PicoBrew Zymatic

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I just updated the firmware on my Z. Word of advice: when you have everything hooked up, go to the Windows Start menu, select Devices and Printers, and click on the Z icon on the bottom and note the COM port it is connected to. I completely spaced and missed that there was a menu selection on the flash utility and tried to program over COM1 (the default) about 3 times before I did this and saw the device was on COM 3.
 
DemonsRun said:
Testing the new "Delayed Start Function" for the Zymatic.
Should be ready to chill when I get home.
Click to expand...

DemonsRun said:
Damn - 15 min into the boil and The Web page says nothing brewing....:(

Lost internet....its not doing anything just asking for wi-fi....I guess I'll need to run the boil when I get home.

Powered the Z Off and On and it picked back up where it had died.
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DemonsRun said:
I have no issue beta testing, we asked for change now we are getting change.:tank:
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Hope to get a chance to test this out myself later this week :tank:
 
Hop Hash - has anyone used it in the Z? I would think that using it as a 5-10 minute addition or in the keg would add a huge blast of hop character. I was thinking say 0.5 ounce in the keg for whirlpool, or just at 10 minutes.
 
jrcrilly said:
If it is working properly the recirc wort is being deposited onto a layer of water above the grains. My primary brewing rig does just the same. Channeling shouldn't be an issue. On the other hand, if there is no layer of water above the grains, channeling is likely. The solution there would be to fix whatever is causing the insufficient flow.



You mention adjusting your crush to improve efficiency. I hope that you don't intend to go to a finer crush. For the mash to flow through the grainbed rather than just running out the bypass, you need a fairly coarse crush - I use .045". Much finer, and the wort is just running in and back out on top without involving the grains at all. That would lead to poor efficiency, indeed!
Click to expand...


I use .50 gap. Works great for me.
 
Hi Guys,

New owner of a Z and trying to see what has been working best for you guys in way of initial fermentation. I know they have a nifty keg topper for the foam catcher and airlock, but it doesn't seem very secure to ferment? I'm using it now on a batch of pico pale, which is fermenting, but want to move on to a new batch.

How have you guys been able to run multiple batches? After brewing into the corny, do you immediately transfer into a carboy? Did you buy other keg toppers?

Likewise, has anyone tried out a 2.5 gal corny for serving? Like the thought of fitting a few into my fridge!
 
Not sure about others, but I'm *finally* going to get to brew on mine this weekend (a long arduous 2 month journey to getting a working Z in my hands) and I'm planning on transferring to a brew bucket for fermentation.
 
pblocked said:
Hi Guys,

New owner of a Z and trying to see what has been working best for you guys in way of initial fermentation. I know they have a nifty keg topper for the foam catcher and airlock, but it doesn't seem very secure to ferment? I'm using it now on a batch of pico pale, which is fermenting, but want to move on to a new batch.

How have you guys been able to run multiple batches? After brewing into the corny, do you immediately transfer into a carboy? Did you buy other keg toppers?

Likewise, has anyone tried out a 2.5 gal corny for serving? Like the thought of fitting a few into my fridge!
Click to expand...

The pico rubber keg lid works perfectly well. To be honest you don't really need it to brew or to ferment - I put a few drops of antifoam on a piece of tinfoil and used that as a lid for my last brew session.

If you want to ferment without the rubber lid - just use a regular keg lid. And attach a gas post to the keg, with a section of tubing into a bottle of starsan - easy blowoff tube!
 
@pblocked - I ferment in the kegs. Use a spunding valve to force carb. I have used the pico lid and it worked fine as well. Actually using it now because I have more things fermenting than I currently have spunding valves for...will be ordering a couple spares this weekend. I also use a screen around the out tube to keep from having yeast/trub/hops block my quick disconnects when I transfer to a serving keg. Works pretty well!
 
pblocked said:
How have you guys been able to run multiple batches? After brewing into the corny, do you immediately transfer into a carboy? Did you buy other keg toppers?

Likewise, has anyone tried out a 2.5 gal corny for serving? Like the thought of fitting a few into my fridge!
Click to expand...

I purchased an extra kegseal, but I'm going to shift to using the gas post with a ball lock connector attached to tube, like a blow-off.

I use 3g corny for serving. Allows me to transfer w/o worry if I'm a little over on batch size. They're slightly more expensive and harder to come by then 2.5g.
 
pblocked said:
Hi Guys,

New owner of a Z and trying to see what has been working best for you guys in way of initial fermentation. I know they have a nifty keg topper for the foam catcher and airlock, but it doesn't seem very secure to ferment? I'm using it now on a batch of pico pale, which is fermenting, but want to move on to a new batch.

