Automated home fermentation device turns fruit into wine or cider

Just what we’ve been waiting for – an automated home fermentation device that can turn fruit or honey into wine, mead, or cider.

Never mind the fact that people have been fermenting wine, cider, and other alcoholic beverages at home for ages, without an app and a plugged-in WiFi-connected device, because the Alchema urn aims to simplify the process for a new generation of DIYers. Originally launched on Kickstarter last year, to the tune of some $344,000 in crowdfunding, the folks at Alchema are now looking to get these home fermenters into the hands of those who might like to tipple their own craft ciders and homemade wine.

The Alchema device, which is currently available for pre-order for delivery this fall (just in time for harvest season, dontchya know), is intended to make home beverage fermenting more foolproof, more precise, and less messy, while also offering users the ability to dial in their creations to meet their own tastes. It has a built-in weight sensor to make for more accurate proportions, an air pressure sensor and release valve to help avoid those accidental homebrew explosions, a simple way to check the alcohol content of your beverage, a temperature sensor, a UV-C sanitizing light to guard against contamination from rogue wild yeasts and other micro-organisms, and of course, an accompanying app.


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