Picobrew Z

[jcaiola]

I think you pretty much captured my own thoughts. What was different about my refund ask, was that I actually told them I would consider them “sweetening the pot” with another keg or some pick paks and hold off on the refund request (my hopes were that maybe their next email would tell me they were shipping or similar). They responded to that saying thanks and then refunded my order anyway. So, they’re not even listening well anymore.

I did ask about a timeline and was told on Nov. 6th: “I do expect our leadership team to put more focus into communicating a shipping schedule in the next couple of weeks, as we've been posting them on these concerns about the Z and shipping times” in response to my query.

Then they canceled the order and missed the next update.

Third batch on the Brewie (since last Monday) goes in tonight.

Joe

 

[Brolie]

just an update. i heard from Ryan at pico today that they shipped 50 beta units and that they are firing up their mass production assembly line early next year.

"We are shipping roughly 50 of them for Beta testing, then in the early new year our mass production line will be fired up to get all of the pre-orders out to everyone."

 

[Lax coach]

I got a response back from the ticket I opened yesterday. It offered an additional keg and a few Z-Packs if I was willing to hang on, and asked for specific feedback. So here's what I provided:

Thanks for the reply and generous offer. I would however still like to cancel my order. My reasoning is the lack of transparency in the four months since missing the original target date of July. I get that hardware is hard, and that unexpected problems show up. I'm not upset about the date being missed, and in fact I suspected that would be the case back in February, and placed my pre-order anyway.

The problem for me is that Pico committed to regular status updates to help your paid customers understand what was really going on with the development process. Those updates have not been delivered regularly or timely, and for the most part have been devoid of any actual details. We don't know what the feedback was from the first unit whose delivery was trumpeted in one update, nor if any other test units have gone out. We don't know anything about challenges you've run into, and what you have done or are doing to overcome them. We don't have even a rough idea of what the current projected timeline is for the first full-production Z1s to ship, let alone those of us like myself who ordered the larger units, which were always expected to ship later. This is not a way to allay concerns of your enthusiastic customers who have collectively paid out over $4M for a product that they might receive at some indeterminate future date.

Thanks again for your response and concern, and I will continue to use my Pico Pro while I plan my next move.

 

[Conodor]

Well said. I will probably send mine tomorrow. I'm looking at options before i pull the trigger.

 

[cheesemonster]

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 promising a release 5 months later. And if they are going to have a kickstarter like launch well then you better give realistic and brutally honest updates. All these updates have been about putting on the "finishing touches" and crap like that. There isn't any substance. They have to understand that they have a crowd of enthusiasts that don't mind waiting if they are being given honest feedback. I'm going to cancel my order too. I am not even sure if they are going to honor the zymatic trade in since nothing has been said about that since and I was billed the full amount plus shipping ahead of time.

 

[Brewfreedom]

So glad I got out. When the Zymatic worked it was great but I don't see these guys lasting much longer if this is how they execute the development and release of what is supposed to be their flagship product. Whomever floated the July release date should probably be fired.

 

[Mike Howard]

just an update. i heard from Ryan at pico today that they shipped 50 beta units and that they are firing up their mass production assembly line early next year.

Who is Ryan?

So what I glean from this, is that it will have taken them nearly a year to launch the Z1 and get into full production/delivery mode. So if I think about the Z2 and beyond, I can assume delivery of those units in late 2019/early 2020?

There has not been one shred of information released about Z2 software, hardware, or delivery, which is disappointing. Communication is key.

 

[Brewfreedom]

Who is Ryan?

So what I glean from this, is that it will have taken them nearly a year to launch the Z1 and get into full production/delivery mode. So if I think about the Z2 and beyond, I can assume delivery of those units in late 2019/early 2020?

There has not been one shred of information released about Z2 software, hardware, or delivery, which is disappointing. Communication is key.

July 2019!

