People Are Going Crazy for the Keurig of Home Brewing

The idea of home-brewed beer being as easy as a cup of coffee is apparently pretty popular. PicoBrew recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for its Pico appliance, which uses prepackaged pods to brew 5-liter batches of beer similar to how the Keurig makes single cups of coffee, and hop heads can't donate fast enough. With 28 days left in the campaign, more than $700,000 has been raised, easily surpassing the $200,000 goal.

Crowdfund Insider reports the funding boom has resulted in partnerships with 10 more breweries, including 21st Amendment, MadTree Brewing, and Geaux Brewing. There's also a new "Freestyle PicoPak" capability for the Pico, which allows customers to "custom-create their own PicoPaks."

Instead of "loading up loose ingredients according to a recipe," home brewers dump the contents of PicoPaks — which include grains and hops — and some yeast (which comes in a separate pod) into the Pico to make beer. The downside is that the device doesn't contain the "mini keg" where the beer is stored, so a brewer's counter needs to have space for that too. Plus, fridge space is required to chill the beer, and the device weighs 30 pounds, so it isn't the easiest to move around.

Retail price for the Pico is $1,000, but Kickstarter contributors can preorder one right now for $559.