Review: PicoBrew tidies some home-brew hassles for a price

LOS ANGELES (AP) — I've been brewing beer in my kitchen and garage for a couple years, so I know how time-consuming and messy it gets.

The Zymatic aims to simplify brewing by circulating water through grains and hops at just the right temperature and time.

The improvements PicoBrew does offer, such as precision during the boil, will set you back roughly ten times what a bare-bones homebrew setup might.

At roughly $3,000 combined, PicoBrew's system is too expensive for bargain-minded home brewers, yet not automated enough for folks who want to brag about making their own beer but don't like to get their hands dirty.

You can just flip a switch and walk away during the initial stages, when sugars get extracted out of roasted, cracked grains to produce wort.

— The Zymatic puts the finished wort into a keg, where, after cooling, you can add yeast with a special lid to let it ferment.

— It doesn't filter out the yeast before kegging or bottling.

Because it is cycling water, you'd think the Zymatic would be able to send finished beer through a filter into another keg.

The system also gives you access to an online recipe database and tools for monitoring the progress of your brew.