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posted by takyon on Wednesday December 12 2018, @11:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the ferment-and-squirt dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

The company is set to debut its HomeBrew system at CES 2019. It's a capsule-based beer-making machine that relies on automation and fermentation algorithms, and is completely self-cleaning, so it's a seriously fuss-free way of brewing your own beer. Depending on the beer type (there are five: American IPA, American Pale Ale, English Stout, Witbier and Czech Pilsner), the system can produce up to five liters of beer in about two weeks -- you can check on its status at any time using the companion app for iOS and Android.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/11/lgs-homebrew-craft-beer-system-ces-2019/


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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday December 12 2018, @11:38PM (9 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday December 12 2018, @11:38PM (#773779) Journal

    5 litres in two weeks? You'd need more than a couple of these to keep an average beer drinker happy.

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    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 12 2018, @11:50PM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday December 12 2018, @11:50PM (#773786)

      Yeah, that was my thought.

      My homebrew kit makes 11.5 litres, and I should have bought the 23 litre one really.

      These things are not exactly new though, I could have bought something from these guys [williamswarn.co.nz] but I'm not sure how I could justify that sort of money to Mrs. Zombie.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:12AM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:12AM (#773792)

      Where is the Craft in this system. It's just automated home brewing.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:31AM

        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:31AM (#773800)

        Sometimes "craft" beer means "Too much hops". Maybe it's that.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:32AM (4 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:32AM (#773801) Journal

        Unless I misunderstand how it works, you could modify the recipes, resulting in plenty of variations. It's not just "these 5 beers and that's it". Your biggest issue might be making modifications that cause the thing to overflow, or maybe failing to follow a sterile procedure when deviating from the recipe, or an inability to add additional ingredients in a cloth bag that can be removed (maybe you can just boil on the stove and transfer it). It all depends on how flexible the device is.

        The big boon for this device could be not having to screw around with the bottling/carbonation process. Maybe it could manage/capture CO2 so that you could get a strongly carbonated beer without needing to buy a separate CO2 cartridge, like SodaStream-style devices require.

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        • (Score: 2) by NewNic on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:35AM

          by NewNic (6420) on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:35AM (#773823) Journal

          The big boon for this device could be not having to screw around with the bottling/carbonation process.

          That part of the process isn't difficult if you skip bottles and use a keg instead.

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        • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday December 13 2018, @02:24AM

          by legont (4179) on Thursday December 13 2018, @02:24AM (#773847)

          Yes, yes! Magic grass comes to mind and similar substances.

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        • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday December 13 2018, @03:01PM (1 child)

          by Thexalon (636) on Thursday December 13 2018, @03:01PM (#773962)

          Unless I misunderstand how it works, you could modify the recipes, resulting in plenty of variations. It's not just "these 5 beers and that's it".

          I've known quite a few homebrewers. Not one of them had limited themselves to "these 5 beers": They were always trying out different hops, different kinds of fermentation, different malts, etc. Each batch was unique.

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    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:00AM

      by Immerman (3985) on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:00AM (#773810)

      Well, you wouldn't want all 50 liters to be the same flavor would you?

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:46AM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:46AM (#773806)

    The top 3 problems homebrewers face are 1) cleanliness; 2) cleanliness; and 3) cleanliness. If you've brewed you know I'm not joking here, it's amazing how many bad-tasting, fast growing bacteria hang out in your "clean" kitchen.

    If you can handle the cleanliness issue then home brewing isn't much different than learning to make chili.

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    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:12AM

      by Immerman (3985) on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:12AM (#773815)

      Yep - haven't done it myself, but have a few friends that went professional. It seems like the "completely self-cleaning" feature would probably be the biggest boon, assuming it actually works. Assuming ingredients and yeast are kept separate, it shouldn't actually be too hard to sterilize everything, ingredients included, before the yeast is added.

      I imagine it expects you to start from water and "syrups", but I would hope that it would allow you to make your own wort from scratch if you're so inclined. I mean, there's not exactly much craft to the beer if all you do is dump in an ingredient packet and maybe a few of your own additions and then drink it two weeks later. But if it lets you do the crafty part, while it handles all the touchy bio-reactor part... that might actually be pretty cool.

