Hoppier Device - good or bad for the brewing industry?

[FatBrewer]

Came across this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...hoppiness.html

Any thoughts on if it will help or harm the craft brewing industry ?

[magnemelhus]

Looks like a black-box style randall... it's just a matter of time before whoever buys the concept and puts it into production makes it so that you can only use their proprietary 'hop capsules' with the thing; a beer serving gimmick a la Nespresso. Cute, but not exactly a threat to the industry, I would say.

[PRIBUS]

Hoppier Device

Well, isn't that nice... another engineer comes up with yet another way to take the craft out of craft brewing so anyone with no brewing knowledge whatsoever can adulterate the brews painstakingly crafted by skilled craftsmen and turn them into something that misrepresents what the craftsmen intended. And thank you so much for making it all the more difficult for craft breweries to distinguish themselves from their competitors by making it possible (theoretically) to turn North American Yellow Water into something that may actually taste good. Why would the uneducated palates of the world spend $4-$6 for a pint of good craft beer when they can have something disguised to taste like a good craft beer for half the price? And if anyone can do it, I guess we don't need craft beer or skilled craftsmen to brew it anymore, do we? Gee, isn't "progress" grand?

SOB (Sarcastic Opinionated Ba**ard)

[FatBrewer]

Well, I can't see how the device would work with a crap lager, if you add a ton of hops, you'll have a thin hoppy beer with no malt to carry it, Dead Pony Club is sort of like this (a highly hopped second runnings beer imo) and it's foul.

The only thing I can imagine is that a brewery would need to make some sort of "base beer(s)" which would carry the hops, which are then used with the machine (Light, Medium Dark). Granted, doesn't mean you'll have a good pint at the end. It is a delicate art to balance malt, hops and yeast to produce something fantastic.