PicoBrew’s Freestyle is for the home master brewer

The undisputed high tech king of the homebrew is PicoBrew. First shown off at a CES a fewyears back, PicoBrew has constantly evolved its products.

From the Zymatic, to the Brewvana, to the Pico: the names have changed but the mission remains the same: a homebrew appliance that makes it simple to brew your own tasty drop.

The Pico currently uses PicoPaks — you buy a pack an it’s everything you need to make a particular style of beer all in just a few hours. Think Nespresso but for a cold one.

At CES 2017, PicoBrew are flipping that on its head with Freebrew. The online service lets you create your own PicoPaks. Pick the malt, the hops, the yeast and mix and match to create the flavour you’re looking for. PicoBrew will then package it up and even slap a personalised name on the Pak.

It’s simple, smart and easy to use even if you’re not a chemical engineer like Chuck Hahn. You can pick one of six styles of beer as a base and adjust accordingly for the flavours you like.

But don’t invite the lads around for a session just yet. First off at US$800 the PicoBrew will cost about $1100 and secondly you won’t getting one in Australia just yet. But rest assure than when it does arrive, we’ll be using the Freestyle system to create an EFTM Pilsner in no time.

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