Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

picobrew.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 90 posts

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#81

Post by chrislf »

craigching wrote: post #14
RubberSoul wrote: post #2

I just started home brewing and I'm not sure I understand this product. "Hit brew and walk away" says USA Today. Why, that's almost as easy as simply buying beer! This kind of defeats the point of home brewing as a hobby :) It's not like there's a shortage of excellent commercial beer and we need a special machine to fill a gap in the market.

As someone who used to homebrew but had to quit when I had kids (due to time) this looks like something I could totally get into. I would miss the process, but the idea of getting a good beer without the time sink is very intriguing!

In case anyone with kids on the way is worried, I can confirm that once they get to a certain age you can rope them in help with the process. Then you get dad-kid time, a more fun brew and the kids get a respect for the brewing process which may help once they're old enough to drink themselves.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#82

Post by michael_h »

craigching wrote: post #62
pyoung wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You steep the grains in your brew pot for an hour and then sparge by using an additional pot and a large colander. Brooklyn Brew Shop sells one gallon brew kits, but if you already have brewing supplies, the only thing you would need to add is a one gallon carboy (I buy the gallon jugs of wine at the supermarket, and then just re-use the jugs). I brew both 5 gallon batches and 1 gallon batches (mostly for experimenta…

I've steeped grains before, but that's pretty significantly different from a real mash. Usually steeping grains was used to enhance a base extract which formed the base of the boil. So you're saying you can just steep grains without using any extract? How do you keep your temps stable to have a good mash? Do you have any links to this method? Or book references? I appreciate your response!

Steeping your grains is all there is to it. You still have your specialty roasted grains, but instead of base extract you use a 'base grain'.

I got the basic process from http://www.amazon.com/True-Brews-Craft-Fermented-Kombucha/dp.... As a bonus, it also has instructions for mead, sake, kombucha, soda, fruit wines, and kefir. Each section includes a 'master' recipe and then 4 or 5 specific recipes. After a couple of batches, you will start making your own recipes without even thinking about it. I usually get 10 or 11 bottles from a batch, which is perfect for me. I'm not a daily drinker. The watermelon/mint soda combined with a good gin is dangerously good though, watch out for it.

The book uses the two-pot method that pyoung talks about. With such a small volume of water, the temperature is pretty stable, especially if you use gas. I found that the efficiency was a little lower than what I was used to, so I just used a little bit more grain, which increased my batch costs by about 25 cents. I ended up using a small sports cooler that I already had around - I wrap it in a towel and it stays remarkably stable, plus it has a spout on the bottom that makes sparging easier.

IKEA has 3 gallon pots for $12.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#83

Post by michael_h »

craigching wrote: post #61
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I've made many wines, including some from grapes growing wild on my own property. But every time I think about trying to brew beer, I look at all the steps it requires and all the time and just buy a 6-pack of something good instead.

In the U.S. it's impossible (at least where I live) to get a beer that is equivalent to something you get in England. What I'm talking about are the "real ales" of England. You get a beer that is 3% to 4%, fresh as hell, served from a hand drawn pump (a cask), kept, yes, a little warmer than you'd expect in the U.S. In Minnesota there is nothing compared to that. Some places will try to have a cask, but it's not the…

You can definitely get a 'real ale' in the US. It's a shame you can't get it where you live, though. During the summer, there's a place near me that does 'Mother Firkin Thursdays' with a about 10 experimental ales in firkins, most of them around 4% and at 58 degrees. The rest of the year, they just have a few in casks available for the regulars.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#84

Post by dpark »

scottlocklin wrote: post #64
dpark wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your grocery store must have a terrible selection of beer. I home brew because I enjoy it. I'm under no delusions that my beers will ever be significantly better than the best I can buy in a store. The idea that the hobbyist will in general produce a far better product than an industry of passionate experts is kind of ridiculous.

Hey, now; either my grocery store sucks, or I am/was a dang good home brewer. Seriously; when it came out well (2/3 batches), the only thing that could compete with it was straight from the microbrewery tap. Never could make a decent lager, but for any kind of ale, it was great. I blame freshness, which is an under appreciated beer quality. Also, lack of the now popular practice of overhopping; almost everything in t…

Maybe the beer at your grocery store just isn't very fresh? The better grocery stores around me have a great selection of beer that seems about as fresh as what I make at home. Maybe the distribution chain is better here (Seattle). I've never noticed freshness as an issue at least.

