Have you ever wanted to get into homebrewing your own craft beer, but you were worried your brew would turn out wrong? After all, brewing is a very specific, precise science – getting the right combination of hops, grain, malt, and yeast at the right temperature for the right length of time can be tricky. If done right, you have a delicious homemade brew to enjoy. If one thing goes wrong, however, you can end up with a brew that I once heard politely described as “mysterious”, as the taster coughed and choked.
There are numerous home brewing kits available on the market currently, but almost all of them involve large pots, buckets, thermometers, and the purchase of grains and hops. Then you have to dedicate hours to carefully brewing your beer, all the while making a huge mess of your kitchen. And after all that, you still have to wait a week for the brew to ferment, before you can test it to see if it’s drinkable! There are many factors that could cause a brew to go wrong – a strange blend of hops, too much malt, not enough yeast, wrong temperature, etc., and if you’re putting in the work, you want to get something good out of it!
There’s a different method for homebrewing that eliminates the hassle and mess while still allowing you the pleasure of having fresh, homebrewed craft beer. Picobrew is the first fully automatic, all grain beer brewing appliance. Cheap homebrewing kits like Mr. Beer kits offer recipes and ingredients, but you’re on your own for mixing, timing, and setting the right temperatures for the beer to ferment. Picobrew is to homebrewing what the Keurig is to a pot of water and coffee grounds. Picobrew offers precise control over ingredients, timing, temperature, and fermentation, without the mess and stress of traditional brewing methods.
The Picobrew is a machine that accepts pre-filled disposable brewing packs, called Picopaks. Each Picopak is preloaded with a precise blend of grains and hops, and are ordered directly from Picobrew.com. There are dozens of available flavor blends ranging for light to very dark brews. The Picobrew machine recognizes the brewing pack when it’s inserted, and sets the brewing time according to the recipe. Within two hours your beer is brewed and waiting in the brewing keg. Carbonation can be handled either by using a carbon dioxide cartridge, or by the more traditional method of yeast and sugar.
The Picobrew machine and brewing keg take up slightly more room than the average coffee machine on the counter. After fermentation in the brewing keg, you’ll need to “rack” the beer by transferring it to the serving keg which comes with the starter kit. This can be done easily enough by hooking both kegs to the Picobrew machine and selecting the “rack beer” option.
These Picopaks run between $19 and $30, but there are coupon codes available online that will allow you to brew your own fresh craft beer for even less. That could end up costing less than basic beers like Miller or Budweiser, but with the flavor you would expect from a quality microbrew. You can even score a coupon code for the Picobrew machine itself, bringing the total cost lower yet.
Now, lets say that you enjoy homebrewing and designing your own recipe, but you would like the reassurance that the Picobrew machine offers so you can get other things done on brew day, and you won’t end up with a flubbed batch of beer. You simply log onto Picobrew.com and visit the Freestyle section, where you can design your own beer recipe! Picobrew starts you off with a choice of basic recipes, then you alter it by adding or subtracting malt, hops, and other factors. As you change the recipe, the Freestyle program shows you how each addition will change the color, flavor, and alcohol percentage. This way you can learn how the different hops and malts change your beer, but the program will keep you from going overboard and making an undrinkable brew. Keep your eyes open for the latest coupon codes, so you can create your own signature flavor for less.
The Picobrew machine is a really interesting and exciting new way to brew your own beer while getting consistent, reliable results. If you plan to try it out, check into the available coupon codes for both the Picobrew machine and the Picopaks – you could bring down the initial cost of the equipment significantly!