People who don’t like beer can’t be trusted. Beer is the drink of choice here in Quirk Heaven, and although I am a complete and utter amateur when it comes to beer brewing and can only distinguish between blond, unfiltered or dark beer, I enjoy it just as much as any passionate connoisseurs. My home sharing buddy agrees and brags that he can even smell a beer from another (never contradict a connoisseur, better just smile and wave!). He’s in fact so passionate about beer that he bought a home brewing kit! One year ago. It’s still unopened. He is just so into it he didn’t take into account that the beer is not going to brew itself, that’s why I think he’s going to love this quirkticle.
Looking through the work of our brilliant friend Studiosophisti.nl I stumbled upon the smallest full option beer brewery to date – the MiniBrew. There was an inner curatorial battle to decide whether Quirk Heaven has a place for this quirk that costs about €1,000. But since we are talking about a machine that makes beer as easy as it is to water your flower pots once, and if you’re so busy (new word for lazy actually) that you tend to buy do-it-yourself kits with easy to follow steps and let them collect dust (yes, my dear, I’m talking to you now!), then you deserve to pay this fair amount! You should know that after doing my homework and going through the history of beer and what not, Quirk Heaven found the righteous place for the MiniBrew, the world’s smallest and most affordable beer brewing device.
MiniBrew is a platform to brew fresh local craft beer anytime anywhere, assisted by the mobile app. You can choose to brew global craft beers or make your own to enjoy. It can’t get any easier to make your own beer: just fill in the dedicated compartments with water, grains and hop in the quantities specified in the recipe of beer you’ve chosen and launch the app. It’s going to guide and prompt you when it’s ready. The MiniBrew also cools the beer after the process, so you don’t even have to take it and put it in the fridge, what more do you want from it? To give you a foot massage?
There is also the Picobrew, which was actually the first on the market with such a concept, bringing the Pico that sells for about €700 (if you live in the US), but that only makes specific beers based on preselected recipes. This lack of versatility costed Pico a place in Quirk Heaven, among with the other micro breweries available at prices reaching €2,000
The process takes about 3,5 hours, with fermentation lasting anything from 4 days for a lighter beer to 2 weeks for a stronger beer and 4 weeks to the extremely heavy ones. The capacity is about 5 liters, but then again that’s what makes the device fit your house so well.
How to enjoy the best of MiniBrew:
- download the MiniBrew app and browse through more than 500 worldwide craft beers among with recipes made available by the growing beer brewing community
- follow the recipe instructions with regards to how much grains, hop and water to add in the dedicated compartments
- the magic begins: mixing, boiling, fermenting and cooling, all in the same place. The app lets you know when it’s time to store in a keg or drink
- in between brews the machine cleans itself (with one dishwasher dose) and the removable parts are dishwasher safe
The Angel from Quirk Heaven concludes this is a really nice to have for the beer brewing enthusiasts. However, if you’re planning to host a party don’t rely only on the MiniBrew: quantity wise you need to prepare in advance and invest in several kegs if you don’t want to leave your guests curious and craving. And just like any good decent person, always make sure you have beer in your house, whether ready made or ready bought!