Business Update - August 2021

In the past months, we’ve been working hard to finish the production of batches 3 and 4, planning Batch 5, and releasing software updates.

Shipping Update (Batch 3 + 4)

It's been a challenging time for production and delivery and we realize these delays are disappointing to our waiting customers. We're very grateful for your patience and we're happy to announce that we're very close to receiving new products soon! 

Batch 3 and 4 production was finished in the 3rd week of July.  Usually, it takes 2-3 days to book a container and when it leaves the harbor, but right now, waiting times have risen to weeks rather than days, and the prices are skyrocketing.

Currently, two containers are on the way to Europe. On August 16th, the first boat left the harbor with our container filled with over 200 Craft machines and 81 Smart Kegs. On August 26th, the second boat left the harbor with a container filled with 300 Smart Kegs.

First boat on the way. The next port of arrival is Suez Canal on September 4th, before it arrives in Rotterdam.

The journey to Rotterdam harbor takes about 3 weeks, and our containers are estimated to arrive at Rotterdam port roughly on the 10th and 20th September. When it arrives at the port in the Netherlands, we need to clear the goods with Dutch customs and transport the container to our warehouse. From there, we will ship to you within a few days.  Just to be clear  Any order made before May 27th, 2021, we’re then able to deliver. 

In the upcoming days, we'll send out an email to make sure you’re at home and that your address hasn't changed in the meantime. Please be aware that we need your confirmation and that we don’t ship until we've received your reply.

Production Update (Batch 5)

Our manufacturing team is working on the next batch and they’ve received the materials to get the production going. The first steps are taking. Our goal is to produce 250 Crafts and 375 additional Smart Kegs.

We expect to finish production at the end of September and are able to ship the product at the end of October from our warehouse in the Netherlands to you. In this batch, we will also ship a container to Sweden due to the growing demand in the Nordics. This will be our first container that goes outside of the Netherlands. We're very proud and grateful for the growth of our community in the Nordic countries!

Software Updates

Our software team has been working steadily on releasing new features and updating the user actions that guide you through the brewing process. The following things have been released:

• We’ve fixed some broken links in the website and user actions
• Some changes to the App, including adding more information about the mashing and boiling phases. 
• Some changes to the Pro Membership, including updating the instructions and advice for Primary fermentation and improving the formatting of text in the user actions. 

Our Help Center got a major makeover in terms of design and we’ve added new articles; for example “How can I better carbonate my beer?” - feel free to let us know what you think in the comments of our makeover!

The new help center to find all your answers to brewing, order, and hardware-related questions. 

Amongst other things, the team is currently working on the Pro Membership notification system and a new way of buying your membership subscription. We noticed that lots of people get a reminder to extend the subscription, but actually need to buy another code. This will be improved in the future. Next to that, new users as well members with expired subscriptions will get the first month for free. After the first month, either your monthly or annual subscription starts.

Sneak peek of the new setup

Brew Contest Hosted by MiniBrewers

Event company STAL, Bunk Hotel, and the administrators of the Unofficial Minibrew Facebook community: Frederik, Richard, and Eelco will organize a Brew Contest organized on September 24 in Utrecht. 

All MiniBrewers are invited to participate by submitting a beer based on a recipe from brewery de Leckere. The recipes, a Saison and Neipa, can be found in the Community section of the Pro-membership. If you are not yet a Pro Member, buy a code at our Shop. If you want to bring just your Smart Keg with a totally other beer, that’s fine too. However, that recipe will not participate in the brewing contest. 

The challenge is to make the recipes your own. Use local ingredients. You can tweak all ingredients except the yeast. You can participate by yourself or with someone else. Two submissions per person or team are allowed in total (they can be the same beer style or different. On September 24th, there will be a tasting session to enjoy each other's beer and judge the best recipe at STAL in Utrecht.

The winning recipe will be transformed into a MiniBrew Brew Pack. You will get 30% royalty from MiniBrew on each recipe sold. Next to that, you will brew your recipe with brewing master Anne Rijsterborgh, the brewmaster of de Leckere, on a large scale in order to serve your recipe as a beer at Bunk Hotel.

Next update

In the next update, we will share more about the delivery schedule as we know exactly when the containers will arrive.  We hope you enjoyed this update. If you have any remarks, please let us know in the comments. Thank you as always, and keep MiniBrewing!

Cheers

MiniBrew Team