Pico distiller

[Opdog]

This came up in my google news feed today. http://coolmaterial.com/food-drink/pico ... distiller/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
With a 5 liter capacity, I can’t believe that you could get a decent product out of this t. The several reviews I just read from CES 2018 seem to indicate that it works and the product isn’t terrible, but how do you make cuts on 500ml of product?

Is anyone at CES that can give us the lowdown on this thing? It appears to have a lot of plastic parts, but the bits that are in contact with the higher concentrations of alcohol look to be copper and glass, but that is only based on what I suspect surmised from the stock photos I found.

Edit:
Here is the manufacturers site: https://www.picobrew.com/Store/products ... ill.cshtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[RedwoodHillBilly]

From the website:
"The patent-pending design substantially reduces the dangers inherent in distilling spirits by automatically separating the methanol from the heads."

If you believe this, I've got a bridge (Brooklyn) for sale that will make you a millionaire overnight.

[Shine0n]

I could see this being good for hops oils or for other essential oils but under no circumstances being used to distill likker.

I don't know how to extract oils but if you're not using high proof to do it I see nothing wrong with it.

For 250 though I could build 2 more of my setups 15.5×15.5

[cede]

We talked about this piece of crap a few days back: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=69297

Patent deposit does not implies that the apparatus works in anyway. It's just to protect an idea.

[Expat]

Posted back in April 2017 actually...

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=66208

[raketemensch]

Obviously these tiny things are horrible for cuts, but I have to admit it'd be awesome to have something on my desk that I could use to make gins from already-cut neutrals while I work...

[CatCrap]

It kind of makes a joke out of this craft. It grossly oversimplifies the art and craft of Distillation, and everything that goes along with it. (Fermentation,Distillation, Cutting and Blending, and aging, which each on their own are an entire school of learning and can take a lifetime to master) I'll admit, explaining this hobby to someone who knows nothing about it (pretty much everyone) is a challenge. I love and hate that fact. It's a challenge it has depth, and it can get wicked nerdy. And I fucking love it.
We all started somewhere, and got bit by the Likker bug. I'd like to see home distilling start moving in the RIGHT direction, like weed has. Years ago everyone thought Reefer Madness was an accurate characterization. Right now, the majority of folks seem to think that homedistilling is incredibly dangerous and pointless(why take a risk and go through all that trouble and work when you can buy Skol vodka at the liquor store for 5$ a liter and 1/1000th of the time and effort).

The FIRST thing anyone says to me, and i'm not joking,I'd be very curious to hear You All's experience... the FIRST thing people say to me when i say I really love my hobby, home distilling is one of two sentences.... "Don't blow your house up" or "Don't poison yourself" I think we all here know that as long as you aren't learning how to 'still on youtube, and you RESEARCH, and put the time in(at least a few months) before building or firing up a boiler, your main concern is safety and if you follow best practices, the risks are very very minimal.
When they say that I do roll my eyes, but i take it as an opportunity to learn their ass about how distillation works. And that it has been made out to be something it most definitely is not. You're not going to go blind. You're not going to blow up.

Now... off my soapbox... i will say this.. any good hobby does have at least a little danger involved.

[cede]

Catcrap, yes you made good points.
But hey, was a bit the same for beer years back when they came with all automatic pico breweries, I mean affordable ones. I once built one fully automated brewery. Just add to put grain in a bucket, hops in baskets and a carboy at the end. Push one button and come back when it beeps. I've been very excited to build this but all the fun disappeared the day I pushed the button.
I went back to 99% manual, the only automation is temperature regulation.

Distillation is another thing and can be dangerous if you are dumb.
Bad press comes from stories where people obsessed with money and profit were not making good cuts or where mixing good alcohol with methanol.

It took years here for people to drink and appreciate wine. Will take another 10 years from the time they lift the prohibition laws for people to recognized art in spirits. I hope less because I have projects
I'm sorry to say that, but here we got crap on the shelves, apart for some pricey bottles and others you have to travel to the distillery to get one bottle.

I started brewing 2 decades ago with cans then all grain, stilling a bit in 2004, moved across the ocean, and they tried to get back to stilling here but not much spare time I gave the boka to a friend and I'm back this year with some ideas, a friend to still with, and time !
I'm far from mastering anything in distillation, cutting, blending, but I will learn as I learned brewing, fermenting and aging.
I guess that any automated still would not make me learn anything if it does it all by itself !

