PicoBrew Zymatic

Williams 728
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Notice Picobrew keeps adding to the number Zymatics availableon the Kickstarter. Started out less than 50. As the purchases approach the number available, they add a hand full of Zs. Up to 97 available now.

Interesting as during the original Zymatic Kickstarter (Nov 2013) they only offered 25 at $1299 for the earliest backers . Albeit the ones on the current Kickstarter are "refurbished" .
 
brew-in said:
Notice Picobrew keeps adding to the number Zymatics availableon the Kickstarter. Started out less than 50. As the purchases approach the number available, they add a hand full of Zs. Up to 97 available now.

Interesting as during the original Zymatic Kickstarter (Nov 2013) they only offered 25 at $1299 for the earliest backers . Albeit the ones on the current Kickstarter are "refurbished" .
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised - it actually seems like a smart move. Rather than compete against themselves on the price of the Zymatic they can continue to only officially sell the new units at full price while still liquidating their inventory of refurbished units. At the same time, they can increase the overall Kickstarter funding number which can help with marketing later on.

Honestly, if I didn't have a zymatic already, I'd be buying one through this kickstarter.
 
Where are these refurb units ? Every time I go to Kickstarter they say that it is no longer available. I was about to purchase a new until I heard about the refurbs.
 
Wingfan13 said:
Where are these refurb units ? Every time I go to Kickstarter they say that it is no longer available. I was about to purchase a new until I heard about the refurbs.
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Just scroll down. It is the last pledge level on the right side of the page. Just checked and the kickstarter says they have 10 of 97 left.
 
stonebrewer said:
Every brew I have done so far, I have done with a spunding valve. Most of the time with the Z keg, but also with other kegs I had prior. Having issues?
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No. I pledged for the Zymatic via the Kickstarter, but wasn't impressed with their fermenter version when viewing the videos and have already been in the process of building a spunding valve.
 
Thorrak said:
How do you like it vs. an airlock? Any specific valve that has worked for you?
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I brew a lot of IPAs and had some email discussion with JC Tetreault a while back about how Trillium does things and how to replicate as a homebrewer. One thing he stressed was fermenting under pressure in a closed system to prevent CO2 off gassing from removing hop aromas. So I have done all my brews this way and think it has helped with aroma.

I bought the one off Morebeer and it works fine: https://www.morebeer.com/products/adjustable-pressure-relief-valve.html

I did modify it a bit as I already had a couple of pressure gauges laying around, so I bought the cheaper version linked above and added my own gauge. They make one with a gauge for about $15 more...
 
Along similar lines, what are you guys finding works best for you to chill prior to pitch? I start with adding the keg to a 5gal bucket in my sink with ice packs and running water. Typically drops down to 68 in about 45mins or less.

Has anyone tried the Jaded cornypillar? Was thinking of trying to make my own after this design.
 
pblocked said:
Along similar lines, what are you guys finding works best for you to chill prior to pitch? I start with adding the keg to a 5gal bucket in my sink with ice packs and running water. Typically drops down to 68 in about 45mins or less.

Has anyone tried the Jaded cornypillar? Was thinking of trying to make my own after this design.
Click to expand...

I have one, and swear by it. I haven't timed it recently, but if I had to guess I'd say it gets the wort down to pitching temperature in 5 mins or less.
 
I have one too... great purchase... I get down to close to pitching temps in around 10 mins or so. I transfer the chilled wort to a SS brewbucket and button it up in one of my fermenting fridges to get it down the last 10-15 degrees before pitching. Saves water and time.
 
Thorrak said:
I have one, and swear by it. I haven't timed it recently, but if I had to guess I'd say it gets the wort down to pitching temperature in 5 mins or less.
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Here's a youtube
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XecvLVWD90[/ame]
 
jmark said:
I have one too... great purchase... I get down to close to pitching temps in around 10 mins or so. I transfer the chilled wort to a SS brewbucket and button it up in one of my fermenting fridges to get it down the last 10-15 degrees before pitching. Saves water and time.
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I wish my tap water wasn't 80 degrees on a good day or I would buy one.
 
pblocked said:
Along similar lines, what are you guys finding works best for you to chill prior to pitch? I start with adding the keg to a 5gal bucket in my sink with ice packs and running water. Typically drops down to 68 in about 45mins or less.

