WTF is this monster?

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/bfs/612662150.html

I'm so confused.

 

I have to say I am with you. It looks rather strange to me.

 

First thing...notice how the photo is of VERY bad Quality? Also notice that the "BEER 101" is very poorly photoshoped onto the pic? AND the E-mail [email protected]??? I'm with you. WTF Did some idiot make this thing and now his wife is making him sell?

 

The lack of any mention of a manufacturer or model number kicks off my BS detector. It looks like just a big refrigerated tank and unlikely ever worth 30K.

 

yeah. I emailed to ask exactly what the hell it is.

 

That looks like Han and Chewbacca's brewery. Man, I'd pay 30,000 for it, but 3000 plus 500 shipping is a steal . Do you think they'll deliver it to me in the Mylenian Falcon?

 

Maybe it's a half barrel extract brewing system for a restaurant. If they paid $30K for it , I've got a couple bridges for sale FOB NY,NY

 

Looks like the lovechild of a ice maker and a water heater.

On the plus side it has slots enabling it to be easily carried via forklift, so that should help you get it in your garage....

 

any time an ad starts with "our loss is your gain", you should think scam right away.

I also like this feature "several threaded fittings (5/8 in. and 2 in.) on top and bottom of tank."

Great - THAT'S important

 

I love the no shipping charge if you pick it up! Classic!

Jason

 

Capacity ... 35 gal ... my @$$ ... LOL

 

Image source is here.
http://www.pbgirlz.com/images/CLBBMUS.jpg


Registrant:
Sportz Girlz
PO Box 3498
Crestline, California 92325-3498
United States

Registered through: Domains Priced Right
Domain Name: PBGIRLZ.COM
Created on: 16-Jun-07
Expires on: 16-Jun-08
Last Updated on: 27-Nov-07

Administrative Contact:
Vidad, Paula [email protected]
Sportz Girlz
PO Box 3498
Crestline, California 92325-3498
United States
9099394197 Fax -- 9093381806

Technical Contact:
Vidad, Paula [email protected]
Sportz Girlz
PO Box 3498
Crestline, California 92325-3498
United States
9099394197 Fax -- 9093381806

Domain servers in listed order:
NS43.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS44.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

 

Google searches for all sorts of brew-oriented combinations including the phrase, "Brewing 101," turn up nothing. A registered trademark search for "Brewing 101" also turns up nothing.

Shenanigans.

 

here it is on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/BREW-YOUR-OWN-B...ryZ11876QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

no reserve

read the negative feedback; its kinda weird.

 

anyone live near vista, cA?

go check it out, haha

 

Yeah, and I am just about curious enough to act interested and go see it. Unfortunately, I am stuck in Salt Lake City for about 48 more hours.
On the plus side, I had a very enjoyable St. Paddy's Day with MrKristofo and the venerable EdWort.
You still alive Kris, or did the avalanche getcha?

 

Sent this, we'll see what I get back.
I am interested and am just in northern Carlsbad, so I could pick it up. I just have a few questions. For the boil, is it heated by natural gas, propane, or electric? If electric, is is 120v or 240v?

 

haha

if it is real, aside from making a ton of beer, don't you think that thing would just take al lthe fun out of it.

 

Now that I look at it again, I think it may actually be a fermenter, but not for beer. It looks like a pilot scale bacterial fermenter. If it is, then the $30K would actually be the bargain reseller price. If they actually have one in their garage and are dumping it for $2,000, I would guess that the police should be alerted.

 

That was my thoughts, some sort of extract brewing system, just the boil kettle and the hardware for automation.

 

I think you've got it!

"The machine was originally designed as a microbiological fermenter. The company who built these machine designed them in a way allows you to brew any organism or yeast in a sterile vessel. The unit comes wiht a refrigerator to keep you ingredients cold, a mixer and built in heater. Several of our employees have used this machine very successfully to brew there own beer. We do not offer any formulas so you would have to do some testing and learn through trial and error."

 

Here too!
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/bfs/612641723.html

 

how much is this worth in scrap?

 

The Atlanta link has been flagged for removal..........I smell scam!

 

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0903/sportzgirlz/?action=view&current=foreclosedPV.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0903/sportzgirlz/?action=view&current=beer101fermentor.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0903/sportzgirlz/

 

Pyramid scheme, for sure. Not sure what the non-existent state of the art beer fermenter has to do with it, but still.

 

this is so whacked! hey germey did you ever get a reply??

 

Anybody have a clue WTF this is yet?

 

I got a response that it is "all electric, 120volt" and a number to call (below)...
Looks like the Craigslist ad goes to a Paula Vidad at an AOL address, who then forwarded it to this Bill Pansegrau, who responds from a "beerbrewingmachine" gmail address linked to a different name.
This week is shaping up to be ugly, I don't know if I'll be able to do anything else. I'm not sure where that description came from that carnevoodoo had (was it on the EBay ad?) but a bacterial fermenter would never do the full brew. It would be a very expensive fermenter only for beer, but the heater would only ever be designed to maintain biological fermentation conditions. It doesn't open up to be used as a kettle. There are just the various ports in and out.
Clear Scam.

