Picobrew Z

[alestateyall]

My Z has a red gasket in the cap side of the inline filter.

Thanks! I guess I will have to look harder on the garage floor to see if I can find it then.

 

[Mike Howard]

So I would have to say that my earlier statement appears to be pretty much spot on about the two units being nearly the same, process wise. Yes, yes, I know they made upgrades and some of them were much needed, however, I can't see any of those actually contributing to a "better" brew or even a more efficient brew.

Time will tell if the Z series has better longevity than the Zymatics, but hey, my Zym has been running steadily as the R&D machine for the brewery for 3 years now. And since I've implemented better cleaning and preventative maintenance procedures and outsourced all of the internals, I'm sure it will run for many many more.

As much as I hate agreeing with Anyhowe, I also believe that at the homebrew level and with such a small batch, efficiency isn't worth worrying about. I usually get around 70% on my Zymatic and that's good enough for me.

 

[stpauliboy]

Thanks! I guess I will have to look harder on the garage floor to see if I can find it then.

Hard to imagine that the gasket can fall out - it is really in there. I would let them know that yours arrived without one and I bet they will send you one.

 

[Denny]

Well, since you don't have the time nor the interest, I'll take whatever you say with a grain of salt. My point is valid and since you don't care enough to elaborate we'll just leave it at that.

PS: These things have nothing to do with efficiency FYI " the Z is much quieter, the wifi is more solid" and saying "there seems to be less O2 pickup and the beer seems to be better" isn't really factual now is it. If you ever "get time" would love to hear how the new Z is so much more efficient than the Zymatic and what you think they have done to make the PROCESS better.

Maybe you should try one upirself

 

[Mike Howard]

Maybe you should try one upirself

Now why in the hell would I want to buy a new Z (that I previously cancelled) when I have two Zymatics and a way more efficient BrewBoss...that's just silly Denny...c'mon. I'd say the balls in your court...but really, this horse is dead.....very dead.

 

[Denny]

Now why in the hell would I want to buy a new Z (that I previously cancelled) when I have two Zymatics and a way more efficient BrewBoss...that's just silly Denny...c'mon. I'd say the balls in your court...but really, this horse is dead.....very dead.

I have no reason to try to convince you of anything. I love my Z and am totally satisfied.

 

[Anyhowe]

I have no reason to try to convince you of anything. I love my Z and am totally satisfied.

Hey Denny I keep seeing random posts here by you and nothing else.

 

[chiefwigms]

Time for a showdown of sorts. Maybe compare efficiency of same recipes, etc. View attachment 647364

How do you like the Brewie compared to the Z/Zymatic? Wondering if I should sell my PicoPro/Zymatic and get one of the original units off ebay for $250 (I know they're riddled with problems, but I like tinkering).

 

[Denny]

How do you like the Brewie compared to the Z/Zymatic? Wondering if I should sell my PicoPro/Zymatic and get one of the original units off ebay for $250 (I know they're riddled with problems, but I like tinkering).

I've been following the Brewie for years...stay away.

 

[Denny]

Hey Denny I keep seeing random posts here by you and nothing else.

Actually, I just drop by once in a while and if I see something relevant to me I comment on it.

 

[Thorrak]

How do you like the Brewie compared to the Z/Zymatic? Wondering if I should sell my PicoPro/Zymatic and get one of the original units off ebay for $250 (I know they're riddled with problems, but I like tinkering).

From what I understand you would need to replace a number of components in the original Brewie to stop it from being a fire hazard. The newer ones are supposedly better, but you would probably need to replace the software.

 

[jcaiola]

I think the software - 3.12 is pretty good, but you have to be prepared to get under the hood of the Brewie. If you like tinkering - it’s a fun project. I’d be careful of the original version and look for the B+. A lot has been upgraded there. When it’s working - it’s a dream - automatic water, heats sparse water while mashing, runs cool water around the boil tank to cool down and has decent cleaning cycles.

Note - the only support you will get with the Brewie is from the community of users - which is quite good, but nothing in the way of a warranty or anything at this point.

 

[Thorrak]

I think the software - 3.12 is pretty good, but you have to be prepared to get under the hood of the Brewie. If you like tinkering - it’s a fun project. I’d be careful of the original version and look for the B+. A lot has been upgraded there. When it’s working - it’s a dream - automatic water, heats sparse water while mashing, runs cool water around the boil tank to cool down and has decent cleaning cycles.

Note - the only support you will get with the Brewie is from the community of users - which is quite good, but nothing in the way of a warranty or anything at this point.

Did brewie officially go under?

 

[jcaiola]

Not sure. There’s been really no communication from the company. The site went down for a week and it’s backup. Hoping there’s a positive outcome there, but brewing waits for no man - or woman!

