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