BEERMKR

BEERMKR is a Boulder, Colorado consumer hardware company that developed an automated, app-controlled countertop beer brewing appliance for home use. The machine is an all-grain, Wi-Fi-connected system that handles mashing, fermentation and temperature and pressure control, producing roughly a gallon — about a 12-pack — of beer in approximately 12 days. Setup is described as taking about five minutes: the user adds grains and tap water to the top container and starts the machine, which mashes the grains over roughly 24 hours to create wort; the app then prompts the user to remove spent grains and add yeast and hops, after which the unit manages pressure and temperature for a further five to seven days. The finished beer is contained in a bag that is transferred to an included tap and carbonated with a CO2 cartridge.

The hardware combines temperature and pressure sensors, a thermoelectric heat exchange assembly, CO2 monitoring and cloud-connected notifications delivered through the BEERMKR mobile app. The system is built around a three-part consumable architecture (Brewtub, Brewbag and Wastebag) and is paired with MKRKITs — pre-measured recipe kits such as chocolate stout and New England IPA — while also allowing users to brew with their own ingredients or additions. Reported pricing has included a $579 bundle of machine, tap and one MKRKit on the company's own site, $15 per individual recipe kit, and separately reported pricing of $899 for a BeerMKR plus Beertap bundle and $149 for a standalone tap.

The company's public website has been placed behind a password-protected holding page stating that BEERMKR is under construction and that the current version of its operations is being closed for a period, with customers directed to a user-run Reddit community for support.

Founding story

The concept originated from a class project at Cornell University, where co-founders Aaron Walls and Brett Vegas met. Walls had begun homebrewing in college, and in an entrepreneurship class the pair developed their first product in 2013, the BrewJacket, a temperature-control device for homebrewers using their own fermentation tanks. After graduate school, finding it hard to fit the multi-week homebrewing process around work and family, they conceived a machine that would automate the process, recruiting Cornell-trained engineers Matt Goff and Evgeniy Tkachenko to help design it. The founding team spent several years on research and consultation with brewers before commercializing the device.

Business model

Direct-to-consumer hardware sales paired with recurring consumable sales: customers buy the brewing appliance and tap, then repeatedly purchase MKRKIT ingredient kits and disposable brewing bags, a razor-and-blades structure characterized as hardware plus subscription commerce.

Revenue comes from sales of the BEERMKR appliance and accessories such as the Beertap, plus ongoing sales of MKRKIT recipe kits priced at around $15 each. Reported pricing included a $579 machine-plus-tap-plus-kit bundle sold on the company site and an $899 BeerMKR + Beertap configuration, with the device reported to cost roughly $334-$375 to manufacture.

Traction

The 2018 Kickstarter raised $398,276 from about 1,000 backers and sold roughly 1,200 units, delivered in September 2020. The company reported 100,000 beers brewed by August 2021 and, per Built In, had sold thousands of machines by October 2021, at which point it had eight employees and expected to add five to ten more over the following year. A Shark Tank-focused publication reported annual revenue of $3 million and a founder-stated valuation of $1.9 million, and stated the company remained in business as of April 2024; that source also reported only 24 units shipped at the time of the pitch taping and limited customer feedback on Amazon.

Latest developments

The BEERMKR website now displays a password-protected holding page stating the company is undergoing significant changes and closing the current version of its operations for a period, and redirects customers seeking support to the r/Beermkr Reddit community and to a related design firm, Andesignlab. Caplight lists BEERMKR as a private company with no publicly available funding, valuation or investor information.