I am with you 100% on that, you know I'm all about it too. But I figured this would really be something that would excite people who have never tried that before or don't want to invest too much time. Its all about getting people into the hobby and that's really where I think this excels!
@TheApartmentBrewer yeah i know you love it too. Helps to have more options to brew. This i could see in a dorm room or something. But just not something i think will take off. But ive been wrong before. 🙃 thanks for all you do.
I started with Pinter back in 2020 at the start of covid. This is the pinter 3 and is much better for the beer not getting oxidised. It got me into brewing and I do all grain now. :)
First: I think this system is amazing and great. It can be a great intro to putting the foot in the door for homebrewing, but I don’t think it’s the ideal way to get into the hobby. With that said, I would totally get this for someone who wants to enjoy craft beer at home without brewing their own or waiting for me to provide anything to them to enjoy. great video over all Steve, I am very happy to have heard about this now!
I began brewing beer at the start of the COVID pandemic, initially experimenting with extract brewing before advancing to the more complex process of all-grain brewing. While I’ve enjoyed the creative and technical aspects of brewing, I’ve realized that the process-especially the bottling stage-requires significant time and energy. Given my physical limitations, this has become increasingly challenging. I’ve started considering alternative methods that would allow me to enjoy homemade beer without the physical demands of traditional brewing. This seems like a reasonable compromise that would let me continue my hobby without the associated strain.
Very clever design. The other disadvantage I see is that because this is a single vessel kit is that you can't start a new batch until you have finished the last beer. So there is going to be nearly two weeks where you won't have a beer ready to drink.
That's fair, but you could say the same thing if you only had one set of bottles or one keg for your first few brews otherwise. Unless you have two fermenters already.
This is a very good point; home-brewing is all about managed dissatisfaction. This is why I brew in two kegs, serve in a third: once you get into the rhythm of regularly-scheduled brew days, you can up-manage the dissatisfaction window between batches to be almost negligible.
@@ChrisChapmanIAm In the UK Pinter sell a co-pinter which is the vessel without the brewing dock. It is obviously cheaper and it means as soon as your dock comes of your first Pinter you can start another brew in the co-pinter.
Would be interesting to brew a tiny batch all grain recipe in the pinter. I was thinking of using the pinter for small test brews but unfortunately they don't sell it outside the UK and the USA.
Been using the Pinter's since 2020, from the Pinter /2 and now the Pinter 3. Living in a modest house in the UK and having limited room and variable temperatures, these have been brilliant for producing quick and tasty beers, using two units and brewing a week apart, we never get short on beer and excluding the original costs of the Pinters it gives us great beer @£2 a pint, which is 1/3 of the price in a UK pub or bar. I would always recommend 'cold crashing' the brew, and there are plenty of videos regarding that. Either way, a great way to begin if you have limited space and perhaps limited time. Cheers
You can do all the brewing and then use the pinter for fermentation/conditioning/serving, the only problem is the capacity, so using multiple of these for a typical brew quantity would be great, the only problem is the space on your fridge, but if you stagger the time of conditioning so some are not conditioning but just stays fermenting with the base removed, that might work.
I kind of want to try brewing a really small BIAB batch, then fermenting/serving it from this thing! It seems like it could be a handy mini-fermenter for stuff other than just its official extract bags.
It’s incredible you did this video. Thank you!! I’ve been waiting about two years for this to come to the US! I’ll be ordering mine Friday!🇺🇸🥩🍺!!! THANK ESPECIALLY MY LIMEY COUSINS😂 🇬🇧😉👍
I bought my pinter because its a compact, all in one solution great for their "press kits", malt extracts, and all grain. Just need to do a little math to portion your recipes to 5L.
Interesting. I started with a Mr Beer, then eventually did full grain brewing. But I haven't brewed in like 8 years. I made a great marzen but never a great IPA. I'd love to make a good session IPA since Stone canceled my favorite (Go To IPA).
Cool video. I am in the UK and have one. I have done quite a few brews now but ready to move on to something more advanced. Pinter is brewing's gateway drug 🤣
Nice little video on the pinter and you've made some well constructed points 👍🏻 I've been aware of this for a few years now (UK) and what you've said is spot on
If you made your own all grain wort and fermented/conditioned/served it from this doodad (controlling temperature of course), you would not be sacrificing any beer quality at all, am I right? And it would be significantly easier.
Thanks for the video. I have to ask; so I was a home brewer for 12 years, got out completely around covid times. Did all grain, 3-vessel 240v herms to keg and conditioning fridges. Downsized to a grainfather system, which was great but I ended up with so much beer because I enjoyed the brew process but couldn't consume it all. (rough problem, I know). But that itch to have good home-brew in my house still exists. I am looking for something that is small, easy, and if I wanted to, I could do a backyard 1G all grain brew from time to time. Curious if you think this fits the bill? Or if you might have seen anything else out there. Cheers.
