Picobrew Z

[Trevor Mack]

This was the response I got from support back in early July.

You will be able to upgrade the Z1. The additional controller will have hookups to allow for that power conversion from 110 to 220.

We will have options for buying that controller later.

Some of the details on it are still in development and as we have these fully formed, we'll get that info out there for our customers.

There basic plan is to have N base Z1s tied together with a new controller unit. Remember from the photos we've seen and have been told about support and maintenance the controller unit on the top comes off leaving the bottom of the unit (which seems to be what stacks in the marketing photos) intact.

 

[Mike Howard]

Well thats at least good news.

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

From what I understand (and inferred from asking PicoBew) is that the Z2 is literally just two separate units that create 2.5 gallons each. I think they do this because there still on the ferment in the keg mentality and full 5 gallon keg would leave no head space to ferment.

 

[Mike Howard]

Yea, so its probably ok for doing two separate recipes at one time, but not for doing a 5 gallon batch IMO. Having to blend after fermentation is probably not the best solution.

 

[Lax coach]

Would kind of defeat the design purpose of the unit, but I wouldn't think it would be that difficult to modify a 7-gallon brewbucket to be used as a single vessel for a 5-gallon batch in a Z2. Hook the inputs up to the drain, maybe put a couple of these in the lid for the return.

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

I have actually been doing something similar with my Pico Pro in regards to brewing two of the same packs and combining them into one 5 gallon keg before pitching the yeast and haven't had an issues thus far. I think I've done that for about 5 or 6 batches so far.

I have had my eye out for a 6.5 or 7 gallon corny though which I saw someone on here had found one but it was on an off brand Chinese site.

 

[TallDan]

I have had my eye out for a 6.5 or 7 gallon corny though which I saw someone on here had found one but it was on an off brand Chinese site.

How about a quarter barrel sanke with some ball lock adapters on the coupler?

 

[Brolie]

just an update, i got my refund back very promptly from PICO and did mention to everyone that i ordered a Brewie+..well thats on its way back now too. screen got some water around it when it over flowed and then wouldnt boot completely. seems like a serious design flaw so i cant recommend a brewie. now i dont have a pico on the way or a brewie..... looking into other electric brewing systems now. I had a mash and boil a while back but sold it. grianfather looks promising but not automated. perhaps i can live with that if it works and doesnt break with it gets a little water on it.

 

[jcaiola]

That sucks. I do love my Brewie (since 11/6) and am careful not to protect the screen because it looked as if it could get damaged by an overflow. Six brews - not without some issues, but a better process that the Zymatic.

 

[Mike Howard]

Check out the Brew-Boss system...a lot of us have purchased these in the last few weeks. Here is the Thread.

 

[Brewfreedom]

Also the braumeister system if you want polish and almost full automation. With these auto biab systems you will still need to touch things now and then. Even the Zymatic was only hands free on that rare day you get lucky and nothing went wrong. BTW how are those Z's that have been flying out the door been working? You would think there would be more info out there now as we approach the end of the first week of December. I still think its going to be July at this rate.

 

[gamerc]

Interesting that this hasn't had any activity for a week. Has there been an update? Are there any real world feedback stories from the Z1 units that shipped?

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

Last I heard was my delivery date of 3/25

 

[Mike Howard]

It's been radio silence...except for all of the Pico Pac promotions.

 

[gamerc]

So much for the improved communication. They were good for an update at least

 

[Thorrak]

It's been radio silence...except for all of the Pico Pac promotions.

Yeah! I was wondering what was with that - it was like they started coming out of the blue all of a sudden.

After the shipping date announcement they said they were going to switch to monthly updates. Hopefully after the first units ship we’ll see updates from people who aren’t affiliated with PicoBrew.

 

[Lax coach]

Yeah! I was wondering what was with that - it was like they started coming out of the blue all of a sudden.

After the shipping date announcement they said they were going to switch to monthly updates. Hopefully after the first units ship we’ll see updates from people who aren’t affiliated with PicoBrew.

