I'm not an avid beer drinker, and my lone attempt to do some home brewing resulted in something that would have been better used as a cleaning solution. This device caught my attention mostly for what it claims to be able to do, not so much for the product that it'll put out (or at least what I'm expecting the output to be like).
Has anyone seen this thing yet and have any thoughts on it? Could it really simplify and speed up brewing that way and still turn out a decent beer?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/igulu-smart-automated-craft-beer-home-brewery--4#/ - (
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I frankly don't get the appeal of the machine. If you want home brew, then home brew. If you want a certain beer, any decent store will have lots of amazing varieties. There's more great craft beer out there than ever before. So where does this fit in? I'm not sure.
I frankly don't get the appeal of the machine. If you want home brew, then home brew. If you want a certain beer, any decent store will have lots of amazing varieties. There's more great craft beer out there than ever before. So where does this fit in? I'm not sure.
This (and others like the PicoBrew) look like they allow you to do your own experimenting in terms of hops/yeasts/etc. They just handle all the boiling, mixing, filtering, (cleaning?), etc steps for you. So it's a way to make "homebrews" without spending half a day (or more) doing so.
Or am I completely missing something?
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First of all, if you're going to want to drink home brew, it's likely because you want to brew it yourself. It's fun to use different hop bills, different malts, different yeasts and see what you come up with. This sounds like an automated dispenser of poorly made home brew, almost certainly from extract which I can't stand.
I frankly don't get the appeal of the machine. If you want home brew, then home brew. If you want a certain beer, any decent store will have lots of amazing varieties. There's more great craft beer out there than ever before. So where does this fit in? I'm not sure.
This (and others like the PicoBrew) look like they allow you to do your own experimenting in terms of hops/yeasts/etc. They just handle all the boiling, mixing, filtering, (cleaning?), etc steps for you. So it's a way to make "homebrews" without spending half a day (or more) doing so.
Or am I completely missing something?
I've heard this pitched as a great tool for very experienced home brewers or nano breweries but I have a hard time someone that experienced wouldn't want to be more involved.
Either way, I cant imagine there is much of a market for it.
I frankly don't get the appeal of the machine. If you want home brew, then home brew. If you want a certain beer, any decent store will have lots of amazing varieties. There's more great craft beer out there than ever before. So where does this fit in? I'm not sure.
This was my first thought as well. Not being much of a beer enthusiast or any kind of a home brewer, I thought maybe I was missing the point or target audience.
Link - ( New Window )
I've heard this pitched as a great tool for very experienced home brewers or nano breweries but I have a hard time someone that experienced wouldn't want to be more involved.
Either way, I cant imagine there is much of a market for it.
I thought the opposite when I first saw the PicoBrew. I thought the market was for the inexperienced that wanted to try some homebrewing without the hassle. Basically makes "homebrewing" as easy as making coffee.
re: nanobreweries - I can see how they could have some value for quick "prototyping" of a mix, but then again, I could see how the taste of a batch from one of these would differ significantly from a traditionally brewed batch so it may not even be useful there.
Now this Synek I could totally get behind! That is a cool idea!
Batches are on the small side and I have strong doubts about reliability. Can't imagine it would be much fun getting it serviced.
It's the homebrew equivalent of an Easy Bake Oven.
The only remotely interesting element to me are the rewards for popular shared recipes which I would bet are pretty underwhelming.
I've been following the synek since it was a kickstarter. When I spoke to the local brewery i frequent last year they were adamantly against it, the local liquor store that has 12+ taps never heard of it but was 'open' to the idea. The biggest issue was getting the beer into the bladder, apparently a special adaptor had to be used on the tap. Since most places aren't going to have this adaptor you're left bringing it with you. But I was told there is still a problem since many establishments are not willing to let anything touch their taps that a customer walks in with.
The big advantage is the bladders are resealable so in theory you can 'tap' a bladder, reseal, re-tap, etc without the beer going flat. It solves the biggest problem with growlers, whose beer goes flat within 24 hours imo.