Oak maturation casks at the Rodenbach brewery, an industrial heritage of the Flemish Community requiring protective measures

IRG/WP 17-10898

J Van Acker, I De Windt, R Ghequire

Brewery Rodenbach has world-renowned cask halls with close to 300 oak casks, some of these big maturation casks are 150 years old and this is protected as part of the industrial heritage of the Flemish Community. Since some of these maturation casks or “foeders” were the last decades no longer fully in use some parameters of their physical condition might have increased incidence of fungal decay and have shortened considerably the service life of some of these oak casks. Most probably several basisiomycetes fundi can be linked to the fungal decay present but most probable most of the infections and serious decay are linked to Donkioporia expansa. Different conservation techniques have been considered but considering the use in contact with food and the regular access of visitors to the casks halls has put focus on monitoring and eventually replacing on a regular basis maturation casks attacked by decay fungi by new ones.


Keywords: oak, maturation casks, fungal decay, service life

Conference: 17-06-04/08 Ghent, Belgium


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