[jon1163]

It kind of makes a joke out of this craft. It grossly oversimplifies the art and craft of Distillation, and everything that goes along with it. (Fermentation,Distillation, Cutting and Blending, and aging, which each on their own are an entire school of learning and can take a lifetime to master) I'll admit, explaining this hobby to someone who knows nothing about it (pretty much everyone) is a challenge. I love and hate that fact. It's a challenge it has depth, and it can get wicked nerdy. And I fucking love it.
We all started somewhere, and got bit by the Likker bug. I'd like to see home distilling start moving in the RIGHT direction, like weed has. Years ago everyone thought Reefer Madness was an accurate characterization. Right now, the majority of folks seem to think that homedistilling is incredibly dangerous and pointless(why take a risk and go through all that trouble and work when you can buy Skol vodka at the liquor store for 5$ a liter and 1/1000th of the time and effort).

The FIRST thing anyone says to me, and i'm not joking,I'd be very curious to hear You All's experience... the FIRST thing people say to me when i say I really love my hobby, home distilling is one of two sentences.... "Don't blow your house up" or "Don't poison yourself" I think we all here know that as long as you aren't learning how to 'still on youtube, and you RESEARCH, and put the time in(at least a few months) before building or firing up a boiler, your main concern is safety and if you follow best practices, the risks are very very minimal.
When they say that I do roll my eyes, but i take it as an opportunity to learn their ass about how distillation works. And that it has been made out to be something it most definitely is not. You're not going to go blind. You're not going to blow up.

Now... off my soapbox... i will say this.. any good hobby does have at least a little danger involved.

"Slow clap"... every once in awhile I hear somebody say something and I think "I wish I could articulate myself that well". I think this post deserves a sticky

[ronin]

Well, I get to be the first report on actually using one of these automated devices. I was a backer of the entire PicoBrew concept on Kickstarter and finally (a year late) took delivery of the PicoStill a couple of weeks ago. The machine is reasonably well put together, good fit and finish, shell parts are plastic but substantial, all distillate pathways are copper borosilicate glass or silicone tubing. The wireless connectivity to run it (WiFi, connected to a PicoBrew for the heat control) worked easily.

After a cleaning run, loaded up the copper column and did a 10L run of 14% corn syrup/honey sugarwater recipe with Turbo yeast, and produced 650ml of 70% very sweet hearts on the first go. Head cut was tiny using the automated system (it's purely based on volume and a float valve). Absolutely clear and clean, very high aromatic element, comparable to my basic all copper column still.

A joke? No, not to me, just a highly automated way to build some basic feedstocks to learn my cuts, blends and aging. Worth the investment? For a quick prototype tester for grain bills, without having to fire up the entire system, it's perfect, much like the PicoBrew is for beer recipes. Enough of a sample size to get a feel for how it will distill down, without having to do large sacrificial batches while experimenting. And it's technology intensive. a traditional 'Shiner is going to take one look at the industrial design, the wireless connectivity, the 3 location temperature monitoring that can be fed to an app on your phone and wonder what the world has come to. But as another entrance into the arcane craft... it shows a lot of promise.

[dr_canak]

Well, I get to be the first report on actually using one of these automated devices. I was a backer of the entire PicoBrew concept on Kickstarter and finally (a year late) took delivery of the PicoStill a couple of weeks ago. The machine is reasonably well put together, good fit and finish, shell parts are plastic but substantial, all distillate pathways are copper borosilicate glass or silicone tubing. The wireless connectivity to run it (WiFi, connected to a PicoBrew for the heat control) worked easily.

After a cleaning run, loaded up the copper column and did a 10L run of 14% corn syrup/honey sugarwater recipe with Turbo yeast, and produced 650ml of 70% very sweet hearts on the first go. Head cut was tiny using the automated system (it's purely based on volume and a float valve). Absolutely clear and clean, very high aromatic element, comparable to my basic all copper column still.

A joke? No, not to me, just a highly automated way to build some basic feedstocks to learn my cuts, blends and aging. Worth the investment? For a quick prototype tester for grain bills, without having to fire up the entire system, it's perfect, much like the PicoBrew is for beer recipes. Enough of a sample size to get a feel for how it will distill down, without having to do large sacrificial batches while experimenting. And it's technology intensive. a traditional 'Shiner is going to take one look at the industrial design, the wireless connectivity, the 3 location temperature monitoring that can be fed to an app on your phone and wonder what the world has come to. But as another entrance into the arcane craft... it shows a lot of promise.

