Despite the negative rap associated with drinking alcoholic beverages, it cannot be denied that many ingenious ideas have been spawned over an ice-cold beer. While having a beer with a friend, photographer and inventor John Carnett of Philadelphia, came up with the idea to make an all-in-one beer-brewing machine. I credit him especially for, after having about 6 pints, remembering the next day to follow up on the idea. Had it been done before? Did something like this already exist? Lucky for John and his partner, John O’Donnell, they are the very first to manufacture and market the all-in-one beer-brewing machine. It’s called the NanoBrewMaster.
What is an all-in-one brewing machine? It’s a beer-brewing machine that does everything for you from brewing and fermenting to dispensing the final chilled product and even cleaning itself. It’s built-in computer system monitors the whole process, from brewing to the final pour as well as prompting the brewer if and when it is time to add hops or fruits so the brewer can customize the beer in his own fashion. The computer also controls the various temperatures required for brewing different styles of beer, as a lager is fermented at a lower temperature than an ale, and so forth. It can dispense up to two beers at the same time and can produce a total of 15 gallons of beer per batch.
The operation: It starts with boiling the wort in the brew kettle. Wort is an unfermented malt, water and hops mixture, which turns into mash after fermentation. This wort brews for about 90 minutes and then gets transferred to the heat exchanger, which cools the wort. Oxygen, a vital component for the yeast’s growth stage, is added while still in the heat exchanger. The cooled wort is then transferred via gravity to the fermentation unit, where it rests in a temperature-controlled environment for seven days. Once the wort is properly fermented it is moved by CO2 gas pressure to the settling kegs, which adds carbonation, and finally to the serving kegs where fresh, cold beer is dispensed. It was truly a prodigious feat for a guy to turn this idea into an operative machine, which he built in his garage.
This machine is quite expensive to make, and may be too pricey for the home brewer. But I’m not discouraged. I never buy the first of anything. I didn’t get a cell phone until 2003, I still don’t have an I-pod, shucks discman was out dated before I could get my hands on one… I’ll hold out for John to release a Nano Jr. counter-top version. That may not be until the year 2019, but heck, that’s why they make Pabst. And if you’re a lightweight like me… enough said. Carnett’s targeted consumers are high-end home brewers, bars, restaurants, and small microbreweries. All said, John is still revising and adding new components to the NanoBrewMaster. I don’t want to give away his secrets as he is still in the production process, but we’ll keep tabs on his future innovations.
For the arduous yet rewarding tasks of the home brewer, this machine brings us a notch closer toward that coveted instamatic fantasy world of the Jetson’s, where everything can be attained at the touch of a button. All this talk of beer has made me thirsty, and I think I may have learned a little more from this story than about merely a new innovation… that perhaps I too will come up with a turnkey idea while sipping on an ice-cold beer…
For more information on the NanoBrewMaster, check it out at: www.nanobrewingtech.com.
Salud!
