MiniBrew Smart Beer Machine? Anyone has experience with it?

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Welcome fellow luddite
Ditto.
There must be a manual control alternative.
Else what happens when an update stops the app working on your phone, or the company withdraw support for the app or go under & you are left with a bricked device?
It's just so common to have a 5 year old device become unusable not through a fault but because the company withdraw support.
I'm looking at you Samsung & your so called smart TV as an example.
 
These machines aren't attractive to the budget minded or experienced brewing hobbyists*. They're for people who highly value convenience or those who have spare cash and urge to make beer but either don't want to spend the time to learn the processes and make the mistakes or are nervous about doing so. I recall seeing a YT video by someone using a minibrew and it illustrated a chunk of the target market quite well -- completely clueless about brewing but enthusiastic about the idea of it and money to play with. They had a "brewshed" that looked like it had been professionally decorated and, IIRC, happily dropped £10-15 on liquid yeast to ferment a 5L batch.

The issue I have with most of these things isn't the concept (convenient small batch kitchen-top brewery) or up-front price (although rich for my blood), it's that they all come tied to subscriptions and/or proprietary consumables. If an open solution to sidestepping the app is created at some point then these units could become something interesting to play with if they hit the used market. That said it sounds like sales are so low you'd rarely see them.

*The exception being people who also have large and even more expensive brewery setups and use these kinds of things for experimental small batches.
Thanks Brewsby, all very good points. This was a company purchase almost 2 years ago for the usual pre-Xmas 'bash'. The idea was to brew as part of the 'fun' on the last day at work before the break, then enjoy the beer in the New Year. The base station has only just been delivered recently, so we might be able to do that this Xmas. One is (as far as I can see) tied to their app, which is actually very handy for a newbie like me. I'm finding it useful to have notifications when to do stuff (as well as videos showing you what to do, although they can download VERY slowly). The system also seems very good at temperature control. I'm using the packs that I ordered with the system originally and they are expensive. The 4th brew is mashing, so I'll let you know about what it produces in a few weeks. Apparently it's possible to make your own recipes online, I'll be taking a look into that over the next few days/week. Thanks for all the comments, especially MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), that takes me back a few decades... Alan Alder, 'hot lips' etc.
 
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