Something new to blow your money on...

[JoeyChopps]

Great idea for breweries to test small batches. That is exactly what the video mentioned. $1500 is cheap for laboratory equipment for a commercial brewery to test a new recipe. Home brewers, not so much. Excellent idea for commercial use.

Disagree you could make a bada$$ all grain setup for commercial use for less

 

[outside92129]

they're at $250k with another month to go?!?! Normally i'd say i want to see the business plan because this look like a slam dunk to lose lots of money. Then it occurred to me that this could be exit plan, get a bunch of suckers to pony up then bail.

But if they're just looking to make a few units, break even, have a few pints, and dink around in a lab... heck, it's time for me to start a kickstarter campaign.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Laaaaaaaaaaaammmmeeeee

 

[funtourist]

Hi all,

Can we get a list of pros and cons, unbiased? I am fascinated by brewery automation. Saw a 'how do they do it' on the Guinness brewery where a guy sits at a desk with a pc and controls the entire brewery operation with a mouse, brewing something like a million barrels a day.

On one hand, who wouldn't want to be the one to invent an awesome totally automated brewery - isn't that why so many homebrewers tinker with our systems? To make them better, easier to use?

There's nothing wrong with wanting to automated your brewery. Yes, you may find you actually miss the tedious aspects of brewing.But when you get older and have a family and kids, you may not have the time you once had to devote 6-8 hours on a brew day.

While the brewing process could be made shorter with an instant temp type water heater and good processes, setup and cleanup for anyone brewing indoors is usually a pain.

The real question is: Is there anything on the market that is truly a fully automated home brewery? That reproduces the standard brewing process and can produce excellent beer?

The machine would need to be able to do everything:

Mill the Grain
Calculate precise temps for dough in
Heat Water
Mix Grain and water
Sparge
Boil
Hop additions
Chill the wort
Pitch yeast
Dump grain and spent hops into trashcan
Self clean

Unfortunately, no system exists for homebrewers that can do all of that.
Also, I wouldn't want to be brewing with any plastic components...stainless would be ideal.

 

[KPSquared]

You forgot to add:

- control and monitor ferm temps
- keg, carbonate, and bottle

Like was already said. As a commercial tool for test batches, great. But it would need to be all stainless to be really viable in that market.

Gimmick. . .

 

[AnOldUR]

Unfortunately, no system exists for homebrewers that can do all of that.

It's called a bar. Hate the damn hipsters that just want to be able to say they brew.

 

[Lost_Arkitekt]

The program is over $400K now. Wow...as P.T. Barnum once said, "There's a sucker born every minute!"

@funtourist -- I don't think there is anything wrong with automating your part of your brewing process or using computers to keep tabs on your homebrew system, but it is my OPINION (isn't that why we are all here?) that too much of a disconnect from your brew is a bad thing. If I'm not wrong, it is called "craft brewing"...where is the "craft" in a "set it and forget it" machine? My firm makes hand crafted furniture, and yes, we use power tools, but they don't release me from the duties of actually working with the materials. They do make it slightly more efficient and accurate.

While looking at this thing, I started thinking. Have you ever tried cleaning anything with a perfectly square corner? Good luck with all that. I'll take the $1500 and put it into a regular homebrew setup and ingredients.

Not to state the obvious, but isn't BIAB much cheaper than this?