PicoBrew Pico users

[Lbarouf]

Speaking of promotional videos, does anyone know the backstory of what happened with Dogfish Head?

I wrote to Sam last year, and did not want to go over any details, it felt like he was uncomfortable about the subject so I have let it go. My educated guess is the profit sharing on the proceedings. Just a hunch though, I have no info to back this up.

 

[Denny]

So if I poured out all of the trub after racking into a container, and wanted to pitch 2 Pico batches from that trub, would half into each batch be an acceptable pitch rate?

Yeah, more than enough. I pitched 1/4 cup of WY1450 slurry into a Little RIPA kit and it worked great.

 

[Lbarouf]

Yeah, more than enough. I pitched 1/4 cup of WY1450 slurry into a Little RIPA kit and it worked great.

Any do's and dont's? When do you know that the yeast died and should not be reused, any signs?

 

[Island_Dan]

https://nuggetice.com/

This made me do a double take when it popped up on my facebook...

 

[jrb03]

https://nuggetice.com/

This made me do a double take when it popped up on my facebook...

Lol ya me too!

 

[Denny]

Any do's and dont's? When do you know that the yeast died and should not be reused, any signs?

It's kinda an experience thing. But I've reused slurry as much as 5 months old with no problem. Obviously if you open it and see fuzzy green stuff, you shouldn't use it! If it's much more than a month old I'll take a bit and make a new starter with it. Also, you can keep harvesting from each batch and then reusing that the next time. 5 reuses like that is perfectly normal and I've gone as high as 10. If you get poor performance on a batch, obviously you don't want top reuse that yeast. Start over the next time.

 

[Lbarouf]

It's kinda an experience thing. But I've reused slurry as much as 5 months old with no problem. Obviously if you open it and see fuzzy green stuff, you shouldn't use it! If it's much more than a month old I'll take a bit and make a new starter with it. Also, you can keep harvesting from each batch and then reusing that the next time. 5 reuses like that is perfectly normal and I've gone as high as 10. If you get poor performance on a batch, obviously you don't want top reuse that yeast. Start over the next time.

Wow, 10 batches. I should look at liquid yeast I guess.

 

[Mannhec]

Well I am pouring my first Deaf Turtle and it is really good. Maybe one of the best I have made, I accidentally popped it early but since I serve from a mini kegerator I was able to force carb it. I expected more hop but I am not a fan of over hopped beers. I am as we speak brewing a Freestyle "Mannhec's Mighty Stout" Flavors of citrus, floral and spice highlight this high-ABV deep black stout that is hefty and bitter.
IMPERIAL STOUT BASE RECIPE
ABV%
8.0
DEFAULT: 8.0 - 12.0
IBU
50
DEFAULT: 50 - 90
OG
1.078
DEFAULT: 1.075 - 1.115
FG
1.017
DEFAULT: 1.018 - 1.030
SRM
83
DEFAULT: 30 - 40
Wish me luck.

 

[Mannhec]

Oh, I used to do 5 gallon batches but that was just too much work for all grain, I do not have the time, in fact I quit and got rid of the equipment a few years ago, Pico got me interested again. With the mini-kegerator I have started playing with 3 gallon brew in a bag. I get the grain bill for 5 gallon do the math to make it 6 and measure and boil. Will keep ya posted how that goes. I can get 2 brews obviously from one grain bill, not saying it is cheaper but PICO packs are not as cheap as buying the brew from the store. It really is not the cost here but the fun of doing yourself.

 

[jrb03]

Abosolutely. Nobody homebrews to save money. I'm the same, got burned out on the big batches after years, and the Pico got me back into it. Loving the Pico so far, one day when the kids are older I'll get back into traditional brewing but this is perfect for me now.

 

[VagueSkunk]

It took 7-8 tries but I finally got a decent tasting batch out of the Pico. It actually tastes and smells like an IPA!
Of course, I had to use liquid yeast (WLP090) and dry hop using my own hops (had some Cascade in the freezer), but at least this batch is not something I'd be embarrassed to serve to people. So, a partial success.
The beer is a bit 'rough' tasting so I'm going to let it sit til next weekend before finishing it off.

 

[jrb03]

Well it looks like the Pico base will be growing healthily by the end of the year. The new Pico-c was fully funded on kickstarter in 7 hours! I'm looking forward to brew unlimited, I'm in for a year looks like a great deal.

 

[VagueSkunk]

Well it looks like the Pico base will be growing healthily by the end of the year. The new Pico-c was fully funded on kickstarter in 7 hours! I'm looking forward to brew unlimited, I'm in for a year looks like a great deal.