How have you guys been able to run multiple batches? After brewing into the corny, do you immediately transfer into a carboy? Did you buy other keg toppers?

Likewise, has anyone tried out a 2.5 gal corny for serving? Like the thought of fitting a few into my fridge!
Click to expand...

Did you say fermenting lid? http://www.homebrewing.org/Cornelius-Keg-Lid-for-Secondary-Fermenter_p_999.html They go on sale occasionally for $5. Don't forget rubber stoppers. I've never had an issue using the PB keg seal.

I own five 5 gallon kegs, so I do ferment in mine. Also how I do back to back batches.

How are you planning on serving the 2.5 gallon kegs? Can you stack them when you have the ball lock couplers on there?
 
If I am not making a high gravity beer I usually do a 3-3.5 gallon batch. These ferment well in the keg too with the rubber seal. I use exclusively 5 gallon kegs to store my beer, and one is usually filled with star-san as they are cheaper than the smaller kegs. I have a 1.6 gallon "Torpedo keg" from Morebeer for serving away from home as it easily fits in a regular sized cooler.

For 5 gallon batches I ferment in a glass carboy or 6.5 gal fermonster. Fermenting in the keg is nice because you can transfer to another keg using the out to out connector that they give you without it hitting the air. What I do is use my connector, pump the keg full of star san out into another keg with some CO2. Then my coupler is sanitized along with my serving keg. With the cut dip tube of the PicoBrew provided keg you really do not suck up much trub.
 
jmark said:
Guys... I needed a replacement duck valve and it arrived today, in two pieces... a soft silicone piece and a hard plastic piece... is this expected, or should this have been a single piece? View attachment 388271
Click to expand...

not sure, but how the heck do you get your existing duck valve out of the step filter? I'm afraid of destroying the whole thing....
 
Long story short, but UPS destroyed a Z I bought used... took almost two months to get that situation sorted out... anyway... the duck valve in the setup filter (which survived) needed replacement... to get it out, I took a straight piece of wire coat hanger and used pliers to bend over a small piece of it at the end and then I was able to hook the old valve out... I certainly wouldn't recommend doing this if your duck valve is in good condition as you'll likely rip it to shreds.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice! Picked up a spare valve last night for a blowoff!

@aangel, Would love to hear how you rigged up the aluminum foil for a foam trap!

@stonebrewer, how the spunding valve working out for you? How long does it take you to carb the beer? Read a few posts on it, seems like a great solution, but would love to hear about your experience with it!
 
pblocked said:
Hi Guys,

New owner of a Z and trying to see what has been working best for you guys in way of initial fermentation. I know they have a nifty keg topper for the foam catcher and airlock, but it doesn't seem very secure to ferment? I'm using it now on a batch of pico pale, which is fermenting, but want to move on to a new batch.

How have you guys been able to run multiple batches? After brewing into the corny, do you immediately transfer into a carboy? Did you buy other keg toppers?

Likewise, has anyone tried out a 2.5 gal corny for serving? Like the thought of fitting a few into my fridge!
Click to expand...

I switched from carboys to buckets many years and hundreds of batches ago. Once the wort in the keg is cool (I use a Jaded Corny Pillar) I pour the wort into a bucket, pitch yeast and put the bucket in a temp controlled chest freezer to ferment.
 
pblocked said:
@stonebrewer, how the spunding valve working out for you? How long does it take you to carb the beer? Read a few posts on it, seems like a great solution, but would love to hear about your experience with it!
Click to expand...

The beer is carbed when fermentation is complete, so there is no need to wait to drink your beer, other than to cool it to serving temperature.
 
pblocked said:
Thanks everyone for the advice! Picked up a spare valve last night for a blowoff!

@aangel, Would love to hear how you rigged up the aluminum foil for a foam trap!

@stonebrewer, how the spunding valve working out for you? How long does it take you to carb the beer? Read a few posts on it, seems like a great solution, but would love to hear about your experience with it!
Click to expand...

I literally wrapped a keg lid in aluminum foil, dripped about 6 drops of antifoam on the bottom of it, spread it around with my finger, and placed it on top (not inside / sealed) of the keg opening. Worked great. This was with a 4 gallon batch to boot, and there was no foaming noticed, so it definitely works.

