PicoBrew Zymatic

[aangel]

It's not in production yet. Their test type model is just beginning testing, and Brewie's (optimistic) time line says 3 months before shipments begin, best case scenario.

It does look super nice and the feature set is impressive. That said - they're well over a year behind schedule. Don't hold your breath that they'll be out in December.

 

[AlpacaBrew]

I am not holding my breath. I am making a bigger fermentation chamber, buying more kegs and Perlick taps. I really want a Growler Werks growler and a mill. If it is not out by December there are lots of other things on my list.

 

[Thorrak]

I'm mostly worried about dropping a ton of money on the Zymatic only to have Picobrew go belly up in a few years. Since they provide the web-software, and they are the only source for parts, I'm weighing how risky the purchase is.

The software is certainly a concern, but I think someone reverse engineered the web interface and posted the information on GitHub awhile back. It would be nice if they released the source code to the Zymatic as they were originally talking about doing during the Kickstarter, however.

As far as parts go, there are some parts that are custom (the steel work, the step filter, etc.) but a lot of the parts on the inside appear to be off-the-shelf. Standard belts/stepper motors, solid state relays, silicone tubing, etc. There are certainly a few components that are custom in here (electronics for one!) but it's not quite as bad as it might seem on the surface!

All said, I've loved my Zymatic, and would happily recommend it.

 

[aangel]

The fact that the zymatic is web dependent is the one thing that actually worries me - I've been stung by free to play game servers disappearing before. I've also owned fitness trackers and home automation gear that had support suddenly discontinued.

That said, I'm in line to buy one. Gotta figure out how to get it to Canada, but yeah - just sold off all my homebrew gear to raise the cash for it :O

 

[pagrider]

I have the zymatic it's tough to beat. What make the Brewie better?

 

[jrcrilly]

I have the zymatic it's tough to beat. What make the Brewie better?

It is bigger, and it cools. If they are ever produced...

 

[Denny]

It is bigger, and it cools. If they are ever produced...

For me, bigger doesn't matter. And with my JaDeD Corny Pillar I can cool a Zymatic batch in 3 minutes.

 

[aangel]

Brewie's also got automatic water inlets - pressure sensors in the tanks measure the amount of water present so from what I understand, if you hook it to a water pipe, it'll do that part for you, too.

 

[jrcrilly]

I doubt that I will ever let my Z go. If I need to brew a larger batch I can use other equipment at hand.

 

[crooow]

For me, bigger doesn't matter. And with my JaDeD Corny Pillar I can cool a Zymatic batch in 3 minutes.

Wow! That thing looks pretty cool.

 

[Denny]

I doubt that I will ever let my Z go. If I need to brew a larger batch I can use other equipment at hand.

Yep. Either that or brew an extra batch with the Z. There are also ways to brew larger batches on it.

 

[thunderwagn]

I love brewing using my BIAB set up, but I must confess, the article in the latest BYO really sparked an interest in the Z. I'm pretty amazed at some of the capabilities of these type of systems.

 

[aangel]

I'm wondering right now if I should pull the lever today on the Picobrew since Adventures in Homebrewing has that site-wide 14% off going, or I should wait until Black Friday. Thoughts?

 

[Thorrak]

I'm wondering right now if I should pull the lever today on the Picobrew since Adventures in Homebrewing has that site-wide 14% off going, or I should wait until Black Friday. Thoughts?

Code is inavlid on the Zymatic, unfortunately. Sorry.

 

[aangel]

Code is inavlid on the Zymatic, unfortunately. Sorry.

Poopies. Oh well, hope there's some deal that comes between now & the holidays. Just finished selling off 90% of my homebrew gear, everything but my kegerator, to raise the cash to buy a Zymatic. Can't freaking wait! On the plus side, my last batch turned out to be a really on-point Octoberfest

 

[BurntOrngeLonghorn84]

Anyone buy a zymatic recently? I bought mine Sep 30th and haven't heard a peep. Just trying to get an idea on what to expect.

It probably wouldn't be so bad if they'd at a minimum let me browse their forums to keep myself busy...

 

[Thorrak]

Anyone buy a zymatic recently? I bought mine Sep 30th and haven't heard a peep. Just trying to get an idea on what to expect.

It probably wouldn't be so bad if they'd at a minimum let me browse their forums to keep myself busy...

I didn't buy one recently, but I have been in contact with their support reps. You may want to shoot them an email if you can - [email protected]. Generally they respond about 24 hours later.

 

[BurntOrngeLonghorn84]

I received my UPS tracking. Should get my zymatic on Thursday.

About a 1 month turn on orders.

 

[aangel]

Just pulled the trigger on a Zymatic! Between the Zymatic and a mark's carboy/keg washer, I think my general brew labor's going to get cut by about 90%.

 

[Thorrak]

Just pulled the trigger on a Zymatic! Between the Zymatic and a mark's carboy/keg washer, I think my general brew labor's going to get cut by about 90%.

