A few years ago, when I was working at a men’s publication, we received a smart beer-maker that promised to streamline the process of home brewing. It wasn’t easy to use, signalling a tech category still finding its feet. The results were uneven, and the verdict was simple. Home-brewing machines were not quite there yet.
Turns out that assumption didn’t age well.
iGulu has pushed ahead with what it calls the first true all-in-one brewing machine. The F1 Pro is designed to handle beer, cider, mead and even non-fermented drinks like kombucha and sparkling water. It feels ambitious. It actually works.
I have been using the F1 Pro for a few months. I have almost no background in brewing, yet the drinks I have made feel like something a confident home brewer would proudly hand over. In a country like Australia, where beer is practically a cultural staple, that ease could pull more people back into experimenting with brewing again.
Design
The iGulu F1 Pro looks like something a sci-fi prop designer would sketch. Smooth curves, textured finish, a compact body that hides more internal engineering than you expect. The touchscreen sits neatly on the front and presents step-by-step instructions in plain language. No jargon. No stress.
Inside is iGulu’s BrewOS system. This is the software layer that manages temperature, fermentation phases, carbonation and timing. You open the front hatch, slot in your keg, load your ingredients, and the machine takes over with clean, predictable consistency.
iGulu sells a surprisingly large range of ingredient kits, though I only worked with a few. The Pale Ale kit, Apple Hard Cider kit and Bavarian Hefeweizen kit arrived pre-measured with clear instructions. Everything is bagged, labelled and simple to follow. No worrying about sanitiser ratios or unusual measurements. I also received the Pressure Bottle Set, which lets you store or transport your brew without losing carbonation.
The last item in the box was the Master Mode Premium Card, which unlocks a deeper side to the machine for anyone wanting to really push their limits of creativity (and potentially turn this into a small business). More on that later.
Performance
This is where the F1 Pro earns its place. Brewing at home normally involves careful temperature control, endless cleaning and a willingness to suffer through failed batches. With the F1 Pro, the process is reduced to loading ingredients, filling the water tank, scanning a barcode and letting BrewOS handle the rest. It may seem intimidating at first, but it couldn’t be more straightforward.
The Pale Ale was my first attempt and set the tone. Clear, bright, pleasantly hoppy and clean. The stout-like depth I expected from the Bavarian Hefeweizen wasn’t there, because this style is lighter by nature, but the banana and clove notes came through properly. The Apple Hard Cider was the biggest surprise. Crisp, balanced, not overly sweet and with none of the harsh fermentation notes you sometimes get from homemade ciders.
Each batch took just over a week, with fermentation and carbonation happening entirely inside the machine. The app notifies you when phases change and when the brew is ready. You can adjust carbonation from the app, too. I raised the bubbles slightly on the Pale Ale and softened them for the Hefeweizen to match the style. Small tweaks, meaningful changes.
Master Mode sits outside the standard kit system. Once activated, it allows you to load your own ingredients and build a recipe manually. You set temperatures, fermentation length and carbonation targets. It is not as powerful as a full traditional homebrew setup, but it opens the door to experimentation. You can follow online recipes, try different hops or adjust bitterness levels without being locked into iGulu’s presets. It does require more knowledge, though. Beginners, like me, are better off sticking to the kits until more confidence sets in.
The few experimentations I did try felt too far short of the mark, so I found myself pretty much exclusively using the kits, which work incredibly well and don’t require much effort at all. If you know how to boil water, you know how to use this machine.
There are limitations worth mentioning. Each batch is only around four litres, so hosting a crowd means brewing more often or buying extra kegs. The first pour can be foam-heavy, especially if the keg has not chilled long enough. The machine cleans itself with a rinse cycle, although the keg lid, lines and pressure bottle parts still need a quick manual wash. Skip those, and you will see it in the pour.
Verdict & Value
The F1 Pro is not flawless. The batch size is small. The kits are convenient but create a semi-closed ecosystem unless you dive into Master Mode. The app can be slow to sync at times, as well. Although I’ve had no issues aside from speed.
Even with those drawbacks, the F1 Pro delivers something unusual. Brewing becomes approachable. It becomes tidy. It becomes a hobby you actually want to maintain rather than one you abandon after the first messy failure. The drinks taste proper, not like compromises.
For beginners, the F1 Pro is a confidence builder. For casual hobbyists, it is an enjoyable and surprisingly capable machine. For purists, it will not replace a full brew system, yet Master Mode gives just enough creative freedom to keep things interesting.
After months with it, the appeal is clear. The F1 Pro makes brewing feel achievable. It takes a complicated craft and lowers the barrier to entry without sacrificing flavour. That alone makes it worth the $999 price tag.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Exceptionally simple to use. Produces great-tasting results with little effort.
Lowlights: Can get expensive if you want to really unlock the full potential, slow at times, small batch size; learning curve if you want to experiment more.
You can grab the iGulu F1 Pro from JB Hi Fi for $999. Needless to say, it’s going to be a very popular Christmas gift this year as people start to seek something different.
