Customer Ratings & Reviews

For someone that hasn't done any brewing in the past and was interested in the idea of being able to brew fresh beer this is the way to go. It includes everything you need to get started and is very simple to use and clean, which is huge for quality control. The beer list available has continued to grow and expand with several new breweries added in the last two months since I purchased the PicoPro giving a wide variety to choose from. Furthermore, the unit can Sous Vide, an option I have used several times now and it churns out some of the best steaks I've ever cooked. I've only come across two cons with the unit. First, it took me awhile to set up the wifi on the unit because it doesn't work if you have a long wifi network name and/or password, I actually had to activate the guest network and rename it to get the Pico online. It doesn't tell you that in the instructions and even after talking with tech support I didn't have a resolution. It was on a whim that I thought to shorten the user name and password for the network. Second, it's somewhat loud if you're going to set it up in the kitchen or living area, something to keep in mind when selecting where you put it. Otherwise, this thing has been a great addition and I'd highly recommended it to anyone that is a craft beer fan.

I love this thing. I can cook meals with it because of the suvue thing...can't spell. But making beer is silly easy. The difference between this and the cheaper model..this one has a steam function to clean itself and the kegs it comes with can be forced carbonated. Basically easier to clean and faster beer!

The beauty in this system lies in it's simplicity. I give it 4 stars for what it is, an entry way into brewing on a small scale. If you have extensive brewing experience, I would anticipate that this would bore you. However, I don't think there is an easier way to get introduced to the brewing process and Pico's customer service staff will hold your hand along the way.

This month, I got a chance to try out the new Pico Pro upgrade kit for the PicoBrew machine (collectively sold here as as one product, the PicoBrew Pico Pro machine with accessories included). I'm an owner of the original PicoBrew machine, which I backed on Kickstarter in 2015 and I received in September of 2016. Since then, Pico has released the Pico Pro set, the Pico Pro upgrade kit for existing Pico owners, and the less expensive -- but equally awesome, from the looks of it -- Pico C appliance. The Pico Pro upgrade kit is just that: a pro upgrade to an already fun and convenient brewing appliance. It contains a brewing keg to use for serving your beer, as opposed to the less durable serving keg that comes with original Pico set. The original serving keg is only supposed to last for a few brews, and then a new one must be purchased. I had trouble regulating the CO2 on that one, and found it rusting after only three brews. The plastic pieces on the original serving keg were also weak links -- the plastic bung vent piece in particular began to fray after my very first brew, and by some miracle has just barely held on in the five brews that followed. Well, the Pico Pro kit removes that serving keg from the equation entirely, as the keg it comes with is identical to the highly durable brewing keg that came with the original appliance. This also means some additional accessories will be required. For racking from one brew keg to the other, there is a tube with ball-lock adaptors on both sides. There's a new CO2 regulator not just for serving, but also for the racking process should you choose to use it. This eliminates the need to pull out the whole Pico appliance just for the racking process -- you can hook up the CO2 regulator, insert a CO2 cartridge, and pump in the CO2 to get the beer flowing from the brewing keg to the new serving keg. Simple! Then, you can switch the regulator over to the new serving keg and force carbonate with it in just 36 hours. Finally, the new Pico Pro upgrade kit includes a "party tap" accessory for the serving part once the beer is ready to drink. This is a much appreciated improvement from the original serving keg's little plastic spout. It makes the beer come out much more smoothly, combined with the new CO2 regulator. Both brewing and serving the beer seem so much better and more enjoyable with the new Pico Pro upgrade kit, and I highly recommend it for all of my fellow PicoBrewers. For those reading this that do not yet have a PicoBrew machine, there are a few things I'd like to point out that I think the manual could do a better job of describing. Maybe most importantly, you should run a rinse cycle before every brew. The manual says to do a deep clean cycle after every three brews or so, but you should also run the deep clean cycle after every 3 weeks or so where the machine isn't in use. The full pack of yeast is far too much for the small amount of beer that the Pico makes -- you only need about a teaspoon or even 1/2 tsp of the dry yeast that is included. Better yet, use a different yeast (and still only a small amount, like 1 tsp) -- the yeast included with all of the PicoPaks gives a bit of a fruity flavor, especially amplified if the whole pack is used. You should cold-crash your beer after fermentation is complete -- let it sit in the fridge for two days before doing the racking process to the serving keg; this helps bring any solids in your beer to the bottom, and ultimately leads to a cleaner, clearer pour. Also, I found better results when I let the beer "fast ferment" at longer periods of time than what is stated in the manual, and do not dry hop after only four days -- dry hop after about a week or more, for another 3 or 4 days before cold-crashing and racking. All of these tips were learned in combination of trial and error for myself, and mostly from brewers much smarter than me in the unofficial PicoBrewers Facebook group, which you should most definitely join if you own or are at all interested in owning a PicoBrew appliance, or the flagship Pico Zymatic. To conclude, I love being an owner of the PicoBrew machine, and the Pico Pro upgrade kit just made the whole thing even better. I highly recommend the Pico Pro upgrade kit to existing PicoBrew owners, as well as the entire PicoBrew Pico Pro set to those who are new to Pico. *disclaimer: I was provided with an advanced Pico Pro set in exchange for writing an honest review.

