About Stoef

Welcome to the heart of fermentation, where old and new combine in harmony. I'm Steven. The name 'Stoef' is a nod to my own name and that of my grandpa Stef – a mix of the past and the present in every product I create.

My journey into fermentation started when I was just 10 years old, looking after bees and making honey. By 15, I turned that honey into my first mead, and fell in love with how things change with time. The beauty of nature has always fascinated me. That's why I decided to study Food Technology at Wageningen University.

From those early days with bees, I explored brewing beer and learned the art of making cider at Elegast Cidery where I worked as a cider maker and helped look into the use of their waste pomace as a source for a low-alcoholic cider. Currently I work as a waiter/sommelier at a fine dining restaurant where I learn a lot about food pairing and (natural) wines.
I love blending science and creativity, tradition and new ideas. Come join me on this adventure

It doesn't stop there. I offer a range of services that can elevate your own fermentation journey. Whether it's refining your own alcoholic concoctions, delving into the world of lacto-fermented vegetables, or crafting non-alcoholic beverages like water kefir, I'd love to help you achieve your fermentation dreams, don't hesitate to contact me.

 Work at Elegast Cidery

Since November 2022 I have been working as an assistant cider maker at a cidery. 

I help sorting apples, loading the bins onto the production line, managing the juice extraction, test for things such as TA, pH values, SG values and pump the juice into fodders for it to ferment. 

I am currently helping them develop a low-alcoholic cider using water kefir cultures instead of yeast. It has been a really valuable experience so far and I love the work. 

This experience made me very familiar with spontaneous fermentation, apple cider and the scaling up of a fermentation business.

The Green Rose
I have always been interested in food, drinks, nature and sustainability but an unexplored part for me was food service. 

In the half a gap year I took between February and September 2023 I got to know this aspect very well working as a waiter. Food Service became an additional passion for me and I started learning a lot about etiquettes, food pairing, and wine. 

The newly born passion introduced me to the Green Rose, a Michelin guide fine dining restaurant in Arnhem. I work here as a waiter/sommelier, explaining the dishes and wines to the guests. It is a very fun, engaging way to learn about dishes and especially wine and it's pairing abilities.

While working here I also got to know amazing natural wines and the beauty of simplicity in winemaking. It is something that inspired me to embrace simplicity and minimal input in order to rely on the beauty of the unpredictable.

 POMACE

From January 2023 until July 2023 I participated in a challenge from my university called the ReThink Waste Challenge. Together with 3 team members I researched the possibility of fermentation of waste pommace into specific molecules to be used in the food flavouring industry. Our proposition was very well recieved and we claimed the 2nd place, along with money and support to start up this idea and turn it into reality.

Personal Projects

I also experiment with fermentation in my free time, with friends or just by myself. 

Together with some friends frome my studies I have brewed a lot of interesting beers, such as a beer where we incubated the grain with Aspergillus Oryzae, resulting in a very smooth, peachlike aroma. I have made soy-sauce, water kefirs and lactofermented vegetables. 

Following are some examples of the projects I am most proud of.

Red wine from own grapes. 

 My father has a 20 year old grapevine in his backyard, some of the grapes are eaten but most rot away on the ground. This is why i decided to try make a red wine out of these grapes, it turned out okay, every year I will try it again until it becomes a great wine.

Beer fermented using wild yeasts derived from spontaneously fermented apple cider. 

 While cleaning the fermentation tanks at the cidery I come across a lot of different aromas, one day I was cleaning the vessel and I smelled almost pure banana coming out of it. This is what inspired me to brew a Weizen style beer using this wild yeast culture as the basis, to add some nice aromas I added some lavender honey as well. This beer is  regularly shared with my housemates and friends and is an amazing summer beer.

3 Flower Rosé mead 

 As an alternative to a refreshing rosé wine, I decided to make a dry mead with some nice flower additions. I added Hibiscus mainly for the colour but also for some tannins and acidity and also added wild roses and lavender. It turned into a refreshing,floral mead with an herbal touch

Mead from WSF spring honey

My study in Wageningen allows me to meet amazing and inspring people. Amongst that are the people from WSF, a student farm association. I had the honour to join one of their beekeeping courses and got to know a passionate beekeeper. He supplied me with 10 kilograms of honey from which I made three types of mead for the WSF members. 

A chai mead, with chai spices. A spring flower mead with wild flowers, roses, lavender and ground ivy. And a 'wild' mead, with nothing added, purely relying on the wild yeasts present to get a complex, floral mead. This mead was a big succes and after two meetings almost everything has been finished.