Rynolee
Active Member
I have had my Picobrew Z1 for about 2 months now and just finished a second brewing session with poor OG and clarity. (Kolsh and Coconut Porter). I primarily brew on a half barrel rig and have tons of experience getting spot-on results but wanted a small system to test batches before ramping them up to scale; however, the Z1 appears to have an efficiency monster hiding inside it that worries me. I plan out my recipes in Beer Smith and transfer them over to the Pico Crafter Beta and in both sessions, I missed my OG by 10 and 19 points, respectively. Holy Sh*t!
I'm not giving up but want to understand where the miss is. Grain crush, amount and water is perfect. The only thing I can think of is a less than desired mash due to default settings and plan on tweaking the advanced settings to get better results. Both batches used the standard single-infusion mash, which is where I think the issue is.
These are my 2 advanced recipes in editor (so far):
Heat to Single Step Infusion Mash - Pass Through - 154 degrees - 0 Min
Single Step Infusion Mash - Mash - 154 degrees - 90 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Out - Pass Through - 168 degrees - 0 minutes
Mash Out - Mash - 168 Degrees - 20 minuets - Drain (8)
BOIL
-AND-
Heat to Dough In - Pass Through - 104 degrees - 0 Min
Dough In - Mash - 104 Degrees - 20 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Alpha - Pass Through - 145 degrees - 0 Min
Mash Alpha - 145 Degrees - 30 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Beta - Pass Through - 154 degrees - 0 Min
Mash Beta - 154 Degrees - 60 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Out - Pass Through - 168 degrees - 0 Min
Mash Out - 168 Degrees - 20 minutes - Drain (8)
BOIL
Will these steps work in the way I intend them to work? Do you think my OG will be more accurate if basing it on 65% efficiency using these settings instead of the basic single-step?
I'm not giving up but want to understand where the miss is. Grain crush, amount and water is perfect. The only thing I can think of is a less than desired mash due to default settings and plan on tweaking the advanced settings to get better results. Both batches used the standard single-infusion mash, which is where I think the issue is.
These are my 2 advanced recipes in editor (so far):
Heat to Single Step Infusion Mash - Pass Through - 154 degrees - 0 Min
Single Step Infusion Mash - Mash - 154 degrees - 90 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Out - Pass Through - 168 degrees - 0 minutes
Mash Out - Mash - 168 Degrees - 20 minuets - Drain (8)
BOIL
-AND-
Heat to Dough In - Pass Through - 104 degrees - 0 Min
Dough In - Mash - 104 Degrees - 20 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Alpha - Pass Through - 145 degrees - 0 Min
Mash Alpha - 145 Degrees - 30 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Beta - Pass Through - 154 degrees - 0 Min
Mash Beta - 154 Degrees - 60 minutes - Drain (8)
Heat to Mash Out - Pass Through - 168 degrees - 0 Min
Mash Out - 168 Degrees - 20 minutes - Drain (8)
BOIL
Will these steps work in the way I intend them to work? Do you think my OG will be more accurate if basing it on 65% efficiency using these settings instead of the basic single-step?