Homebrewing With AI and IoT For Precision and Control

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Aurelio Gonzalez

My journey into the world of brewing beer didn’t start in some fancy brewery—it all kicked off with a bit of luck and a whole lot of fun after catching a Chicago Bulls game with my mom and brother. You can just imagine my mom cheering the team on, sporting a Benny the Bull mask, and my brother and I, fueled by stadium beers, craving some grub at Lucky’s Sandwich spot in Wrigleyville. And that’s where we stumbled upon a brew called Anti Hero—and IPA that blew our minds.

I soon found myself eyeing a Mr. Beer. Kit, dreaming of brewing up my own magic at the same time my brother pursued larger brewing ambitions—he announced he’d be diving into the craft beer industry back in Mexico City. With his knack for design and branding, he quickly found success, and before we knew it, his operations in Querètaro started to bloom into a craft beer business. Although it was a team effort to make it work, we decided to close it after running into some local snags. It was disheartening after such a promising start.

Instead of quitting, my brother tried again. Persistence runs in our family. I backed up his decision to focus his ideas and business acumen into making Cerveceria Fausto in Monterrey, Mexico one of the best craft breweries in town.

Meanwhile, I found my groove as a homebrewer. Armed with a passion for tinkering and a dash of information technology experience, I began whipping up quality beers on an amateur scale. My local homebrew shop Perfect Brewing Supply fueled my obsession and North Urban Brewing Society (NUBS), the coolest brewing club around, offered incomparable support.

I’d found my tribe. I was juggling tech jobs by day and brewing up legendary liquids by night. Between coding and concocting suds, I saw an opportunity to automate the brewing process with cutting-edge information technology. Such an approach might one day be beneficial to my brother’s brewing operations at Cerveceria Fausto, but I needed to hone my process first.

Access the full article in the July/August 2024 Zymurgy Magazine.

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