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Very well said Lax Coach. I agree 100%. When I ordered it my wife was saying oh our machine is coming in July. I said I'd be surprised it shipped this year. I was right about it. Picobrew is not a new company anymore they should have done the research and had a machine near production before...

It is a far stretch to call an investment from the venture capital arm of the largest brewer in the world a "payday loan". Inbev wants to have their hands in everything so if the day comes that people stop drinking mass produced light lagers, they will be in the market.

I asked them about this in February as it is hard to keep the machine clean when you cannot access the inside parts with brushes and they said still no PBW as it is harsh on polycarbonates and soft plastics that they are still using. The step filter will still be PC, they are just molding it...

@ssbbeebe the unit has to be exactly level I find especially on grain bills that are on the larger side. Like if you have 8 lbs of grain in there and the machine is even a bit off level it is going to leak. Also the tips on checking the flow on recirc are good as well. But that won't show what...

They should just come straight out and say yeah we didn't really develop this much at all until we did the kickstarter, and it is coming out in March or whenever. My wife said in June oh your machine is coming in July. I told her I'd be shocked if it came this year! It looks like they are making...

Yes as a software developer I am pretty concerned about my machine 100% depending on a remote back end that isn't paid for via a subscription or whatnot. Because I know when something isn't paid for, one day it gets sunsetted. The machine can easily run a local web server to give you status and...

I was really underwhelmed too. This is even with no details really. The Z4 is absurd where it is essentially 4 Zymatics ganged together. How is someone going to chill 4 kegs. With that said I bought a Z2 because well I like my Zymatic, and would like to brew 5gal in one shot. If they improve on...

"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...

I used a tube cutter to make a second fermentation keg. Dremel will work too but it will not be as nice of a taper. The key with the tube cutter is to very gradually tighten it. Take more turns around it. It is not like cutting 3/4 copper pipe. I cut 1/2 inch off too.

When you get your Z, there is also a forum on PicoBrew that is helpful too. Just following the basics that are given in the https://picobrew.com/About/brewingvideos.cshtml videos is enough to do pretty much all you want to do including chilling with a coil chiller. I found it very easy to get...

If I am not making a high gravity beer I usually do a 3-3.5 gallon batch. These ferment well in the keg too with the rubber seal. I use exclusively 5 gallon kegs to store my beer, and one is usually filled with star-san as they are cheaper than the smaller kegs. I have a 1.6 gallon "Torpedo keg"...

The manual is not very good, it is better to check out the videos: https://picobrew.com/About/brewingvideos.cshtml. The answer is you use both wands and 2 buckets, no keg. If you had a spare keg around you could use it to hold some clean water for the black connector but it is not needed. Black...

No if you watch the cleaning video on: https://picobrew.com/About/brewingvideos.cshtml You will see that you should use both wands for rinsing. You put the black connector on a wand and insert it into a bucket with 2.5 gals or water. Then you put the wand on the gray connector and put it in an...

To avoid the awkward dump in the garbage, I just bring the whole step filter outside and dump it in a compost pile. Much easier. The bottom screen has a soft landing on a pile of spent grain I just pick it up. Also if you are dumping in the garbage the grain takes forever to cool down, and it...

It does take a long time, especially with the high efficiency mash (Dough in and mash out). Every step requires a drain and heat up/cool down. One thing you have to learn is to just leave it :) I sat at home watching it and waiting at first, but the best thing to do is go out and do some chores...

Supposedly when they improved the step filter (put the drain plugs in) it fixed the cracking issue that some including me had in the dishwasher. Apparently water was pooling in the area between the adjunct and grain compartments causing uneven heating and cracking. The plug holes drain this...

When it starts a step of your brew, push the knob. It will give you 3 options: Skip, Drain, exit brew. Do skip. Wait until it starts the next step... Repeat. When it finally reaches the step you want let it go. Don't pay too much mind to air, the gap etc. If you hit your gravity it worked :)...

Bottom rack is OK but make sure that it is not on sanitize wash (really hot heated wash). This will cause cracking or melting of the step filter in the bottom rack. I now don't wash my filter in the dishwasher at all just as a precaution. A simple rinse down and wipe works to clean it. It does...

How long was there the air gap for? This is normal when just soaking the mash or when draining. Eventually it should get to a point where the water is soaking through the mash, and excess water is overflowing through the pass through area. One think to check is if your inline filter is gummed...

The grain or keg capacity is not really the limiting factor, it is the power of the electric heater. The Zymatic would not be able to maintain boil temperature of the 6+ gallons needed for a 5 gallon batch. Also you would need a keg parka to fit the 10 gal keg. I have found the easiest way...