Picobrew? Worth it?

[bendog15]

I'm in a fortunate situation. My buddy is gonna loan me a picobrew. Can't wait to give it a try, and boy do I love him for the sweet loaner. Anyone out there got experience with one that can give me any advice?

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Based on price alone, I am not 100% sure I could justify purchasing one. I think its an amazing idea, and does appeal to making things simple, however you could easily do a BIAB for much less and spend the money on some nice accessories.

I think for the community's sake, you should post up some photos and your experience with it after you use it. Always interested to hear more about these products.

 

[itsbarleytime]

Yes please do post your experience.

 

[Anyhowe]

Based on price alone, I am not 100% sure I could justify purchasing one. I think its an amazing idea, and does appeal to making things simple, however you could easily do a BIAB for much less and spend the money on some nice accessories.

I think for the community's sake, you should post up some photos and your experience with it after you use it. Always interested to hear more about these products.

And for the price of an upscale HERMS you could buy 3 Picobrew Zymatics. Then again if you like plastic pails and plastic coolers you can do it for much less. In the end I think it is priced well for what it does and how well it does it.

Be careful. Once you drive a high end car with paddle shifters you will never want to go back to the old school clutch...

 

[bendog15]

Hahahaha I think all of us home brewers are the equivalent of driving a 67 Volkswagen with a standArd shift. Old school clutch is where it's at!

 

[Baja_Brewer]

I'm in a fortunate situation. My buddy is gonna loan me a picobrew. Can't wait to give it a try, and boy do I love him for the sweet loaner. Anyone out there got experience with one that can give me any advice?

Not sure if you've seen My Picobrew Thread - I've had mine for just under a year and a half. I've had leaking issues - make sure its level. You're going to need your buddy's login, once you've logged in - if you want to know more, this is one of the more useful recent threads on how the machine works: https://picobrew.com/Forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=2482

And for the price of an upscale HERMS you could buy 3 Picobrew Zymatics. Then again if you like plastic pails and plastic coolers you can do it for much less. In the end I think it is priced well for what it does and how well it does it.

Be careful. Once you drive a high end car with paddle shifters you will never want to go back to the old school clutch...

All depends on how fancy of a HERMS you build.

And I'll only ever drive a car with a clutch, as long as they keep making them!

 

[Altrez]

What does HERMS stand for

-Altrez

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

And for the price of an upscale HERMS you could buy 3 Picobrew Zymatics. Then again if you like plastic pails and plastic coolers you can do it for much less. In the end I think it is priced well for what it does and how well it does it.

Be careful. Once you drive a high end car with paddle shifters you will never want to go back to the old school clutch...

Not so sure about that. I definitely built my setup for a little over $2500 after it was all said and done. Sure I've finagled a bit with different parts and setups, but I can brew 10-15g batches (I never brew a 15g batch) but I could. Also I don't have to buy secondary parts and bags and all this other stuff that you have to buy for a Picobrew.


Its a great concept, but again, its not where my head is at in this stage of the game... Closest I'll come to something like that is the Spiedel Braumeister.

 

[user 190343]

With this hobby, you can go as crazy as your lifestyle will allow. You just have to remember that you don't need to get a crazy expensive system to make good or even great beer, but it can be fun.

HERMS = Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash system. The Picobrew Zymatic is essentially one of these.

Bowtiebrewery, not sure what secondary "parts and bags" you are referring to. Are you thinking the Picobrew Pico, which are packs you have to buy?

I've just recently gotten my Zymatic, mostly because I wanted precise control for rebrewing, I wanted to save time, and be able to brew inside. My thinking was if I wanted to build an electric indoor HERMS, I'd need electrical work and plumbing, then buy the actual equipment and it seemed like a much bigger project than I wanted to do, not to mention cost more than the Zymatic.

I've only brewed twice on it so far, but my advice really applies to any system - don't try to start off too big. There's definitely a learning curve and you'll be extremely lucky if you don't make a mistake on your first brew. You might think about doing a fake batch at first with just water to see how it all works. If you only want to do late addition hops, make sure you put the "pre-hop boil" time in. If you are doing a 1.060 or less wort, use the regular mash profile. The high efficiency mash takes 2+ hours, so I'd rather not do that if I can help it. I have a plate chiller and usually sanitize on my regular system 10 min before end of boil If you sanitize your chiller, be sure you use high temp hoses. I thought the one I used was, but it wasn't. That made quite a mess.

Good luck.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Be careful. Once you drive a high end car with paddle shifters you will never want to go back to the old school clutch...

Maybe not. My sons both have 2015 Audi S4's with DCTs - sweet cars, wicked quick, and it's definitely entertaining to shoot gear changes in and out of the corners - but I'll row my 2000 S4 w/manual 6 every time...

Cheers!