Besides the hassle with being sent the wrong product at first, I'm excited to try this microbrewer.

I have been wanting to get into home brewing and have helped several friends for years but really could not commit to 5 to 6 hours for a batch. This product gives you the time back if you have a schedule like mine and enough of the home brewers experience to make it worth the price. Oh yeah and the beer taste great as well.

This is a scam machine. You must buy the picopaks from them as thats the only way to brew with this machine. Unlike other manufacturers that have DMAs that sell the machine cheap and make thier money on the product refills (eg XYZ 3d printers) these people charge premium on it all. It cost you around 30 bucks for a picopak to make 12 bottles of beer. You can buy the beer you are trying to clone for less. On top of that it takes 7-10 days to get your picopak. You MUST be connected to the internet to brew also. When this company goes under it will be a paper weight on your counter. If they made it so you could use your own ingredients then maybe but as is, this is just another startup making a quick buck and will be gone with the wind.

In the past I have brewed using a brew kettle in my backyard with a jet engine sounding propane burner. However, with three small children, the hazard of brewing this way caused me to stop brewing for the last couple years. The Pico S was a product I saw that allowed me to continue brewing in the comfort of my own kitchen without fear of scalding water around children. I have brewed several batches so far and the results have been good. The brewing process is very straight forward and Pico provides easy to follow step by step instructions. Even someone who is a novice should have not problem with the brewing process. Couple complaints would be that a few of the steps are a bit goofy to execute, for example at the end of brewing you use a flimsy tube connected to a keg wand to suck remaining water out of the reservoir (very slowly). Also, the keg wands themselves O rings get beat up quickly due to constant attaching/detaching. One thing that has been 5 star plus is the Picobrew Support, they have answered any questions I have had quickly whether through phone or email. Even the aforementioned keg wand O rings problem, they sent me a bag of O rings right away. I have no worries of the long term performance of the Pico due to their tremendous support. Recently, I acquired the Pico Pro Upgrade (which is what this product listing includes) and my beer has only gotten better. The Pro now uses a standard Brew Keg for serving and by using the included transfer tube its easy to move the beer from the fermentation keg to serving keg. Also, included is a new regulator to carbonate your beer in the new keg and dispense it. Overall, its made the beer making process easier and the results have been amazing. Over the 4th of July many of my friends could not believe the quality the Pico Pro produced, they were sure I must have picked up a growler at the local brewery.

