The many pieces of the PicoBrew Pico -- a beer-making robot

For $800, the PicoBrew Pico will automatically make beer for you. Order ingredients from PicoBrew's website. They come in sealed packs called PicoPaks, and PicoBrew offers a wide variety of beers from many different microbreweries. PicoPak in hand, put it into the machine and hit start.

Though getting started is relatively simple, using Pico involves a lot of pieces other than the main contraption. Keep the instruction manual handy.

Here's the PicoPak for Buffalo Sweat -- an oatmeal stout from Tallgrass Brewing. We put it into the plastic bin, which then slides into the Pico.

The bin clicks into place once you push it all the way into the machine.

At that point, the Pico will actually recognize the PicoPak.

You even tinker with the brew based on your preferences.

Using a simple sliding scale, you can make your beer more or less bitter, and even adjust its alcohol content.

You'll need to fill the Pico with distilled water, then attach the brewing keg to get started.

The Pico's valves snap into place on the brewing keg.

When it looks like this, you're ready to brew.

The display on the Pico will keep you updated on your progress.

The display updates as it goes through the different stages of brewing.

You'll see the different steps as well as the estimated time remaining on the display.

You can also monitor your beer's progress online.

After the brew, we opened up the PicoPaks and found the ingredients we'd hoped for -- this large pack contains malted grains.

The smaller side pack contains hops.

Between brews, you'll need to disassemble your brewing keg by removing the valves.

Make sure to keep the pieces where you can find them while you clean. Don't lose anything.

After you brew, you'll need to add yeast and wait for it to ferment, then move your beer to a serving keg and carbonate it. Pico helps with this last step -- called racking -- and includes the ingredients for every step.

After a couple of weeks, your beer will be fermented and carbonated, and it's ready to drink.

The Pico makes 5L of beer, which roughly equals 14 bottles.

It might not be as fast a Keurig is for coffee, but the PicoBrew Pico replicates a natural brewing process and offers a wide variety of beers you can brew. You might be able to brew beers with Pico that you wouldn't normally find in your state.