Very neat design! Like you I would be worried about cleaning the nooks and crannies. Oh and it seems it makes 10 UK pints (20 oz) so that’s 12.5 US pints (16 oz)
I kinda like it. Looked at it before and thought it would be a very tidy solution for small batch brewing. I like the hop oil injection; would be good if that could be obtained separately from the syrup. I guess another concern would be whether that pressure relief ever became blocked or stuck but that’s a risk with all spunding approaches. It’s probably such an obvious risk that it’s been given attention in the design, although I did see a comment above that mentioned them going ‘bang’. I think the price in Australia would be prohibitive though, so I’ll work on small batch fermenting in 9.5 litre kegs I think.
Mr. Beer kits have gotten a lot of people into the hobby, so I hope this does the same. I am skeptical though. The initial $200 price point is a bit too steep (vs the $60 Mr Beer kit). The biggest downside I see is that you are locked into one vendor with limited recipe options and spending $25 to $30 per batch. At that price, I would recommend getting 6-packs of craft beer from the store. While not having to bottle is a bonus, that means your entire system is locked up until you empty the keg, and you have a 3 week down time until the next one is on tap.
They certainly have! The locking in part is only if you care about the warranty. I don't see why you can't throw your own recipe together into this thing if you really want to. Trust me, these beers are far superior to Mr Beer kits
Sadly prices are jacked up for US market. It's not a currency exchange rate issue either. CascadesHomebrew is right, they're about 25-30 USD a kit which is pretty steep
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yeah, at those UK prices it has more appeal. BTW, thanks for the video. It was interesting to see this in action. There are some good concepts here for a reasonable price. I just spent $120 for a 1-gallon mini-growler/keg. Those Square Kegs are well over $200. Dry hopping with this unit might be tough, but I am sure you could boil and chill a standard extract (or all-grain) recipe, then ferment and serve from this unit. I am curious how carbonated the beer will on the last pour.
I was very excited and curious in the after the intro part, but then everything makes sense after realizing its works because of non grain. Still I think it will work as a fermenter for all grain wort.
Loved your video. Been brewing for 9 years now, currently with a Grainfather, but I have a 13 month old and another on the way down I don’t get to brew as often as I’d like to. Is it possible to add extra ingredients like fruit, or dry-hop to make recipes more of your own?
My tap water is nasty tasting, highly calcified well water. Would you recommend store bought filtered spring water or distilled water? I suspect I should also use store bought water for sanitizing.
When you said $200, I was like "What?" as I was checking it out and saw it for 99.00, but that was "£", not "$". After clicking on your link, I saw the $199. I think at $200, it is still a cool gift or cool kitchen novelty for when you have company, especially as it appears to make pretty decent beer. I also like how you said dipping your feet into brewing, as I fully agree. I love these types of systems as they are created 100% by actual beer brewers looking for a way to appeal to everyone, including non-brewers who just want to sample what home-brewed beer might be like. I can fully respect the invention and agree it might not be for everyone, but it is still pretty cool, especially since it is a non-electric system, relying on pressure for almost everything it does.
Apparently Pinter is currently conducting a price study to help determine the price but 99 GBP does not equal 199 USD at all, its more like 128 USD right now. Glad you enjoyed the video! There is a lot of engineering and design that went into it!
Excellent video and probably a good way for somebody to start “homebrewing”. Three things to think about here: 1)for the 200 bucks, you could buy a 2.5 gallon stainless corny keg, and all the parts you would need to do the same thing as well as the ingredients for a 2.5 gallon batch. 2)the whole plastic and aluminum thing basically makes it something that’s destined for a landfill so that wouldn’t be an option for me. 3) you’re not really brewing anything so it doesn’t really give you the ability to be creative with some of your own.
Looks great as an intro to brewing or even a small batch fermenter. Not a fan of the price or how you’re forced to buy a recipe with the unit. Selling the Pinter unit by itself and some recipe ingredients by themselves would be great. I get that they’re trying to get you with the subscription service, but this seems like a useful product that appeals to beginners and experienced brewers alike.
The problem I see with The Pinter is an issue of very limited availability of fresh press packs. They currently list 14 different fresh press packs on their US site and ALL but TWO of them are out of stock. This may make some people reluctant to buy into a system when they can't order ingredient kits for it. Pinter needs to up their supply management game.
My days of extract are gone long ago. Quite the contraption. If it makes "decent " beer thats good. The price is way over the top for a beginner. But the convenience may outweigh that. I think i would start someone out in the old plastic bucket, 5 gallon stove top, extract "mini mash" kits before these. But a nifty device still.
I'm with you on this as well, my opinion is I think this could be a really great gateway for people considering the beer they make will be way better than a crappy starter kit that could turn people off from the hobby, just due to the lack of oxidation and pressure fermentation benefits. As all things go, it has pros and cons, but I thought it was cool.
