Northern Irish Brewbot toasts international success

Brewbot, the smart brewing technology created by Cargo Design in Belfast, is now winning export business in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Taiwan.

The company, which has created a unique craft brewing system that is controlled by a computer and can be monitored and managed by smartphone, has won £200,000 worth of business from customers in export markets. It brings home brewing into the high-tech age.

Jonny Campbell, Brewbot Design Lead, says: "What our technology does is to make it possible to brew consistently high quality beer at home with the help of a smartphone app.

"Our technology takes all the hassle from craft brewing such as water measurements, timing and temperatures and enables brewers to control the process effectively using the mobile internet. Our package includes advice on recipes and ingredients and guidance on the brewing process from start to finish.

"It's the result of our own interest in and experiences from brewing our own beers at home. What we have done is to use the knowledge and expertise from our day jobs as mobile software developers to create an easy-to-use, controlled brewing process using the latest sensor technology.

"We also focused on designing a compact micro brewery that looks well and isn't out of place in the corner or a kitchen or study. It fits perfectly at sporting, leisure and musical events.

"A measure of the market's confidence in the technology is the £115,000 backing from enthusiasts using Kickstarter crowd funding platform.

"There's a mass of information on brewing around the web but it's difficult to understand. We saw that there was an opportunity provided by people who wanted to brew but just couldn't get started. We aimed to create something that would be easy to understand and would give them a head start," he adds.

Brewbot was launched in 2013 by the Cargo team, based at Exchange Place in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter, comprising founder Chris McClelland, Jonny Campbell, Keenan Graham, Matthew Dick, Ali Sisk and Aaron Gilmore.