Be it a high-quality cup of coffee, a refreshing glass of carbonated soda, or a nice cold mug of freshly brewed beer, homeowners all over the country have more access to on-demand beverage devices than ever before. Now, a team of craft beer aficionados from Australia’s Coopers Brewery has decided to elbow into this crowded industry with a device it’s dubbing the BrewArt (not to be confused with the ArtBrew). Armed with an idea culled from quality coffee brewers like Keurig and Nespresso, BrewArt hopes to revolutionize the on-demand beer market by allowing owners to replicate their favorite beers from the comfort of their own home.
Comprising two parts — the Beerdroid brews the beer while the Brewflo stores and pours the chilled beer — BrewArt is the culmination of an eight-year pet project. While other automated home brew systems exist, the partners behind BrewArt believe their device is different (i.e., serves a better purpose) due in part to its Wi-Fi-compatible smartphone integration. Essentially, owners of the machine not only get to recreate their favorite IPAs, but get to do so by executing a few simple commands on an iPhone or Android.
“We wanted to make something that gave people a good brewing experience,” co-founder Scott Harris told Australia’s The Advertiser. “The ability to control the temperature also allows people to create beers that have been hard to make in the past, like a nice, clear lager for example. [We made it] as simple as possible, without taking the science out of it. You can control the whole process through the app.”
While brewing a particular batch of beer, BrewArt’s companion application sends messages updating users of its progress, alerting them of any milestones reached and percentage of brew cycle completed. Additionally, if owners prefer to stop the brew cycle for any amount of time, the application lets them remotely put the batch to sleep which would then chill the device to 4 degrees before scheduling another time to begin the process. Once completed, the brewed beer is transferred to the Brewflo canister and set to a specific beer’s ideal cooling temperature.
BrewArt’s application sends messages updating users of its progress.
“You have this culture that’s emerged in the last few years of people making their own cheese, smoking their own meats,” Harris added. “At the same time, there has been this explosion in craft beer and all the different flavors. This allows people to combine those two movements.”
So how much will the BrewArt Beerdroid set you back? More than a year after the home brewing concept was announced, the system is now coming to Kickstarter with hopes of coming to the masses. If you pledge $495 to its new campaign, you can be one of the first to own a Beerdroid when it begins shipping in September. But in order to actually enjoy your beer, of course, you’ll also need the Brewflo, which will set you back an additional $695. That brings the total cost of the system to just under $1,200.
Update: Added news of the BrewArt’s upcoming Kickstarter campaign.