  • (Score: 2) by black6host on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:18AM (7 children)

    by black6host (3827) on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:18AM (#773819) Journal

    I know, it's going to be something like the Keurig machines! Oh god, I wish I were joking. If anyone ever makes a self cleaning machine that lets me do it all AND makes more than 5 litres... Well, they've got my money! But a Keurig Beer Machine, nah. (I'd even forgive the 5 liters if the beer is good enough and cheap enough) I'll just buy more and have to tell my son that Dad took all the electrical outlets in the house to brew beer with so no place to charge his Switch, sorry! :)

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:37AM (6 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:37AM (#773825) Journal

      The UK's guidelines basically say you shouldn't have more than 6 pints of beer a week. This can make about 10 every 2 weeks. Add a partner or friends into the equation, and you'll be lacking volume. But maybe this amount is reasonable for occasional drinkers.

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      • (Score: 2) by black6host on Thursday December 13 2018, @02:15AM (5 children)

        by black6host (3827) on Thursday December 13 2018, @02:15AM (#773844) Journal

        Well, from what I know, pints are 20 ounces in the UK, at least they were in the British puts I've been to in the US. Many of these were favored by British expats so I have to trust they'd know. Anyway, 6 pints a week = 120 ounces , or 240 ounces every 2 weeks. 240 ounces ~ 7 liters. So, you could drink the output of this machine and stay under daily recommended guidelines! Simply might not do for some though :)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @03:28AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @03:28AM (#773868)

          Don't know about the craft beers, but pommy beer is generally a bit stronger than cheap american piss. Some of theirs go up to 8 or 10% alcohol.

          • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @06:26AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 13 2018, @06:26AM (#773911)

            Don't know about the craft beers, but pommy beer is generally a bit stronger than cheap american piss. Some of theirs go up to 8 or 10% alcohol.

            There's lots of very good American beers. But be careful when comparing alcohol percentages. Most beer in the US is marked measuring alcohol by weight (ABW); in much of the rest of the world beer is marked muasuring alcohol by volume (ABV). ABV numbers are higher than ABW by about 25% for a given amount of alcohol in beer, which leaves many people (erroneously) believing that American beers have less alcohol than beer found elsewhere.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by Whoever on Thursday December 13 2018, @04:41AM (2 children)

          by Whoever (4524) on Thursday December 13 2018, @04:41AM (#773888) Journal

          Well, from what I know, pints are 20 ounces in the UK,

          That's true, but that's 20 Imperial Fluid Ounces, which are smaller than US Fluid Ounces. Really!

          • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday December 14 2018, @01:03AM (1 child)

            by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Friday December 14 2018, @01:03AM (#774221) Journal

            Yes, but not by much. An imperial fluid ounce of water weighs exactly one avoirdupois ounce. The imperial fluid ounce is thus based on an ounce of water.

            The U.S. fluid ounce is instead defined in terms of weight of wine, namely 1/128th of an old wine gallon unit.

            Since wine is less dense than water, and a fluid ounce is a unit of volume, a U.S. fluid ounce of water weighs more than one avoirdupois ounce.

            But the density of water and wine aren't that much different. An imperial pint of water (20 fl. ounces) weighs 1.25 pounds, while a U.S. fluid pint of water (16 fl. ounces) weighs about 1.044 pounds. The U.S. fluid ounce is larger, but nowhere near enough to make up for the extra 4 ounces in the imperial pint.

            • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Friday December 14 2018, @06:34AM

              by Whoever (4524) on Friday December 14 2018, @06:34AM (#774295) Journal

              I did not intend to suggest that an Imperial pint is the same as a US pint. However, the ratio is closer to 6/5 instead of the 5/4 that the 20 vs. 16 fluid oz would imply.

              I have both US and Imperial measuring jugs in my kitchen. Match the jug to the source of the recipe.

