First off, let me start by saying that I am in no way affiliated with Amazon. And while this post may sound like an Alec Baldwin commercial, I’m simply a fan of the Amazon Echo and, generally speaking, a fan of the emergence of personal assistants, chat bots, and conversational platforms. I do work in the software industry. and because I always look for ways to blend that intersection between brewing beer and technology, I thought this would be a fun article to write. For some of you who may not know what the Amazon Echo is, let me wax poetic for a few lines. The Amazon Echo is a $179 smart speaker that can contact Uber, order you a pizza from Dominos, stream music from Spotify, give you weather information, read the news to you, or turn off your lights. You interact with the Echo by way of a cloud-based personal assistant named Alexa. When I first bought the Echo, it was meant to be a family device in the living room that we would mainly listen to music on and potentially ask Alexa questions rather than looking them up on our phones. See, the Echo is more of a communal device where everyone participates and we all get to enjoy in the fun of listening to whether or not it’s going to rain (again) here today in Seattle.
So great, a device that plays music and can provide me news and weather updates. What’s the big deal? How can I think about it while brewing beer? When I first bought the Echo, I wasn’t even thinking about how I could use it to help in my home brewing endeavors. Then last weekend while I was setting up my gear for brew day, it struck me. Why not bring the Echo out into the garage so I can listen to music on it rather than through my laptop? As I began my brew day, I found many other useful scenarios that make brewing easier. Think of Alexa as your invisible brewing assistant who can magically provide you measurement conversions when your hands are full, or play that Foo Fighters song you are craving, or better yet…manage your complex timing routine during your multiple hop additions for your 100+ IBU Hop Bomb. Yes, you know who you are. What follows is a few of the cool things you can do to make your brew day more productive, less stressful, and fun. So let’s get started!
Using the Amazon Echo on your brewday
No brew day is complete without some music in the background. I’ve always used my laptop for music on brew days but the Echo comes in extremely handy here. It has great sound and if you have an online music service such as Spotify, Amazon Music, or Pandora, it can provide a bottomless choice of music throughout the day. If you feel like playing a certain artist, you just tell Alexa “play an Iron Maiden station from Pandora”. In addition to music you can ask Alexa to stream audiobooks, live radio, beer podcasts, and more directly from these services. There is plenty of entertainment to be had to keep you company during your brew day. And the best part? All of this is hands free so that you can focus on stirring that mash and making the best beer possible.
I love BeerSmith, and I’ve learned to work around some of the nuances in the tool that don’t necessarily map to how I brew. Let me explain. I’m an all-grain brewer with a simple mash/lauter tun (MLT) cooler setup. As part of my routine I use a 5-gallon pot to carry water from my kitchen out into the garage for both my mash and sparge water. Part of this process involves transferring water into my 8-gallon brew pot. For mashing, I use the calculations provided by BeerSmith in the mash profile which is given in quarts, not gallons. Since I am one of many human beings on the planet that cannot auto-convert on the fly, I always use my laptop and calculator to do the conversation before I start filling my pot with water. With Echo, I can simply start the water and ask Alexa “How many gallons are in 15 quarts?”. She gives me the answer (hint, it’s 3.75 gallons) and I keep on doing what I’m doing - happy and productive. It’s also great for any temperature conversions or hop calculations you need help with throughout the day.
This is one of my favorite features. I tend to have my laptop with me in the garage when brewing and I use it to manage my timers. I tend to have multiple timers going that include watching the clock around the 60-90 minute boil, the start of the first hop addition, flavor hops, and any aroma hop additions. As part of my process, I’m also watching the time for when I need to add my finings and my immersion chiller. Depending on the brew, this can be a complex activity, and I’m fairly meticulous about ensuring I hit the schedule. As such, I find myself running back and forth between my laptop and the boil kettle. Sometimes I use my iPhone, but that just requires me to stop what I’m doing and launch the timer app on the phone. Enter our brewing assistant Alexa! Now, imagine you are just getting the boil going and you want to start the first hop addition, and start the timer without worrying that the boil will go over. You can simply ask Alexa to “Set a timer for 60 minutes” and she’ll start tracking that aspect of your brew day. It’s great because your hands are full and you don’t have to stop what you’re doing to get the timers going. Because the Echo supports multiple timers you can track all your other activity. And when your cleaning out your mash tun you can simply ask Alexa how much time is remaining on the boil. Another great option here is to connect to the Alexa channel on IFTTT (If This, Then That), and have Alexa sound an alarm on your phone when the timer goes off. This way, if you happen to be in the house not paying attention, your phone will act as the proxy to remind you.
You’ve been there. Admit it. Brew day is underway and you realize you’re out of Star San or you only have 2 feet left of vinyl tubing you need for that wort transfer! I often find myself trying to capture things I need for my next brew day while I’m trying to brew. Sometimes I remember to stop and add it to my list on my phone, and other times I simply forget. This is a great scenario that Alexa can help with. Imagine you’re throwing in your last Whirlfloc tablet, all you have to do is tell Alexa to “add whirlfloc tablet to my shopping list”. And it’s done! The list is sync’d to your app on your phone and you always have a running tally of what you need the next time you visit your local homebrew store (LHBS). Another great IFTTT trick is to have your homebrew shopping list sent directly to your email or printer.
