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PICO Brew


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#1 armagh

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 10:53 AM

Just got word they've emerged from bankruptcy.  Apparently it's the device can still be used but no guarantees for the future.  In other words, I may soon own a boat anchor.  Grand.



#2 positiveContact

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Posted 22 May 2020 - 03:48 PM

Just got word they've emerged from bankruptcy.  Apparently it's the device can still be used but no guarantees for the future.  In other words, I may soon own a boat anchor.  Grand.

 

is this one of those things where if the device can't talk to their server you can't use it?



#3 jimdkc

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Posted 24 May 2020 - 03:02 PM

Pico Paks (pre-assembled recipe packs with grain, and hops) have an RFID chip in them. The Picobrew hardware reads that chip and gets the  recipe "instructions" (mash schedule, hop schedule, times and temps) from Pico's servers.

 

With the Manual Brew process, you create the recipe online with their recipe creator, but then you dial in all the times and temperatures manually. You drop your hops manually at the appropriate times. Beyond recipe creation, there is no reliance on their servers.

 

I've been playing with how to develop recipes outside of Pico's online recipe creators. It appears that most recipe creation methods (Brewsmith, BrewersFriend.com) set at 55% efficiency (!?) are pretty close. Pico's hop calculations appear to be way out of whack, so I'm not sure yet how that's going to work!



#4 positiveContact

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Posted 24 May 2020 - 04:04 PM

Why is the efficiency so low???

#5 jimdkc

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Posted 24 May 2020 - 04:35 PM

The Pico Pack is a sealed unit. There's no way to stir or anything. Heating is done via steam injection. I think the designers just realized that it's a low-efficiency system and threw more grain into the recipes. For a small batch like this, it's not a bad way to go.



#6 positiveContact

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Posted 24 May 2020 - 04:46 PM

true enough.  on a small batch size it's not a big deal.



#7 denny

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Posted 25 May 2020 - 09:50 AM

The Pico Pack is a sealed unit. There's no way to stir or anything. Heating is done via steam injection. I think the designers just realized that it's a low-efficiency system and threw more grain into the recipes. For a small batch like this, it's not a bad way to go.

 Not to mention that  most of them include DME



#8 jimdkc

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Posted 25 May 2020 - 11:28 AM

 Not to mention that  most of them include DME

 

I hadn't really thought of that... but, yeah, I could see that, too!

 

I'm running a test brew on mine today with my false bottom, a 5-Gallon paint strainer bag, stirring during the mash, some less-dense hop bags, and 5 pounds of grain. Standard grain capacity is just over 4 pounds. I think the false bottom and roomier bag will allow more grain.



#9 denny

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Posted 26 May 2020 - 10:29 AM

I can guarantee you that every Pak I know of had DME in it.  BTW, Kevin Sullivan, customer service guy par excellence, but up a bunch of parts and is setting up an Ebay store.




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