I was part of the initial Kickstarter for the PicoBrew Pico. I have been using it since I received it with excellent results. It has become routine to brew, ferment, rack my beer using the Pico system and then force carbonating my beer using the original system. I received my Pico Pro in the mail and two days later, due to surgery, I was able to brew another batch. This time it was Dead Guy Ale. Now, the brewing method is exactly the same. You will brew and ferment your beer the exact same way. Nothing has changed in that. What changes is the method of racking and carbonating (Though with carbonation you now have three choices.) First, the racking. You can still do it the old way but you could also use the new CO2 regulator provided with the Pico Pro. With this method, you are using the CO2 to rack your beer. There is another difference in the Pro method. You are not racking to the “normal” keg that was provided with the original. You are given a second “fermentation” keg to rack your beer into. Both kegs come with the same red and gray pressure release valves so you can use either keg for either job so there is no worrying about which one you grabbed, there is no difference. Following the directions, you will hook up the CO2 regulator and the provided racking tube and then use the CO2 to force the beer into the new keg. Now, I had one small issue with this and it is simply a lesson learned. When the directions say to stop as soon as you see air…….STOP as SOON as you see air, otherwise you may get a little bit of the sediment into your fresh keg. Once done, you unhook, cleanup and move on to carbonating. Second, carbonation. You still have the original two methods, sugar or force carbonation. Force carbonation is a little different only in that you need to use the new CO2 regulator, otherwise no change. In order to get the full experience, I did neither of these methods. I used the new carbonate as you serve method. Following instructions, I hooked up the CO2 regulator and the serving tube put it to the proper pressure and poured my beer. I set the pressure at 12 and the carbonation was great. A small word of advice on this though….the pressure will be up a bit when serving. Keep the head of the spout in the glass that first serve. I had no issues pouring the beer out and enjoying a good glass. Overall impressions for the Pico Pro. I like it. I like racking my beer to the second keg and then serving it out with CO2 versus force carbonating. The only real fault I had with the original Pico was the keg. Don’t get me wrong, I like my Pico but I have to say that they definitely improved things with the Pro. The CO2 might cost a bit more because it is a far larger cartridge, but I was able to transfer and serve my beer with the same cartridge, and there may be enough for a second transfer but I might have to report on that later

What sets the Pico Pro appliance apart? For starters, it delivers everything you need. But, it doesn't stop there. It also adds some "pro" components. For example, it includes a transfer hose that allows you to transfer the beer from your fermentation keg to your serving keg. Furthermore, it includes a gas powered party tap that keeps your beer carbonated and fresh! How about the brewing process? It is dead simple. Add a Pico Pack of your choice (you can find a lot of different breweries on their web page including some fairly well known ones like Rogue or Bad Jimmy), make some adjustments to suit your personal taste (increase/decrease bitterness and alcohol content), add water and press the button to start the brew process. In about two hours your brewing process completes and you are ready to start the fermentation process by adding some yeast (included with the Pico Pack) once you have cooled down the wort. For the fermentation process you can decide to use slow or fast fermentation (it decreases the fermentation time to about 4-5 days with minimum impact on flavor). Just a few days later, you are ready to transfer your beer from the fermentation keg to the serving keg using the gas powered transfer hose. Once done, you can put some pressure on the keg using the included party keg. The last part is the most difficult one: You have to wait until the beer is nice and cold (I would recommend to wait about 20 hours). Finally, it is time to enjoy your first home brew!

I got it from the kickstarter but also got a complementary PIcoPro kit to complete the review. Mainly, this is a great way to get fresh beer at home from craft breweries across the country. It's not more price efficient once you take into account the brew time and effort, but you do get fresh beer and some customization option. You can also make your own picopak instead of buying pre-made ones from the marketplace. The brew process is pretty easy, but the cleaning is a little hard, especially all the pipes and the machine itself. After brewing you can rack the beer in a serving keg or in a brew keg, and serve it naturally carbonated or force carbonated. If you choose to serve from a brew keg with force CO2, you can also use the dispensing hose which makes it into a tap. I think it works well except you tend to get a lot more head this way. Generally, this is good if you like to make beer and want to learn about beer making, but all the cleaning is a bit put off. The sous vide option makes this a more sensible value proposition, as it works pretty well for short cook times.

I have been and all grain brewer for many years, over the last couple of years I haven't been able to brew from downsizing, preparing for retirement. I've had my eye on the PicoBrew for a few months, contemplating weather to buy. Then I got a offer from my Discouver card for a 20% discount off any small appliance from BestBuy, this fell into that category so I pushed the button. Did my first brew last weekend, followed all the directions and initially could not get it to work. Customer support did not have a phone number, so that disappointed me, email was the only contact, so I thought it would be days before I heard back, so that would have ruined my brew day. But to my astonishment I got and email reply from support within 15 minutes outlining what to do to get it running. It worked and I was brewing in no time. The process is simple and the directions very straight forward, Being a previous brewer I knew what was happening and what to expect. My first brew from PicoBrew is now fermenting. So far I love this machine, no more garage full of equipment and what to do with 10 gallons of beer. The brew size is perfect for me, and will allow me to brew way more often. and keep a variety of beers flowing. My only mistake was that its such a good looking piece of equipment that I could use it indoors, well thats going to change, my wife is not fond of the malt aroma like I am, so its back to the garage, but with a lot less space needed. I'm excited about getting back into the hobby, There is quite selection of Craft clones avial with more on the way, I also plan to use the "Design your own recipe" feature on the website, once I'm back into it an comfortable with the machine. I'll try to update this as time goes on.

