The Long-Awaited Brewing Internship
Just how many times I had heard about the brewery in town, I cannot say. I had seen their bottles in the various beer stores, but I had simply assumed that they were a large production organization. Their bottles, logo, and presentation were extremely professional. In the US, most microbreweries have put no effort into their image; the fact that the logo looks homemade is part of the draw. So, with my assumptions, I never pursued visiting the HeimatHafen.
Then the young man at my previous internship had run into the owner/founder of the brewery at a tradesmen event and relayed my story. The owner was intrigued and passed on his business card, which then came into my possession. I shot him an email, he suggested I stop by for a quick talk about my goals. I finally made my way to the local brewery in a repurposed, very hipster train yard.
The brewery, to my surprise, was relatively small, even when compared to the microbreweries I have visited in the US. There was one brewing vessel (500L), two fermentation tanks (1000L), and eight lagering tanks. The owner was brewing alone as his one employee was away at one of the only brewing schools in Germany – in the southern state of Bavaria.
On this rainy Monday, I gave my spiel about my goals and what I am building toward. He was genuinely fascinated and told me his story, which somewhat mirrored mine. Throughout the mashing process and sparge, he shared his trials and tribulations in opening a brewery, the disbelief from family and friends that such a venture was realistic, and how with his passion the three-year-old brewery is going strong.
We talked a bit about an internship, but ended up agreeing that I should come back the next day as he was brewing again. And that is how my five-week internship started.
The first week was becoming familiar with the various brewing equipment. I had been brewing for about five years, so I was quite familiar with the processes, critical points, and necessary hygiene. The difference was the language and scale. I had to continually ask: what is this tank called? And, what is this step in German? Luckily, many of the words in English had been taking from the German terminology, and the owner knew his way around the English language were I to get tripped up.
For the second week, the apprentice came back from his weeks at the brewing school. His energy and excitement for the process was endearing. I had many questions for him and challenged some of the assumptions he claimed as fact. We worked through the various misunderstandings and he impressed me with his sound scientific explanations. He was originally studying to become a physical education teacher, but was injured and could not complete his examinations. There was an interesting report made about his transition.
Through my time at the brewery, we worked through the various processes of brewing, lagering, bottling, and labeling. Given the size of the brewery, I was able to actively participate in each activity. I learned more about CIP (clean in place) and asked a lot of questions about the regulations in place for brewers.
I also learned that brewers love visiting other brewers. And when they visit, they always bring an assortment from their own style. This means that a corner of the walk-in refrigerator is full of various beer bottles. Each lunch and often again in the afternoon, we tasted a couple beer styles and gave our thoughts about the quality of the brew. When bottling, we also made sure to continually quality control the batch. All in all, I ended up drinking throughout the day. I put on weight…
Near the end of my time there, I was invited to go on an excursion with the two guys. There had been an order for a large quantity of beer to be brewed and labeled with a company’s logo, then delivered to Kassel. The company is based in Erfurt, but somehow did not want to organize transportation of the beer by all the employees making the same journey we were about to make. Regardless, we were to deliver these 1000 bottles to an event center. The owner decided to make a tour of it; visiting other small breweries on the return trip.
We drank our way through two unique breweries and I made some good contacts for possible future projects. I was also able to do something that I had never before been able to do: drink in a moving vehicle. In Germany, the driver is not allowed to consume alcohol while driving, but passengers have no restrictions. So, there I was, sitting b*tch, and drinking one-for-the-road.
I shared with the owner my plan to incorporate whey from cheese production into the brewing of a milk stout. He was intrigued and asked if I could get 50 liters of whey. Of course, I could. We ended my internship with an agreement to come together in February of 2020 with the hopes of creating a new style for HeimatHafen. He had already set up a malting internship for me for January.
The brewer is also to become a reoccurring character in my story. He is one of a few people I have met in Germany who believes that new things are possible and worth pursuing. Why did I wait so long to reach out…?
