Looks like Picobrew is releasing a new model, the Z. Brews 1-10 gallon batches, I’m guessing it works similarly to existing models. Kind of looks like a cassette tape to be honest. Any more info out there?
The author seems a bit off with the price, I couldn’t imagine that you’d spend more than $10k on one of these. A Brewie B20 is $2300 and has a 5 gallon capacity, and I see larger systems go for $6-8k.
Yeah, I know some about it…basically it’s an upgraded Pico, with expandable capacity. You get the “brains” then add as many 2.5 gal. “brewing units” as you want up to 10 gal. All new pumps and heat exchanger, built in cooling (I’m told), and a bunch of other cool stuff I can’t talk about til the official release next week. Based on what I know, admittedly not a lot, I think the price quoted it too high. I know that the introductory price is around $1299 (after discounts) for the basic unit.
I was thinking more along the lines of a Dell Server
I wish there was at least some indication on pricing. I got the discount code anyways but somehow think it’s going to be a bit out of range price-wise.
Edit: Thanks for the pricing info. Do you know if they will release additional details before the launch day. I wouldn’t mind looking over the specs before deciding to drop $1300-$1700 on a system I have to make sure works with what I have. Since the discount is only good on day one, doesn’t leave much time to decide.
No, they’re not…at least this one. I find it odd that some people (like some guys in my club) seem to define what “homebrewing” is by the amount of work you do.
One of my questions would be lead time. Is this a prepared product they will be producing and shipping with reasonable lead time? Or a kickstarter sequel experience where it could be a year?
And a reply on the brewie statement above. I waited patiently for my brewie to show. It finally did and is full of bugs and customer service is not responsive. Still hopeful it will get fixed too but may be a giant waste of money.
That’s too bad, it looked like a pretty cool system. Something appealing about being able to hook up a water line to the back and truly have a mostly hands off brew system. What kind of level of bugs are they? Is it something that stops it from working completely, or something that just makes it annoying to use?
Current list:
-Doesn’t drain more than 14% of mash tank at once (annoyance)
-unclogging of boil tank doesn’t work (potentially just annoyance until actually clogged
-machine shuts itself off repeatedly, despite verifying correct electrical output (makes inoperable)
-Automatic water on “short clean” overflowed (annoyance as can manually load for that cycle)
It looks interesting, but man, for that price…You can by a new Sabco brewmagic ($7k), brew more per batch, and have some money left over. Based on the classifieds you can also get used systems with a few fermenters!
I’m sure there’ll still be plenty of bigger craft breweries that can justify the cost though, a pilot system is only worthwhile if you have someone to run it. Another brewer costs a lot more than $8.5k.