If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can ask Alexa to order certain Prime-eligible items from your order history. So, if you tend to shop for some of your brewing items on Amazon (e.g., Star San, PBW, Muslin Bags, vinyl tubing, bottle caps, etc.), you can simply say "Alexa, re-order Whirlfloc tablets" and Alexa will use your 1-click settings and process the shipment. I actually haven't tried this because I always shop at my LHBS, but it’s worth calling out as a unique scenario where your brewing assistant can help.
OK, being that I’m in the software industry, one of the things that I really love about my Echo is the extensibility story. Here comes some shameless self-promotion, but I think many of you will like it and potentially help contribute to the effort. The Amazon Echo has an app ecosystem that they call Echo Skills. This basically allows other people to build things for the Echo and extend the capabilities. A good example of this is Domino’s Pizza. They built this app so that people could be sitting in a living room and simply talk to Alexa to have her order the pizza. #Genius!
BJCP Trivia on the amazon echo
I like to play with new technologies and I used this as an opportunity to find that great intersection between beer and tech by creating a trivia game. The idea is that this is a voice enabled app that people can use to self-study for the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) by listening to Alexa ask questions where people can respond in natural language. An example question Alexa may ask is “What is the standard reference measure for a straw colored beer?”. Anyone? (Hint, it’s not 12). I’ve got a preview of it running on my Echo at home and it’s a great educational time waster. Imagine studying for the BJCP exam while brewing beer! It’s currently in the certification process right now and will be live in the store soon. The app is free and the source code is free, so if you’re interested in contributing to it and helping grow the pool of questions and answers, you can find the source code for it here.
At $179, the Amazon Echo isn’t cheap. The good news is that they have a current grasp on this market but the competition is only getting hotter. With the introduction of Google Home running Google Assistant, and the fact that Amazon reportedly has super high margins on their device, I could see them driving the cost down of this significantly in the next 6-12 months to compete with all the new players in this space. Amazon has two other devices in this family, the Dot and the Tap. However, the Dot requires that you already have the Echo and the Tap isn’t hands free. Being hands free is the key differentiator for any of these personal assistants, especially when it comes to making your brew day more productive.
There are probably many more scenarios that are already baked into the capabilities of Echo, or will be created as Skills in the Echo ecosystem. As an example, I could see many of the utilities at Brewers Friend being packaged into an app for Echo. I use the Hydrometer Temperature Adjustment Calculator all the time for calculating my specific gravity and it would be great to just ask Alexa to do this for me. For those of you that are brewing on electric systems you potentially are able to control part of the process through WeMo and the Echo. Overall, I’m looking forward to the advancements in the digital assistant space that make my brew day even more fun!
And now, here’s a picture of Alexa enjoying a nice homebrewed American Brown Ale after a hard day of brewing. Hey, she did all the work anyway!
Happy Brewing!
So great, a device that plays music and can provide me news and weather updates. What’s the big deal? How can I think about it while brewing beer? When I first bought the Echo, I wasn’t even thinking about how I could use it to help in my home brewing endeavors. Then last weekend while I was setting up my gear for brew day, it struck me. Why not bring the Echo out into the garage so I can listen to music on it rather than through my laptop? As I began my brew day, I found many other useful scenarios that make brewing easier. Think of Alexa as your invisible brewing assistant who can magically provide you measurement conversions when your hands are full, or play that Foo Fighters song you are craving, or better yet…manage your complex timing routine during your multiple hop additions for your 100+ IBU Hop Bomb. Yes, you know who you are. What follows is a few of the cool things you can do to make your brew day more productive, less stressful, and fun. So let’s get started!
Music is the Cup Which Holds the Wine of Silence
Using the Amazon Echo on your brewdayNo brew day is complete without some music in the background. I’ve always used my laptop for music on brew days but the Echo comes in extremely handy here. It has great sound and if you have an online music service such as Spotify, Amazon Music, or Pandora, it can provide a bottomless choice of music throughout the day. If you feel like playing a certain artist, you just tell Alexa “play an Iron Maiden station from Pandora”. In addition to music you can ask Alexa to stream audiobooks, live radio, beer podcasts, and more directly from these services. There is plenty of entertainment to be had to keep you company during your brew day. And the best part? All of this is hands free so that you can focus on stirring that mash and making the best beer possible.
Calculations Are For Robots
I love BeerSmith, and I’ve learned to work around some of the nuances in the tool that don’t necessarily map to how I brew. Let me explain. I’m an all-grain brewer with a simple mash/lauter tun (MLT) cooler setup. As part of my routine I use a 5-gallon pot to carry water from my kitchen out into the garage for both my mash and sparge water. Part of this process involves transferring water into my 8-gallon brew pot. For mashing, I use the calculations provided by BeerSmith in the mash profile which is given in quarts, not gallons. Since I am one of many human beings on the planet that cannot auto-convert on the fly, I always use my laptop and calculator to do the conversation before I start filling my pot with water. With Echo, I can simply start the water and ask Alexa “How many gallons are in 15 quarts?”. She gives me the answer (hint, it’s 3.75 gallons) and I keep on doing what I’m doing - happy and productive. It’s also great for any temperature conversions or hop calculations you need help with throughout the day.