That was my fault I specifically told them that the reason I cancelled is they committed to a cadence of updates, and then neither met that schedule nor provided substance when they did issue something. So they moved the goalposts to a much easier cadence.

 

[Gut Pile]

At this point you can assume any dates they give out are worthless. What is up w the picopack spam wave? Do they have a warehouse full of this crap rotting they need to unload? Stick a fork in picobrew.

 

[Lax coach]

At this point you can assume any dates they give out are worthless. What is up w the picopack spam wave? Do they have a warehouse full of this crap rotting they need to unload? Stick a fork in picobrew.

They're doing a 12 Beers of Christmas promo (one per day), just like MoreBeer is doing a 12 Deals of Christmas promo. I don't see how that denotes the failure of either company.

 

[redeye33]

At this point you can assume any dates they give out are worthless. What is up w the picopack spam wave? Do they have a warehouse full of this crap rotting they need to unload? Stick a fork in picobrew.

Negative waves! It's marketing.

 

[jcaiola]

I find it interesting that I have been removed from all mailings ever since I canceled - which I did delicately. I even inquired about receiving new mailings and they assured me that I was on the list and I should be receiving them. But, no updates on the Z, no PicoPak Spam that you speak of. No 12 Days of Christmas for me.

That sucks - I like the company and I’m still waiting for my back ordered PicoStill.

 

[gamerc]

I certainly don't think they are going under and I don't think that it is indicative of a failing company, but I absolutely believe that they lost many more pre-orders than they thought they would, and I would be highly disappointed if I were an investor. I was a pre-order Z2 but ended up getting a refund. I briefly considered buying back in at the same price point/benefits because of the one seemingly honest update, but unfortunately, it does not seem that they are taking it as seriously as I would have liked them to.

All I wanted was a regular update and schedule that talked about successes and even failures. Try to address some of the problems in ANY design, and get a GREAT system out to the people that forked over an interest free buy in. I think that effort raised over 4M.... that's awesome. I think those people deserved more interaction and transparency. Whatever, I'm watching from the sidelines now, and if it comes to fruition and still serves my needs, maybe I'll buy one.

 

[chupalt]

My target ship week from the Thanksgiving email was 12/10. I’ve still heard nothing. Just a data point since my shipment was the first real world shipment date that I’ve seen

 

[jcaiola]

I did just yesterday get a ship date on my PicoStill. Of course, I’ll have to use the work-around for my Zymatic since I canceled my Z2. I’ve not seen any ship date news on anything other than the Z1. Then again, I don’t get any updates anymore.

 

[Trevor Mack]

I did just yesterday get a ship date on my PicoStill. Of course, I’ll have to use the work-around for my Zymatic since I canceled my Z2. I’ve not seen any ship date news on anything other than the Z1. Then again, I don’t get any updates anymore.

I also was not getting updates and thus didn't get the update containing my ship date on the week of thanksgiving. When contacting support they told me I "unsubscribed from their updates" of which I know I never did. Just email support and ask for your ship date again as you were unsubscribed for some reason (also subscribe and ask to be added back to get all their emails).

My target ship week from the Thanksgiving email was 12/10. I’ve still heard nothing. Just a data point since my shipment was the first real world shipment date that I’ve seen

I'd email support (who don't send out marketing emails) and ask what the deal is they always have provided me much more details than the marketing team's emails... That is until someone high up reads through all that I post here that support ends up telling me about delays (haven't received any addition details, but might ping them myself if we don't see updates or evidence of shipments in the coming weeks).

 

[Mike Howard]

...That is until someone high up reads through all that I post here that support ends up telling me about delays...

Picobrew has never been big on transparency....

 

[Trevor Mack]

Yeah my biggest issue with them, but the support team at least are more open to provide details. Probably because everyone runs and complains to them about not knowing anything

 

[danbass]

My target ship week from the Thanksgiving email was 12/10. I’ve still heard nothing. Just a data point since my shipment was the first real world shipment date that I’ve seen

chupalt, any word on your system or a new expected ship date? I'm now worried about a few weeks of radio silence and them rushing past another set of expectations. Was about to cancel prior to the big Thanksgiving update and now I'm really on the fence for canceling my Z2.

