Smartphone gadget turns fruit into alcohol

A new gadget, controlled by your smartphone, claims to be able to turn leftover fruit into mead, cider, or wine.

Using fruit, sugar, yeast and water, the device sends information on the mixture brewing to your smartphone, allowing remote changes to the alcohol content and sweetness to be made.

The temperature can also be monitored from the app, with a weight sensor in the gadget telling you exactly how much of each ingredient to put in.

Costing £400, the product, made by Alchema, claims to be “as easy as making coffee” and includes a built-in sanitiser. It aims to remove any margin for error when whipping up a home brew. Mixes take anywhere from one week to four months to prepare, depending on your desired end product.

If the mixture develops an issue, a notification is sent to the app so it can be corrected. The project was launched on Kickstarter at the end of july last year and is now available in North America and Taiwan.

Oscar Chang, CEO at Alchema, said: “What better way to reduce food waste at home then by turning leftover fruit into delicious hard cider or wine. The Alchema home cider making system is a great alternative to throwing away unused fruit.”