Homebrewing is a hot area in the smart beverage space. With startups like PicoBrew, a Seattle-based company making complete homebrewing systems designed to take the guesswork and mess out of making beer at home to Alchema, a company that’s crowdfunding a product to make cider at home from fruit and yeast, there’s no shortage of new stuff to report.
The success of these early systems is prompting others to jump in and create products that all serve the growing demand to make alcohol at home. Enter The Catalyst. The Catalyst Fermentation System just a piece of homebrewing equipment that simplifies the fermentation process, making it easier than ever to make great beer at home.
Fermentation is arguably the trickiest part of the home brew process – the temperature of fermentation and the sanitation requirements can make or break a batch. There’s such a need for easier solutions, in fact, that The Catalyst isn’t the first crowdfunding attempt at making fermentation easier for homebrew enthusiasts. Whirlpool, through its W Labs incubator, raised over $220k on Indiegogo earlier this summer for their homebrew fermenter, Vessi.
The Catalyst’s successful Kickstarter campaign is yet again another demonstration for the demand in the market for better homebrew equipment. Touting improved form and function, The Catalyst quickly hit their $50,000 goal and at the time of this piece is closing in on $300k in funding from over 1300 backers. The product is the creation of a homebrew kit and recipe company called Craft a Brew based in Orlando, FL. Looking to give customers an even simpler way to brew at home, Craft a Brew created its first hardware product.
“With the Catalyst, we’ve simplified the steps that come after brewing so you can do all of them without having to siphon, transfer, or use any more tools until bottling day,” the company’s crowdfunding pitch reads. The device allows you to complete several steps in the home brew process all in the same container and then allows for a clean and simple transfer to the bottle.
It might help the spouses and roommates of homebrew enthusiasts as well; The Catalyst is designed to be smaller, cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than most brewing equipment. The Craft a Brew team has actually been researching, testing and prototyping the idea for almost 2 years and has promised to ship The Catalyst to backers by October. The company is still taking pre-orders for the time being on their Kickstarter page.
