Cultured Drinks Brewing Program

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Food and Beverage Hacking, Tastebridge

Brewing of Cultured Drinks – Starting on Wednesday 9/15/2010

Learn how to brew tasty and healthy drinks, knowing what you are doing so you can brew your "favorite" at any time you want!

Designed for complete beginners, with options for advanced brewers.


First, goals and structure of the program:

1) Theoretical understanding - basic practically-oriented knowledge of chemistry: materials and nutrients used in brewing - basic knowledge of the organisms used in brewing and their environmental needs - essential differences between aerobic and anaerobic fermentations, secondary fermentations etc.

2) Practical experience - preparing and harvesting your own batches of cultured drinks from A to Z with a help of experienced brewers - taking care of your cultures so they flourish - basic notes/data-taking for brewing

3) Professional growth - summarizing and analyzing your notes/data to improve your brewing skills - making your work efficient and easy to reproduce (i.e. production of stable flavors etc.) - exploring professional opportunities, how to fulfill the requirements

How is it going to work? The program will start on Wednesday 9/15 at 6 pm with three-hours class. It continues weekly every Wednesday. We will work for several weeks on one cultured drink. We will start with kombucha, doing three batches for three weeks. We start simply and we will go more into detail like infusions, flavoring etc. On the third brewing class we will repeat the technique and we will start a new culture, for example kvass, and again repeat it several times. In this way people who are really interested will have time to get a proper basic foundation. The exact agenda depends a lot on you: this is a community- based project with Noisebridge serving as a wonderful open-learning free platform.

What to expect? Fun, lots of it, and doing what you really like to do! Brewing is great, and it is even better if it is done as a group process. You will get in touch with people who are already in the field, making cool contacts where you can delve deeper. Learn where to volunteer for brewing on a commercial level. You will also learn a basic set of good experimental practices to solidify your artisanal skills; these tips will allow you to advance faster, then possibly become a master brewer. Of course, mistakes are expected. There are tons of really cool people around Noisebridge who are doing amazing things, so social interactions flourish!


What to bring? Enthusiasm and good spirit are always welcomed! A nice hardcover brewing diary is must. We will advise you on this in the class. Cash to buy your basic brewing equipment like jars, water-locks for the cultures, diary, ingredients etc. You can start with as little as $5 by brewing in a plastic jar. I'd recommend spending between $15-30 by going for proper glass containers and local organic produce. Don't forget that you will use most of the equipment for quite a while; once you have your equipment, you will be buying mostly ingredients.

We would appreciate some donations to Tastebridge and Noisebridge to keep things going.

Why is it free? Because we are free! Noisebridge is a hacker space, which means an open-platform people culture of doing and growing cool things. Tastebridge is a subgroup of Noisebridge concentrating on food and beverage hacking, among other things. We want to help spread the new paradigm of open knowledge, healthy cooking and brewing, community run places and activities, equality etc. So contribute! There are millions of ways to help keep things flourishing! You personal involvement in activities which you enjoy is a key ingredient. Still, we realize that we are living in a monetary-based system. If we want things which we love to last and prosper, we should be on "fine terms" with current financial flow. No need to become multimillionaire, but being cash-positive sounds nice, doesn't it?

We are looking forward to seeing you at this fine spot, learning something cool and sharing your time, energy and spirit with others!

Take care,

For Tastebridge,


Frantisek Algoldor Apfelbeck

Tasting 02102010.jpg

Individual Classes

Class Overview 15/9/2010

Class Overview 22/9/2010

Class Overview 29/9/2010

Class Overview 6/10/2010

Class Overview 13/10/2010

Class Overview 20/10/2010

Class Overview 27/10/2010