1) The cheap Wi-Fi chip they use in this machine is garbage. The machine wouldn't connect to my network upon going through the setup. I had to actually reset my entire network for it to finally connect. And then, if I turned the Pico machine off and back on, it would fail to connect again. 2) The machine wouldn’t read the PicoPack. I made sure the RFID tag was clean from any debris and it didn’t looked damaged. To make it work, I had to go online, log into my account and enter the serial number. 3) The mini CO2 regulator was faulty. With the valve closed, the PSI shot up to 25 right away and you could feel a little pressure leaking under the controls. After an hour or so, with the valve still closed, the PSI was down to 0 and the cartridge was drained. I wasn’t about to go buy another regulator, so I packed everything up and returned it back to the store. Waste of a PicoPack, waste of CO2 cartridges and a big waste of time. If you’re going to make a machine that relies on internet connection to function, don’t use cheap parts and why not build with a hard line option? The QC could be better so a person doesn’t go through the brew stages and invest 10 days waiting, only to discover the regulator needed to carbonate is defective. Oh, and the PicoBrew customer service is non-existent. No responses to any of my questions.

These days I transfer almost all of my beer into a ball-lock keg for serving. Over the years I have amassed a pretty significant collection of kegs of all shapes and sizes. I have kegs ranging from 1.5 Gallons all the way up to 6 Gallons. One of the most appealing things to me about the PicoBrew systems is that they utilize the brewing gear that I have on hand and don’t require proprietary connection. As a Zymatic owner, I was quick to jump on the original Pico Kickstarter and I am the proud owner of one of a small handful of Brewmaster Edition Picos. This just means that it was one of the first few off the assembly line. At last count I have brewed close to 30 batches of beer in my Pico. And while I do like packaging the finished beer in the 5L mini-kegs so I can bring beer to a friend’s house or out to the cabin, I really prefer to transfer to a ball-lock keg and serve through my kegerator. Enter the Pico Pro Upgrade Kit. The Pico Pro Upgrade Kit (hereafter referred to as "the kit") includes everything you need to transfer, carbonate, and serve your beer in a ball-lock keg. Even better, it allows the use of the larger 74g CO2 cartridges for more efficient carbonation and serving. I think what this kit does best is bridge the gap between the 5L mini-serving kegs and a full-fledged kegerator system. Now I can transfer from the fermentation/brewing keg into another ball-lock keg using the included transfer tube pushing it with CO2 instead of connecting it to the pump on the Pico. I can then move the C02 regulator over to the ball-lock serving keg and begin carbonation. By setting the regulator at around 30psi I can have ready-to-drink beer in just a day or two. After dropping it down to 10psi I can then serve the beer using the included party tap. All of this in a self-contained setup that easily matches the size & convenience of a 5L mini-keg with none of the drawbacks. Where the kit really shines is in the inherent flexibility. The Pico folks really have thought of everything with this kit. Since I have a full-size kegerator with a large CO2 tank, I can use that and the included transfer tube/jumper to move my beer into the serving keg and carbonate it. When I want to bring the bring the beer somewhere I just connect the portable CO2 regulator with the 74g cartridge and the picnic tap and off I go. My kit even included an adapter for the regulator so it can take the smaller 16g CO2 cartridges. Again, flexibility built in. Another way this kit excels is in the inclusion of BOTH a gray pressure release valve for the keg and the Red fast-fermentation adapter. This means that the keg that the Pico comes with is completely interchangeable with the one in the kit. And should you add another ball-lock keg (or kegs) to your setup, you can use BOTH kegs to do fast fermentation. This kit is also a great way to do double-batches. Brew a batch into each 1.75G keg then use the jumper & CO2 regulator to push the finished beer into a larger keg. The possibilities are endless. As you can probably tell, this kit has really impressed me. It is perfect for the new brewer on the Pico that wants to take that next step into serving their beer with ball-lock kegs and it still has much to offer for more advanced brewers. This pricing on this kit makes it a no-brainer for people who are looking to add another ball-lock to their system. The components are of the highest quality and should last both the beginner and advanced brewer for years. This kit gets my highest recommendation. It is simply the best single upgrade a Pico user can buy right now (besides a KegSmarts system!)

