PicoBrew Zymatic

You would need to program in a third hop addition for the adjunct just make up a hop addition and use the adjunct instead

 

Ok, so the adjunct feature on the recipe creator doesn't do anything? Just for keeping track?

 

Yes

 

Can you have two profiles set up on the machine? I want one for personal brewing and one for making professional recipes if I go down that path.

 

I'm pretty sure you can't, but can you elaborate on what specifically you want out of the two profiles? I'm assuming it's just not wanting your commercial PicoPaks saying "Made by Username9712". If that's all, just make your one username your "official" one. You're in full control over what's public and private and what recipes Pico's site pushes to your Z when you click Brew at any given time, so I'm really not sure what you need to achieve that wouldn't work with just a single profile.

 

After 23 days in primary, I finally got around to transferring my first batch of Pico Pale Ale from the 5 gallon brew/primary fermentation keg to a 3 gallon serving keg. During the last 3 days of primary, I dry hopped using 19 grams of Cascade pellets in a 300 micron stainless steel keg dry hop filter.

My serving keg was purged with CO2 and I connected the two liquid out posts with the ball lock to ball lock jumper line that came with the Zymatic. I set my CO2 regulator to about 3 PSI and connected it to the fermentation keg. Even when I "burped" CO2 from the serving keg, I couldn't get the liquid to move until I had raised the CO2 up to about 20 PSI. The bottoms of both kegs were at the same height and I was thinking it would take no more than about 5 PSI. What would cause this? Perhaps a partial clog in the liquid out of the fermentation keg?

 

"burping" the serving keg after it is already pressurized is not sufficient to push liquid into it. The moment liquid moves up the keg post in the ferment keg it is pressurizing the serving keg and thus slowing or stopping transfer. The liquid is displacing CO2 in the serving keg which doesn't have much head room. This builds up quite a bit of pressure.

I pull the release valve up and lock it up on the keg I am transferring to. You don't have to worry about much oxygen getting in there really, the heavier than air CO2 will be sitting in the keg and stay there as beer comes in and displaces it.

You could have also had a small clog in the ball lock as after all stuff is fermenting in there and now has stuff in it. usually I give the keg a 10psi blast and walk away

 

I have found the following things work for transferring from fermenting keg to serving keg:

- Raise the fermenter bottom above the top of the serving keg. Once you get flow, it should continue.
- If you do not get flow, your poppets or line out may be clogged. I have rigged my regulator with a tee and have a liquid out QD attached to one of the tees. When I suspect a clog, I push it out with CO2.
- If that fails, you could have a really bad dip tube clog and you might have to remove it to clear.
- If you use mesh bags or even stainless steel tubes, they can block the flow. Bags can get sucked into the tube and clog so I do not use them anymore.
- I bought extra line out dip tubes and cut the ones in my fermenters by at least an inch to avoid some of the trub and hop matter.

Hope this helps!

 

"Burping" might not have been the right term. I thought I'd allowed all the excess pressure to escape from the serving keg each time, but it's possible I hadn't as I was being excessively cautious as I didn't want oxygen ingress.

I intended to get a height differential between the kegs, but the liquid out jumper line was too short to accommodate it. That's on my list of things to change for next time.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Hi all, just picked up a Zymatic used and have been wading through old posts for info here. Can't wait to get started!

One thing I'm looking for more info on is any tips on brewing hazy ipas that are specific to NEIPAs on the zymatic. Can you all share your tips or experience?

Top of mind so far as I think about translating recipes from 5G RIMS setup to Zymatic:

I assume for Whirlpool additions I can just do this in the output keg before cooling? Will there be clogging if I don't bag the hops?

Also, for fermentation, any issues with fermentation in keg or 3g batches and headspace, particularly given NEIPA is very sensitive to oxygen? I've been looking at the SS Brew bucket mini and the add-on to transfer via pressure to another keg for secondary as a good way to handle this, but would love any advice.

 

Yeah, you definitely want to bag the hops

 

Anyone ever do a red stripe clone?

 

The majority of my Zymatic brews have been IPAs. Whirlpools have just been a PITA to get the programming right so I stole someone's idea of having a whirlpool only brew and have been doing that for the last half dozen brews. They keep saying they'll update the recipe crafter, but been waiting for a LONG time. I put the WP hops into one of these http://a.co/e6GuDby into the keg after the boil. You could also bag them in paint strainer bags. I suspend via dental floss wrapped around the keg post just so I can pull it out, but probably don't need to do that.

I recently brewed a version of this http://www.alesoftheriverwards.com/2017/06/oat-milk-neipa.html with that oat milk from the grocery store. It came out great, but a bit bitter. I'll be scaling back or even killing the bittering hops entirely and a tiny bit of the dry hops, but will keep going to tweak the recipe. Very close to Trillium type beers.

I've fermented in the 5gal keg and my SS Brewtech Brewbucket Mini's and I like the mini's better. I have a saison in one now. I've only ever had blowoff problems with Kölsch yeast(a hoppy Kösch.) However, I've never gone above 2.75gal for a batch, plus yeast starter. If you are using a BB mini, just toss in the dry hop pellets and when you cold crash for a few days, they drop. Make sure you have an auto-siphon though as when I brewed the Oat Milk, there was so much dry hops it clogged the racking thing.

Feel free to PM me any questions.

 

Just about any light lager recipe will work for that.

 

Brewed a Congress Street clone on the Z about 2 weeks ago...it is so close to the real thing that I don't think I could tell the difference! This beer came out fantastic, sticky as hell, aromatic, hoppy, and delicious. I love fermenting in the keg with a spunding valve, as all I have to do now is chill and serve as the beer is naturally carbonated.

 

Recipe please!

