So I ordered the Pico during the kickstarter campaign and received it a few weeks ago. Last week I brewed my first batch, Annie's London Ale, let me just say I am extremely happy and excited with the Pico! It was worth the wait! It is extremely well thought out and designed, a pleasure to use. Hopefully Pico owners will use this thread to share their experiences, learnings, and success! Please, no tower of power brewers bashing our little Pico! The Pico is intended for a very certain type of brewer, and we know what we have and why we chose it!
Years ago I brewed 2.5 gallon batches with an e-BIAB system I built. Life (kids) got in the way and I haven't brewed in a few years. I toyed with the idea of a Zymatic over the years, but when I saw the Pico I knew it was perfect for me at the moment. You can literally brew and cook dinner at the same time, yet the process is so that it is still fun and engaging. My personal pet peeves of weighing, grinding, starters, and cleanup are gone, the reasons life kept me from brewing, not to mention the room full of equipment that is now replaced by bikes and dolls.
The Pico has a very cool user interface that walks you through the different steps of the cleaning and brewing process. You always know the status of the brew and how much time is left. There is also a slick online interface that charts your brew progress and shows you the mashing boiling etc steps. When brewing is complete, you are left with a full keg which you seal off and let cool down. I put mine in my kegerator for exactly 6 hours which got me to 75 degrees target temp. Each PicoPak comes with a thermometer sticker so you always know the temp of your wort. A label sticker of your recipe is also included, both very nice touches.
After 6 hours of cooling I pitched the included packet of yeast right into the keg, shook it up, and sealed it off with the included fast fermentation adapter. The thermometer shows 75-84 as the fast fermentation zone. I have the keg sitting on top of my kegerator, my house keeps it between 73-75 night and day. For fast fermentation it should be ready to rack to serving keg by 5 days, but since I am on the low end of that range I am giving it 10 days. This weekend I will place it in my kegerator for a couple days to cold crash, then rack to another brew keg to force carbonate and serve from kegerator.
I also purchased the kegsmarts system during the kickstarter, which I will setup soon and detail here. In the future kegsmarts will automate my fermentation, but I am still awaiting shipment of the keg warmer which keeps the keg at your desired temp during fermentation. Attached are a few pics from my first brew, hopefully fellow Pico owners chime in with their experience! I know a lot of people are still waiting for their pico, if you have any questions ask!
Years ago I brewed 2.5 gallon batches with an e-BIAB system I built. Life (kids) got in the way and I haven't brewed in a few years. I toyed with the idea of a Zymatic over the years, but when I saw the Pico I knew it was perfect for me at the moment. You can literally brew and cook dinner at the same time, yet the process is so that it is still fun and engaging. My personal pet peeves of weighing, grinding, starters, and cleanup are gone, the reasons life kept me from brewing, not to mention the room full of equipment that is now replaced by bikes and dolls.
The Pico has a very cool user interface that walks you through the different steps of the cleaning and brewing process. You always know the status of the brew and how much time is left. There is also a slick online interface that charts your brew progress and shows you the mashing boiling etc steps. When brewing is complete, you are left with a full keg which you seal off and let cool down. I put mine in my kegerator for exactly 6 hours which got me to 75 degrees target temp. Each PicoPak comes with a thermometer sticker so you always know the temp of your wort. A label sticker of your recipe is also included, both very nice touches.
After 6 hours of cooling I pitched the included packet of yeast right into the keg, shook it up, and sealed it off with the included fast fermentation adapter. The thermometer shows 75-84 as the fast fermentation zone. I have the keg sitting on top of my kegerator, my house keeps it between 73-75 night and day. For fast fermentation it should be ready to rack to serving keg by 5 days, but since I am on the low end of that range I am giving it 10 days. This weekend I will place it in my kegerator for a couple days to cold crash, then rack to another brew keg to force carbonate and serve from kegerator.
I also purchased the kegsmarts system during the kickstarter, which I will setup soon and detail here. In the future kegsmarts will automate my fermentation, but I am still awaiting shipment of the keg warmer which keeps the keg at your desired temp during fermentation. Attached are a few pics from my first brew, hopefully fellow Pico owners chime in with their experience! I know a lot of people are still waiting for their pico, if you have any questions ask!