PicoBrew? Seriously?

[jlinz]

Not trying to start any static here (I'm fine with the machine itself), but I'm wondering if something is wrong with my logic here. A pico pack is 19-30 bucks and makes roughly a 12 pack of beer? I can get a 12 pack of good craft beer from the store for 13 bucks. Huh? Am I missing something, or are these things a huge ripoff?

 

[z-bob]

It looks like a big ripoff to me if you have to buy their pods. The largest Picobrew system looks reasonable (last time I looked at it) but the initial cost is way too much for by budget.

 

[jlinz]

I was thinking there might be a way to get replicas of the pods and stuff them with your own ingredients, but I'm thinking maybe there's a tag in each one, so the machine recognizes it.

 

[Lefou]

I like the modular compactness of those automated brew machines, but it's too expensive. You're doing all grain kegging from the very start, but you're paying for the modularity and time-saving automation up front.
It doesn't interest me to brew pre-mixed recipes anymore because half the fun is creating your own brew and working through the mistakes.
No, I'll stick to my rustic ways...

 

[DoctorMemory]

It doesn't interest me to brew pre-mixed recipes anymore because half the fun is creating your own brew and working through the mistakes.

Exactly my thought as well. It seems there's very little challenge to using these systems. I'm sure there's a market for low-effort brewing that produces drinkable results, but it seems to me it's homebrewing in name only.

 

[VagueSkunk]

I was thinking there might be a way to get replicas of the pods and stuff them with your own ingredients, but I'm thinking maybe there's a tag in each one, so the machine recognizes it.

Correct. There's an RFID tag on each of the packs so that it can only be used once.

 

[ArcLight]

I can get a 12 pack of good craft beer from the store for 13 bucks. Huh? Am I missing something, or are these things a huge ripoff?

I'd love to get a 12 pack of good craft beer for $13!
In Northern NJ a 6 pack of craft beer is 9-12.

 

[kh54s10]

I'd love to get a 12 pack of good craft beer for $13!
In Northern NJ a 6 pack of craft beer is 9-12.

The lowest I have seen is $14.95 here in Rhode Island. But that is still quite a bit less than the Pico Pacs.

I believe one of the larger units offers a reusable pack.

I'm not into Set it and Forget it brewing. It takes the craft out of the equation.

 

[jlinz]

I'd love to get a 12 pack of good craft beer for $13!
In Northern NJ a 6 pack of craft beer is 9-12.

Crazy expensive! Here we get the local St. Louis beers for a good price. Schlafly is usually 13 bucks.

 

[alexnova]

Keurig is a ripoff too compared to using an ordinary drip coffee maker, but there's quite a market for it.

 

[MaxStout]

Correct. There's an RFID tag on each of the packs so that it can only be used once.

And no doubt the RFID system will prevent any aftermarket packs to be compatible with this. Lexmark did the same thing with printer cartridges.

 

[aprichman]

Mashing and boiling is pretty much the easiest part of making beer too. A 3 gallon pot and a nylon paint straining bag will work at this bath size on any stove top.

 

[singybrue]

I became interested in these because between my business and my family, I can't brew as often or consistently as I want. The hands-off approach to brewing is attractive. I can take 15 minutes to set it up and turn on, come back a few hours later to cool and pitch and clean for a half hour. Do a couple a brews a week for a steady pipeline.

My local Sams club has the model S for $338, $360ish with tax. I was really tempted to grab one. It comes with a $100 credit for Pico Packs, so I figured that brings it down to 260, then is has a decent 2.5g keg, which runs another $75 worth. Now we're at $185.
I thought well, I can always use it as a (expensive)sous vide machine.

So far I've walked away, mainly because of the cost of the kits. $20-30 for 1.5g? Shipping too probably. I also like to tweak and devise recipes. You can make a custom kit, but are limited in your grain and hop selections.

I understand the business model-the machine is a one time purchase, the real money is in the proprietary consumables. I just think those consumables are over-priced. I would also like the option to tell them to skip the included yeast on most kits.
There is a market for these, look at all the 1g kits that are being marketed. There are people that want simple convenient hobbies. The automation and charts and graphs appeal to the techies.

I'll keep an eye on them and if the price drops lower, I might bite. Someday, someones gonna come up with a hack to make it a useful and flexible little small batch wort machine.

 

[day_trippr]

 

[alaric10000]

Their marketing is for freshness on hoppy beers, and for brewing beers from places you may not have distribution from. It's not for me, but if I lived in a place where I wasn't able to get a ton of good beers at local gas stations or grocieries (though for WAAAAY more than $13. Seriously? $13?) I might consider it. I bought their Zymatic in lieu of trying to cobble together an electric system as a Spike system or equivalent was out of my budget, and it's a good little wort maker despite low efficiency from being no-sparge and some quirks on late hop utilization.

 

[Devin]

I actually thought of starting a thread like this a while back, but figured it would cause too much of a stink - especially with how popular they seem. I just don't get it these units at all. It seems to me that you are taking all of the "fun" out of it. I prefer to do a bit more work and try to find ways to make my beer better through studying my process rather than letting a machine do it for me.

I feel the same way about some of the new smokers. There are a huge number of automatic "set it and forget it" smokers on the market. I have some friends that have some - and while they produce some good stuff, I really prefer having to tend to my smoker when I am cooking. That is half the fun - futzing around during the cook.

So, you add on the insane price and it makes it seem even more goofy to me when it comes to these semi-automatic systems. But, to each their own, I guess.