 

Question for all you knowledgeable Z users out there. I am looking into buying a used Z, but it is one shipped in 2015, Lightly used. What, if any are the differences in the 2015 models with the currently shipping 2017 models? Thanks for the insight.

 

The only real change I know if is a minor change to the step filter, switching from a solid "cross bar" between the hop side & the mash side to one that has drilled holes & silicone stoppers. There are arguments on both sides as to which is the better design, and I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it.

Otherwise, no changes to my knowledge.

 

Might be easier said than done. I have a recipe in beersmith:

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
2.18 ml Phosphoric Acid (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
1.27 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 -
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 72.2 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 5 15.0 %
6.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.5 %
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (15.0 SRM) Grain 7 4.5 %
0.75 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 8 55.6 IBUs
5.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9 3.8 %
1.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
0.5 pkg London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318) [124.21 ml] Yeast 11 -
0.45 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Other 12 -
1.00 oz Zythos [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
2.50 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

Some things to note. I use the Advanced Editor and did a rest at 146 and 157, each for 30 minutes. I dry hopped at day 3 of fermentation and left the hops in the fermenter the entire time (including the WP hops). I water purged a serving keg and pressure transfer from the spunded fermenter keg to the serving keg. I always do a starter, so ignore the amount of yeast above.

 

I'm new to the Z and is the beersmith worth it? I can't find many Z recipes.

 

Since I have all my recipes on Beersmith, I continue to use it. It also scales recipes down to the Z level well and does a better job at predicting OG and % alcohol. So if you dump in the equipment profile for the Z, it is pretty easy to use Beersmith for recipe creation and history. You should also then be able to take any 5 or 10G homebrew recipe you find and scale it down to work on the Z (or take a recipe you designed on the Z and scale it up!). I am sure there are other ways to do this, but this is how I do it since I purchased Beersmith many years ago...

 

I'm assuming you are not new to brewing, but just the Zymatic. Beersmith is def worth it as you can use it with the Zymatic and almost anything else. The next version should be coming soon too.

 

I am NEW to making beer and would like to start. I have been reading about the Pico and the Zymatic. Both seem to do the same thing. Make beer. However, for a newbie which one should I purchase? Can I store my beer in small oak barrels with either one? I ask because a friend waaaaay back used a Jack Daniels Barrel to make beer and it was REALLY good.

 

I have both and also brew bigger sized batches on more traditional equipment. I've only brewed 1 batch on the Pico so far and it is definitely easier, but... you only get to brew what they give you. Granted you can do a PicoPak for the Pico, but the options in it are very limited as of right now. That could be good if you want to start off slow and learn. For $2K, the Zymatic seems like a system that's good for someone with some experience first. If you are really set on getting one of these, I'd go with a Pico, maybe do some BIAB batches if you want more than what they are giving you and decide if what you get out of the customizability of BIAB is something that's good for you. If so, maybe the Zymatic is right for you.

About the JD barrels, if you can get a 2gal barrel maybe, but I wouldn't bother. There are a lot of experts out there on wood and barrel aging beer, but I'd just think about adding some oak cubes soaked in JD at first or something along those lines. Something easier than an actual barrel. A typical barrel is 55gal, which is a ****-ton of Zymatic batches and super ****-ton of Pico batches.

 

Thank you sir. This looks tasty.

 

Anytime! If you brew it post back some notes on what you think...cheers!

 

I bought a used Picobrew.. but can't figure out how to unregister from the past owner. Anyone figure that out and can share to save me from contacting support? Or do I need to do that?

 

Send an email to [email protected] explaining the situation. The support guys are pretty good and will guide you through.

 

I did the same thing. Reach out to support. They'll try to contact the previous owner to make sure they're OK with deregistering it, and once they have confirmation will register it to your picobrew account. For me it was a very fast (<2 hours) process.

 

Question on the drain/pause option. I was brewing tonight and about 20 minutes into the heat to mash, I realized I forgot to put my spoons on the top screen. So I used the drain/pause option for the first time, it drained for at least 5 minutes after it was empty, but never paused. I only had an option to continue or exit brew, the pumps kept pumping air. When I chose continue it just went back to heat to mash. So I drain/paused again and pulled the step filter out with the pumps running, added my spoons, reinserted and continued on fine. Is this how the drain/pause works or am I missing something? I assume you don't want to remove the step filter with pumps running, but not sure.

 

Is there a Picobrew Zymatic forum or facebook group? I have some questions that I am sure have been asked a thousand things.

 

There is a Forum on the Picobrew site, only for owners of their products, and There is a Facebook group, but again I think it is limited to owners or those who recently purchased.

 

There a picobrew Facebook group but it's full of questions on the pico and not the Zymatic which makes it pretty useless IMO.

 

Still plenty of Zymatic users and posts in that group, you can just filter by the hashtag if you don't want to just scroll past.

 

Good tips, I will try that thanks!


Another newbie question: Is the anti-foam specific to what's sold by Picobrew or will any antifoaming agent work (e.g. FermCap S)?

 

Does anyone ever have foam problems with their Z? I have yet to see any foam exit the keg into the trap...maybe it is just the styles I am brewing? I usually do really full loads or grain and 3+G of water.

 

I've had foam out the trap on all 3 of my batches so far. Each time it has happened after the mash during heat to boil.

 

I'm only on batch 4, but no foam so far. The last 3.5 gallon (4.36 starting) I did definitely filled all the headspace with foam and I had to use a (sanitized) spoon to scoop a bunch out before I could pitch, but the trap has been clean every time. Distilled modified to Br'un profiles, 20-30m chills.

 

Any anti-foam brand will be fine...I bought a big bottle of germ cap-S and it's fine

 

In my experience the foam only becomes an issue with chilling over 30 mins or so. Other than that I only occasionally have seen anything at all in that trap