ENGINEERING TRADES LABS FOR TAPROOMS

May 23, 2026 68

Mhlengi Khumalo

@into.mbiyakwakhumalo

The North-West University (NWU) School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering transformed a high-stakes academic module into a public festival on Friday, 22 May. During this festival, fourth-year engineering students stepped away from traditional computer simulations to display their practical coursework at the local Snowflake venue.

The moving of the annual exhibition off-campus allowed the general public to sample student-made beverages and cheeses alongside official grading panels. The event combined rigorous scientific execution with a relaxed Friday social atmosphere for the surrounding Potchefstroom community. According to Kangwa Nkonde, Faculty of Engineering Senior Liaison Officer, the open showcase directly addresses the practical objectives of the fourth-year curriculum.

“The whole idea, it’s actually a fourth-year project of Chemical and Minerals Engineering,” Nkonde said. “It’s part of a module where they have to create these beverages and cheeses that they’re going to be assessed on.” Nkonde explained that the department had previously structured the final grading day as an internal faculty assessment. The decision to move the project into a public space aimed to generate broader community engagement for student innovation.

“Previously the venue, in many years, was actually done at the faculty,” Nkonde noted. “But now we took it out of the faculty also to get more traction and get more people to actually attend. It’s open to everyone and not just students.” Nkonde highlighted that the structural design of Snowflake offered the perfect ecosystem to balance industrial engineering with social networking. The venue features active padel courts, multiple pool tables and public hospitality areas.

“Snowflake already has a following, and it’s a social place,” Nkonde stated. “The ambiance at Snowflake actually allows for a perfect setting for something like this. Snowflake also allows for greater space to accommodate more people than what we did last year.” Nkonde argued that the social infrastructure of the venue intentionally encourages visitors to spend a full afternoon supporting student products. The entertainment layout ensures that the academic showcase remains highly accessible. “It’s to allow for the people to actually enjoy a full day at the place and not just completely focus on the beer and cheese. Although that is the main attraction,” Nkonde added. “Alongside different games, people can actually enjoy a day out since it’s also a Friday.”

The physical layout of the exhibition floor featured cooperative student groups managing collective tables rather than individual presentations. Meticulous university judges carrying clipboards moved between the stalls to record official academic grades. While the official marking panel maintained a structured grading criteria, the general audience did not receive scoring sheets. Members of the community instead walked freely between the tables to share verbal feedback directly with the creators. Exactly one stall on the floor represented the university teaching staff, leaving the remaining tables completely to the final-year groups.

Dr Ruveix van Coller operated the lone lecturer table, offering specialised variations of fermentations. Van Coller presented a distinct ginger beer named The Ginger Midget alongside a strawberry and pear cider titled Her Royal Dryness. Van Coller drew a sharp contrast between his experienced background and the intense pressure felt by the students. “This isn’t my first rodeo,” Van Coller laughed. “I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, so I think I’m a little bit more practised than some of the students. The students go through a lot more, and it’s a lot more challenging for them.”

Despite the heavy operational demands placed on the fourth-year classes, Van Coller emphasised the pedagogical value of public testing. He noted that the immediate community validation offers a profound learning reward. “Having said that, I think it’s a lot more rewarding for them as well,” Van Coller stated. “They see the public interacting with the practical execution of their engineering designs.”

For the student teams, the primary engineering challenge centred on the manual management of biological variables. Nkosinathi Mtsweni, a final-year student, one of the students presenting Brewer’s Hot Friend (a Belgian Blonde Ale) and Nice C.O.C (Cream of the Crop), described the difficulties of manual temperature regulation. “The most challenging part was the brewing process,” Mtsweni explained. “Because I mean, making beer is not easy. You have to make sure the temperature stays at the correct amount, and also the stirring.”

Mtsweni stated that his group had to manually execute every physical phase of the brewing cycle. The lack of automated control machinery increased the probability of variance during chemical transformation. “If we had some machines, I think it could have been better. Because we had to do it manually, it was kind of difficult to maintain the correct temperature, but in the end it went well.” When asked about the ideal environment for their group product, Mtsweni matched the beverage with traditional local hospitality. He suggested that their clean flavour profile suited a classic weekend gathering. “I feel like pap, gravy, steak, and some wors, and a cold one,” Mtsweni added. “That would go good together.”

The public response to the student productions indicated that the physical labour of the manual engineering groups achieved commercial viability. Angelique Roussouw, an Honours student in Journalism, expressed surprise at the refined finishing of the samples. “I wasn’t expecting it to be bad, but I was not expecting this quality,” Roussouw said. “Brew masters spend years perfecting their recipes, so I was really surprised about the absolute top-notchness that we found here.”

Roussouw systematically evaluated multiple student options, highlighting Brewer’s Hot Friend, the Dek Donor variations, and the mozzarella produced by the Rudi team. She noted the professional market readiness of the batches. “My favourite beer was Brewer’s Hot Friend,” Roussouw remarked. “It was well-rounded, not too heavy. The rest were really pretty good. I would expect them to be sold in taverns, bars, and inns.”

As the afternoon concluded, the direct interaction between the student engineers and the Potchefstroom community validated the off-campus relocation. The final calculations of the clipboard judges will decide the official grades for the module. Nkonde confirmed that the department plans to refine public exhibition structures for future final-year classes. The practical integration of academic metrics with public testing remains a core objective for the engineering faculty.