CES 2019: And the award goes to LG for its home-use craft beer maker

Just insert a set of single-use capsules containing all the ingredients and press a button. The whole procedure -- fermentation, carbonation, aging and even cleaning -- will happen on its own

Many will mistake it for an espresso machine but it’s so much more, let’s say, desirable. Already the winner of CES 2019 Innovation Award, LG’s HomeBrew is your personal craft beer maker for home. It uses capsule-based inputs and optimised fermentation algorithms (all coded in) to churn out a tasty batch of beer every time.

All you need to do is put in a set of single-use capsules that contain malt, yeast, hop oil and flavouring, and press a button. The whole procedure -- fermentation, carbonation, aging and even cleaning -- will happen on its own. The machine is optimised to intelligently set the temperate and pressure settings, and comes with a companion app that lets you check on your batch of beer from practically anywhere.

The sad part is that the beer takes two weeks to cook and users can’t simultaneously start another batch. The output is five litres, or roughly 10 pints of beer.

“LG HomeBrew is the culmination of years of home appliance and water purification technologies that we have developed over the decades,” said Song Dae-hyun, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company, in a press note.

“Homebrewing has grown at an explosive pace but there are still many beer lovers who haven’t taken the jump because of the barrier to entry and these are the consumers we think will be attracted to LG HomeBrew.”

For now, LG hasn’t revealed the price HomeBrew or how much the capsules will cost, but has got people interested by flavors it plans to launch initially-- American IPA, American Pale Ale, English Stout, Belgian-style Witbier and Czech Pilsner.