Incidentally: I freaking love making wort starter with the zymatic. Make 4 gal at a time and separate into 8x2L pop bottles and freeze.
 
stonebrewer said:
The beer is carbed when fermentation is complete, so there is no need to wait to drink your beer, other than to cool it to serving temperature.
Click to expand...

Technically yes. But I have never made a beer that did not improve dramatically after setting for two weeks or so. Brew enough to keep a nice pipeline and enjoy them when their time is right. YMMV
 
Anyhowe said:
Technically yes. But I have never made a beer that did not improve dramatically after setting for two weeks or so. Brew enough to keep a nice pipeline and enjoy them when their time is right. YMMV
Click to expand...

I used to say the same thing. However, I changed several things in my process over the years that have me saying the opposite for some beer styles now. I still feel that most darker and higher alcohol beers benefit from some aging, but hoppy beers are best the day I tap them. They start to lose their intense hop flavor and aroma in just a week or 2. It's still there, but it doesn't pop out as much. I also pressure ferment, so I am tapping these only a day or 2 after cold crashing. For lighter styles it really doesn't seem to make a difference. They don't benefit from any aging, nor do they really get worse over time.
 
Hey guys, had another question regarding fermentation, specifically around activity in the airlock.

I've had the pico pale ale fermenting in the keg for a week now and the most I've seen is 1 blip every 15 seconds, between day 1-3. But over the later part of the week, it's only 1 every 1.5-2 mins.

Was curious if we should expect less activity in the airlock since it's only 2.5 gal in a 5 gal keg?
 
I think the decrease in airlock activity is due to the decreased amount of fermentables that the yeast have to eat and thus produce CO2 and alcohol from. You have half or less amount of what you are used to fermenting, so you should expect the CO2 production to be less. The one time I have used the airlock, the activity got to rocking pretty steady, but it was short lived...about 10 hours or so. Then it got to the one bubble every 15-20 second stage.
 
3rd Z brew in the books. 4am hit the start button. Nervously back to bed and everything is away and cleaned at 10am. First time using high efficiency mash and was very happy. Nice to have everything go as planned!!
 
dryboroughbrewing said:
I used mine this week to do some pilot batches, I need to get off my lazy duff and update the firmware.
Click to expand...

Laziness sometimes pays off. I powered on the Z tonight and they have another firmware update already!! Here's what you get:

Version 1.1.14 •Fixed bug in pause, Moved to Drain/Pause option
•Added MAC addresses to About Zymatic (also added About Zymatic to test menu)
Version 1.1.13 •Added Pause feature to brewing, located in the context menu during brewing
•Added delayed start feature, set the amount of time to wait before the brew begins, the machine will load the recipe you want to brew before you set the delay time
 
I'm planning on transferring my first batch of pico pale ale over to a 2.5 gal serving keg this weekend using co2. I'm going to push starsan out of serving, then push beer in so it's all nice, clean and closed.

Question is, since i'm using the Z's 5 gal keg as the fermenter, will it still pull the cake up quickly and cleanly with the shorter stem? Just curious to hear the experiences from others when transferring w/ co2. Trying not to waste any beer since it's only 2.5!
 
dryboroughbrewing said:
Also you don't lose that much even vacuuming up the cake, just stop when you see beer... I pressure ferment and transfer all my beer, and I assure you it's easy to tell.
Click to expand...

I'd read on several occasions that it is, but that was after I had wort fermenting. I'll check this weekend and report back to confirm one way or another. My worry is, if it's shorter, it will be harder to get the cake out first.

Can anyone confirm?
 
Mine was definitely cut and I got it at the start of this year. I am not sure why you want to pull the yeast cake up?? The idea with the cut dip tube is to minimize yeast and trub in the serving keg...pulling up almost all beer. If you want to harvest the yeast, just dump it into a sanitized container after you pump your beer out. Works great!
 
stonebrewer said:
Mine was definitely cut and I got it at the start of this year. I am not sure why you want to pull the yeast cake up?? The idea with the cut dip tube is to minimize yeast and trub in the serving keg...pulling up almost all beer. If you want to harvest the yeast, just dump it into a sanitized container after you pump your beer out. Works great!
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's what I thought. Not trying to harvest, just trying to plan. If it's a long tube, I'l be prepared to dump some first. If not, will go straight in.
 
pblocked said:
Thanks, that's what I thought. Not trying to harvest, just trying to plan. If it's a long tube, I'l be prepared to dump some first. If not, will go straight in.
Click to expand...