Timing Is Everything With the Amazon Echo
This is one of my favorite features. I tend to have my laptop with me in the garage when brewing and I use it to manage my timers. I tend to have multiple timers going that include watching the clock around the 60-90 minute boil, the start of the first hop addition, flavor hops, and any aroma hop additions. As part of my process, I’m also watching the time for when I need to add my finings and my immersion chiller. Depending on the brew, this can be a complex activity, and I’m fairly meticulous about ensuring I hit the schedule. As such, I find myself running back and forth between my laptop and the boil kettle. Sometimes I use my iPhone, but that just requires me to stop what I’m doing and launch the timer app on the phone. Enter our brewing assistant Alexa! Now, imagine you are just getting the boil going and you want to start the first hop addition, and start the timer without worrying that the boil will go over. You can simply ask Alexa to “Set a timer for 60 minutes” and she’ll start tracking that aspect of your brew day. It’s great because your hands are full and you don’t have to stop what you’re doing to get the timers going. Because the Echo supports multiple timers you can track all your other activity. And when your cleaning out your mash tun you can simply ask Alexa how much time is remaining on the boil. Another great option here is to connect to the Alexa channel on IFTTT (If This, Then That), and have Alexa sound an alarm on your phone when the timer goes off. This way, if you happen to be in the house not paying attention, your phone will act as the proxy to remind you.
Don’t Worry About The Future
You’ve been there. Admit it. Brew day is underway and you realize you’re out of Star San or you only have 2 feet left of vinyl tubing you need for that wort transfer! I often find myself trying to capture things I need for my next brew day while I’m trying to brew. Sometimes I remember to stop and add it to my list on my phone, and other times I simply forget. This is a great scenario that Alexa can help with. Imagine you’re throwing in your last Whirlfloc tablet, all you have to do is tell Alexa to “add whirlfloc tablet to my shopping list”. And it’s done! The list is sync’d to your app on your phone and you always have a running tally of what you need the next time you visit your local homebrew store (LHBS). Another great IFTTT trick is to have your homebrew shopping list sent directly to your email or printer.
If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can ask Alexa to order certain Prime-eligible items from your order history. So, if you tend to shop for some of your brewing items on Amazon (e.g., Star San, PBW, Muslin Bags, vinyl tubing, bottle caps, etc.), you can simply say "Alexa, re-order Whirlfloc tablets" and Alexa will use your 1-click settings and process the shipment. I actually haven't tried this because I always shop at my LHBS, but it’s worth calling out as a unique scenario where your brewing assistant can help.
Life Is More Fun If You Play Games
OK, being that I’m in the software industry, one of the things that I really love about my Echo is the extensibility story. Here comes some shameless self-promotion, but I think many of you will like it and potentially help contribute to the effort. The Amazon Echo has an app ecosystem that they call Echo Skills. This basically allows other people to build things for the Echo and extend the capabilities. A good example of this is Domino’s Pizza. They built this app so that people could be sitting in a living room and simply talk to Alexa to have her order the pizza. #Genius!
BJCP Trivia on the amazon echoI like to play with new technologies and I used this as an opportunity to find that great intersection between beer and tech by creating a trivia game. The idea is that this is a voice enabled app that people can use to self-study for the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) by listening to Alexa ask questions where people can respond in natural language. An example question Alexa may ask is “What is the standard reference measure for a straw colored beer?”. Anyone? (Hint, it’s not 12). I’ve got a preview of it running on my Echo at home and it’s a great educational time waster. Imagine studying for the BJCP exam while brewing beer! It’s currently in the certification process right now and will be live in the store soon. The app is free and the source code is free, so if you’re interested in contributing to it and helping grow the pool of questions and answers, you can find the source code for it here.
Conclusion
At $179, the Amazon Echo isn’t cheap. The good news is that they have a current grasp on this market but the competition is only getting hotter. With the introduction of Google Home running Google Assistant, and the fact that Amazon reportedly has super high margins on their device, I could see them driving the cost down of this significantly in the next 6-12 months to compete with all the new players in this space. Amazon has two other devices in this family, the Dot and the Tap. However, the Dot requires that you already have the Echo and the Tap isn’t hands free. Being hands free is the key differentiator for any of these personal assistants, especially when it comes to making your brew day more productive.
There are probably many more scenarios that are already baked into the capabilities of Echo, or will be created as Skills in the Echo ecosystem. As an example, I could see many of the utilities at Brewers Friend being packaged into an app for Echo. I use the Hydrometer Temperature Adjustment Calculator all the time for calculating my specific gravity and it would be great to just ask Alexa to do this for me. For those of you that are brewing on electric systems you potentially are able to control part of the process through WeMo and the Echo. Overall, I’m looking forward to the advancements in the digital assistant space that make my brew day even more fun!
And now, here’s a picture of Alexa enjoying a nice homebrewed American Brown Ale after a hard day of brewing. Hey, she did all the work anyway!Happy Brewing!