I've had the Pico Pro for 6 months now and have to say it's the best brewing equipment purchase I've made! I used to brew 6.5 gallon all grain batches but after getting married and getting a house I found that I had little time for a 6hr brew day. Storing all of that equipment takes up precious space as well. The Pico Pro fits nicely on my countertop. Additional equipment and Picopaks fit in cupboards nearby and when I'm ready to brew I can get set up in about 5 mins. The brew process is as easy as selecting your recipe, adding distilled water and pressing start. There are a wide variety of styles and recipes available on the BrewMarketplace and more are being added all the time. One of the great things about this machine is the ability to make beer that you might not otherwise have access to. Some of the smallest breweries sometimes make the best beers and you can make them at home with the Pico Pro. If you want more variety, you do have a choice to alter standard recipies slighlty before brewing but if I'm going to make something different I opt for the Custom Pico Paks. By selecting my own hops and grains from Pico's website, I can make custom recipes paks. I like to scale down my old all grain recipes and make them into Pico Paks. Contrary to what I have seen posted on some forums - this machine does all grain brewing- not extract, not syrup! After about 2.5 hrs you are left with a little more than 5 litres of wort in a fermentation keg and a used Pico Pak. While the keg is cooling you simply dump the Pico Pak grains in the compost. Add some more water to the machine and run a rinse cycle -and you're done cleanup! Every few brew Pico Pro will prompt you to run a deep clean which requires a dishwasher pak - no special cleaners to buy! You can put your keg in a waterbath to speed up cooling, put it out in the snow or just wait 24hrs. Either way, once it's cooled add you yeast and let it ferment. There are two options to ferment -with the standard old school "bubbler" or with their special fast ferment lid and pressure relief valve. I usually like to ferment at 70F so I don't usually use the fast ferment option but it is great for wheats and saison when you want to up the temp and get some fruity, wild flavours suitable for those styles. Temperature plays a big role in how the final beer will taste and the stick on thermometer Pico provides makes it easy to monitor keg temperature at a glance. When fermentation is complete, put the whole mini keg in the fridge for 24hrs, to allow the yeast to drop to the bottom. Then transfer off the yeast using the quick connect transfer tube to another brew keg. Connect the CO2 regulator to force carbonate. This sounds like a lot of work but each step takes just a couple of minutes. After 36hrs of carbonation, connect the party tap and you're ready to drink the freshest beer you can get! Though the Brew Marketplace has a wide variety of Picopaks there are a few ways I have found to add my own twist. You can suspend a muslin bag in keg during the boil, adding spice, citrus rind, hop, etc. You can go to your local homebrew store and purchase any yeast you want to get the flavour you are looking for. Final cleanup of the fermentation keg takes a little more effort - removing the posts with a ratchet and getting your hand inside the keg to be sure that every little ledge and spot if clean. I mixed up out and in post after keg cleaning- be careful not to do this. They will screw on but later you'll find that the appropriate quick connect will no longer connect! Just keep them separate or clean them one at a time to avoid this mistake - nonetheless - they're easy to switch back to the correct positions. Overall - I love the machine! It's much easier, cleaner and quicker than all grain brewing the old way and I love the final product! I can still make some of my old recipes using the Freestyle Picopaks and I can get creative with a few tweaks to yeast, dry hopping and boil additions. Can't wait to try more Pico Paks from interesting breweries from all over the world!

PicoBrew has done it again! With the Pico Pro upgrade there is no rush to consume all of your beer from the old gravity feed system before it goes flat. You are able to transfer from fermentation to serving keg, then carbonate and serve with a single large CO2 cartridge. After this process I still had a charge in my cartridge will be using it again. If you are a casual consumer like me this is the upgrade for you. It's simple to use and makes the whole process smooth and seamless. Cheers!

Machine won't stay powered up on first brew attempt Sent email since no phone number on web site No response Found phone number on local directory and message says "we are not staffed or equipped to talk to clients..." In other words, those of you kind enough to pay $800 for our machine just send an email. So I send another email, no response Then another, no response and I still have machine that won't stay on...start brew and 3 seconds it shuts off Product is a joke Company is a joke Owners who operate the company are a joke!