Lautering.net

My next appointment at the Brau brings me from Brumas to JS Maschinen. The mid-sized company from Bergen/Wang (near Munich) have been selling, producing and repairing machines and appliances for the brewing industry for the last 16 years.

When I arrive at the stand, there is lot going on. The junior manager refers me to the director of the company and soon the discussion is underway.

At 10 am the fair hall in Nuremberg is still very quiet; the fair opened for industry professionals only an hour ago. Brumas' stand is located in hall 7. Volker Rothbauer, by trade an alumnus of Weihenstephan, is cheerful. You can't notice any signs of stress, even though a trade fair as big as the Brau is not exactly a walk in the park for the exhibitors. I start asking questions and quickly a discussion is in full swing about a product he developed: the BrauEule.

In 1991 the penny is dropped: an automatic brewing machine for the hobby brewer is to be developed. The standard was and is high: brewing should be "as easy as making a cup of coffee". However, during the development phase it becomes clear to the inventor that "lautering and fermentation cannot be automated that easily". But even without automating these two processes the actual working hours could be reduced down to one hour; a remarkable saving of time comparing to the six hours one would usually spend with the brew. It took 12 years before the first BrauEule saw the light of day.

The German daily newspaper FAZ writes about a nun who is brewing beer at the monastery Mallersdorf, Germany. She is one of the few women entitle to bear the title head brewer. As someone could imagine that woman in brewing are very rare you are probably able to count the female head brewers on both hands.

The micro brewery offers a range of alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages. The beer is sold in clip clop bottles as far as I know. On the website of the “Mallersdorfer Klosterbräu” you can check their stockists.

Since December 2008 Nokian Panimo rolled out a series of new beers. Non of their old beers remained. The name and appearence changed as well as the types. It seems like they got rid with the old Wackerbauer style and signature. Yes, Prof. Wackerbauers signatures which was on the old canes and bottles couldn't be found any more.