Even in bio shops, you'll find an ever-growing number of "green" beers, made locally with organic ingredients. While many leave the beer brewing to the experts, there are enough lovers of the beverage who want to take their sipping experience to the next level. This is where Gert Jordens steps in.

As a beer lover and beer brewer, he is spreading his love for the drink by teaching others how to craft a beer as tasty as his famed organic triple. Five years after he first started home brewing in 2001, he launched the Jessenhofke Triple, and it's still both his favourite beer and the public's most popular pick. There is also the blond Jessenhofke Maya and Jessenhofke Bruin available, and nearly 700 outlets across the country selling his small annual batch.

Not many wives would necessarily like their husbands to stink like a brewery, but in the case of Gert, Christel, Sam and Hanne, it's a little different. This family actually has a small brewery in their home. "We brew smaller amounts, so we can try out new flavours and get creative," he says. As a man constantly trying and making new beers, having him work from home seems like a smart idea.

"Since 2000, a variety of beers are created in our kettles, mostly with herbs that other brewers don't use, like garlic, Hungarian pepper, mustard seeds and pimpernel," Gert explains. He creates new beers in his demo installation in Kuringen, a municipality of Hasselt, but production is done at the Proef Brouwerij in Lochristi, near Ghent.

"I never make the same beer again at home; itisalwaysachangetoapreviousrecipe," he explains. "For example, Zonderik is a beer that was created first in our vessels at home and was launched afterwards on the market. I won't make it again here. I want to create something new, so no repeated batches for me."

Gert has a degree in brewing science from the Hogeschool in Ghent, is a member of the beer guild of Ham and is a certified zytholoog (beer sommelier) - thus, supremely qualified to not just make beer, but teach others how to as well.

This is where you come in. Gert hosts Brewer for a Day workshops every few months for €120 per person; the next one is on 13 March. He is in the middle of a fruit beer series at the moment and plans to work with blackberries on that day.

"Most people who attend are beer lovers, and they want to know more about beer," explains Gert. And they will. Attendees start the day early at 8.00 eating left-over beer - a small breakfast is served with bread made with barley malt left over from the previous batch of beer. The feasting recommences at noon, and the day's events are closed at 18.00 again with a shared meal also featuring beer as an ingredient in the preparation. All the food is made and served by Christel.

In-between all that eating is some serious beer making. Once the malt is crushed with hand-powered machinery as the first step in the beer-making process, the day's work really begins. Gert goes into detail on the many necessary elements of beer brewing. He explains the theory of all activities: the vessel or kettle the beer is made in, the ingredients, setting up a yeast starter, cleaning of the installation, etc.

All people who attend receive a brewing course with all the discussed information to help facilitate their own beer making at home. They also get to keep the beer they made, though they have to wait six weeks for the beer to ferment properly. Then it is transferred to bottles, with more yeast and sugar added. Finally, six bottles of their own beer is handed over, labelled with a photo of the brewers who attend the course.

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www.jessenhofke.be

Learning to brew in West Flanders
On the other side of the region, you can learn brewing from Picobrouwerij Alvinne. Founded in 2004 in Kortrijk, Alvinne's brews some great beers. With more than 30 labels and 40,000 litres a year, the two owners are pretty busy making craft Belgian brews, including for export. But they take time out to teach you the magic behind their beer with small, personalised courses, sometimes one-on-one. For only €100, you will learn all you need to know as you go behind the scenes and help them make one of the famed Alvinne brews.
www.alvinne.be