Kal , If I had 5 grand to plunk down on a system....I'd be certainly getting your electric brew system, I mean it's no contest.This guy gives a bad name to homebrew unless your using his system.I dont have any of the problems he lists in his " problems with homebrew" section on his website.This is a gimmick / novelty for people who just want to say " I made beer myself " and don't really care about creativity or quality.
Yup. But is it really that gimmicky? The target audience is NZ and other countries with very high costs of beer, not the United States.
The wow factor on their unit is pretty high for someone who's not a brewer but likes the idea of having their own "beer making machine" at home.
They do mention that a large percentage of males in NZ have tried homebrewing at one time or another. The general concensus from anyone who's tried and stopped is that (a) it's a lot of work, and (b) it tastes like crap. They're fixing both of those problems they say.
The tastes like crap problem is because most people who first try homebrewing only know Bud/Miller/Coors (BMC) so that's what they're trying to make and they buy a "Blonde Lager" extract kit with high hopes. We all know how that worked out. Then coupled with the fact that most extract kits have the exact problems they list (crap yeast, old extract, not properly fermented, etc), you don't even make a good Blonde Ale, let alone a "Blonde Lager".
While they don't have any lager kits yet from what I've read, I don't see why they couldn't. It would simply contain more yeast and the right yeast. The system would maintain the right fermentation temp, it could do a diacetytl rest at the end and then drop the temp for lagering. It's basically just a fancy temp controlled conical fermenter with trub control and then a tap for serving.
Their setup is most definitely not for existing homebrewers. At about $35 USD per 23L of product, you're paying around 50 cents/beer. NZ has high beer prices so this works. Make enough and the $4000 USD equipment cost isn't all that bad. Consider that a MoreBeer.com heated/cooled 7.5 gallon conical fermenter is almost $2000 USD. For $2000 more they add in a bunch of controls, a tap, etc, and turn it in to an all-in-one [extract] beer making device. I think the price is reasonable for what it is. I think if they get a good BMC type clone beer that takes ~3-4 weeks to make from start to finish and tastes reasonable, they could sell some units.
Would I ever use one? Of course not, but I'm not the target audience. Most people don't want to learn to brew let alone do the work required, regardless of if it's extract or all-grain.
Kal
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