  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:16PM (4 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday December 13 2018, @12:16PM (#773941)

    Several comments are focusing on the fact this doesn't produce enough beer quickly enough to keep an entire college fraternity drunk, I admit I don't drink much, but when I do I want the variety and I want the good stuff, so I'm not seeing an issue with less than a pint per day or whatever the problem is.

    is completely self-cleaning

    I've brewed beer and this is much more impressive to me than "I made me an arduino timer that adds the hops after 45 minutes"

    The "why" question I don't get is unless you're into the technology itself, joe 6 pack normie NPC would likely be more impressed with a magic box which is a fridge turned into a keg-er-ator than a magic box that slowly makes a little beer. I mean, I already got a magic machine that I pump money into and it drives me to the store and back, then beer appears in my fridge as money disappears from my wallet. And I suspect the programmers haven't got code good enough for custom brew, so if it boils down to "its a really complicated way to make Miller Lite" then I'm not seeing the point its like pretending an "ez-bake" oven makes you a pastry chef.

    • (Score: 2) by hubie on Thursday December 13 2018, @05:04PM (3 children)

      by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Thursday December 13 2018, @05:04PM (#774020) Journal

      "its a really complicated way to make Miller Lite" then I'm not seeing the point its like pretending an "ez-bake" oven makes you a pastry chef.

      Since I enjoy making bread, I used to think this way about breadmakers until I learned that they actually do a good job at making bread. If this goes in the direction of the breadmaker, then I would say it is a good thing. However, if it goes off in the direction of something like a Keurig or a SodaStream, where they (try to) lock you into their specific system and you have to buy packets specifically designed for the device, then that would be a disappointment.

      For what it's worth, I used to own a breadmaker, and though there is nothing better than waking up in the morning to a just-baked loaf, I eventually gave it away because I never used it much, because making bread in the stand mixer is super easy too (if only I could automate that so that I can have my bread in the morning!). I also brew my own beer, but I don't think that I would be in the market for something like this.

      • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday December 14 2018, @01:16AM (2 children)

        by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Friday December 14 2018, @01:16AM (#774224) Journal

        You can have your bread in the morning. There are some recipes that use a tiny amount of yeast where you let it rise overnight (even up to a day), then shape it into a loaf when you get up, and by the time the oven preheats, you can chuck the loaf in and bake it.

        There are similar recipes that involve "retarding" the dough in the fridge overnight, then pulling it out and baking in the morning. Many claim you need to let the dough warm up before baking, but most can be modified to bake almost directly from the fridge.

        Finally, there's the parbaking option: bake a loaf until the inner structure is just set, then freeze the loaves. In some cases, you can pull a loaf out and finish the bake in short order, giving you fresh bread at whatever time (including the morning).

        Any of these options, with a bit of practice or experimentation, is much better than inferior product I've generally experienced from.bread machines... which is often a bit dense with an odd texture and weird crust... and all the types of bread you make with them tend to have similar weird properties.

        • (Score: 2) by hubie on Friday December 14 2018, @06:20PM

          by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 14 2018, @06:20PM (#774499) Journal

          Thank you for this. I've done some overnight sponges then finished them the next day. I hadn't thought about the parbaking option. In a pinch, I've picked up those frozen dough loaves from the grocery and baked them and they came out pretty well. I hadn't connected the two and thought to try that method myself. I guess it might be a little trial-and-error on the baking time upfront, but I should be able to figure it out with a digital thermometer.

        • (Score: 1) by Goghit on Saturday December 15 2018, @05:51PM

          by Goghit (6530) on Saturday December 15 2018, @05:51PM (#774846)

          Another alternative is a Zojirushi breadmaker. I tried several other breadmakers via the local thrift shop - they all went back after a couple of trial batches. The Zoji makes bread as good as my mother's. She learned her craft at 8 baking in a wood stove.

          The Zoji can be set up to 12 hours in advance so you come home to fresh bread and hot chili in the slow cooker. It's pricey but it's one of those kitchen gadgets that I will replace the moment it breaks. Fortunately Zojirushi still makes high quality equipment that lasts longer than your average refrigerator nowadays.

          If Zojirushi makes a brewing machine equivalent (add your own basic ingredients and lots of control over the program) I'm in. This new system though looks like another Silicon Valley RFID capsule subscription widget thingy. Fuck 'em and the venture capitalist horse they rode in on.

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