Here is a copy and past from a nice review a guy did on Reddit named Jvonnieda. All credit to him on the write up.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/2t08xa/zymatic_picobrew/
"Hi chuck_c, I've got one. I was in the second pilot group so I've had mine since July. Sadly, since I am incredibly lazy I've only actually brewed four batches on it but I can give you some insight.
TL;DR: I like it and would recommend it.
I won't address the "art" or "magic" or any of that. It's been done over and over. Check out my post history if you really want to get into it
I've been brewing for about 15 years or so and have been on again, off again about how serious I've been with it. At the "fever pitch" I built a 20 gallon E-HERMS with full BrewTroller fluid automation, hard plumbed with stainless feeding 2 BrewHemoth conicals with a glycol system. I sold that system to a nano startup and replaced it with the Zymatic.
My machine initially had some hardware issues, but PicoBrew addressed them very quickly and professionally. They have been as helpful as you could possibly ask for. They even drove out to my house (I live in Seattle) to pick up and drop off my machine and they gave me free ingredient kits for the trouble. I've had no issues for my last two batches and suspect I won't in the future.
Overall, if you are familiar with brew in a bag, this is quite similar. I would call it a RIMS BIAB hybrid. The wort recirculates through the attached keg during the entire brew and a RIMS tube is used to manage the temperature. You get four adjunct compartments so you can easily do four timed additions. If you want to do more than four timed additions, that would be hard. If you want to use more then 9 lbs of grain you are pretty much out of luck, although you can always crank up the gravity with DME if you need to.
The brew is completely hands off. You set up the machine, set up your recipe (which really can be pretty much as complex as you want regarding heat and time) and hit go. Come back when it beeps a few hours later to deal with chilling. I personally do no chill - I just cap the keg and leave it until the next day to pitch. Other people use a bucket with ice, others attach an inline chiller. There's a pretty active forum with PicoBrew staff and lots of discussion about those kinds of topics.
Since I've only brewed four batches with it, I'll give you the rundown of how each went:
Party Porter Kit included with the machine: Had hardware troubles but got through the brew. Beer turned out decent but overly sweet. From talking with other people who've brewed this beer it sounds like that's by design. I didn't care for it. Seemed under attenuated to me even though I hit my gravities.
Pico Pale Ale Kit purchased from Mountain Homebrew: More hardware issues. Water got into the adjunct compartments during the mash so I ended up with a very, very bitterly hopped mash. Beer was predictably bad.
Pico Pale Ale Kit given to me by PicoBrew after hardware repairs: No hardware issues, great brew. Did no chill. Hit gravities. Beer was good but boring.
Bidwell Pale Ale recipe from the PicoBrew community, purchased ingredients by hand at Mountain Homebrew: Great brew, no problems. This went into the keg and on CO2 a week ago and I served it at a party this past Sunday. Big hit, everyone loved it. I've been sick for a week with a throat mess and can't taste **** so I haven't had more than a few sips. Smells great but I'm holding my tasting review until I'm feeling better.
Cleanup is a breeze. I dump the grains in my recycle bin, give the grain bin a quick rinse and then run the machine through it's rinse cycle which takes 10 minutes or so and then everything goes into the dishwasher. I love that.
Some concerns:
I think the grain bin (step filter, they call it) is probably not going to last. It has a drain thing that looks destined to either crack or fill with bacteria. It also feels brittle and I know that it's going to slip out of my hands one of these days and end up with a huge crack. The company has had a really hard time getting these produced so I am really curious to see how this goes. I'd really like to have a spare on hand but they are having such a hard time with their supplier in China that they can't even get ones for machines they need to ship. I hope this clears up soon.
I asked very early in the Kickstarter if they would open source the firmware and they said yes. So far they have not. I'm starting to get annoyed. A big part of the reason I bought this was to hack on it and right now I can't. They have said they are focused on shipping machines they are committed to ship and then they'll do the firmware so I am being patient for now. It's frustrating though.
Finally, I'd say that the machine is like any brew rig. What you get out depends on what you put in. So far I am unimpressed with the kits but when I did a brew with fresh crushed grain, fresh hops and liquid yeast it turned out great.
Hope that helps. Happy to answer any questions you have and if you are in the Seattle area, shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to demo it for you."