Has anyone tried the Jaded cornypillar? Was thinking of trying to make my own after this design.
Click to expand...

Yep. Made a huge difference in my brew day enjoyment. I think you'd have to have some specialized tools to be able to bend the copper as tight as they do.
 
pblocked said:
Along similar lines, what are you guys finding works best for you to chill prior to pitch?
Click to expand...

I had an old copper immersion chiller I built a looooong time ago laying around, so I followed Annie's suggestion and run the wort through it in a bucket of tap water. When the tap water hits about 95-100 degrees or so, I pop the chiller out and put it into a second bucket with tap water with a few pounds of ice. I chill from around boil down to pitching temps in 20-25 minutes or so with about 6-7 gallons of water plus whatever the ice ends up being. Expect that time to go up now that outside temps are heating up. If so, I will drop it into the freezer I have in my brew room and chill the rest of the way to pitching temps. I brew ~3 gallon batches with the Z so I am happy with this time and amount of waste water (I use the resulting warm water to clean the brewery with, so it isn't a complete waste!)
 
Hi All,

New Z owner here. I'm awaiting my refurb from the latest KS campaign. Is it possible to access the recipe crafter and database prior to receiving the machine? I'd like to do some exploring to get familiar with the software.
 
murphbrew said:
Hi All,

New Z owner here. I'm awaiting my refurb from the latest KS campaign. Is it possible to access the recipe crafter and database prior to receiving the machine? I'd like to do some exploring to get familiar with the software.
Click to expand...

I emailed the support group on their website and they emailed me the info that I needed to register before the unit arrived. I bought mine new, but it shouldn't matter...
 
stonebrewer said:
I emailed the support group on their website and they emailed me the info that I needed to register before the unit arrived. I bought mine new, but it shouldn't matter...
Click to expand...

Yeah, denied. They said I had to have my machine registered to me. Oh well, guess I'll wait a little longer. Hopefully their shipping timetables arent too far off.
 
Honestly you are not missing much. If you use their recipe editor, it really doesn't affect the machine and how it runs and I think is kind of a redundant step. I only put enough info in the editor to make the machine accept the recipe, understand my hop schedule, and do all my real recipe creation in Beersmith. The one thing that you MIGHT want to play with is the Advanced Editor which gives you control over the entire process. A lot of people do not bother and just use one of the two default mash cycles. I never can resist tinkering and I wanted to do some things differently (step mashing, adding a pause for a chiller, etc.) so I use the advanced editor for every brew. Once the recipe is entered, you download the info from the web into the machine and off it goes. Best of luck!
 
Just ordered one of the refurbished zymatics and just curious if any 5 gallon ball lock corny keg will work? Read somewhere I needed a modified ball lock.
 
PD25 said:
Just ordered one of the refurbished zymatics and just curious if any 5 gallon ball lock corny keg will work? Read somewhere I needed a modified ball lock.
Click to expand...

I have used at least 5, maybe 10 different ball locks and they all worked great. I do have a few extra dip tubes cut a bit short which I used with them for fermenting...
 
stonebrewer said:
The one thing that you MIGHT want to play with is the Advanced Editor which gives you control over the entire process.
Click to expand...


I'd recommend not playing with the Advanced editor until at doing at least one default mash schedule to understand how the Zymatic receives and interprets commands.

Also, the advanced editor should be the LAST thing you touch when building a brew session, otherwise if you change something on the recipe and save it the advanced editor will revert back to default.

Also I like to dedicate kegs for fermenting or serving, but not both. I have 4 dedicated fermenting kegs and 3 serving kegs. My serving kegs are 3 gallon kegs.
 