 

[jcaiola]

I thought I read somewhere the PicoBrew was owned or infused with cash from InBev or someone like that. Would be interesting why the parent or the investor wouldn’t help with their prototyping and manufacturing.

I did my third batch on the Brewie last night and now have three fermenting in my fastferment conicals. First time in a long time I’ve been able to do that so quickly. System feeds from household connection for water (as needed) - which I run through a 5 micron filter- saving a bunch of time.

Huge note here - the cooling cycle on the Brewie has consistently brought my wort down to 65 degrees in under twenty minutes for all three brews. This while directly connects to my filtered household water. No problems, effortless.

Now... I have to run a full clean on the system tonight, after running the short clean and sanitizing clean between brews. If that goes smooth - which I anticipate, then this was definitely the right way to go for me.

I’ll be doing a side by Sid sometime over the holidays.

 

[Mike Howard]

Someone posted that ABInBev is a monetary contributor...whether or not they own part of the company is not publicized. Folks may have theories or claim to know, but I've never seen anything published to the public...

PS...I like the look of that Brewie. Definitely more modern looking than the Zymatic and even the Z1 with that display...just my opinion though.

 

[jcaiola]

It seems they - Brewie - were listening to all of the requests we all made for our Zymatics and did their best to incorporate them.

 

[Brewfreedom]

While helping out the new owner of my old Zymatic with an error #1 due to brewing in a cold garage. The "resume from last brew" under the help feature appears to not throw error #1 despite the temperature issues/cold start. So if your brew $hits the bed - resume from Help rather than restart /skip the steps to where you left off.

 

[gamerc]

When I placed this order I thought I would retire the grain father and move fully into the automation of the z2. I looked hard at the brewie but I wasn’t convinced they were ready for prime time. I’m still seeing a few issues in their thread but I assume there will be issues with the z2 as well.

I’m not sure which direction I’m going, but I cancelled my order as well. I’m sure they will come out and be a good product but I was hoping for more at this point. I’ve got the gf for now so maybe I’ll bite on a new brewie if they have a Black Friday sale or something.

 

[jcaiola]

Since I’ve had the Brewie on 11/5, I’ve ran three full brews with no issue, clean-up was a breeze, and all this with very limited free time. I’ll know how these babies taste in several weeks. Grain bags are on their way. I’m going to kick off more next week.

 

[cheesemonster]

Since I’ve had the Brewie on 11/5, I’ve ran three full brews with no issue, clean-up was a breeze, and all this with very limited free time. I’ll know how these babies taste in several weeks. Grain bags are on their way. I’m going to kick off more next week.

I am interested in this product potentially but I am concerned that I don't read much about it or see many YouTube vids from people not actively part of Brewie or associated with it.

I sent a request to cancel my Z2 and I am considering building my own HERMS system now. I went with the Z2 preorder due to PicoBrew having excellent customer service, but was definitely not thrilled that it just seemed to be 2 Zymatic 2.0s working together to make a 5gal batch in 2 different kegs (lots of cleaning!). The fact that they massively overpromised and really there is no release in sight and they aren't being frank with us pushed me over the edge.

 

[Brolie]

just canceled my pico z2 order and bought a brewie+

hope i made the right decision. and i hope pico gets my money back quickly or SWMBO is going to murder me.

 

[Conodor]

I send an email for my cancelation yesterday. still no reply. With all the cancelations you would think they would muster up some form of an update.

 

[cheesemonster]

I haven't had a reply yet either. I sent my cancellation in yesterday. I think from this thread alone they have a 5 figure loss of money. I still think they are a decent company so I am sure they will reply soon.

 

[jcaiola]

Brolie - I have been happy so far. Three brews and more starting coming up next week (late because of the holidays) and I have a wedding this weekend.

I also added tons of grain so I’ve got a lot of brewing to do.

 

[Lax coach]

I send an email for my cancelation yesterday. still no reply. With all the cancelations you would think they would muster up some form of an update.