Dang dude, you're hardcore!
I'm already buying gear to move up to larger BIAB batches, waiting weeks for a mere 1.25 gallons has already gotten on my nerves.

 

[jrb03]

That's cool too. Been there done that all the cleaning, equipment and ingredient storage and long involved process got on my nerves, or rather grew old. The Pico is perfect for me now, I'm never waiting on anything have a pipeline going. But one day I'll probably get back into traditional brewing when the kids are older.

 

[Pelikan11]

I had an issue with mine not heating initially on brews after my second brew. I would have to go into the service menu and do a rotary pump check and run that. In fact I still do before every brew. I never had that rupture though so I guess I got lucky

 

[7rebun]

I'm never waiting on anything have a pipeline going.

When I saw that $500 option, I knew one person who would certainly be backing it Just thinking on that, with four brew kegs you could easily pipeline 8 picopaks a month (as long as somebody is around to help drink it!), or 96 a year. Every dinner party, picnic, BBQ, ect. That comes to about $1 a liter (minus electricity, distilled water, and the time spent cleaning). It goes without saying that offer does not apply to overseas users... I am jealous!

The Pico C cut a lot of corners to get the price down, but other than expedited cleaning I think the user experience is going to be worse. The serving kegs look the same, only this time they are not including a CO2 regulator (unless I missed something) which means keg conditioning, and then that awful dispensing plug, for a beer in two days that's flat. Maybe it is possible to use the new brew kegs in a ball-lock system with adapters?

 

[brew-in]

When I saw that $500 option, I knew one person who would certainly be backing it Just thinking on that, with four brew kegs you could easily pipeline 8 picopaks a month (as long as somebody is around to help drink it!), or 96 a year. Every dinner party, picnic, BBQ, ect. That comes to about $1 a liter (minus electricity, distilled water, and the time spent cleaning). It goes without saying that offer does not apply to overseas users... I am jealous!

The Pico C cut a lot of corners to get the price down, but other than expedited cleaning I think the user experience is going to be worse. The serving kegs look the same, only this time they are not including a CO2 regulator (unless I missed something) which means keg conditioning, and then that awful dispensing plug, for a beer in two days that's flat. Maybe it is possible to use the new brew kegs in a ball-lock system with adapters?

Yes they dis simplify it from the Pico S, however $279 is hard to argue with....

 

[VagueSkunk]

I had an issue with mine not heating initially on brews after my second brew. I would have to go into the service menu and do a rotary pump check and run that. In fact I still do before every brew. I never had that rupture though so I guess I got lucky

How does one get to the service menu?

 

[jrcrilly]

The serving kegs look the same, only this time they are not including a CO2 regulator (unless I missed something) which means keg conditioning, and then that awful dispensing plug, for a beer in two days that's flat.

Thye serving kegs are the same, they just aren't throwing in the CO2 regulator at the reduced price. You can still add one if you prefer.

 

[7rebun]

Thye serving kegs are the same, they just aren't throwing in the CO2 regulator at the reduced price. You can still add one if you prefer.

I see they responded that the new brew kegs won't work for forced carb dispensing, so the "if you prefer" option is all but mandatory for anyone who doesn't have a kegerator with 1.7 gallon kegs on standby. The time required to get a brew ready to drink without off-flavors (ie the disappointment we saw played out the last time around) is now 1 month+ with the basic kit, with the caveat you need to drain the 5L in a night for freshness. I guess if you intended just to binge drink on the weekend several of the brew + serving keg addons could manage a pipeline of sorts, but otherwise it makes the BrewUnlimited option almost pointless for anyone without the hardware we were able to get cheap (regulators, ball-lock kegs) during the last kickstarter.

 

[jrb03]

When I saw that $500 option, I knew one person who would certainly be backing it Just thinking on that, with four brew kegs you could easily pipeline 8 picopaks a month (as long as somebody is around to help drink it!), or 96 a year. Every dinner party, picnic, BBQ, ect. That comes to about $1 a liter (minus electricity, distilled water, and the time spent cleaning). It goes without saying that offer does not apply to overseas users... I am jealous!

The Pico C cut a lot of corners to get the price down, but other than expedited cleaning I think the user experience is going to be worse. The serving kegs look the same, only this time they are not including a CO2 regulator (unless I missed something) which means keg conditioning, and then that awful dispensing plug, for a beer in two days that's flat. Maybe it is possible to use the new brew kegs in a ball-lock system with adapters?

Well I'm spending $75-100 a month on packs right now and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon so it was easy for me to justify to myself to give this a try. As long as they keep their current lead and shipping times it should work great for me.

