Behold this deluxe homemade microbrewery: an elaborate device that boils, ferments, chills, and pours home-crafted ale.
Posted 01.04.2013 at 11:00 am
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The ultimate DIY, beer-brewing machine
The Big Book Of Hacks
What if there were a machine—a beautiful, shiny machine—and all it did, with almost no work from you, was make you beer? Such was the dream that drove former PopSci photographer John Carnett to build what he calls “the Device”: a stainless-steel, two-cart brewing system that starts by boiling extract (concentrated wort, or pre-fermented beer) and ends with a chilled pint.
In most home-brewing setups, each step in the process requires moving the beer to a new container by hand, which increases the chance of contamination and requires lifting. Carnett’s machine keeps everything in the carts’ closed system—he only has to swap a few CO2-pressurized hoses to move the liquid along.
The delicious brew’s journey begins in the boil keg, where concentrated wort extract is heated by a propane burner for 90 minutes. The beer then travels through a heat exchanger—which cools the mix to about 55˚F (13˚C)—on its way to the fermenting keg. Here, a network of Freon-chilled copper tubes pumps cool water around the keg when the temperature gets too high. After two weeks, the Device pumps the beer into a settling keg, where a CO2 tank adds carbonation. When you pull the tap, the beer travels through the cold plate, so it’s chilled on the way to your glass. That’s right: The Device is always ready with a cold pour and consumes no power when it’s not actively serving or fermenting.
This project was excerpted from The Big Book Of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects, a compendium of ingenious and hilarious projects for aspiring makers. Buy it here. And for more amazing hacks, go here.
Want to read more articles like this, plus tips and tricks, home hacks, DIY projects, and more? Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!
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I will ask my elderly mother for one of these!
I love it. Would be nice to have a print to proceed with a build. I have a feeling that the book being sold will not have all the necessary information.
I wonder how the ancient cultures made beer and wine. It just seems there must be a simpler way and at less cost.
This reminds me of those home do it yourself repair shows and as they illustrate building something, they are using $10 to 50,000 equipment, of which the typical home person will never buy.
Of course, there is the show that builds with simply hands tools and common sense knowledge. I wish this article would illustrate the simple way of making beer and wine for any person to do.
If one does extract brewing[using Malt Extract Syrup(MES)or the powder Dried Malt Extract(DME)],the other ingredients are water,hops and yeast. there are many books on the market on the subject even my fav,that the author tells everone to,"Relax,Have a Homebrew!" this book has all the details:recipes,science,ingredients,procedures,instructions and how to make your own simple,cheap homebrew equipment. the book has been around for 40 yrs and is in 4th edition.
I do not brew with extracts;I'm an all-grain brewer. This is for the seriously dedicated homebrewer that wants better to the best beer one can savor and quaff on a hot summer day or a cold winter's eve! All-grain brewing requires additional time,investment in research and cash outlay,hard labor,equipment,etc.
The above system mentioned in the article,is absolutely,frivolous! "A fool and his money...soon parted.",is the old proverb that comes to mind.
Good point, Robot.
It's like the articles about LEDs. Somehow they completely ignore the history of candle making.