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Beer in Mind: together let's create a sustainable future 

Beer in Mind is a project aimed at developing a university brewing hub at ULB, rooted in a vibrant community of students, alumni, and beer enthusiasts, which combines co-creation, education, and applied research in the service of sustainability..

Our vision

Beer in Mind wants to make beer a vector for connection, knowledge, and transition.

We believe that a brewery can be much more than just a place of production :

  • a space for collaboration between students, alumni, and enthusiasts,
  • a living learning environment to discover the diversity of brewing and learn to consume differently,
  • a laboratory of innovation in support of the sustainable transition of the brewing world,
  • a bridge between the academic world and the brewing sector, to create concrete, accessible and useful solutions for all breweries, even the smallest.

Our ambition?

Create a reference brewing hub at ULB that embodies a different way of producing, learning, consuming, and transmitting.

Our objectives

To offer a local and committed alternative for students, alumni, and beer enthusiasts, and to create an engaged community

Bringing together students, alumni, and beer enthusiasts around a common vision. In collaboration with faculties, circles, student and alumni associations, as well as beer lovers, we aim to co-create unique recipes.

  • Create recipes with each faculty, circles, student association or alumni.
  • To introduce a greater diversity of beer styles.
  • Involve the community in all stages of the project, with a tangible impact on its development.
  • Raising awareness of responsible consumption.
  • Strengthening the ties between ULB, its student community, and its alumni around a sustainable and committed project.

Investing in research and education

Subsidise and develop interdisciplinary study and research projects focused on sustainability. These projects will aim to :

  • Improve brewing processes to reduce costs and minimise ecological impact.
  • Recycling waste to create new sources of income.
  • Putting theoretical knowledge into practice, not only in scientific fields but also in areas such as economics, law, management, and many others.
  • Support the creation of innovative spin-offs.

Create a sustainable and responsible university brewery

The brewery will be both a production space for innovative drinks and a testing ground for solutions arising from research projects related to sustainability..

Once operational, it will allow for :

  • Produce internally beverages intended for the student community (beers, sparkling drinks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic), with a variety of products related to the societies, faculties, and associations.
  • Produce externally for alumni and beer enthusiasts, with recipes designed in collaboration with community members.
  • Testing concrete solutions derived from applied research projects (waste reduction, energy efficiency, innovative processes, etc.).
  • Develop new products from the valorisation of brewery by-products (drinks made from spent grains, alternative fermentations, etc.).

Supporting small and medium breweries in their sustainable transition

  • Develop tailored solutions: Create tools and processes suited to the specific needs of small and medium-sized breweries to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their ecological footprint.
  • Waste revaluation: Proposing innovative methods to transform by-products (spent grains, hops, yeasts, CO₂) into economic and sustainable resources.
  • Collaboration and knowledge sharing: Working hand in hand with breweries to test, refine, and integrate solutions arising from research projects conducted within the university brewery.
  • Pilot projects: Testing innovations before their large-scale implementation in partner breweries.

Strengthening the role of ULB in Brussels and in the sustainable transition

Allow the ULB to establish itself as a committed player in the brewing world, applied research, and sustainable development, while strengthening its roots in the Brussels ecosystem.

  • Enhancing the talents trained at ULB (students, recent graduates, researchers) through concrete projects and the creation of spin-offs.
  • Provide a visible and accessible showcase of the link between science, society, and sustainability.
  • Actively participate in the economic, social, and environmental development of Brussels.
  • Collaborate with other academic institutions in Brussels and with local stakeholders in sustainable development, within an inter-university and ecosystemic dynamic.

Our Values

Sustainability and innovation

We are committed to developing sustainable solutions that will benefit both the university brewery and other breweries undergoing ecological transition.

Collaboration and inclusivity

This project is based on a collaborative dynamic where every member, whether a student, alumni, or enthusiast, can actively contribute to its success..

Learning and sharing

We believe in the importance of an educational project that enables students and researchers to transform their theoretical knowledge into concrete and impactful solutions..

Community engagement

Beer in Mind is not just a brewery project: it is an initiative aimed at strengthening the ties between all members of ULB and creating a sense of belonging to a shared vision.