[blackcat80!]

Hi!

I just got a used PicoBrew S. I am aware the company has entered receivership, and have browsed this board re: Raspberry Pi if the server doesn't work when I try out the machine, so thank you. I may have questions abou that in future.

1. My PicoBrew appears to be fairly clean but it does have dust or spent grains here and there, and also in the water reservior. I have no idea how it was stored. I read in the manual that I should not use cleaners in the water reservior at all. I've browsed the general cleaning instructions for the PicoBrew S but haven't done them yet. Is there anything you can recommend for making sure the unit is clean before I begin brewing?

2. I have identified all accessories but three things. I assume one may be a racking tube. I suspect the Pico S may have upgraded to Pico Pro at some point, but I'm not sure what these three items are or how to use them.

3. The machine powers up, connects to the Internet, but does have a Error 7 server error. I assume this may be on the company's side, even though the website appears to be operational. Any tips?

4. I can navigate all menus so far and the option for manual brewing updated. However, if I want to do brewing without grains just with sugars, does manual brewing include the option?

5. If I want to adapt a standard beer recipe to gluten free is there a conversion formula or something for swapping out one grain for another?

6. Since I assume I can't get PicoPaks anymore, what should I do with the hop cradle? I'd like to do manual brwing with it, but even if I buy reusable bags from Pico to do so, how does the brewing bag for grains and hops work at that point? I assume they are there to make lifting them from the machine easier without clogging anything, but how would this work? Because Manual brewing did not exist when the manual was written, I don't have any instructions on how to do this now that the update allows it.

7. Has anyone ever made wine, cider or mead using the pico Brew S?

8. When I try all grain brewing, I'd like to make spent grain bread as well (in my case, gluten free). Has any ever made spent grain bread from the Pico Brew?

Any tips about how to use the PicoBrew would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!
Dawn

[majorvices]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

[tommymorris]

There is a PicoBrew Facebook group that is quite supportive.  They have built a open source replacement for the Picobrew.com website.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Picobrewers/?ref=share

I too had a PicoBrew and now regret it.

[denny]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

[tommymorris]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

To be fair my Picobrew Z1 works fine but the fact that Picobrew went out of business makes the long term value bad.

[denny]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

To be fair my Picobrew Z1 works fine but the fact that Picobrew went out of business makes the long term value bad.

Absolutely.  That's why I got rid of mine.  Still worked great, but too much hassle to use.

[blackcat80!]

Thank you all! I'll keep that in mind. I suspected it might not work anymore or would have things wrong with it, but as it was free with all parts I am open to tinkering with it for awhile. I'll look at the Facebook group. I might be able to make something of it...if not, my stovetop and carboy is the other equipent I have.

[majorvices]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

To be fair my Picobrew Z1 works fine but the fact that Picobrew went out of business makes the long term value bad.

Absolutely.  That's why I got rid of mine.  Still worked great, but too much hassle to use.

I made a few good beers with the PicoBrew. Bt the plastic mash-tun hopper thing would crack over time. I used the Pico Cleaning Tablets and it would still crack. Impossible to fix. They sent me a replacement free of charge once, and I thought that was f'n great! Then, when it cracked again they said they no longer supported it and I couldn't even pay for a replacement. Yiou spend 2K on something for it to crap out after less that 2 years ... yeah, I'm a little bitter.

[denny]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

To be fair my Picobrew Z1 works fine but the fact that Picobrew went out of business makes the long term value bad.

Absolutely.  That's why I got rid of mine.  Still worked great, but too much hassle to use.

I made a few good beers with the PicoBrew. Bt the plastic mash-tun hopper thing would crack over time. I used the Pico Cleaning Tablets and it would still crack. Impossible to fix. They sent me a replacement free of charge once, and I thought that was f'n great! Then, when it cracked again they said they no longer supported it and I couldn't even pay for a replacement. Yiou spend 2K on something for it to crap out after less that 2 years ... yeah, I'm a little bitter.

I had 4 different units..original,C, S, and Z.  Annie sent me extra mash tuns in case they cracked...none of them ever did.  Guess I got lucky.

[majorvices]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

To be fair my Picobrew Z1 works fine but the fact that Picobrew went out of business makes the long term value bad.

Absolutely.  That's why I got rid of mine.  Still worked great, but too much hassle to use.

I made a few good beers with the PicoBrew. Bt the plastic mash-tun hopper thing would crack over time. I used the Pico Cleaning Tablets and it would still crack. Impossible to fix. They sent me a replacement free of charge once, and I thought that was f'n great! Then, when it cracked again they said they no longer supported it and I couldn't even pay for a replacement. Yiou spend 2K on something for it to crap out after less that 2 years ... yeah, I'm a little bitter.

I had 4 different units..original,C, S, and Z.  Annie sent me extra mash tuns in case they cracked...none of them ever did.  Guess I got lucky.

Weird. Did you use it more that 4 times? lol

[denny]

What a piece of crap. I absolutely hated mine. Just an expensive piece of junk. More problems than it was ever worth.

I can attest to the warning about cleaning. It seems that just about any cleaner you use will weaken the plastic mash tun parts and cause it to crack. Once it cracks it leaks and basically becomes unusable. And, of course, you can't get replacement parts anymore.

I can't even begin to answer all your questions but if you can't access the data base you are most likely screwed. Count your blessings because you won't make great beer out of it anyway.

As far as wine and mead goes, no. There's absolutely no reason to use this to make wine or mead. You don't need an over priced sous vide to make wine or mead. anyone using this piece of junk to make wine or mean is way overthinking how simple it is to make wine or mead.

OTOH, I got many great, trouble free brews out of mine.

To be fair my Picobrew Z1 works fine but the fact that Picobrew went out of business makes the long term value bad.

Absolutely.  That's why I got rid of mine.  Still worked great, but too much hassle to use.

I made a few good beers with the PicoBrew. Bt the plastic mash-tun hopper thing would crack over time. I used the Pico Cleaning Tablets and it would still crack. Impossible to fix. They sent me a replacement free of charge once, and I thought that was f'n great! Then, when it cracked again they said they no longer supported it and I couldn't even pay for a replacement. Yiou spend 2K on something for it to crap out after less that 2 years ... yeah, I'm a little bitter.

I had 4 different units..original,C, S, and Z.  Annie sent me extra mash tuns in case they cracked...none of them ever did.  Guess I got lucky.

Weird. Did you use it more that 4 times? lol

A lot more