As for making exactly what you want, that's totally valid. If your palette doesn't quite match what the breweries are producing (e.g. you want less hops) then yes, you can produce a better beer for you at home.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#85

Post by teach »

sitkack wrote: post #67
teach wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It was very clear to me that while there were a bunch of hardware hobbyists that could assemble their own computers, or at least take our board and add the transformers for the power supply and the case the keyboard and go get, you know, et cetera, go get the rest of the stuff. For every one of those there were a thousand people that couldn't do that, but wanted to mess around with programming - software hobbyists."…

Doesn't compare. The LoE for brewing beer and this machine are on the same order of magnitude.

I strongly disagree. I've been homebrewing all-grain batches for about six years. My typical brewday takes about nine hours and involves four distinct vessels. There's a lot of heavy lifting and a lot of cleaning.

This machine would make better beer, more consistently, and with a lot less effort.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#86

Post by pkulak »

cylinder wrote: post #56
pkulak wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. I have a bread machine and I love it. Even though there are plenty of great bakeries in my city.

Which bread machine do you have?

http://amzn.com/B005DU0M64

If I had to do it again, though, I'd get a smaller one. Something that can make a 1-pound loaf. My family doesn't go through 1.5 pounds in a day, and when you have a bread maker, keeping day-old bread is not an option.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#87

Post by scottlocklin »

dpark wrote: post #84
scottlocklin wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, now; either my grocery store sucks, or I am/was a dang good home brewer. Seriously; when it came out well (2/3 batches), the only thing that could compete with it was straight from the microbrewery tap. Never could make a decent lager, but for any kind of ale, it was great. I blame freshness, which is an under appreciated beer quality. Also, lack of the now popular practice of overhopping; almost everything in t…

Maybe the beer at your grocery store just isn't very fresh? The better grocery stores around me have a great selection of beer that seems about as fresh as what I make at home. Maybe the distribution chain is better here (Seattle). I've never noticed freshness as an issue at least. As for making exactly what you want, that's totally valid. If your palette doesn't quite match what the breweries are producing (e.g. you…

Berkeley isn't exactly the Sahara. Now I'm wondering if it wasn't my pride fooling me, but I am pretty dang sure you can taste the difference between belhaven (which I think languishes on a cargo ship before it gets to my local bevmo) and a home brewed clone which tastes like a fresher/better version of the same thing.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#88

Post by scottlocklin »

sitkack wrote: post #68
scottlocklin wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, now; either my grocery store sucks, or I am/was a dang good home brewer. Seriously; when it came out well (2/3 batches), the only thing that could compete with it was straight from the microbrewery tap. Never could make a decent lager, but for any kind of ale, it was great. I blame freshness, which is an under appreciated beer quality. Also, lack of the now popular practice of overhopping; almost everything in t…

The best part of home brewing is making the beer you want. Years ago I perfected a honey chamomile kolsch. That beer was for me, no one else.

My favorite quasi-invention: beer with a small serrano pepper added to each bottle. It didn't age well (it eventually turned into beery hot sauce), but it was delicious for the first few weeks.

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#89

Post by sitkack »

scottlocklin wrote: post #88
sitkack wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best part of home brewing is making the beer you want. Years ago I perfected a honey chamomile kolsch. That beer was for me, no one else.

My favorite quasi-invention: beer with a small serrano pepper added to each bottle. It didn't age well (it eventually turned into beery hot sauce), but it was delicious for the first few weeks.

Could be excellent for cooking, mole?

Re: PicoBrew – Counter-top home brewing machine

#90

Post by keenar »

gt565k wrote: post #72

Meh... As someone who worked on a counter-top beer brewing appliance for my senior design project, I can tell you this thing doesn't produce good beer. The picobrew is spargeless and is also a single-vessel system which does not stay true to the traditional beer brewing process, meaning the quality of the beer is significantly lowered. Not to mention half the fun of brewing beer is being involved in the process itsel…

I was listening to an episode of the Jamil show (A homebrew podcast) interviewing Annie Johnson, last years american homebrewer of the year and the brewmaster for PicoBrew. She creates recipes for the machine that users can download, as well as helping to qa / guide the product. She brought in samples from the machine to compare with samples that she brewed traditionally. The hosts (many of whom are respected BJCP judges) were blown away by the quality, and opined that this machine should be banned from brewing competitions because of the advantage it would confer. A link to the episode: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/1068
Post reply on HN