“Who exactly is the guy who will soon be brewing for Krones?”
I was born in Göttingen, and grew up near Hanover, so basically I’m a Lower Saxon, but after graduating from high school and doing my national service, I was lured to Flensburg near the Danish border to train as a brewer and maltster. The characteristic “plop” noise made by the swing-stopper bottles solely used there will doubtless be familiar to every beer-lover. Even back then, I was fascinated by the beer production process with its well-nigh infinite variety of multifaceted options. During my successfully completed training and two further years as a journeyman, I was able not only to deepen my knowledge of beer production, but additionally, thanks to continual expansion in the firm, I already gained some initial experience with commissioning brewery plants.
And so then I went to Weihenstephan, almost within sight of the Steinecker plant to study engineering, majoring in brewing and beverage technology. Following a brief thermal process technology intermezzo at Bilfinger GreyLogix, while I was still a student I made some initial contacts with Krones, and began by working for IOS Africa on various tasks in Germany and abroad. For my final dissertation, I returned to my original roots at Product Development Breweries in Steinecker plant, and engaged with R&D topics involving and hop isomerisation. Directly afterwards, I started out as a Project Manager for experimental machines in the research department, working on dynamic fermentation, which under the product name of Poseidon was also exhibited at the last drinktec. Now I have the honour of heading the new Steinecker Brew Center as its brewmaster.
Right from the start, I was closely involved in the project (an ideal preparation), and participated in the design work. This meant I was able to slowly follow the step-by-step creation of the new pilot plant, from the ground-breaking ceremony and the initial construction work, then tank manufacture in the plant, all the way through to present completion.
In addition, as a technologist I look after the dimensioning and commissioning of all machines, where I’m already able to boast that we’re building the world’s most sophisticated brewing pilot plant. This means we have installed only the most modern of equipment and are working with state-of-the-art software.
Here we can count on a broadly skilled team of superbly qualified colleagues from all specialisms, who contribute their entire spectrum of expertise. From an industrial mechanic to programmers and technologists, a diverse group team of specialists is involved in creating the Steinecker Brew Center, and you can literally sense the enthusiasm with which everyone involved is working on the project.
For the facility in Freising the pilot plant likewise signifies a gain, since it shows that Steinecker’s know-how is much in demand, and deserves to be expanded.
With the new Steinecker Brew Center, we shall possess an option for implementing new research projects, to purposefully develop new processes and test them for their practical suitability. This will appreciably shorten the product development time for experimental machines between original idea and market maturity, and thus procure us an advantage over our competitors. In addition, colleagues can be trained directly in the plant on our kit, which will constitute an enormous gain for the erection and commissioning staff in particular. Another highlight will be collaboration with clients, who will be able to develop their new products directly on our premises, and bring them to market maturity. The pilot plant’s extensive range of equipment guarantees that we will be able to image and optimise all production sequences used worldwide. Thus every client will be able to utilise the pilot plant for his own individual needs and also test potential innovations.
The new, multifaceted remit in the Steinecker Brew Center will be spotlighted in more detail in upcoming blog postings. Besides the commissioning of the kit, the first brews will be particularly exciting. There are also plans to report on the first recipe development projects and trends in the craft beer scene.