The best way to do this is by using the keg wand and low pressure. Once running clear, disconnect keg wand and then attach ball lock to serving keg.
 
I got my Zymatic as a late Christmas gift from an awesome girlfriend. I had many questions when I started, as I had never brewed my own beer before. I am now about to start my 3rd batch, my first original recipe :D

Just for future/potential users here are answers to some of the questions I had myself:

  • You can ferment and serve fine without moving the beer into another keg. I didn't have a second keg when I made my first batch, and cold crashing in my kegerator and serving right from the same keg worked perfectly no trub in the beer. With a 2.5G batch it just does not last long enough to get funky from sitting on the trub. That said...
  • You are going to want (at least) a second keg so that you can serve 1 beer while fermenting another.
  • You have beer once the airlock is down to 1 bubble every 20 seconds or so. My first beer was the pico pale, I let it ferment for 7 days then cold crashed and carb'd. I found that it actually tasted better at the beginning than a week later, the hop flavor was more pronounced. My second beer was a robust porter and I found the opposite was true, it was much better after a week in the keg.
  • After inserting and removing the rubber keg seal a number of times mine has actually started getting torn up on the bottom. It still seems to seal OK but I will be moving to a spunding valve for my next beer.
  • I used the "Sous vide" option to create a custom recipe to heat and circulate water through the keg and machine. I am not sure why they don't have this option/recipe by default under rinses, but circulating near-boiling water makes me feel better that everything has been properly sanitized before adding the beer ingredients.
  • You can make more than 2.5G of beer with the Z

Overall, this thing makes great beer. If you have never brewed beer before there is a learning curve to it, but the Z makes it pretty idiot-proof, leaving me to focus on concocting crazy beer recipes :)

Oh and thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread! I was originally looking at the brewie, but the lack of updates from them and the responses in this thread convinced me the Z was the better choice.
 
pblocked said:
Hi Guys,

New owner of a Z and trying to see what has been working best for you guys in way of initial fermentation. I know they have a nifty keg topper for the foam catcher and airlock, but it doesn't seem very secure to ferment? I'm using it now on a batch of pico pale, which is fermenting, but want to move on to a new batch.

How have you guys been able to run multiple batches? After brewing into the corny, do you immediately transfer into a carboy? Did you buy other keg toppers?

Likewise, has anyone tried out a 2.5 gal corny for serving? Like the thought of fitting a few into my fridge!
Click to expand...
The keg topper works great for fermentation I use it all the time. yes I have multiple keg toppers. I have one (soon two) with a hole punched for a thermowell, so I can measure and control fermentation temp (BrewPi). If you don't trust it, you can get corny lids with an extra hole drilled where you can put a bung and an airlock.

For multiple batches, I acquired extra corny kegs, took 1/2" off the dip tube. Before that I would transfer to a fermentation vessel (Brew Demon, carboy, bucket) immediately after the brew.
And yes again, I use 2.5 gal kegs for serving, although I also have a couple of 3 gal once too. I am trying to stick with double rubber, although I have a couple of single too. Keep your eyes open for deals, Adventures in Homebrew often has good deals on kegs, 5, 3 & 2.5gal, but there are others too. When you see them buy immediately, they don't last long

Stefan :mug:
 
Whew! Fourth brew on my Z in the bag. This time a simple Weissbier made from a recipe that I concocted from scratch. Best brew day on the Z so far. No issues with the pumps (now that I know where to look for bits of grain! making them strain to move wort!!) and hit my gravity dead on the nose with what Beersmith predicted. That made me very happy because one of the many reasons I bought this machine was to be able to repeat batches and dial them in (or out if desired).

Note - the first keg I used was problematic and this is how I determined that. At the start of the brew, once the pumps get moving water to heat for strike, put a syringe in the sampling port. If it pushes the plunger out, you likely have an issue with your gas in line. For me the last time it was grain in the grey disconnect. This time is was a bad poppet on the keg. Had another keg handy, so swapped it in for the bad one, restarted the brew, checked the pressure, and then let the Z work its magic while I replaced the poppet.
 
Finally got my first Z brew in today... somehow I screwed up the boil time in the recipe creator and ended up with only a 20 minute boil... I only had 20 minute and 2 minute hop additions, so that part should be fine. I did have a mix of pilsner and MO in the grist though, so who knows whether I'll end up with a cooked corn bomb or not.
 

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