Meet our founder

Uli Schiefelbein

Uli founded The Krafty Braumeister in 2018 with his wife Auriol.

What made you fall in love with brewing?

I worked for some years in Iraq. The beers that my colleagues and I could buy there were canned lagers, brewed under license in Turkey. The beers were stuck in sea containers at outside temperatures up to 55C. Long story short: they tasted awful. I started to read about the American craft beer movement and watched a multitude of videos about home brewing while stuck in our compound. I found others who were happy to share the investment for a 20litre brew kettle. From that moment on everybody who flew in from Europe had to bring small bags of malt, hops and yeast and so it begun. After some experimentation, the home brews got better, and I enjoyed brewing more and more.

What motivated you to take up brewing after you moved from Baghdad?

While I still worked in Baghdad, I purchased my first 50litre brew kettle, which found its home in my garage. Whenever I came home for a holiday, I tried out new recipes and learnt about traditional German brewing techniques. I suddenly the idea got into my head; I wanted to brew artisanal German beers in the UK. Friends and family encouraged me to start my own microbrewery with authentic German beers brewed by a German. I thought there might be a niche in the market. Back in 2018, I rented an industrial unit and turned it into a brewery. A dream came true!

Is running a brewery different to how you thought it would be?

Absolutely! It is so different from home brewing. I only realised that when I was already in the thick of it. I did not know how to match customer expectations. For example, producing the same quality beer, batch after batch after batch. I thought I could run a brewery, but I knew very little! The first year in business was really tough, but I believe I learnt from my mistakes. One thing is for sure: I never lost the fun in producing great beer. Getting wonderful feedback and now winning medals makes all the hard work worthwhile. I feel much more comfortable in the beer world now, I understand what works and what does not. After three years, it feels like the business is established and I am so excited to see what the future brings for the brewery.

Have you had any brewing disasters?

There were some! In the beginning, I did not pay enough attention to the fermentation temperatures, the key to a good beer. I had to pour some batches away. Carbonation was another challenge. It was difficult to get that right in the beginning. So yes, there were some setbacks. Despite all the brewing trainings I attended, it was a challenge to brew the beer in the high quality standard I demanded. Yes, there were some setbacks at the start.

Can you talk us through a typical day at the brewery?

A brewing day starts at 7am in the morning. I will turn the brew kettle on and start brewing. As demand grows, we are often brewing two batches on a brew day now. That can keep me busy until 7pm. One of my fellow team members and I will share the shift. That makes it easier!

What does your working week usually look like?

Mondays and Tuesdays are brewing and bottling days. Wednesdays and Thursdays are reserved for customer relations, online orders and customer acquisitions. On Fridays, I pack the vans for the weekend markets. On Saturdays and Sundays, you will find me at street food and farmers’ markets in London selling beer.

Who do you work with at Krafty?

We have a small team that makes sure that everything is taken care of. Martin is the soul of the brewery. He repairs, cleans, maintains and helps with the brewing.  My wife Auriol does all the admin and accounting and also sells beer at the weekend markets. And there is Dylan, our most adorable brewery dog, a mixed breed between Golden Retriever and Labrador. He is two years old and makes us schedule our days around his wellbeing.

Where did the name The Krafty Braumeister come from?

Our cousin and business partner, Victoria came up with the idea. Braumeister is the German word for brew master. ‘Krafty’ being a play on words but highlighting the true nature of the hand-crafted beer. It is also my German attempt at a sense of humour.

Which was the first Krafty beer?

It had to be the beer from my hometown Koeln (Cologne): Koelsch. It means “from Cologne” and was invented by the Guild of local brewers. They came up with the name some decades ago. Earlier the local beer lovers called the beer ‘Wiess’ in their regional accent, meaning ‘Weiss’ in German or ‘White’ in English, because of the pale colour.

When I thought about which beer to brew first, many happy memories of my time in Cologne came back to me and quite a lot of them are connected to the local beer  So, there was no doubt that my first commercial beer would be  a Koelsch, and I’m still really happy about how it turned out. 

I named it after colours of the coat of arms of Cologne: Red&White = Rut&Wiess (‘Rut’ is local accent for ‘Rot’ in German and ‘Red’ in English).

And finally, do you have another favourite beer other than Krafty?

There are quite a few. Currently I really enjoy lagers brewed by English craft brewers like Utopians British Lager or Lost And Grounded Keller Pils.