Thx for the review. The truth is that, for the vast majority of folks around here, this unit will never be accepted/adopted. Just not how people are wired here. I got started with an Airstill kit. A the time, the kit (with fermentation bucket, supplies, etc...) was a bit more than this unit. 5 years ago, I would jumped on this unit over an Airstill in a heartbeat. Will people move on from this unit to something else? Maybe. If they find distilling enjoyable, people will quickly figure out there is more out there, this Pico unit has it's limitations, and move on; like the rest of us here. If they just like making something at their desktop, more power to them.

DOH! Quick edit. The Pico Still is an "attachment" to the Pico base system. The all-in cost, pre-order, is $648.00. At that price point, I still think the Airstill is a better introduction to the hobby than this unit.

[Safety panda]

Catcrap
let’s be real, all it really takes is a few months of research to get your feet planted and tonnes of trial by errors but this hobby isn’t exclusive only to the learned.
Tbh, I love pico stills, I think they’re perfect for making absinthe and even better for teaching foot stones about making cuts. People shouldn’t be pushed away from running a still that they’re into just because people on this forum aren’t wired that way, provided that the still was manufactured using food grade materials. Just a panda’s opinion.

[CopperFiend]

Catcrap
let’s be real, all it really takes is a few months of research to get your feet planted and tonnes of trial by errors but this hobby isn’t exclusive only to the learned.
Tbh, I love pico stills, I think they’re perfect for making absinthe and even better for teaching foot stones about making cuts. People shouldn’t be pushed away from running a still that they’re into just because people on this forum aren’t wired that way, provided that the still was manufactured using food grade materials. Just a panda’s opinion.

I keep seeing this 'food grade materials' popping up. That is not acceptable in distilling. 'High strength solvent grade materials' should be a minimum requirement for the safety of a still.

[v-child]

Nothing worth a damn is "easy".

[OtisT]

Catcrap
let’s be real, all it really takes is a few months of research to get your feet planted and tonnes of trial by errors but this hobby isn’t exclusive only to the learned.
Tbh, I love pico stills, I think they’re perfect for making absinthe and even better for teaching foot stones about making cuts. People shouldn’t be pushed away from running a still that they’re into just because people on this forum aren’t wired that way, provided that the still was manufactured using food grade materials. Just a panda’s opinion.

Panda, there is nothing wrong with new designs (old designs repackaged) or teaching cuts on small batches. I like mini stills and automation where it makes sense. I feel you need to do more reading here if you think the objections to this are because folks on HD are “not wired” a certain way. We are not all a bunch of old farts afraid of technology. Some are We are people who strive to make great product. You are correct that this hobby and site are not just for the learned, but neither is forgiving to those unwilling to listen/read and learn.

Let’s get real. After a few months you are just getting started down the path of this great hobby and hopefully are still open to learning more from folks with a lot more experience on the matter. That still sounds like it may get folks interested in the craft, but if you learn more you will understand why a person would need to move on to something more appropriate.

I did a little reading on this still and found concepts described on the manufacturer’s site that run counter to producing good products or learning how to distill. Just a few examples:

High ABV alcohol is not food. It is more like a solvent. Materials matter.

You don’t run a pot still by “controlling temperature.” So much has already been written and debated about this I’ll simply recommend you do some reading before asking questions.

Automatic cuts by volume is BS. Lots of variables make this concept a bad idea. And how is that learning cuts?

Using this for essential oil extraction? Whoever wrote that has never extracted oil. It takes a LOT of mint, lavender, etc. just to get one drop of oil. Maybe hydrosol, but if you want to make oil your gonna need a bigger boiler or steam chamber.

Otis

[Safety panda]

OtisT
Yeah man I get that HD isn’t about pooping on what people want to operate just because it doesn’t fit proper distillation standards but I think the point I was trying to make was that as long as it’s safe and you want it, you’ll eventually run into the problems associated with owning a tiny still, and hopefully you’ll not give up and get a upgrade. But your definitely right I’m not just saying this stuff to save face, people should definitely take all advice on here where it’s given and verified but don’t be afraid to start small!