I have 5 Pico ball lock brew kegs I brew/ferment/serve from. I always have 2 fermenting and 2-3 carbing/serving. Every other Sunday I brew 2 packs while doing chores around the house. So with 4 brew kegs you could keep a crazy pipeline going, but you need the serving kegs too. Ya the Pico-c has the same serving keg included but no co2 adapter to keep cost down. They are for sale on the website if you want to use it. It makes sense to not include it standard because there are a lot of people like me who have never opened the serving or regulator included. Including the serving keg and sugar you can still call it a complete package. Then you have the choice of using proper ball lock kegs or buying the regulator and cartridges for serving.

The campaign is far from over. There will be other equipment packages offered and new reward tiers. Let's see what they have coming.

 

[7rebun]

I have 5 Pico ball lock brew kegs I brew/ferment/serve from. I always have 2 fermenting and 2-3 carbing/serving. Every other Sunday I brew 2 packs while doing chores around the house. So with 4 brew kegs you could keep a crazy pipeline going, but you need the serving kegs too.

If I were in your shoes I would grab two of the brewing keg bundles, ferment with those four (for the easy clean) and use the 5 ball-locks for carbing/serving. For beers like Not Yet-IE you could then keg condition for months in your ball-lock keg to mature the flavor without impacting your pipeline. If you have room in the kegerator, four or five on tap would be something even if going over four a month is too much for your needs!

 

[jrb03]

Now your talking

I have several other kegs from 2.5, 3, and 5 gallon, but I really like the Pico ball lock kegs and have only been using them. I may pickup a new Pico-c brew keg to check it out, but easier to clean isn't a big deal to me. After years of cleaning kegs the Pico keg is nothing to break down and clean. I don't see myself buying the 2 new kegs and 2 serving keg bundle. I don't need anymore of those serving kegs. I will keep watch, still waiting for more info on the new keg. The lack of ball lock fittings is a turn off to me. It also looks to be fast fermentation only which is fine with me.

 

[Anyhowe]

I have 4 brewing/ fermenting kegs. However they are really too small to ferment in as they always seem to blow over. Crap on the outside is more of a mess and pain than cleaning the inside with PBW. So now i ferment in 3 gal kegs (my normal Z serving kegs) and transfer to the smalll 1.75 to serve. cant see how the new kegs will help and the lack of ball locks to pressurize and transfer is a big negative. I only brew 2-3 PICOPACKS a month as the PICO is more of a novelty while I brew with the Z. So I was excited about a new kickstarter but will likely pass on every thing here this go around.

 

[jrb03]

Ugh what do you mean blowoff. I haven't had that since my first batch. Fermcap-s is a beautiful thing. Pico keg works great for fermentation,with a few drops of fermcap. I have bigger kegs but prefer the small size as they sit on my kegerator fermenting away and are quicker to clean.

 

[Pelikan11]

How does one get to the service menu?

Hold the knob down when you turn it on and you will get it

 

[Pelikan11]

I have 4 brewing/ fermenting kegs. However they are really too small to ferment in as they always seem to blow over. Crap on the outside is more of a mess and pain than cleaning the inside with PBW. So now i ferment in 3 gal kegs (my normal Z serving kegs) and transfer to the smalll 1.75 to serve. cant see how the new kegs will help and the lack of ball locks to pressurize and transfer is a big negative. I only brew 2-3 PICOPACKS a month as the PICO is more of a novelty while I brew with the Z. So I was excited about a new kickstarter but will likely pass on every thing here this go around.

I went ahead and got the kegs just to increase flow through the pipeline and use the ball locks for serving. I am annoyed I wont be able to use CO2 transfer anymore though.

 

[jrb03]

I went ahead and got the kegs just to increase flow through the pipeline and use the ball locks for serving. I am annoyed I wont be able to use CO2 transfer anymore though.

Co2 transfer is overrated, but saying that I still do it sometimes when convenient. I'm not worried we will find a way, another adapter to have around but if they don't give us a solution we will make one.

 

[brew-in]

iGulu appears to have an interesting keg. Screw off top for cleaning and one ball lock in the lid. I assume you serve out of a tap near the bottom of the keg. These can be had for $50 each with free shipping on their indiegogo sit.

Check out the end of this youtube video:

 

[Pelikan11]

Co2 transfer is overrated, but saying that I still do it sometimes when convenient. I'm not worried we will find a way, another adapter to have around but if they don't give us a solution we will make one.