 

[Buck*49]

Thanks! I guess I will have to look harder on the garage floor to see if I can find it then.

Did you get issue resolved with your Z?

 

[alestateyall]

Did you get issue resolved with your Z?

Yes.

Picobrew is mailing me new gaskets. In the meantime, I fashioned a stand in gasket from a piece of small tubing. That fixed the problem.

In a nutshell, the missing gasket allowed an air leak. The intake pump wasn’t getting good suction and therefore could not pull enough liquid from the keg into the Z.

I have now learned that airtight seals are needed on each end. I had a problem previously where the grommet on the dip tube in the step filter got damaged (I think a mouse tried to eat it) and I couldn’t drain the step filter.

 

[Buck*49]

Yes.

Picobrew is mailing me new gaskets. In the meantime, I fashioned a stand in gasket from a piece of small tubing. That fixed the problem.

In a nutshell, the missing gasket allowed an air leak. The intake pump wasn’t getting good suction and therefore could not pull enough liquid from the keg into the Z.

I have now learned that airtight seals are needed on each end. I had a problem previously where the grommet on the dip tube in the step filter got damaged (I think a mouse tried to eat it) and I couldn’t drain the step filter.

Good deal.

 

[Anyhowe]

So I just got my last freebee from pico for the Z purchase. In it was a pound of coffee and a mesh bag along with 16 step instructions for making cold brew with the Z.

Now I know some of the steps are “push the start button” simple but still... making cold brew with the immersion process is as simple as dumping ground coffee into cold water and soaking it for twelve hours

What am I missing. What is the Z doing?

 

[Thorrak]

So I just got my last freebee from pico for the Z purchase. In it was a pound of coffee and a mesh bag along with 16 step instructions for making cold brew with the Z.

Now I know some of the steps are “push the start button” simple but still... making cold brew with the immersion process is as simple as dumping ground coffee into cold water and soaking it for twelve hours

What am I missing. What is the Z doing?

Recirculating the coffee through the grounds? Honestly I think they were stretching for a way to make the Z seem more adaptable.

 

[bcanuck]

How do you like the Brewie compared to the Z/Zymatic? Wondering if I should sell my PicoPro/Zymatic and get one of the original units off ebay for $250 (I know they're riddled with problems, but I like tinkering).

so, you like tinkering? I am usually just a lurker here, but I have a Brewie + you can tinker with. I went through 2 b20’s and now my B+ failed. Make me an offer

 

[losman26]

Is anyone getting a lot of foam during the mash? I emailed Kevin. He said check all o rings, gasket, inline filter, drain grommet. I did all that and am still getting a lot of foam. I replaced all o-rings on keg, replaced grommet just to see if it would make a difference, and the same thing is happening. Inline filter is clean with nothing blocking there or in the keg posts. When I pause the brew for a few secs then run again, I’ll get clear wort without foam going for about a minute, then it foams up again. I also tried running a silicone tube from the gas post, and still got foam, however it was slightly less. I would say that I’m getting 4-5 inches of foam sometimes.
I use distilled water and salt additions (According to Bru’n)directly to keg dissolved in water when the water is heating up.
Anyone have the same problem?

 

[Anyhowe]

Is anyone getting a lot of foam during the mash? I emailed Kevin. He said check all o rings, gasket, inline filter, drain grommet. I did all that and am still getting a lot of foam. I replaced all o-rings on keg, replaced grommet just to see if it would make a difference, and the same thing is happening. Inline filter is clean with nothing blocking there or in the keg posts. When I pause the brew for a few secs then run again, I’ll get clear wort without foam going for about a minute, then it foams up again. I also tried running a silicone tube from the gas post, and still got foam, however it was slightly less. I would say that I’m getting 4-5 inches of foam sometimes.
I use distilled water and salt additions (According to Bru’n)directly to keg dissolved in water when the water is heating up.
Anyone have the same problem?

where are you seeing the foam.

 

[losman26]

In the keg, during the mash.

 

[Mutant]

Is anyone getting a lot of foam during the mash? I emailed Kevin. He said check all o rings, gasket, inline filter, drain grommet. I did all that and am still getting a lot of foam. I replaced all o-rings on keg, replaced grommet just to see if it would make a difference, and the same thing is happening. Inline filter is clean with nothing blocking there or in the keg posts. When I pause the brew for a few secs then run again, I’ll get clear wort without foam going for about a minute, then it foams up again. I also tried running a silicone tube from the gas post, and still got foam, however it was slightly less. I would say that I’m getting 4-5 inches of foam sometimes.
I use distilled water and salt additions (According to Bru’n)directly to keg dissolved in water when the water is heating up.
Anyone have the same problem?