From: Brian Carr <[email protected]>
To: germey...
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 9:07:12 AM
Subject: Re: Question from [email protected]

Please call me on this.
Bill Pansegrau 760-855-8871

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 10:57 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:

Subj: Beer machine question
Date: Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 9:27 PM
From: germey...
----------------------------------------------------------------
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

 

Below is the correspondence I have had with Paula, She has yet to send better pictures

__________ME______________________________

Paula-
What is the deal with these beer machines? I will lay the cash out for one but you really to be honest and give some more info here......

_______________HER_____________________________

Hello James,

I'm helping my friend Brian sell these items on Ebay and Craigslist. They have over 200 of these units and are looking to sell all of them. The machines were originally designed as a microbiological fermenter. The company who built these machine designed them in a way that allows you to brew any organism or yeast in a sterile vessel. The unit comes with a refrigerator to keep your ingredients cold, a mixer and built in heater. Several of their employees have used this machine very successfully to brew there own beer. We do not offer any formulas so you would have to do some testing and learn through trial and error.

If you're in the San Diego area, you can contact Brian Carr to set up an appointment to see them or call him with any other questions you might have. You can also email [email protected] and Bill Pensegrau can respond.

International Pest & Vegetation Management
970 Park Center Drive, Suite C
Vista, CA 92081
(800) 964-4266
www.ipvm.net

Sincerely,
Paula Vidad
Ebay SportzGirlz

__________ME______________________________


OK, Do you have better pictures of the machines? Also why is there a fake poorly photoshopped BEER 101 over the tank? Why aren't you selling these to microbiologists?
How did you get these?
Who manufactured them?
_______________HER_____________________________

Those are all great questions that I personally don't have answers. I am just the go-between for Ebay sales since they've never auctioned anything before. Contact Brian Carr tomorrow at the phone number I gave you in the previous email.

One other thing I do know the answer to: the poorly photoshopped Beer101 is over BioJet Don't think anyone would believe you could make beer with something called BioJet

One more thing: HEADS UP - if they decide to auction another one, it will probably start at $1,000. Their break even is $1,200 and I doubt this one will reach that. On Craigslist they are selling them for $2,995 + $500 shipping.

 

I'm torn here. Do we leave this up or bring it behind the google wall so that someone can put the sting on them?
Google makes this the #1 result when [email protected] is searched.

Think BYO or Zymurgy would be interested in an investigative piece?

 

Is the bigger threat the fact that someone is trying to scam people with some possible stolen goods or someone with less pure intentions could get their hands on them. I'm thinking the first is most likely true. Just looking at the pictures the thought occurs that If yuri, kladue or a number of unnamed DIY'ers were to make one of these It would much more shiney, be of better design and be even more automated, not to mention be more efficient, then that of the pic illustrated in the craiglist ad!

 

So, is it possible that this guy started a business selling microbiological fermenters to Universities and research labs? Then, maybe he had some success, ramped up production, and realized that he had saturated his market, and no one else would buy them?

So now, he has 200 biofermenters on his hands with no market. Instead of scrapping them, he is trying to sell them to a different market.

So, he could probably have provided a better description of capabilities of the machine, but I'm not sure that this is a guy who stole a bunch of biological equipment and is trying to pawn it off.

Based on my knowledge of brewing in the pharma industry, what you basically have is a very accurate, self-cleaning 35 gallon lagering machine capable of doing a diacetyl rest. Worth $3,500? Not to me.

 

If one only looked at this item, you might reach that conclusion, however, look at all of the subterfuge involved here.

Coupled with the MLM ebay feedback and the other images in the directory posted above, it seems to paint a far sketchier picture.

 

You beat me to it! No shipping if you pick it up, yay! Now that's customer service.

Edit: ollllo, I would dump it. It's a pure scam. Even if it's not, it's clearly not what they say it is.

 

There is no way they would make 200 of these things without POs for purchases. That would just be WAY TOO STUPID! If they were sellign to universities, they would probably only need a coupld of dozen to have on hand. These could be built in a couple of weeks, and universities would not need a short lead time.

I wonder how it is that they even got 200 of these, or if that statement is actually even true.

 

More importantly, where are the pics of the sportzgirlz?

 

I am a microbiologist, never seen a fermenter that looks like this pile, also looked up BioJet, apparently they do exist...and they make quality bathtubs....

http://www.biojet-international.com/

I would stay far away from this, also if the fermenter does actually exist the filters would get clogged trying to brew anything in them (would likely get clogged to if you ran normal city tap water through them as well) and they are $$$$$ and good luck not having the CIA knock on your door when you place an order for a .22um filter to your home address haha.

To bad there are people out there like this making actual good deals seem shady....

damn it is 10:30am and I already need a brew

 

I feel the same way. This will be a long day

 

I went to photobucket (courtesy of Richab) to take another look at that weird looking time machine and stumbled across some other extremely strange pictures.
One picture, looks more like a power point slide, says "Now is the time, the most unique business opportunity if 5 decades"
Another is about stopping foreclosure today!

Finally, "Become a Master Craigslist Marketer":
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0903/sportzgirlz/?action=view&current=CLPantherSm.gif

What a shady situation