Ars article claims some comps are considering banning Zymatic brewed entries?

The article is basically another review, but I was surprised that comps might be considering banning entires. First of all, how would they know? Secondly, why are there so many change resistant farts out there?

That would be crazy. You still control recipe, yeast pitch rates, water treatment, fermentation temp, sanitation, …

Maybe the guy at the shop was just blowing smoke.

Well, as a beer judge, I can only judge a beer based on what the entrant tells me it is supposed to be.
I don’t know how it was made or even what the ingredients are.
So, it doesn’t really matter if the brewer made the beer in a 2 gal pot on the kitchen stove or a $10K brew sculpture (or a Zymatic).

The author’s experience is why I expect to start finding Zymatic’s on eBay and craigslist. No temp control equals bad beer.

PS. Not ragging on Picobrew. But some newbs won’t figure out the extras needed to make good beer.

Exactly.  The reviewer managed to turn perfectly good wort into two crappy beers.  Enough said.

I doubt they’d be able to ban Zymatic-brewed beers unless they also banned anything brewed with any sort of PID or digital controls.

My thing is this, for all the griping some folks do about brewery controllers being “cheating,” how the heck do they expect commercial beer to be made? I know some breweries still have manual control, but even my tiny local brewpub has a computer controlled brewery.

They still serve beer full of yeast too and fermentation off flavors, but that’s another story…

The competition thing was “I heard from this guy who heard it.” With no attribution to sources. Are there any competition directors who can state facts? Maybe Janis can say from the perspective of the NHC. Some pretty sophisticated systems have appeared on the AHA page and in the forum, no talk of a ban there.

This next bit was also something that was not well researched, or written in a way that is so ambiguous that some will think they can start selling their beer once they have a picobrew.
“Still, the HopTech attendant said the Zymatic has proved popular with amateur brewers who want to up their game. With the Zymatic, you can test a variety of recipes quickly and decide which is best before you try to make a bigger batch to sell.” We are talking Homebrew here, right?

Ya, I suppose their talking about getting your recipes down before you go pro. Because we all know that’s really all there is to it. Develope an IPA, a blonde, a stout, maybe a seasonal barrel aged sour, then… oh and a pumpkin beer, then go pro. You just… go pro. Yee haw.

If a brewer wants to run a computer controlled machine why should we care? Though it does not appeal to me personally, if it appeals to the next brewer that shouldn’t ban the device. I’ve seen some pretty fancy HERMS, RIMS, etc that aren’t far off this particular machine. Not sure they’re banned.

As someone with a PID controlled system, I’m learning more and more than the precision I get during the mash is a small factor in the outcome of the final beer.

I’m not commenting on any alleged competition bans, just about the bitterness some seem to have towards automated systems. What are these people’s goals? My PID system is just as hands-off as a cooler batch sparge setup. Do they want us outside in 5o weather using nothing but an analog thermometer, a spoon, and a manually-adjusted propane burner trying to maintain mash temps?

No propane either you have to show photos to prove you built the fire with sticks.

Seriously there seems to be a school who believe home brewing is about doing different from the “big manufactured beers” and the school I am in who believe it is simply a way of being involved in the full beer process however you choose to enjoy that process.

Full disclosure: I have a Zymatic.

If comps are going to ban the Z, they should also ban any BCS-1000 setup, some PID controlled setups, probably the BrewEasy, and definitely any extract beers. /sarcasm… kinda

But seriously, when I see stuff like this it shows me how inexperienced these people are. Like Phil_M said, the precision of the mash is the least of anyone’s worries when it comes to excellent beer. I have one because it’s ridiculously easy to clean and all I have time for anymore. If people want to ban precision controlled mashes from comps, I’ll keep the beer to myself.

No temp control?  What?  I can control mash temps precisely and repeatably.  If you’re referring to fermentation, it’s no different than any other brewing system.

And who says it’s not homebrewing?  Who the hell is trying to define the hobby for ME?  Brew the way you want to and I’ll do the same.

A brew magic, a Zymatic. Yes you are an engineer!

This is absolutely true. I also don’t believe that the Zymatic is something that a new brewer could pick up and use to make great beer. “Okay” beer? Probably. Hell, even I’m having struggles figuring it out. Efficiencies are all weird compared to my ‘normal’ (they change when the mash schedule changes, and expectedly with grain bill size - but the recipe crafter doesn’t account for that). The hop utilization seems much lower than what I’m used to, so that still has to be dialed in (again, not accounted for in the online recipe builder). I’m hoping that chilling isn’t as big of a PITA as some people say it is (apparently it foams a lot, but that’s probably operator error), but I’ll find out when I get the CFC hooked up this week.

See, it’s nearly foolproof!  ::slight_smile:

Not legally  ;), but yes, I do have some tendencies. Ha!

I totally want one, but I’m so invested in a 5 or 10 gallon workflow, that I would need to take a step back and rethink too much. I would also need to sell a kidney to afford it.

We just had to sell the Sabco. Ha. ;D

I also wasn’t too sold on the batch size (I like to make a sh*tton of Pilsner when I can), but that’s all been alleviated now. I’m so jazzed up about making all kinds of different beer it’s not even funny. Tiny batches of sour beer! Test out a new malt! Test out a new hop! Tiny batch of a huge ABV beer (using a touch of extract, of course)! There are no consequences anymore now that I’m doing little 3 gallon batches and not spend 7+ hours on a brew day. I think I may even use it to make starter wort that I can pressure can - which may help me figure out the efficiencies on this thing.

But seriously, it’s a pretty cool little brewery. I never anticipated it getting me this excited about brewing again.

I am sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.

I meant fermentation temp control per the article. The author expected great beer and didn’t get it because her home got to 90 degrees. She claimed to be a beer person but didn’t know to find a way to control fermentation temp. I think (just me) that a lot of the hype around picobrew is about an idiot proof device. I recognize the Pico is targeted to that market. Neither are idiot proof. I think a lot of impulse shoppers will loose interest when the beer is not what they expected.

From the Picobrew Zymatic Kickstarter page:

“Picobrew Zymatic: Automatic Beer Brewing Device”

“Brew award-winning craft beer at the touch of a button!”

PS. I don’t know who said it is not homebrewing. Not me.

No offense taken!  But neither the company or users have ever said that you don’t need to deal with fermentation.  To me, “brew” doesn’t include fermentation, although I can see how newbies might not catch the difference.  But as Amanda said, this probably isn’t going to be something that a new brewer buys.  The manual even covers it.  It’s really no different than any other new brewer fermenting beer at too high a temp.  The machine produces the wort…you take it from there.  Neither the machine nor the company is at fault for people’s lack of knowledge.