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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

PicoStill

PicoBrew Ships The PicoStill, An Accessory To Make Hooch At Home

Ever want to distill your own spirits? That job may have gotten a little easier, at least if you own a PicoBrew brewing appliance.

That’s because the company announced they’ve started shipping the PicoStill, an add-on to the Pico brewing appliance that will convert beer into the hard stuff, to their Kickstarter backers.

Here’s what I wrote last year when the company announced their whiskey-making add-on:

Today the company announced the PicoStill, a new device that, when combined one of the company’s brewing kegs, utilizes a patent pending process to transform beer into the hard stuff. Of course, PicoBrew emphasizes the PicoStill is for making essential oils, concentrated oils extracted from plants that can then be used for such applications as incense or adding flavor to food or drink. PicoBrew also lets you know that if you have the “proper licenses and permits”, the PicoStil can also make a “wide range of alcohols”.”

Because it’s still illegal to distill spirits at home pretty much everywhere in the US, PicoBrew’s messaging for the PicoStill focuses on essential oils when it comes to the home user.  However, I’m guessing those PicoBrew users interested in distilling home spirits will know exactly what they can do with the PicoStill.

The company will make the PicoStill available to the general public in May for $399, but is currently offering a discount on the product for $249.

PicoBrew Surpasses Anova To Become Top Food Kickstarter Campaign Of All Time

With just one day to go, PicoBrew’s latest Kickstarter campaign surpassed Anova to become the top campaign of all time in the food category. The company’s Pico C campaign reached $1.812 million to eclipse Anova’s $1.811 million campaign for the Anova’s 2014 Precision Cooker campaign.  The company announced the milestone in a livestream update on the campaign page.

While the Pico C reached its initial funding goal of $350 thousand within hours of launch, breaking the record was no sure thing. After an initial surge of backers who gobbled up the best backer rewards that offered a $279 price on the company’s latest model beer brewing appliance, momentum slowed. Earlier this week, the campaign still stood more than a $100 thousand away from the record.

But thanks to a last minute surge of backers in the waning hours of the campaign, the Pico C is now tops in the the food category on Kickstarter.

“We picked the Pico Model C as a Project We Love early on and are thrilled that, with the help of over 4,100 backers, it broke the record for Most Funded campaign in our vibrant Food category,” said  Clarissa Redwine, Kickstarter’s Design and Technology Outreach Lead for the West Coast in an announcement.

PicoBrew seemed to have its sights on the becoming the top food Kickstarter from the beginning. The company announced new backer rewards throughout the campaign, including some fairly surprising new hardware add-ons. First came the PicoStill, a device that can be used to make essential oils and even whiskey, and last week the company announced the PicoFerm, a fermentation monitor. The company also announced the Pico would be able to brew kombucha and offered free PicoPaks as additional incentives throughout the campaign.

Anova was unseated after holding the #1 spot in the food category for almost three years. Of course, both campaigns are a long way from the top when looking at top Kickstarter campaigns of all time, with Pebble (now owned by Fitbit) claiming two of the top three spots and the troubled Coolest Cooler claiming the #2 spot.

PicoBrew Announces PicoStill, A Home Still That Makes Whiskey (And Oh Yeah, Essential Oils)

One of the worst kept secrets in craft distilling is nearly every whiskey maker gets their start making the good stuff at home. One only has to look at the many home stills for sale online to see there’s a strong market for home distillation equipment. Everything from big vats for making moonshine to smaller copper pot distillation kits for “essential oils” are widely available on the internet.

The reason home distilling is a semi-secret at all is because it’s against federal law. Of course, that doesn’t stop most wannabe home distillers, since local authorities don’t have the time or resources to bust people for making hooch unless they sell it or present a danger to your neighbors. (Related: Read about the state of home distilling laws in 2017 here).

Even with lackadaisical enforcement of federal anti-home distilling laws, the number of home liquor distillers has remained just a fraction of the size of the beer brewing market. While federal anti-distilling laws have hindered the growth of the market, the reality is home distillation is just not as easily approachable as beer making. Not only is making liquor at home technically more dangerous, it’s also a more complex, multi-step process.

But now, PicoBrew, a company that has simplified the craft of making beer with its beer brewing appliances, hopes to help make home distillation easier too. Today the company announced the PicoStill, a new device that, when combined one of the company’s brewing kegs, utilizes a patent pending process to transform beer into the hard stuff. Of course, PicoBrew emphasizes the PicoStill is for making essential oils, concentrated oils extracted from plants that can then be used for such applications as incense or adding flavor to food or drink. PicoBrew also lets you know that if you have the “proper licenses and permits”, the PicoStil can also make a “wide range of alcohols”.

The Pico Still

If spirits distilled from beer sounds strange, it shouldn’t. In fact, pretty much all whiskey starts as what is a form of beer.

“All bourbon is whiskey, all whiskey is ‘beer’,” says Nate Kaiser, the founder and head distiller of 2Bar Spirits, a craft distillery in Seattle. According to Kaiser, his distillery’s bourbon starts as a form of what he calls “corn beer”, which is basically a relatively low alcohol beer.

But as with most whiskey, the fermented “beer” distillers get from grains isn’t meant for consumption. Usually it’s just a step in the process towards eventually making whiskey. That’s not to say you can’t make whiskey from fully finished, drinkable beer and, increasingly, more professional distillers are doing just that. Some of these whiskies, such as Marko Karakasevic’s Charbay Whiskey R5, have garnered rave reviews.

And now, PicoBrew hopes that those who buy one of their beer brewing appliances  – provided they have the proper licensing and permits (wink wink) – can make great spirits too. The new PicoStill is available as part of the company’s Kickstarter campaign for their third generation brewing appliance, the Pico C, for $170. Backers can buy the Pico C and the PicoStill as a package for $499, and the PicoStill will be available for retail for $349 in the fall.

Nate Kaiser, who got his start without the benefit of something like the PicoStill, thinks that the device could help usher in a new a generation of craft distillers. “This allows people to try distillation in a simple and direct way, to learn the process by which essential oils or spirits can be made” said Kaiser.

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