A new automated system makes home-brew much simpler and quicker
For some years, global beer consumption has been declining. The trend reflects a general increase in health consciousness, as well as concerns about additives in mass-produced beer. Home-made and craft beers omit such additives. So, during the last 10 years, these beers have reversed the trend, rising from 2 % of the US market to 20 % today. Consumers want control over ingredients, yet making beer at home is inconvenient. The process requires considerable space, because of the many utensils and tools required, plus it is messy and time-consuming. All work associated with brewing beer at home will typically take around two full days. The EU-funded BrewiePro project developed, and is looking to commercialise, a new version of an existing automated home-brewing system. The update is intended for the bar and restaurant sector, which represents about one third of the European beer market. During the completed first phase of the project, the team determined the sector’s requirements, refined the product accordingly, and prepared a detailed plan for the next phase. Specialised demand The study confirmed sector demand in a systematic way. For example, for bars and restaurants, consistent quality is very important, as is price. Additionally, for establishments operating in saturated markets, the ability to brew their own beer allows differentiation from competitors. As expected, BrewiePro was shown to be very competitive as it met all these criteria. “The customer feedback helped us prepare a strong application for Phase Two funding,” says project leader Marcell Pál. The original Brewie machine provides automated home brewing. It enables anyone to brew their own beer more easily, and with a much smaller footprint, compared to conventional home brewing. The updated version brings that to the bar and restaurant sector. Both machines follow the same steps as traditional beer brewing. The brewing part of beer-making is essentially like making tea, in that the user adds taste ingredients to hot water. Beer-making is more complicated, involving: mashing of the malt grain, sparging (draining and rinsing the mashed malt), boiling, hopping (adding hops), cooling, and cleaning. The machines do everything the user would do manually, but they control the process. Automated brewing still takes several hours, but only requires 15-30 minutes of the user's attention, depending on which options they choose. Using Brewie’s native software, users may select from several pre-programmed recipes. The user can provide their own ingredients or the pre-packaged options the company supplies. Improved automation For the original machine, once the brewed liquid (called ready wort) has finished brewing, the user pours it into a separate tank for fermentation. Fermentation is the process by which yeast converts sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol. Fermentation begins after about 12 hours, and takes up to a week to complete. Afterwards, fermented beer is poured into either bottles or kegs, and reaches its final flavour characteristics after another few weeks. The next version of the product will automate fermentation and storage steps as well. Users will be able to draft their own beer directly from the BrewiePro machine. BrewiePro will market its system worldwide. The greatest demand is expected from the American market, followed by Britain, and then traditionally beer-loving European cultures. “The resulting beer is equal in quality to craft beers costing the bar EUR 8, or more, per bottle,” claims Pál. “But ours will cost EUR 1 per bottle or less.” In the future, local beers may be even more local than consumers imagine.
Keywords
BrewiePro, beer, machine, market, automate, home-brew, commercial