Congrats - you're going to love it!

After you've had a chance to test out a brew or two, I highly recommend picking up one of the Jaded CornyPillars. After picking up a Zymatic the most frustrating part of brew day became chilling the batch down enough to pitch yeast. The CornyPillar does it in about 10 minutes without ice.

 

[Denny]

Congrats - you're going to love it!

After you've had a chance to test out a brew or two, I highly recommend picking up one of the Jaded CornyPillars. After picking up a Zymatic the most frustrating part of brew day became chilling the batch down enough to pitch yeast. The CornyPillar does it in about 10 minutes without ice.

+1000 to the Corny Pillar!

 

[aangel]

Congrats - you're going to love it!

After you've had a chance to test out a brew or two, I highly recommend picking up one of the Jaded CornyPillars. After picking up a Zymatic the most frustrating part of brew day became chilling the batch down enough to pitch yeast. The CornyPillar does it in about 10 minutes without ice.

The corny pillar looks good but I think I may end up going with a CFC for the chilling, which will make cleaning a bit easier, as I'll just hook up the CFC to the zymatic during its clean cycle. I've also had difficulty with copper chillers in the past picking up verdigris, so I'm thinking stainless.

 

[waruaki]

Great posts on this thread. As a home brewer on and off for 20 years starting with buckets with holes drilled in them to recently a Brutus with 2 PIDs and NG burners. Spending 1/3 of my brew day cleaning got to be old not to mention brewing in a garage that was either too cold or too hot (guess I'm getting old) not to mention having way to much beer on tap for one person. Yes it's possible.

I'm interested in the Zymatic can a few folks who have some miles and or a year or so with theirs say
Does it still maintain and hold temperatures?
Does it recirculate and flow as it did when new?
Has the recipe software and firmware improved and do you still feel it's supported?
Would you buy it all over again?

Thanks

 

[Denny]

Great posts on this thread. As a home brewer on and off for 20 years starting with buckets with holes drilled in them to recently a Brutus with 2 PIDs and NG burners. Spending 1/3 of my brew day cleaning got to be old not to mention brewing in a garage that was either too cold or too hot (guess I'm getting old) not to mention having way to much beer on tap for one person. Yes it's possible.

I'm interested in the Zymatic can a few folks who have some miles and or a year or so with theirs say
Does it still maintain and hold temperatures?
Does it recirculate and flow as it did when new?
Has the recipe software and firmware improved and do you still feel it's supported?
Would you buy it all over again?

Thanks

Maintaining and holding temp is what it's all about and why I use it for my experiments. Repeatability is one of the key feature IMO. There has been no change in any aspect of performance since it was new. Yes, both the recipe crafter and firmware have been updated several times. There are still improvements to be made in the recipe crafter. Support only gets better.

 

[waruaki]

Maintaining and holding temp is what it's all about and why I use it for my experiments. Repeatability is one of the key feature IMO. There has been no change in any aspect of performance since it was new. Yes, both the recipe crafter and firmware have been updated several times. There are still improvements to be made in the recipe crafter. Support only gets better.

Thanks Denny

 

[pagrider]

Maintaining and holding temp is what it's all about and why I use it for my experiments. Repeatability is one of the key feature IMO. There has been no change in any aspect of performance since it was new. Yes, both the recipe crafter and firmware have been updated several times. There are still improvements to be made in the recipe crafter. Support only gets better.

I agree. I am a little disappointed in the lack of updates. Most of their resources have been used to get the Pico going so we are all hoping they will make the necessary improvements to the zymatic.

 

[waruaki]

I agree. I am a little disappointed in the lack of updates. Most of their resources have been used to get the Pico going so we are all hoping they will make the necessary improvements to the zymatic.

This seems to be the consensus when reading the different forums, blogs and threads on the Zymatic. As a potential buyer getting serious about a purchase I find it disconcerting that it sounds like it's not getting the attention it deserves from Picobrew.
I also find it surprising the unit doesn't have an offline mode? (Correct me if I'm mistaken on this) my internet is pretty good but there has been times on the weekend when its gotten sketchy. It would have been logical to be able to load recipes via a thumb drive as well. You wouldn't have the real time logging but at least you could run your recipe

 

[Thorrak]

This seems to be the consensus when reading the different forums, blogs and threads on the Zymatic. As a potential buyer getting serious about a purchase I find it disconcerting that it sounds like it's not getting the attention it deserves from Picobrew.
I also find it surprising the unit doesn't have an offline mode? (Correct me if I'm mistaken on this) my internet is pretty good but there has been times on the weekend when its gotten sketchy. It would have been logical to be able to load recipes via a thumb drive as well. You wouldn't have the real time logging but at least you could run your recipe

I agree that an "offline" mode would be useful (as would an offline recipe editor) but I'm not surprised in this case that it doesn't exist. The hardware beneath the hood is based on an Arduino if I recall correctly which is pretty underpowered (and doesn't have much memory). While it would be great if they would follow through and open source the firmware as originally discussed, I wouldn't be surprised if similar to the BrewPi they were well into the "optimize to save a few bytes so it will fit" end of the development cycle.