I haven't had a reply yet either. I sent my cancellation in yesterday. I think from this thread alone they have a 5 figure loss of money. I still think they are a decent company so I am sure they will reply soon.

I don't think this thread is a representative population. It would surprise me if they're seeing a sudden rash of cancellations, despite there being several here in the past week.

For reference, I put my request in very very early Tuesday morning (Like 2am PicoBrew time ), and I got a response Wednesday evening. So that's two business days for me. Times might be getting a little longer heading into a holiday week, not sure how their support team is structured.

 

[Brolie]

Brolie - I have been happy so far. Three brews and more starting coming up next week (late because of the holidays) and I have a wedding this weekend.

I also added tons of grain so I’ve got a lot of brewing to do.

Yea i have to say your post have been influential in my decision. i ordered my brewie+ on amazon as it was still at the $1599 price whereas everywhere else seemed to be over 2k. i wonder why the huge price gap

 

[jcaiola]

Brewie had a sale recently for their birthday (but they are still offering $500 off with a coupon code (let me know if anyone needs). They do have a 45 day lead time. I opted for Amazon for quick delivery.

I also agree - this thread is not representative of Z buyers in general.

Thanks.

 

[Brolie]

Brewie had a sale recently for their birthday (but they are still offering $500 off with a coupon code (let me know if anyone needs). They do have a 45 day lead time. I opted for Amazon for quick delivery.

I also agree - this thread is not representative of Z buyers in general.

Thanks.

amazon has quicker delivery and still several hundred cheaper. brewie today is $2499.00 without discounts. amazon is way cheaper after the $500 off. and to top it all off im getting a all in one system similar to the picobrew z2 for $549 less AND it chills the wort too!

i have to say i am very excited because now i will have a new brew toy (that does more) within a week AND have $500 back in my pocket. i hope everyone enjoys their pico z but i got tired of waiting, not seeing updates and the companies overall web reputation started to get me worried.

 

[jcaiola]

Good for you. Brewie price went up after their birthday sale. Still, I did mine on Amazon. One note - there are Brewie Pads on Amazon, but they are passed their ‘Best Buy’. Still a little better priced and good for starting out.

I’m headed to my own recipes now.

Joe

 

[cheesemonster]

I don't think this thread is a representative population. It would surprise me if they're seeing a sudden rash of cancellations, despite there being several here in the past week.

Yeah maybe I said that wrong I am just saying that there have been 4-5 people in this thread alone cancel this week and that is over 10k in machines.... IDK about you all but I do most of my brewing in the winter as it is dark outside and cold so it is a good time to brew, and I want to get my new machine going now.

I have been reading more about the Brew Boss now. It seems like they are also a good company. I was pretty set on a HERMS system but from reading a lot it seems that scorching of wort in the mash is not really an issue, and it gives you much less to clean. If they have a sale on it next week I am going to be on that, and have over $500 net money back plus be able to make 15g batches if I so desire.

 

[Lax coach]

I have been reading more about the Brew Boss now. It seems like they are also a good company. I was pretty set on a HERMS system but from reading a lot it seems that scorching of wort in the mash is not really an issue, and it gives you much less to clean. If they have a sale on it next week I am going to be on that, and have over $500 net money back plus be able to make 15g batches if I so desire.

I'm still keeping my options open, but almost certainly going with Brew Boss. Now just waiting patiently to see what next week has in store for us.

 

[jcaiola]

Could be anything!

 

[user 204491]

Didn't realize there was a dedicated Z topic; I've been posting over in the Zymatic thread. I also ordered a Z2, got tired of the shipping delays with no updates and then the general lack of any real updates at all, and I also canceled.

I ordered a Braumeister 20L, and while I've only done one batch on it so far I absolutely love it. I'll be doing 2 more batches next week.

You can see a pic of my final setup here in my build thread.

 

[jcaiola]

Beautiful setup.

 

[user 204491]

Beautiful setup.

Thank you!