, France, Argentina, Japan ...)

Teaching

A significant milestone came in 1939 when he was appointed lecturer at the Catholic University of Leuven on the initiative of Professor Verhelst, who was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Artois Breweries at the time. In 1943 he became professor and director of the Brewery School at the University of Leuven and taught in French and Dutch. In 1973 he received the honor of professor emeritus .

During his teaching activity he trained 266 engineers, 43% of them foreigners, from Spain, Portugal and America, among others. He published 250 articles and publications, including 84 in foreign journals, including the Journal of the institute of brewing , Brewery , brewing science , monthly for brewery , Birra e malto , American Society of Brewing Chemists etc.

In 1948 he published his standard work of the brewery "Cours de brasserie" in two volumes of over 600 pages. The first book describes the handling of raw materials, the production of malt, the production of beer and the brewery's production facilities. The second book is devoted to the analysis and control of manufacturing methods. Since its publication, the book has been regarded by experts as the most comprehensive description of the existing knowledge about brewing, including the most modern techniques of the time. It was regarded as a standard work until the 1980s. It was quickly translated into German by Professor Paul Kolbach under the title “Textbook of Brewing” and translated in Great Britain by Kathleen Barton-Wright under the title “A Textbook of brewing” and again in 1994 on the initiative of the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago reissued. In 1962, the second edition of the “Cours de brasserie” was supplemented and enriched with the latest research contributions. The number of pages is 2000. Jean De Clerck worked on a third edition in the 1970s, but the disease that made him in the last years of his life prevented the completion of his work. Translations into Russian and Chinese of the "Brasserie Lessons" were made in unauthorized editions and are still being sold. In 1965 the Technical University of Munich in Freising awarded him an honorary doctorate in mechanical engineering.

further activities

At the end of the Second World War, Jean De Clerck was involved in the founding of the European Brewery Convention, an organization that brings together the technical and scientific interests of the brewing industry in Europe. He was elected President of the Organization from 1963 to 1971.

death

Jean De Clerck died after a degenerative illness. He was buried together with his wife, who had died in 2001, in the cemetery of the monks of the Trappist Abbey of Scourmont near Chimay. This was made possible by a special permit from the abbot in recognition of his contribution to the beer called Chimay , which he had developed in 1950 with Father Theodore, the brewing monk.

bibliography

• Cours de brasserie, Volume I: Matières premières, Fabrication, Installations, 1948.
  Textbook of the brewery. Translated by Paul Kolbach . Volume I: Raw Materials, Manufacture, Facilities.
• Cours de brasserie, Volume II: Méthodes d'analysis, Contrôle de la fabrication, 1948
  textbook of the brewery Volume II: Analysis methods and operational control, 576 pages with 176 illustrations, publisher: Experimental and educational institute for brewery , Berlin, 1950 + 1952 .

Updated and supplemented new edition of the 2 originals in 1963, new edition of the edition from 1963 in 1980.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Chair J. De Clerck. The beers of tomorrow. Belgian Brewing Conference, 2015, accessed January 3, 2016 . 
2. ^ Stan Hieronymus: Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, And Strong Belgian Ales And How to Brew Them Brewers Publications, November 4, 2005, ISBN 978-0937381878
3. ↑ Chimay Étienne De Clerck, fils de Jean, accessed January 10, 2016
4. ↑ Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter - Pleasures of consorting with the devil of a brew. en ligne , accessed March 20, 2016.
5. ↑ E. MASSAUX: Éloge académique de M. le professeur Jean De Clerck May 14, 1973
6. ^ In Memoriam Jean de Clerck, 1978
7. ↑ Christian Laporte: UNIVERSITE DE LOUVAIN: UN SIECLE DE COOPERATION BRASSERIE-RECHERCHE CENT ANS DE RECHERCHE EN BRASSERIE A L'UCL Lundi September 19, 1988, accessed on June 12, 2016