KohleCraftBräu

"Since 2007, the 'Braulümmel' (Brewing Bunch) have existed in Lünen – a close-knit group of friends who were fed up with industrially produced beer. The seven members now brew their own creations as a hobby in their cellar and then enjoy their beer together. Initially, we experimented with classic beer styles like Kellerbier (cellar beer) and the like, which was quite disappointing at first, but improved steadily over time."

At Braulümmeln, I'm responsible for developing our own recipes, among other things, and I started growing hops in my own garden. To develop the recipes and test the homegrown hops, I bought a small 30L brewing system.

Since it is always difficult to find a time to brew with seven people, but I constantly crave my own beer and always have new recipe ideas, the small 30L system was used much more often than originally planned.

Eventually, the 30-liter system became too small, so an upgrade was necessary. A Speidel Braumeister 50 brewing system was purchased, and a new name was chosen. Finding the right name was quite easy. It had to be related to the location or region and the craft of brewing: "KohleCraftBräu"!

My beer quickly became very popular among family, friends, and acquaintances, so I started thinking about expanding.

After intensive research and many conversations with friendly brewers and brewmasters, it became clear that setting up a proper small brewery at home, with all the necessary regulations, was practically impossible and extremely expensive. So, the solution was clear: to market my own beer, I would have to brew it as a so-called "cuckoo brewer" (also known as a gypsy brewer). This means "renting" space in a brewery and brewing my own beer there. The advantages are that you don't have to buy expensive equipment, you can purchase raw materials more cheaply in larger quantities, and, most importantly, you have an experienced brewer or brewmaster on your side. You then buy your finished beer from the brewery and can distribute it exclusively – officially, you're "just" a beer distributor.

After further intensive research and many discussions, I found a brewery, Bootshaus Brewery, that fully meets my expectations.

Here, small batches of approximately 2 hectoliters are brewed. This ensures the beer is always freshly brewed and not stored for long before being sold. Everything here, from the brewing process to bottling and labeling, is still done by hand!

I now use my 50L system in my basement brewing room to try out new recipe ideas and refine them.

I can't get rich with the amount of beer I brew. It's important to me to show people that beer is so much more than just the standard industrial pilsner. If I can impress even a small segment of beer drinkers with my beer and get one or two standard pilsner drinkers to think outside the box when it comes to beer, that makes me happy, and that's reward enough ;-)."