Like craft beer? Say hello to your new favourite appliance. The
Brewbot (above) can prepare bespoke ale in your home, controlled at every step by an app. "Brewing for the first time can be daunting," says Belfast-based designer Chris McClelland, CEO of Cargo, the company behind the Brewbot. "Traditionally, you have to boil huge vats of water and constantly babysit the process, monitoring timing and temperature for every stage."
The Brewbot app allows you to select from a range of recipes; the instructions are then sent to the bot via Arduino for auto set-up. "Inside Brewbot is a sort of set-top box of brewing," says McClelland.
The project emerged after McClelland visited the microbrewing hotspot of Portland, Oregon. "We thought there was an opportunity to create an appliance that gives a head start to brewing," he explains. The team raised £114,000 on Kickstarter last year; 120 Brewbots have already been shipped at £1,700 a go. "We are hoping this is the beginning of a global, digital nano-brewing movement," he says. Wired raises its glass to that.
How it works
- Choose a recipe using the Brewbot app, then add the specified amount of water.
- Once heated, the water moves to the mash tun. The app will tell you when to add malt.
- Wort (mashed sugar water) is pumped to the boiler. The app says when to add hops.
- Once boiled, the wort moves to the chiller, then to a fermentation tank for two weeks.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