Maybe not the source of the issue, but disassemble the ball lock disconnects (gray). I've found they get junked up and can cause back pressure. The back pressure might cause foaming. Might as well check the black one also, just to see if it needs cleaned.

Is the keg going empty and thus sucking lots of air? Not sure if that would be an issue, but just something to think about.

 

[losman26]

Maybe not the source of the issue, but disassemble the ball lock disconnects (gray). I've found they get junked up and can cause back pressure. The back pressure might cause foaming. Might as well check the black one also, just to see if it needs cleaned.

Is the keg going empty and thus sucking lots of air? Not sure if that would be an issue, but just something to think about.

Already did that, and there’s nothing blocking. Whatever is in there I clean out before I brew. Keg is not empty. I just feel like by looking at the sight glass in the sample port I’m getting a good amount of foam. If I pause brew for 10 secs and restart, once the pumps come on, wort will be crystal clear for about 30 secs to 1 min then start foaming again. It’s not all foam, but builds up to about 4-5 inches in the keg by the end of mash.

 

[Mutant]

Already did that, and there’s nothing blocking. Whatever is in there I clean out before I brew. Keg is not empty. I just feel like by looking at the sight glass in the sample port I’m getting a good amount of foam. If I pause brew for 10 secs and restart, once the pumps come on, wort will be crystal clear for about 30 secs to 1 min then start foaming again. It’s not all foam, but builds up to about 4-5 inches in the keg by the end of mash.

The other thing that occurred for me is that one of the hoses inside the machine was improperly installed. It would collapse. They sent me instructions on how to reroute the hose. That sounds similar.

 

[Buck*49]

Is anyone getting a lot of foam during the mash? I emailed Kevin. He said check all o rings, gasket, inline filter, drain grommet. I did all that and am still getting a lot of foam. I replaced all o-rings on keg, replaced grommet just to see if it would make a difference, and the same thing is happening. Inline filter is clean with nothing blocking there or in the keg posts. When I pause the brew for a few secs then run again, I’ll get clear wort without foam going for about a minute, then it foams up again. I also tried running a silicone tube from the gas post, and still got foam, however it was slightly less. I would say that I’m getting 4-5 inches of foam sometimes.
I use distilled water and salt additions (According to Bru’n)directly to keg dissolved in water when the water is heating up.
Anyone have the same problem?

This topic on PicoBrew forum may help:
https://www.picobrew.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=3795

 

[losman26]

I’m guessing this is it. To me, it seems like it’s coming from inside the machine. Hose not installed correctly makes sense

 

[losman26]

The other thing that occurred for me is that one of the hoses inside the machine was improperly installed. It would collapse. They sent me instructions on how to reroute the hose. That sounds similar.

Yeah makes sense. What instructions did they give you?

 

[jcaiola]

Not sure. There’s been really no communication from the company. The site went down for a week and it’s backup. Hoping there’s a positive outcome there, but brewing waits for no man - or woman!

So - good and bad news from my most recent brews amongst the Brewies and ax’s.

First - ran a delay brew on the Z with a 18 hour delay. Set the machine up, checked on it the following morning before I left for work, checked online to see that it was still in a waiting state. Then at 10:30 am from work, I went online to check again that it was still in a waiting state and the graphs showed that the Z stopped reporting at 10:15. I did my best to try and get someone to check it before the planned 3:30 start time, but no one was available. At 5:30, someone finally checked for me and the brew process had started as planned and 3 hours remained in the process (as expected). The display did say that it needed to be reconnected to WiFi and all attempts failed despite my WiFi working properly.

Got home - checked it all out - all was good with the brew. Finished up, cleaned up. All good. SO - looks as though the Z just lost service to my WiFi, but continued to brew anyway. Something I think the Zymatic can’t do. On this case, I was happy the process continued.

Yesterday, did the same thing with one of my Brewies using automatic water. Brewies cannot be monitored from the web (without a vpn tunnel) so I couldn’t see what it was doing outside my camera. The camera showed that it started at 3:30 pm as planned, but around 5 pm, it reported no water in the boil tank during the sparging process. I only know this because I asked my daughter who was home to read the display for me. That required the system to wait until I got home and the. I found that the pump that moves wort from mash to boil tank wasn’t working properly anymore and that created a whole night of fun for me totally defeating the automatic brewing process. Had to manually pump from tank to tank. The cooling process didn’t work very quickly this time (don’t know why) and around midnight, I was still cleaning up manually because the failed pump reduced the ability to run the clean programs.

This time around - the Z definitely wins.

 

[alestateyall]

Yes.

Picobrew is mailing me new gaskets. In the meantime, I fashioned a stand in gasket from a piece of small tubing. That fixed the problem.

In a nutshell, the missing gasket allowed an air leak. The intake pump wasn’t getting good suction and therefore could not pull enough liquid from the keg into the Z.

