Abstract: An appliance includes an appliance for the home-brewing of beer that includes a brewing unit including a heating unit, a recirculation pump, a first steeping chamber having an inlet and a flow-controlled outlet, a supply line in fluid communication with the inlet, and a collector in fluid communication with the outlet. The recirculation pump has a draw line in fluid communication with the collector. The appliance further includes a fermenting unit physically separate from the brewing unit and having a vessel adjacent a temperature control assembly. The fermenting unit is selectively fluidically coupleable with the brewing unit for transfer of fluid from the brewing unit to the fermenting unit and fluidically decouplable from the brewing unit.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for removing the first pouch from a stack of pouches includes apparatus adapted to bend an edge of the first pouch away from the second pouch of a stack to define a bent edge and a bend in the first pouch. The first pouch is then slid away from the second pouch to remove the first pouch from the plurality of adjacent pouches. This method allows the first pouch to be reliably separated from the second pouch by overcoming the various forces that typically cause adjacent pouches to cling to each other while stacked together.