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Author Topic: Picobrew Zymatic  (Read 5791 times)

Offline tommymorris

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Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2017, 06:33:46 pm »
So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.

Keith, how have the beers been?

I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...
« Last Edit: March 20, 2017, 08:08:49 pm by alestateyall »

Offline denny

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2017, 08:54:39 am »
So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.

Keith, how have the beers been?

I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...

If it didn't make great beer, I wouldn't be using it.  The only reason to worry about oxidation concerns with it is if you don't have anything else to worry about!
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The Beerery

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2017, 11:26:03 am »
So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.

Keith, how have the beers been?

I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...

If it didn't make great beer, I wouldn't be using it.  The only reason to worry about oxidation concerns with it is if you don't have anything else to worry about!

HA!.. yea.. ok.  :o

Offline WAbrewer

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2017, 11:19:49 pm »
Bitte hör auf!


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Offline majorvices

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2017, 04:53:19 pm »
So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.

Keith, how have the beers been?

I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...

I made some awesome pilsners for this past YHB flight club. I'm not going to tell you I think it is worth the price because it is crazy expensive for 2.5 gallons of beer but you can do some really interesting things with it. For instance, you can design just about any step mash you want. And you can design some insane hop stands. You could do a 12 hour hops stand at 175 degrees if you wanted (or longer). I did one beer that I started at 185 hop stand for one hour, then 175 for one hour then 165 for one hour. It's pretty insane.

Some of the drawback: I really don't like the amount of HSA, though I have to admit that I had no problems with off flavors in the beers. You could also put a dip tube on the "IN" post to negate the splashing, though it isn't really recommended (though some people are apparently doing it).

Supposedly they only want you using 1 oz of hops per hop/adjunct container (there are 4 hop/adjucnt containers, though you can "pause" the program, remove used hops and add more ad infinitum.

I really like it and it makes  brewing side batches and comparing malts and one off eperiments very easy but for $2,000 you could really design one hell of an automated brewhouse. OTOH you could easily have something like this installed in your kitchen and basically run a brew overnight.

Offline tommymorris

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #20 on: April 04, 2017, 05:44:09 pm »
So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.

Keith, how have the beers been?

I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...

I made some awesome pilsners for this past YHB flight club. I'm not going to tell you I think it is worth the price because it is crazy expensive for 2.5 gallons of beer but you can do some really interesting things with it. For instance, you can design just about any step mash you want. And you can design some insane hop stands. You could do a 12 hour hops stand at 175 degrees if you wanted (or longer). I did one beer that I started at 185 hop stand for one hour, then 175 for one hour then 165 for one hour. It's pretty insane.

Some of the drawback: I really don't like the amount of HSA, though I have to admit that I had no problems with off flavors in the beers. You could also put a dip tube on the "IN" post to negate the splashing, though it isn't really recommended (though some people are apparently doing it).

Supposedly they only want you using 1 oz of hops per hop/adjunct container (there are 4 hop/adjucnt containers, though you can "pause" the program, remove used hops and add more ad infinitum.

I really like it and it makes  brewing side batches and comparing malts and one off eperiments very easy but for $2,000 you could really design one hell of an automated brewhouse. OTOH you could easily have something like this installed in your kitchen and basically run a brew overnight.
Thanks!  The main thing that makes me want a Zymatic is there are many times when I want to brew but I don't have time. I think I generally would have time to mill grains and load a Zymatic and I think I could come back 4 hours later and cool the wort. But in between I could be at kids soccer game or some such.

But, it's expensive and I am very cheap. So, who knows if I will ever pull the trigger.

Offline majorvices

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #21 on: April 05, 2017, 05:18:28 am »
So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.

Keith, how have the beers been?

I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...

I made some awesome pilsners for this past YHB flight club. I'm not going to tell you I think it is worth the price because it is crazy expensive for 2.5 gallons of beer but you can do some really interesting things with it. For instance, you can design just about any step mash you want. And you can design some insane hop stands. You could do a 12 hour hops stand at 175 degrees if you wanted (or longer). I did one beer that I started at 185 hop stand for one hour, then 175 for one hour then 165 for one hour. It's pretty insane.

