Things are starting to get a bit crowded in the world of automated home brewing, with startups like PicoBrew, Brewie and BrewBot all more or less vying for the same small sliver of space. And while these machines have raked in their share of dough through crowdfunding efforts, it seems pretty likely that actual retail interest will be enough to maintain all comers.
Alchema, on the other hand, just might be different enough to keep people interested. The company’s certainly secured its share of crowdfunding success, scoring $344,231 – several times its $80,000 goal – on Kickstarter earlier this year. Unlike the majority of other entrants in the space, Alchema’s not focused on beer. The company’s tagline, “turn fruit into alcohol” says it all, really.
The product’s focus is hard cider. Users pick recipes from a connected app (the list also includes wine and mead for all of your ren faire-related needs), and the system weighs them out as they’re emptied into the pitcher, making sure you get the amounts right. The cider recipe uses fruit, sugar, yeast and the process takes around one or two weeks to complete.
The system sports a UV light to sanitize the ingredients and an air pressure sensor/release valve to vent carbon dioxide during the brewing process. All the while, the app will alert the brewer of key details like alcohol level and will push an alert through when it’s ready to go.
In addition to an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign, the San Francisco-based startup has also dipped into the Indiegogo waters to help out with preorders. If you get in soon, you can pick one up for $429, with expected delivery set for a year from now. And then, boom, all the mead you can drink.