The International Space Station may soon have its own little brewery thanks to a kid who still has a decade before he can legally drink.

Michal Bodzianowski, 11, was among several winners of a national science competition that is part of the Student Spaceflights Experiments Program. His entry, titled "What Are the Effects of Creation of Beer in Microgravity and Is It Possible?" grew out of his knowledge that beer was popular in the middle ages because, unlike water, it wasn't filled with bacteria.

He theorized, according to the Denver Post, that if a manned space mission went horribly awry and their water was somehow contaminated, they might be able to brew beer to stay alive, because alcohol kills bacteria.

See also: 7 Oddball Things Found on the Space Station

While he and other students worked on the plan, the school raised $21,500 to ensure that the mini brewery would leave the atmosphere. Much of that sum will go to Nanorocks, the commercial company that flies winning projects to the space station.

Bodzianowski's experiment will arrive in a six-inch tube with clamps that divide the hops, water, yeast and malted barley. Astronauts will unclamp the tube and shake in an attempt to get the yeast to react to the rest of the ingredients. The sixth grader won't get to be in space for the main event, but he'll be on Earth running a similar experiment so that any differences can be outlined.

Image: NASA