I have now learned that airtight seals are needed on each end. I had a problem previously where the grommet on the dip tube in the step filter got damaged (I think a mouse tried to eat it) and I couldn’t drain the step filter.

Follow up: I received a replacement for my lost gasket. I brewed this weekend. All is well.

Picobrew sent me two new gaskets and an extra drain tube grommet. One of mine was damaged. I still think a mouse took a bite out of piece.

My learning curve on the Z1 has taught me air and liquid tight seals are key to Z1 success.

 

[Virginia_Ranger]

before I do something I regret.... whats the largest amount of grains you all have used in your Z? I am looking at using 12.69 at the moment.

 

[alestateyall]

before I do something I regret.... whats the largest amount of grains you all have used in your Z? I am looking at using 12.69 at the moment.

I think you should try pouring that in the step filter dry and uncrushed to test. It shouldn’t fit.

I put 8 in mine and it was pretty full but there was definitely room for another pound. Nine is the max according to PicoBrew.

 

[Mutant]

before I do something I regret.... whats the largest amount of grains you all have used in your Z? I am looking at using 12.69 at the moment.

If you go over the 9 pound max, unless you have no water in the keg, it will overflow. If you are running a batch for say less than 1.5g, it might not overflow. Just make sure you have a hose connected to the overflow hole.

 

[Trevor Mack]

Recirculating the coffee through the grounds? Honestly I think they were stretching for a way to make the Z seem more adaptable.

There shouldn't be that many steps as the process is the following (excluding obvious ones like put in step filter, turn machine on and measure water, etc):
1) grind coffee and put in grain bag
2) select coffee and input amount of water / grinds for the session
3) start session

The default "cold brew" session is a bit weird if you are used to cold brewing for 12-14hr at room temperature. Picobrew (and others online) claim that brewing at 120 degrees or less is also classified as cold brewing and thus can get "same taste and profile" in just 2-3 hours where you would otherwise be spending 12-14 at a lower temperature. I haven't done a side by side. If you were to create a longer brew session foam is definitely an issue. I had a foam monster take over my brewhouse doing a lower temperature coffee brew with recirculation for 6hr, instead I'd recommend the recirculate+pause method instead if you want to brew coffee longer at lower temperatures.

Whatever you do don't put coffee grounds straight into the step filter ALWAYS use the BIAB method as grinds get everywhere in the machine, inline filter, keg, etc. Basically treat the grind size as if you were doing "percolator" or even "french press" (both coarser grind sizes).

 

[Anyhowe]

There shouldn't be that many steps as the process is the following (excluding obvious ones like put in step filter, turn machine on and measure water, etc):
1) grind coffee and put in grain bag
2) select coffee and input amount of water / grinds for the session
3) start session

The default "cold brew" session is a bit weird if you are used to cold brewing for 12-14hr at room temperature. Picobrew (and others online) claim that brewing at 120 degrees or less is also classified as cold brewing and thus can get "same taste and profile" in just 2-3 hours where you would otherwise be spending 12-14 at a lower temperature. I haven't done a side by side. If you were to create a longer brew session foam is definitely an issue. I had a foam monster take over my brewhouse doing a lower temperature coffee brew with recirculation for 6hr, instead I'd recommend the recirculate+pause method instead if you want to brew coffee longer at lower temperatures.

Whatever you do don't put coffee grounds straight into the step filter ALWAYS use the BIAB method as grinds get everywhere in the machine, inline filter, keg, etc. Basically treat the grind size as if you were doing "percolator" or even "french press" (both coarser grind sizes).

thanks. Hard pass here. Literally nothing easier than grinding coffee and going to bed. Presto cold brew. But I’m a pretty simple guy.

 

[Denny]

before I do something I regret.... whats the largest amount of grains you all have used in your Z? I am looking at using 12.69 at the moment.

9 lb. is the max.

 

[Mutant]

Who is using the PicoFerm? I tried it and it decided it was no longer configured after a couple days, and then the batteries (new) died before the ferment was complete. This was an ale and I wonder how many batteries I'd need for a lager.

 

[Thorrak]

Who is using the PicoFerm? I tried it and it decided it was no longer configured after a couple days, and then the batteries (new) died before the ferment was complete. This was an ale and I wonder how many batteries I'd need for a lager.

Speaking of the PicoFerm - Does the data get exposed to other apps/sites or is it locked to just picobrew.com?

 

[Mutant]

Speaking of the PicoFerm - Does the data get exposed to other apps/sites or is it locked to just picobrew.com?

It appears to be only associated with your account. I guess if your LAN security isn't too good, it might get exposed. Not sure if it uses any SSL/TLS kind of communication - I doubt it.