In other words, as it currently exists, they may well be at the point where they would have to choose between the (arguably) user-friendlier web-based configurator and an (arguably) less user friendly "offline" version.

That said - I'm holding out hope for a Zymatic 2.0 upgrade at some point (and would be even happier if there was a user-serviceable upgrade path for 1.0 users).

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Double post

 

[Baja_Brewer]

This seems to be the consensus when reading the different forums, blogs and threads on the Zymatic. As a potential buyer getting serious about a purchase I find it disconcerting that it sounds like it's not getting the attention it deserves from Picobrew.
I also find it surprising the unit doesn't have an offline mode? (Correct me if I'm mistaken on this) my internet is pretty good but there has been times on the weekend when its gotten sketchy. It would have been logical to be able to load recipes via a thumb drive as well. You wouldn't have the real time logging but at least you could run your recipe

Send them an email at [email protected] to express your reservations.

At this point in time, complaints on the PB forum are straight up ignored. Like I've said before, they already have our money. At this point in time all I can do is publicize my sentiments in the hopes that interested parties will do so.

If a potential customer expresses concern and they ignore it, ultimately losing that business - that has an actual impact.

 

[BurntOrngeLonghorn84]

From what I've read, it has an offline mode in that once you start a recipe it will complete that recipe if it goes offline. However you need to be online to get the instruction set.

In my experience if you lose connectivity it still brews, but when it establishes connectivity it pauses itself and checks in with the server, usually about 1 to 2 min, could be annoying if your internet is spotty, as it will constantly pause to check in.

Regarding the enhancements...it still brews beer, and damn good beer. I'm a bit simpler I guess.

 

[pagrider]

baja brewer I agree. Their own forum is totally ignored by pico brew. They do respond when you have an issue and email them. Great customer service in that respect. There have been no improvements though and many have been promised for over a year or more

 

[Anyhowe]

What gets lost here is how simple and incredible this machine is. I love it. My god if there was a forum on marriage nobody would ever get married.

 

[pagrider]

Doesnt take much for them just to respond. Otherwise divorce is inevitable (couldn't resist)

 

[waruaki]

Good information here thanks.

I'm now looking for the best price and had considered buying used or perhaps a returned unit. After doing the research it's obvious that having the warranty is critical for mechanical issues so I emailed Picobrew to see if the warranty is transferable and below is the response I received back. I emailed in the morning and was surprised to have a response back in an hour unfortunitly it wasn't the answer I was looking for.

" I would ask for the UID number if possible so that we can verify the legitimacy of the machine, if we can not verify the legitimacy of a machine we will not support it which includes access to our servers which are required in order for the machine to function correctly. Used machines are not covered under warranty. In many cases these machines were damaged during shipping, and we have had several people contacting us to let us know that these machines did not include any of the required accessories ".

Anybody know the best prices out there? I'm thinking about buying the version with out the keg and using one of my ball lock corny kegs and cutting down the pick up tube a 1/2" to save a bit of $$$ Looks like $1850.00 without the keg is currently the best buy. Hoping maybe next week there might be a holiday special at one of the suppliers.

 

[AlpacaBrew]

Buy a Brewie.

 

[waruaki]

Buy a Brewie.

Oh, I've looked but this is the dilemma.

Just now, they are starting to ship the early backers units.

When I inquired to the availably to a newly placed order this was the reply

"If you have placed your order nowadays, it will be delivered in the beginning of 2017.
Hope this could help".

Cheers,
Gabriella

So not sure what month the beginning of 2017 is?

I have yet to find one review from a actual owner in the US.
What do you do if there is an issue with a unit? Send it back to Eastern Europe of Taiwan where there manufactured? I'm sure at some point there will be something in the US for warranty repairs.

For the dollar amount I need a little more piece of mind and 24 months of a proven track record helps.

Don't get me wrong I've watched all the videos and read everything out there on it. If it had the track record and a US based distributer to handle warranty issues it would have been a player in my choice. It helps me as well that Picobrew is only 3 hrs north in Seattle if I should have an issue.

 

[pagrider]

Customer service at picobrew is terrific. If you have an issue they are very responsive. In terms of responding to owner input, not so much in fact non existent from what I have experienced. Buying a brewie is like buying a trip to the moon. Could be unbelievable or.....

 

[AlpacaBrew]

"What do you do if there is an issue with a unit? Send it back to Eastern Europe of Taiwan where there manufactured? I'm sure at some point there will be something in the US for warranty repairs."

Thats how I feel about Zymatic living in Europe.

 

[Thorrak]

Buy a Brewie.

It sounds insane, but I was with them up until I realized it made 5 gallons at a time. I actually like the smaller batch size - it doesn't require me to drink as much if something doesn't turn out right!