Capable of brewing five liters of homemade craft beer in about two hours by simply pressing a button, the PicoBrew Pico is an automated beer-making robot that personalizes the home brewing experience.
By partnering with over 150 award-winning pubs from around the world, Pico allows users to customize the brewing experience. From tuning the hops for bitterness to adjusting the alcohol content, each brew cycle contains authentic, eco-friendly ingredients.
Whether it’s a Pale Ale or an Oatmeal Stout, Pico uses grain and hop PicoPaks to start the homebrewing process. In three easy steps users end up with different crafts inspired from every continent.
According to PicoBrew’s website, “from PicoPak to pint glass, the whole process will take approximately one week.” Depending upon the type of PicoPak, a normal brew cycle takes two days and then fermenting will take another five days. For the experienced homebrewer or those just wanting to personalize their craft beer, there are three options:
- You can purchase a PicoPak and customize bitterness and ABV percentage to your preference right before brewing.
- Purchase a Freestyle PicoPak – allowing you to select the hops, grains, yeast, and amount of each.
- Create your own totally custom PicoPaks by joining the PicoBrew Developers Program.
One of the coolest features of PicoBrew’s personal craft beer brewer is its companion app. As long as there is a WiFi connection, you can track every stage of the brewing process. After the two hour brewing process and the one week long fermenting process you’ll then need to carbonate your beer with either priming sugar or a small canister of CO2 – both come with the PicoBrew kit.
With a wide selection of PicoPak brewing ingredients, the fully automated robotic beer-maker may be a turn off to those who are experienced homebrewers and may be a bit problematic for beginners, or even seasoned experts, looking to craft the perfect batch.
As for aesthetics, Pico is a pretty big stainless steel device that may not exactly fit in your kitchen. You would have to store it in either a basement or garage.
According to most reviews, most novice brewers have found a bit of trouble crafting a “good tasting” beer but experts in the industry, such as Tallgrass and Roque breweries, have been able to duplicate their recipes perfectly. So once again, it looks like you may need a few trial runs to perfect the brewing process.
Another complaint I found was in the length of the hose connecting the keg to the pouring nozzle. It’s only about two feet which can create a lot of foam in your drink as you pour. Those looking to get the perfect pint may want to invest in a longer hose.
Despite a few flaws, the Picobrew is a great choice for those who want to start brewing their own beer, or even for experts wanting to practice on a smaller scale at home.
The Picobrew Pico is available on Amazon for $449.95 (at the time of me writing this).