Has anyone bought a 5-gallon all-gran kit from one of the online retailers (where the grains are pre-mixed) and then split the recipe in two for the Zymatic?
 
NadoHawk said:
Has anyone bought a 5-gallon all-gran kit from one of the online retailers (where the grains are pre-mixed) and then split the recipe in two for the Zymatic?
Click to expand...


I've thought about it when AHS was running their $20 5 Gallon Summer Saison.

However, I think with the Zymatics efficiency if you do that you'll end up with two batches that you'll likely miss your gravity and IBU on.

If you're not quite ready to make your own recipes, I'd just stick to the public recipe database. These are recipes that are mostly tried and true, built specifically for the Zymatic.
 
NadoHawk said:
Has anyone bought a 5-gallon all-gran kit from one of the online retailers (where the grains are pre-mixed) and then split the recipe in two for the Zymatic?
Click to expand...


I do this all the time. Cut the recipe in half, and brew both the same day. When they are cooled, I just transfer from the kegs to a single fermenter. Works well and I really haven't noticed much of a difference in the final outcome.
 
Sorrow said:
I do this all the time. Cut the recipe in half, and brew both the same day. When they are cooled, I just transfer from the kegs to a single fermenter. Works well and I really haven't noticed much of a difference in the final outcome.
Click to expand...

Do you purchase from a retailer that separates the grains out in their kits, or do you just shake it all up to get the various grains evenly distributed between batches?
 
Sorrow said:
I do this all the time. Cut the recipe in half, and brew both the same day. When they are cooled, I just transfer from the kegs to a single fermenter. Works well and I really haven't noticed much of a difference in the final outcome.
Click to expand...

So then, you would just add the yeast at the end and not have to split it up, right?

I might also try splitting them up on different brew days and use two different yeasts. More expensive, but I get more variety.

This will be a quick way to get rid of my collection of recipes I have purchased.
 
Thorrak said:
Do you purchase from a retailer that separates the grains out in their kits, or do you just shake it all up to get the various grains evenly distributed between batches?
Click to expand...

I just mix it up. Since they are going to be combined for fermentation I don't think it's affected the actual brewing if they are not evenly split.
 
NadoHawk said:
So then, you would just add the yeast at the end and not have to split it up, right?

I might also try splitting them up on different brew days and use two different yeasts. More expensive, but I get more variety.

This will be a quick way to get rid of my collection of recipes I have purchased.
Click to expand...

Correct. In the end it's a 5.5 Gallon batch. Fermented all in one fermenter. I usually get the kits from Northern Brewer or Austin Homebrew.
 
pblocked said:
Random question, but which direction do you face the tabs on your hop cages? I had always been facing the to the left, but I randomly came across a "how to" video Annie posted where she clearly states, "place the tab to the right"!?

See 3:12: https://www.picobrew.com/About/Videos_Zymatic.cshtml
Click to expand...

I face them to the right -- except the rightmost, which I face to the left (to make it easier to pull out).

I do this every time I don't face them to the left (with the exception of the leftmost which I face to the right to make it easier to pull out). ;)

Honestly, from running water through the hop step filter chamber while cleaning, I don't think it matters all that much.
 
The manual clearly depicts them all facing left in the pics and was just worried once I saw her video mention to, "make sure to face right". My concern is, that it hinders the correct amount of water flowing in one direction over the other and doesn't allow for proper adjunct saturation.
 
I should be getting my Zymatic in the next couple of weeks, can't wait! I have a Pico, which also brews and ferments in ball lock kegs, but they are 1.75 gallon and very easy to disassemble and clean in the sink. I was cleaning one last night and realized this might not be so easy and convenient with 5 gallon kegs. Do most people ferment in the 5 gallon keg? Or transfer to some other easier to clean fermentation vessel?
 
I use 5 gallon kegs and ferment under pressure with a spunding valve. Cleanup is actually not that bad. Rinse a few times, hit it with a nylon bristle brush, and it is like new money.
 

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