We’re big fans of PicoBrew and their increasingly sophisticated beer-making appliances, which allow you to make craft beer at home without the complications of traditional setups. Their newest, the Pico Model C, updates the appliance into one that’s as close to Keurigs as countertop beer brewers have gone before.
Like previous versions of their brewers, the new appliance simplifies the brewing process immensely, allowing you to start brewing by simply pouring water, malt, and barley into their designated compartments. Even better, this simplifies things further by using malt-and-barley packs you can simply order online to make the whole process feel a lot closer to single-serve coffee makers.
The Pico Model C measures just 16 x 12 x 14 inches, making it compact enough to easily squeeze into even crowded countertops. A closed self-sterilizing design ensures it will require minimum maintenance, while a pair of temperature sensors and a precision heating element ensure it’s cooking at the right amount of heat every time. It has a brewing chamber measuring 12 x 9 inches (height x diameter), with enough room inside to accommodate up to 1.7 gallons of brew.
It has a companion app where you can search and order malt-and-barley packs for different recipes, as well as monitor how each brew batch is going. Recipes are automatic, by the way, which the machine identifies via an RFID tag on the packaging, although you can adjust both ABV and bitterness via a physical knob in the device.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Pico Model C. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $299.