Business Update - Jan 2024

We are thrilled to share that new deliveries have been made, mass production of GEN 3 is well underway and software will get a much needed upgrade.

GEN 3 Assembly Update

In December, we reached yet another significant milestone as both the factory and the MiniBrew team declared the second lot a success. Building on the momentum outlined in the December blog post, we are thrilled to announce that the mass production of GEN 3 is now well underway.

Our manufacturing team commenced operations on January 15, 2024, with the ambitious goal of filling up at least two containers of products before the month's end.

The manufacturing team decided to focus first on making 220-240V units as the majority of pre-orders are from Europe or other countries with the same electricity network. The 110V is planned after Chinese New Year. Here's a quick update on our sub and main assembly process.

Sub Assembly of GEN 3 devices

Main assembly of GEN 3 devices

Smart Keg assembly of GEN 3 devices

Box assembly of GEN 3 devices

Final result of GEN 3

Since November 30 2023, the GEN 3 has been put through extensive testing. The Quality Assurance team is brewing 24/7 nonstop. This means 6 sessions a day for the last 61 days. This is over 366 sessions. We are excited to share that GEN 3 passed all tests. If you brew 366 times, this will take you 15 years - when you brew twice a month.

Check of Life test of GEN 3 devices by Rolf / Steven

USA Production & Certification

Since the end of November 2023, we've been in contact with UL, a safety certification agency for the USA market with an office in Hong Kong. Steven (right), our sourcing engineer, and Bart (CEO) visited their office to discuss the certification status.

The preliminary research looks promising. We need to change a few parts (fuse on heater, pump, hop motor and power plug/ adaptor) in the machine /keg to get the following certification level UL1082 for USA and CSA60335-1 / 2-15 for Canada Market.

However, a new requirement has come to surface, one not necessary for the EU market — a separate certification for a pressurised vessel with thickness over 6 inches diameter and high pressure of max 60psi. 

To address this, we reached out to ASME for assistance with certification. On their website, the timeline is stated as 4-6 months. Without UL and ASME certification, we are not able to ship an USA version. This is a huge setback. Our manufacturing team reached out to ASME to discuss the case as high pressure kegs are a common item in the USA. We are checking ASME terms and conditions to understand if our product is part of exception rule In parallel, our manufacturing team will work on the USA version after CNY. 

GEN 3 Planning Update

First round - GEN 3 - Production November '23

In November, as you know communicated in our blog post of November , we successfully produced the first batch of GEN 3 units, and to ensure timely delivery. The shipment has been split between air and sea freight. People that required priority will be part of this shipment.

• The first air shipment of GEN 3 units arrived in mid-December, and all these units have already been dispatched to user with priority requests.
• The remaining units, produced in November, reached Rotterdam Port by sea on January 31, 2024, aboard vessel ONE INSPIRATION  VOY:V.001W)

Container shipment tracking

After arriving at Rotterdam port, the goods will go through clearance procedures before being transported to our warehouse in Zoetermeer. Following this, the units will be bundled with brewpacks and a starter pack before being dispatched. This process might take up to a week.

Our dedicated support team will be reaching out to customers to confirm addresses and ensure a smooth delivery process.

Second round - GEN 3 - Production December '23

In December, we successfully completed the production of the second batch of GEN 3 units. We once again opted to split the shipment between air and sea freight. People that required priority will be part of this shipment.

• By mid-January '24, another air shipment arrived. These GEN 3 units have been successfully shipped to customers.
• The remaining units from the December production, transported by sea and scheduled to arrive at Rotterdam Port (aboard vessel Zenith LUMOS 014W) on March 1st, 2024.

Container shipment tracking

Third round - GEN 3 -  (Mass) Production January '24

Given the ongoing mass production, we've transitioned offering sea shipments only.

• These containers include over 408 GEN 3 units and 320 kegs, fulfilling nearly all outstanding orders up to SH-5312 (excluding Asia, Australia, US/Canada orders).
• This means we can fulfil pre-orders and recent orders within the timeframe recently communicated on our website (February / March). 
• Our support will contact you to verify your address once the container has almost arrived (first week of March).

Two containers have been confirmed, expecting delivery mid March aboard vessel OOCL INDONESIA 027W.

Container shipment tracking

The remaining production and shipment will resume after Chinese New Year (starting February 27, 2024). We appreciate your patience and commitment as we work diligently to fulfil and deliver your orders.

Software Update

On Friday, January 26, 2024, our software development team discussed the required next steps for 2024. In this call, we concluded that an upgrade of several cloud elements is necessary, including our broker, monitor system, certification keys, and our back-end.

Additionally, migration from AWS to a local server is in progress. Before we start with short adjustments in the pro-membership/app, such as releasing Android and adding a search function in pro-membership, as well as temperature control during fermentation/serving, we must complete these cloud upgrades.

In the long term, changes are required for the rebuild of our offering. One of the main goals is to have a single point of contact where either a user with brewpack or extensive recipes knowledge can start brewing for free. We are considering turning the paid-membership into a brewing subscription club with either access to shipping brewpacks or access to a library of 13,000+ recipes. 

CES2024

As some of you may have seen on Facebook, Exobrew showcased MiniBrew at CES. This has garnered significant interest from the press, including Engadget, Gizmodo, Yahoo, plus 5+ awards, and interest from major retailers. 

This marks a major step as involvement from major retailers can make the product more mainstream, accelerating development in our product offering.

Next update

In the next update, (planned for end January) we will share more information about the progress of GEN 3, and brew pack plans as new supplier will be added to our webshop. Thanks again for your patience. Please share any feedback/thoughts in the comments. Thank you as always, and happy MiniBrewing.

Cheers!

MiniBrew Team