 

[Anyhowe]

So where do/did we all see these shipping dates? Of all the things I have lost I miss my mind the most...

 

[danbass]

So where do/did we all see these shipping dates? Of all the things I have lost I miss my mind the most...

There was an 11/21 email that went out individually to all those who preordered with a subject of "Z Update: Thanksgiving Schedule". I upgraded mine from Z1 to Z2 late and I've got a 4/1/19 ship date.

 

[Trevor Mack]

When I asked support for details on who early backers have received any update regarding their early December deliveries (second or third postponed date) these were some response quotes I got. Figured I'd share as it isn't likely to see an update until after Christmas from the PicoBrew marketing team (guessing that is who is in charge of emailed updates thus the disconnect of information between them and the overwhelmed support staff).

Updates have slowed as we've been in 'all hands on deck' mode the entire month to complete all remaining PicoStill orders by the end of the year with the goal of having most if not all done and delivered by the 24th.

...at the moment as each Z unit is being built by hand here at Pico Brew headquarters.

We have been transparent about what was rightly called out as our over reach and ambitious fulfillment dates. We realized this during our Pico U campaign and cancelled it so we could focus on our PicoStill and Z orders. Right now, there's no news to report. We're diligently at work trying to get orders to people before the Christmas holiday while dealing with the logistics of third party suppliers delaying essential materials and components.

 

[Trevor Mack]

Personally I'm using this time to relocate my brewery equipment to a more ideal location ultimately to have a more streamlined setup for when the Z1 arrives along with upgrading some components on my kegerator setup to get better consistent pours.

 

[chupalt]

chupalt, any word on your system or a new expected ship date? I'm now worried about a few weeks of radio silence and them rushing past another set of expectations. Was about to cancel prior to the big Thanksgiving update and now I'm really on the fence for canceling my Z2.

Yeah, I contacted support and they were unwilling to provide a new target ship date. They said that they had received a late sheet metal delivery on 12/14 and were still setting up the production line.

My personal opinion is that the target ship dates provided were bogus to begin with. How could they be > 2 weeks late so close to when the dates were provided. That or they need to hire a project manager that actually knows how to plan. I’m not hopeful of receiving my unit this year, but would love to be surprised.

 

[Trevor Mack]

Ah so support actually told you the "third party supplier" or at least the material they were waiting on. That is more than they told me... Why wouldn't they just post that in an update :shrug:?

From my short conversation with them seems like yeah supplies are limited and delayed while still hand preparing orders at Picobrew headquarters... That takes some time I'd imagine and definitely isn't optimized (both potentially a good and bad thing). Though the language used by my support agent looks like the production line is optimized for delivery of PicoStill by end of December (last cloud funded campaign still shipping from Picobrew) which totally makes sense to me... but I'd guess a different team is working on that project or that is how I'd do it as to not cause additional delays in several projects. Though part of the response was also apologizing again about being distracted over the summer for the Pico U fiasco which would have been a distraction that caused undue delays to both PicoStill fulfillment and Pico Z development and "prototyping".

 

[Mike Howard]

...the blame game...

 

[danbass]

Running my 10 gallon Kal's system through a cleaning run now. Going to brew this afternoon on it and put some thought into if I want to cancel my picobrew z2 or not.

 

[Brewsyourdaddy]

I’ve been brewing with mine since June I make a batch ever 2 weeks or so and it has performed flawlessly, my only suggestion is to do a full clean before and after each brew.

 

[Mike Howard]

First post?

 

[Thorrak]

I’ve been brewing with mine since June I make a batch ever 2 weeks or so and it has performed flawlessly, my only suggestion is to do a full clean before and after each brew.

On a Z or Zymatic?

 

[Trevor Mack]

Given that first customer was shipped in October... This individual is either a) an employee of PicoBrew (and thus review to me doesn't matter...) or b) not referring to a Z* unit but rather another PicoBrew device