Overrated is in the eye of the beholder. I've been homebrewing since 1995 and at this point something that allows me to clean one less piece of equipment and not screw around with siphoning is a good thing

 

[Pelikan11]

Question here for anyone who has used the serving kegs. Between Pico and my regular homebrewing my kegerator is at capacity. My Angels Belgian Blonde is going to have to go to a serving keg. I tried one of these in the past with not much success. Basically if I leave the CO2 attached, I get a geyser of foam even if I turn it way down from carb pressures. But the serving valve sucks and the beer goes flat. Anyone have some insight into making these things not awful

 

[jrb03]

Overrated is in the eye of the beholder. I've been homebrewing since 1995 and at this point something that allows me to clean one less piece of equipment and not screw around with siphoning is a good thing

I would never siphon lol. I'm only comparing it to using the Pico for transfer. When the Pico is already out and setup I use it to rack. Much less effort and cleanup. I haven't had any issue using the air since a Pico batch doesn't last long. But yes I agree I want to be able to use co2 also and if they don't give us a way I will make one.

 

[jrb03]

Question here for anyone who has used the serving kegs. Between Pico and my regular homebrewing my kegerator is at capacity. My Angels Belgian Blonde is going to have to go to a serving keg. I tried one of these in the past with not much success. Basically if I leave the CO2 attached, I get a geyser of foam even if I turn it way down from carb pressures. But the serving valve sucks and the beer goes flat. Anyone have some insight into making these things not awful

I've never used it to serve, but one guy I know uses it with success. His method is to carb at 12 psi on the regulator for about 5 days then he dials it down to ~3-5 psi, leaving it there until the keg kicks. First glass will be foamy then it settles down. Supposedly.

 

[jrb03]

Since you have kegerator I know your familiar with balancing system. Instead of longer beer lines some people use epoxy stirrers inline to cause restriction. I wonder if there is something you could put in the serving keg spout to restrict the flow. Some people report success with barely cracking the spout, but the method I posted above is what alot of people are doing now.

 

[Pelikan11]

Like Denny said a while ago, I just can't get comfortable pushing the beer with air. It just seems wrong lol. I know it's harmless. Some old dogmas die hard I guess

 

[Pelikan11]

This is exactly what i tried when I did use one but for whatever reason even when I dialed it back I still got foam city. Not sure what I did wrong. Luckily that was one of the full pack pitch cider bombs so I did mind just tossing it

 

[jrb03]

Hmm idk enough people on Facebook seem to slow carb and then dial back but I've never tried it. I think I will soon, gonna rack a lager and put it away for a while for grins. I know what you mean about co2 dogma, hence my overrated joke. I have always used co2 as well, but being as lazy as I am one day decided to try using the Pico. Worked fine and have used it more than co2 with Pico batches. I'm just more about letting the beginner know using the Pico is fine, don't feel like you have to buy extra equipment just to rack. If you already have a way to use co2 that's different.

 

[Geneticjim]

Idk if it's been posted but pico brew is on Kickstarter again with an inexpensive version

 

[7rebun]

Hmm idk enough people on Facebook seem to slow carb and then dial back but I've never tried it. I think I will soon, gonna rack a lager and put it away for a while for grins.

I will try this on my next few since I too have had nothing but trouble following the manual recommendation of 36 hours at ~24psi then pulling back to 3~4 PSI for dispensing. That approach leaves me with either geyser straight into the glass for foam city, or hard against the side for a pint that goes flat within 5 minutes. I also want to try keg conditioning with the sugar pack and then using the charger at 3~4 PSI for dispensing to see if that makes any difference. I think the plug adapter should allow me to secondary ferment and then pop in the regulator (pushing the plastic cork down into the keg) after a couple of weeks.

No problems with using the Pico to rack so far. I even use the serving kegs to bottle (the horror!), and beers with less than an inch of headspace have been fine. Typically I will get 14~16 beers from a pak where the last one winds up invariably half-filled (and has the most "harshness" in the end). Again, jealous of those with access to actual brewing supplies on your side of the ocean! I did manage to get my hands on a bottle of Sierra Nevada 2017 Bigfoot last night for the super low price of $8.

 

[DrGMG]

Question here for anyone who has used the serving kegs. Between Pico and my regular homebrewing my kegerator is at capacity. My Angels Belgian Blonde is going to have to go to a serving keg. I tried one of these in the past with not much success. Basically if I leave the CO2 attached, I get a geyser of foam even if I turn it way down from carb pressures. But the serving valve sucks and the beer goes flat. Anyone have some insight into making these things not awful

I leave it at 20-25psi overnight in the fridge, then decrease to 3-5psi. Never had a problem. The CO2 does not last enough to push the beer though. But it carbs it up.