Some of the drawback: I really don't like the amount of HSA, though I have to admit that I had no problems with off flavors in the beers. You could also put a dip tube on the "IN" post to negate the splashing, though it isn't really recommended (though some people are apparently doing it).

Supposedly they only want you using 1 oz of hops per hop/adjunct container (there are 4 hop/adjucnt containers, though you can "pause" the program, remove used hops and add more ad infinitum.

I really like it and it makes  brewing side batches and comparing malts and one off eperiments very easy but for $2,000 you could really design one hell of an automated brewhouse. OTOH you could easily have something like this installed in your kitchen and basically run a brew overnight.
Thanks!  The main thing that makes me want a Zymatic is there are many times when I want to brew but I don't have time. I think I generally would have time to mill grains and load a Zymatic and I think I could come back 4 hours later and cool the wort. But in between I could be at kids soccer game or some such.

But, it's expensive and I am very cheap. So, who knows if I will ever pull the trigger.

Yes, this the thing I didn't praise enough about this machine is that it is so programmable. You basically write a simple code that allows you flexibility to basically start and end a brewday based on your schedule. Aside from clean up, and prep, there's almost nothing you need to do for the several hours it takes to brew. I have been out to lunch or running errands and I can use my phone to check the progress of my batch.

If I were to get one of these for a home I would figure out a way to include it "tucked away like a microwave" with my other kitchen appliances.

BTW: You can also do sous vide with the machine.

Offline hike20

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #22 on: April 06, 2017, 09:11:08 am »
For me, my Zymatic has really reinvigorated my brewing. After homebrewing for 6 years or so, I had started to get burned out and wasn't brewing as often. My system had become more and more complicated over the years and it became kind of a drag to get out all the equipment, set it all up and brew. I couldn't brew indoors with my propane fired setup, and winters are cold here in Iowa. Finding the time was also an issue as I had to be near by through the whole process.

Now I can brew indoors on a very compact and easy to setup system that I don't have to babysit. The repeatability and step mashing options really let me be as creative as I want with recipes and process. The real fun for me now is crafting recipes and trying new things to see what differences they create. Time is much less of an issue now since I can get a lot of other things done while I brew.

Price is a relative thing, so whether it's worth it to you or not is the question. Personally, I think the amount of work that went into the design and the support they provide (the have responsive tech support available even on weekends) makes it worth the cost. I know many home brewers who have spent way more than $2K on their brewing systems, and I probably had at least half that just in the upgrades I had bought over the years. The nice thing was I was able to sell off a lot of my old gear to recoup some of the cost. Win-win as other homebrewers got nice gear pretty cheap from me.

Offline FlipMasterFlash

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #23 on: April 10, 2017, 08:44:54 am »
Perhaps not a giant difference to others but I almost always do 3.5 gallon batches on my Zymatic.  That puts the upper bound of the OG I can get out of it at ~1.055 but that I typically prefer lower than that anyways.  I certainly need to brew way more often on my Z vs my 10 gallon setup but I'm finding I far prefer that.  For the rate my beers get drank from my 3 taps it keeps the taps turning over at a rate I like.  With so little time and volume invested I've also been far more willing to try beers and styles that I may not have done before.

The Beerery

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #24 on: May 30, 2017, 08:56:36 am »
« Last Edit: May 30, 2017, 08:58:32 am by The Beerery »

Offline Stevie

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #25 on: May 30, 2017, 09:30:57 am »
Queue Pico hate in 3... 2... never.

;)

The Beerery

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #26 on: May 30, 2017, 10:04:49 am »
Well personally I don't care, just like I didn't when the NB acquisition happened.. but its interesting.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #27 on: May 30, 2017, 10:06:38 am »
I'm in the same boat. We will see how many Z's and Picos are put on the market.

Offline denny

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #28 on: May 30, 2017, 12:56:09 pm »
That article is old and incorrect about certain things.  That's all I can say.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

The Beerery

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Re: Picobrew Zymatic
« Reply #29 on: May 30, 2017, 01:16:50 pm »
That article is old and incorrect about certain things.  That's all I can say.

So old that it had the NB merger? That was what 6 months ago?


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