A good beer doesn’t need much. The German Purity Law stipulates exactly four ingredients: water, hops, yeast, and malt. And yet the brewing process can vary so much that there are around 5,000 to 6,000 types of beer in Germany alone. And a new one is added every day. Each one gets its distinctive flavor from the steps in the process, which breweries strictly adhere to: malting and grinding, mashing, and lautering. Then the wort is boiled, the beer is allowed to rest, and undergoes secondary fermentation before being filtered and bottled. From the selection of ingredients to the duration of the resting phases, everything is carefully harmonized. When it comes to brewing beer, it all depends on the right recipe and the interplay of time-tested techniques. Just like in scientific work, Teichmann thought, and decided to try something new: a seminar in which this can be experienced and conveyed in a very tangible way. “In business informatics, we repeatedly see that our graduates are very well prepared for the real world. Quite a few are recruited by companies immediately after graduation. They set out with extensive specialized qualifications in their toolbox – but there is still room for improvement when it comes to their basic skills in academic work.” How do you define your own research question? How does a comprehensive literature review work? How do you structure an academic paper, and how do you cite sources correctly? Teichmann is particularly passionate about the basics of scientific work – the very basics that all university students should learn in their first semesters. “We want to teach these scientific hard skills and research competencies in our seminar. And we’ll do it step by step, using the beer-brewing process as our guide.”
Brewhouse for All Disciplines
To this end, Teichmann and his team, with a grant from the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education, have set up a brewing cellar at the Digitalvilla in Potsdam-Babelsberg with four brewing kettles, a refrigerator, its own neon sign, and a large wooden table with an equally large screen for presentations. The long oak table is where the Brewery Council is to meet: the gathering of students who, in turn, discuss beer recipes and research designs. That’s the idea.
The seminar is interdisciplinary, as it focuses on skills that are important across all disciplines. Students from Cultural Studies are just as welcome as students from Biology or Computer Science. The program is structured around the steps of the brewing process and is divided into five days: “On the first day, participants learn the most important basics,” the researcher says. “What does a good research question look like? And what do I need to brew a beer?” After this, everyone has two weeks to think about their very own research project, which they want to draft and pursue in the seminar as an example. There are no fixed guidelines; what matters is personal motivation. On day two, everyone gathers again at the brewing table, presents their initial ideas to one another, discusses where questions are too broad or too narrow, and receives important feedback on the next steps. And they begin brewing beer. “The students form four teams, each producing a different beer: a pilsner, a wheat beer, a lager, and a dark beer.” Here, too, the rule is: proceed step by step – grinding the ingredients, boiling, sparging, and, at the end of the day, storing the brew in the refrigerator, where it must ferment. The following week, the scientific brewers use the time for initial database and literature research, refining their research questions based on the source material. Day three puts the preliminary work in order: In the council, the questions are discussed one last time, and the reviewed material is evaluated. The beer is bottled and left to rest in the refrigerator for the next four weeks while the students’ minds are buzzing and they work through, systematize, and evaluate the literature. “On day four, they present their initial findings to the critical plenary session,” Teichmann says. “They receive further input on academic writing, citation, and structuring. Because in the two weeks that follow, they are to formulate their findings.” The students then bring this work with them to day five: The morning is reserved for the presentation of results, after which the finished beer is “uncorked.” “We’d like to organize this finale as a Scientific Brewing Festival, open to the entire university community, so that students can present their research findings—and their beer for tasting—to anyone who is interested,” Teichmann says. In this way, the university community benefits in two ways from the students’ research interests.
The fact that there is a sound pedagogical concept behind the scientific brewery is evidenced not least by the funding it receives from the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education. But Malte Teichmann also wants to scientifically evaluate the seminar himself. The first publications on the subject have already been completed. And if he has his way, the brewery’s opening will not end with the brewing festival. “We want to eventually open the cellar—and the idea behind it—to the wider community and develop additional formats where we invite interested individuals who want to know what recipes lie behind good research.”
Further information on the “Beer and Science” project: https://lswi.de/forschung/forschungsprojekte/beer-and-science-uebers-brauen-und-wissenschaft
This article appeared in the university magazine Portal - Eins 2026 „Inklusion“.