If you have a burning desire to do some home brewing – and $45,000 to spend – check out the Professional Microbrewery by Hammacher Schlemmer. This is an automated brewing system used in professional microbreweries, but scaled for the home brewmeister.
The Professional Microbrewery has a Heat Exchange Recycling Mash (HERM) system that creates a lager, a Hefe-weizen, or a stout simply by entering a recipe via an integrated touch screen computer. A 15-gallon hot liquor tank with a built-in heat exchange raises strike/sparging water to the ideal brewing temperature and automatically circulates it to a 15-gallon mash/lauter tun that extracts sugar from the ground grain, or mash. When the extraction is complete, the liquid is pumped to a 20-gallon boil kettle where the mash is converted into the final wort. During the boil, the system reminds users to pitch hops according to the recipe entered.
After the boil has finished, the wort is cooled as it is pumped from the boil kettle to a free-standing 14-gallon stainless steel fermentation tank, and the unit signals when it is time to add yeast. Electric level sensors, gauges, and temperature detectors relay information back to the computer, providing accurate, real-time monitoring of the brewing process.
This all-in-one system provides the home brewer with everything they need to make the finest beer.