Pico C Manual Brew

[malenightingale31]

I just received my Pico C and was anxious to get started brewing. I brewed a simple ale just to test the system. Their beta software had my OG at 1.046 and it came in at 1.033. My crush should have been good for a biab style system. Has anyone else brewed with the manual setting on the C yet? I am not sure I am going to keep this system if this is the product it will produce.

 

[MGamber]

I just received my Pico C and was anxious to get started brewing. I brewed a simple ale just to test the system. Their beta software had my OG at 1.046 and it came in at 1.033. My crush should have been good for a biab style system. Has anyone else brewed with the manual setting on the C yet? I am not sure I am going to keep this system if this is the product it will produce.

My first manual batch had the same disappointing result but I noticed that a LOT of grain was never actually in the water because of the bag. The batch I did, I used a BIAB bag slightly larger than the step filter and dumped the grain into that instead of using a small bad as before. The results were much better going from (as best I can recall) from about 55% to 70% efficiency. Got the bag a the local homebrew shop with minimal expense, given it a shot. I believe it was something like 19x21 inches.

 

[malenightingale31]

Thanks for the info. I will give that a try.

 

[valestij]

Do you guys add any minerals to the grain since the machine uses distilled or RO water? I noticed the pico paks have minerals added; so didn't know what other people are doing on the manual brews.

 

[malenightingale31]

Do you guys add any minerals to the grain since the machine uses distilled or RO water? I noticed the pico paks have minerals added; so didn't know what other people are doing on the manual brews.

I do not add anything since I am using tap water. I will descale every 20 brews or so.

 

[suds_zville]

Does anyone have any updates on their results from manual brewing on the Pico-C?
Thanks!

 

[malenightingale31]

Does anyone have any updates on their results from manual brewing on the Pico-C?
Thanks!

Just did a double brew session yesterday. I made a Kentucky Common and an ale. Process was pretty smooth. This machine is loud though.

I did finally taste my simple ale from my first brew with the system. I did not check final gravity but the beer tasted ok. I bottle conditioned and think perhaps I used to much sugar. The taste came out pretty sweet.

When these next two batches are done, I will lower the amount of sugar and see what happens. This is also the first time I have used slurry from a previous beer. We shall see.

 

[malenightingale31]

Both brews are bubbling away with the pitched slurry. I cannot wait to see the flavor it provides.

 

[malenightingale31]

Tasted beers while bottling and the Kentucky Common had an absolute awesome flavor. I cannot wait to get it conditioned to see what it is really like.

 

[RPFenner]

Has anyone tried doing a gallion instead of five liters? Any issues using less water than what's listed in the manual brewing guide?

 

[Sebastian Weetabix]

Well, the only issue I would have is less water means less beer!
If you’re trying to concentrate your wort, you would be better served
using the five liters and adding a pound of lme to the water before you add it to the step filter.
Once mixed, just pour that over the grain bag and Follow the instructions for your recipe.

Hope this helps!

 

[RPFenner]

Well, the only issue I would have is less water means less beer!
If you’re trying to concentrate your wort, you would be better served
using the five liters and adding a pound of lme to the water before you add it to the step filter.
Once mixed, just pour that over the grain bag and Follow the instructions for your recipe.

Hope this helps!

Thanks! I thought about that. Unfortunately, I don't have any LME handy. I have DME. Maybe I can make LME from the DME. As far as the amount of beer, I have a 5 gallon electric setup. I just wanted to use this for small batch experimentation.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Knightshade]

DME works too. They include it in some of their PicoPaks. I had to use some this past weekend to bring my OG up. It was waaaay off.

And you should be fine just doing a gallon. I used my Pico to warm up a gallon of apple juice (minus a pint) with brown sugar, then pushed it back into the glass gallon jug.

Think the only thing I’d be worried about is having enough liquid to cover the grains.

 

[RPFenner]

Thanks everyone!

 

[macgyuver]

Well we knew it was coming....
https://thespoon.tech/rest-in-peace...lkgFAWuvqwN_AUzzz7CXUoyHmr_EZcNoyJO4DJtZwH1gc