Institute for Fermentation Industry

The Institute for Fermentation Industry and Biotechnology zu Berlin (IfGB) in Berlin-Wedding is a technological institute for research into fermentation . Since 1897 it has been located on a science campus in the Plötzensee estate, which was then still outside Berlin, at its current location at Seestrasse 13 .

VLB new building

At times, the institute added the addition of starch production , which has since been changed to biotechnology . Until its restructuring at the beginning of the 21st century, the IfGB was organized as a BGB company ; since 2002 it has been a facility of the experimental and educational institute for brewery (VLB). Since September 2017, the IfGB facilities have been in the new VLB building; the historic building complex directly on Seestrasse has been used exclusively by the TU Berlin since then.

The IfGB is currently divided into the following areas:

Spirits and distillery with the Research Institute for Spirits, Analysis Technology and Sensor Technology (FISAS), founded on October 1, 2015, and the Prussian Spirits Manufactory ;

Brewery and beverage industry

Biotechnology .

The former construction and mechanical engineering department of the Institute for Fermentation Industry

history

The institute was founded in 1874 on the initiative of the head of the experimental station for alcohol manufacturers (VLSF) Max Delbrück in rented rooms at the Berlin Business Academy . Since 1883 the institute had rooms in the new building of the Agricultural University Berlin and with the establishment of the VLB a further partner was added.

Between 1897 and 1898 a grain trial storage facility was built on the quay of the Berlin-Spandau shipping canal with a connection to the waterway network and the railroad. The grain test store was used for the scientific investigation of grain storage, the comparative evaluation of the silo and bulk floor storage and the testing of modern machine technology. The storage facility was initially a facility of the institute for fermentation trade and was affiliated in 1907 to the newly created research institute for grain processing in Berlin-Wedding.

In 1913 the fermentation industry had 120 scientific and technical employees, making it one of the largest research institutes in Germany. There were also 30 employees in administration and 80 employees in test factories.

In 1924 was experimental station of the yeast industry eV (VH Berlin) founded the Institute for Fermentation (IfGB) in Berlin; at a time that was characterized by a major structural change from small-scale to industrial yeast production.

Libraries

View of the Lorberg library below; Schultze-Berndt library above

Old library in December 2017

In the early days of the institute, the library holdings of the agricultural university and the trade academy were also used. With the construction of the first building on the Seestrasse campus, a library hall was built in 1897; after the beginning of engineering training in 1903 a teaching library was added.

In the middle section of the old main building, which was built in 1936/1937, there is the old library, an event room that was widely used until autumn 2017 and has been under the control of the TU Berlin ever since.

During the Second World War , part of the library literature fell victim to the bombing; other parts were privately outsourced. Parts of the remnants that remained in May 1945 were also requisitioned by members of the Red Army .

The restoration of the library holdings took place partly through private returns and partly through book donations from member companies. In this way books and magazines from the 19th century could also be procured. In the course of the reunification of Berlin , relevant works from the Institute for Fermentation Chemistry and Agricultural Technology at Humboldt University came to the IfGB.

Until the end of September 2017, the VLB maintained the Lorberg Library in the old main building, which was set up in 1962 by the Institute for Fermentation Trade and named after Karl Lorberg , as a specialist library for the fermentation trade and biotechnology with over 20,000 volumes; which also housed the Schultze-Berndt Library of the Society for the History of Brewing, which was stocked with over 5,000 works on the history of brewing .

Personalities

Eduard Buchner
Hugo Haehn
Max Hayduck
Georg Haeseler, head of the research institute for the technology of alcohol and liqueur production
Wilhelm Hermann Henneberg
Paul Kolbach
Paul Lindner
Frank-Jürgen Methner
Otto Reinke , head of department from 1883 to 1899
Franz Schönfeld
Ulf Stahl
Friedrich Karl Windisch
Siegfried Windisch
Wilhelm Windisch
Hermann Wüstenfeld (1879–1943), head of the research institute for the technology of alcohol and liqueur production

Scientific directors of the Institute of Fermentation Industry

1874–1919: Max Delbrück
1919–1933: Friedrich Hayduck
1933–1945: Hermann Fink
1945–1968: Bruno Drews
1968–1989: Hanswerner Dellweg
1989–1999: Karl Wackerbauer
1999–2002: Ulf Stahl

literature

100 years institute for fermentation industry and biotechnology in Berlin 1874 to 1974 , publisher: 1. Research and training institute for alcohol production and fermentation technology in Berlin, 2. Research and teaching institute for brewing in Berlin and 3. Research institute for yeast industry e. V .; Berlin (1974)
The institute for fermentation industry and starch production in Berlin. Festschrift to celebrate its 50th anniversary on September 29, 1924. Paul Parey publishing house - publishing house for agriculture, horticulture and forestry: Berlin 1924