Promotion of creativity and teamwork!

On their own initiative, the team initially searched for ways to even get this project off the ground. Our conclusion: Huge fermentation columns, industrial plants, and expensive equipment are not necessary for this.

• 1 mulled wine cooker

• 2 glass flasks with rubber stoppers and airlocks

• 1 plastic bucket and

• a customs declaration

More equipment is not necessary to follow the old German beer brewing tradition. For all tech-savvy people, the term Homebrew, which has now been greatly reinterpreted, is being brought back to its roots.

But first things first! A short message to the responsible main customs office. For those who don't know: You can brew up to 2 hectoliters yourself without having to pay beer tax, if it is, as in this case, for private pleasure. A short email from the PM and off we go.

And how does it all work now? First, we need to find a date, and what better than Read-Only Friday? No deployments that make DEVELOPMENT and PM break out in a sweat over the weekend.

For the curious ones who want to replicate, here is our shopping list:

• Water

• 1kg light Spraymalt (malt extract)

• 200g crushed malt "Pale Ale"

• 100g oat flakes

• 50g Citra hop pellets

• 1 packet of Safale US-05 yeast

Now the office kitchen needs to be renovated. Brewing requires more space than grabbing a coffee from the vending machine just before a meeting, or waiting in line in front of the microwave (with a fish ban). While DEVELOPMENT tries to create "space resources," PM starts disinfecting the equipment. To the annoyance of DEVELOPMENT, every space created by PM is immediately taken over for drying the tools, before DESIGN suggests that the "dining room" can also be used.

Now it's getting hot!

After DEVELOPMENT has heated 1.6 liters of water to 70°C and is wondering what to do next, PM remembers the oat flakes and quickly has them picked out from the DESIGN. Oat flakes and malt are added to the hot water and left to steep for 15 minutes.

During the "down time", a setup for "lautering" is prepared. Here, the "oat and malt soup" is poured back and forth through a sieve four times to rinse out color, sugar, and flavor from the spent grains, a combination of malt and oat flakes.

Eine große Herausforderung ergibt sich vor dem Abschluss des nächsten Meilensteins: Die "Suppe" muss auf 4,5 Liter aufgegossen werden, und es gibt keinen Messbecher, der groß genug ist. Während sich PM und ENTWICKLUNG darüber unterhalten, wie die Differenz ermittelt werden kann, übernimmt DESIGN und füllt nach Augenmaß einfach den Topf auf – "Pi mal Daumen". Zwar nicht pixelgenau, aber nah genug. Um genügend Zucker für die Hefe später zu haben, rührt ENTWICKLUNG jetzt das Spraymalt ein und sorgt für eine homogene Mischung. Diese extrem klebrige Mischung, welche jede Snackbox in ihrem Zuckeranteil beschämt, soll jetzt die charakteristischen Geschmack bekommen. DESIGN schneidet vorsichtig den Vakuum versiegelten Beutel auf, das komplette Büro wird durchflutet von einem wunderbar fruchtig, herbem Aroma, welches die Vorfreude extrem steigen lässt. ENTWICKLUNG hat den “Braukessel” bereits zum Kochen gebracht und erwartet die Zugabe des Hopfen. Dieser lässt Topf nahezu zum Überkochen und muss durch vorsichtiges Umrühren von PM wieder beruhigt werden. Während das Projekt 15 Minuten lang köchelt, können sich DESIGN und ENTWICKLUNG entspannen. PM schaut ab und an mal rein und schöpft den Schaum ab. Hier finden sich unappetitliche Hopfenreste wieder.

It's almost done! As with any other project, this means that the longest part is still ahead: Cooling down our concentrated wort to 40°C. All the ice scraps and cooling packs from the company fridge are being mobilized just to speed up this lengthy process.

At 60°C, all ice and crushed ice supplies in our ice bath for the brewing kettle have melted.

At 50°C, all the mess in the kitchen is cleaned up, and the decrease in temperature is progressing more slowly.

At 40°C finally! The concentrated wort is evenly distributed into our fermentation tanks and further diluted until both contain 4.5 liters of wort.

Now it gets even more complicated: The team's goal is the carbonation of the beer through the addition of food, instead of household sugar, and we want to know how much alcohol can be expected.

For this, we will draw one liter of liquid from each tub and measure the sugar content with a spindle/hydrometer, which is "spun" by DEVELOPMENT. DESIGN documents the measured values with meaningful photos. In the background, PM creates space in the refrigerator to store the two liters of food for the next two weeks.

With one final effort, DEVELOPMENT and DESIGN mix our broth with the yeast. Just insert the fermentation tube, find a dark place in the office fridge, and it's ready for today.

Satisfied and exhausted, PM, DESIGN, and DEVELOPMENT turn off the lights in the office and close the last open window for today.