Do you think you could still traditional brew a 1-gal batch, or do a cider/seltzer in it with your own ingredients? I’ve been looking for a tiny keg to get out of bottling as you said… but at $200 it seems there are other traditional options anyway
I've been brewing on and off for several years, and actively for a little over a year (at about 1 5-gallon batch per month), so I don't think I'm the target market for this thing. But trying to put myself into the mindset of the newbie who's just interested in getting started, the biggest drawback I see is that there are only about a half dozen different beers you can brew with it (OK, seven--including one "coming soon"--and one cider). A second big drawback is the cost of ingredients. Their Hefeweizen kit, which they say produces 12 pints (I think you said 10, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt), is US$28 (when it becomes available). MoreBeer's Hefeweizen kit with LME, including dry yeast, is US$38, and produces 40 pints. So, $2.33/pint vs. $0.95/pint. But, of course, you're doing more work with MoreBeer's kit, and you need more equipment. I understand there's work in developing and packaging the kits, but it seems like a pretty high markup.
That looks like a regional thing unfortunately. There are something like 20 varieties on the UK version of the website, but if you wanted to you could probably use your own ingredients in this thing.
Great video thanks! One question I would like to ask, do think adding something like Star San instead of just hot water at the start of the sanitation process might help with those future plastic based contamination problems?
The trick is to first get the “bugs” mechanically CLEANED out/off of all surfaces, then SANITIZED. If not fully cleaned first, sanitizer may not prevent an infection.
I just wish it had a quick connect somewhere. Imagine spunding too low and having to drink 12 under carbonated beers… and at around $1.75 USD a homebrewed beer, you’d probably suck it up and drink it lol
Excellent video Steve, and sounds like a great product. I got into brewing several years ago with a Mr. Beer setup my wife gifted me for Christmas. That delayed me from real brewing by several years lol, so good to see something like this for a new home brewer. 🍻
Think you could make your own 1 gallon wort and add your own yeast and let it handle the rest? Cause this could be a cool way to do small batch brewing
Seems like a lot of hassle for 10 pints. I assume the next logical step in seeking convenience and time-saving would be to go to the shop or pub and buy ready-made beer. To be honest, I'd need to buy an extra large fridge and many Pinters to satisfy my thirst.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Was thinking have friends that do not brew and like to hit me up, instead of me being forced to bottle beer, if they had one of these I could just fill it out of my wort and then they can ferment/fridge with ease. Use kveik for yeast so they do not have to worry about temp control as well....will need to be available in Aus first though
I'm not sure I like this idea. It's neat but it's something you'll never use again as soon as you move into custom recipes. Compared to the northern brewer kit, you can still use those buckets for beer or really just about anything, whether you're doing 5 gal batches or 2 gal, all-grain or extract, beer or cider.
There is more value starting out in dedicated starter kits with all the good equipment like norther brewer sells, but they take up a lot of space and time, lots of people still are turned off by that idea. But still, could be a great stepping stone into future upgrades!
I started out with a Pinter V1 a few years ago before moving to all grain, I’d say the quality of the beers is above ‘normal’ extract kits but below a well brewed and fermented all grain batch. It’s well above a poorly fermented all grain batch!
@@stripeyjoe couldn't have said it better myself. I'd take one of my own all grain beers over the pinter beer any day, but its many steps above almost every other intro kit out there
Assuming you add the same amount of water as they suggest, it should be ballpark what is on the package. However you can take hydrometer readings before and after fermentation for a more accurate measurement.
Are you able to use other extract kits or only those from Pinter? More Beer, for example, has a large variety. Maybe others have even better selections. I’m new to this.
I’ve been using non-Pinter kits for some time with some great success - experimenting with different ingredients is all part of the fun. But, yes, it will sadly invalidate your warranty!
Big con is that you're dependent on the company for the beer kits. Both price n supply risk. With so much good beer available easily I don't see this taking off
While I agree with your points Vijay, I've been following the Pinter for a couple of years on RU-vid and I see small improvements with every iteration. I really think it does a have a place for in the homebrew market and tbh I think the company that makes it would have folded by now if there wasn't a market for this. It's like the coffee capsule version of beer. You have your coffee purists with their high end grinders and coffee machines and then there are others who just want that caffeine hit at the press of a button.
Really happy to see that you made a video on this Steve. I've been fascinated by the simplicity of Pinter since I first saw it a couple of years ago. What makes this product particularly interesting is that I feel that I could recommend it to so many people.
@@matthewnorth5523 I'm with you on this - it was tremendously successful in the UK, and the US launch kickstarter shattered their targets. There's a pretty big market for it and it is growing.
I tend to agree with Vijay. There are only 5 beer choices. They discount 20% if you go with monthly subscription however they don’t tell you until you are ready to order that they add 9.99 shipping with each month’s subscription purchase. These are show stoppers in my opinion.
The selection of beers must be a regional thing - I'm seeing 8 kits, but the UK version of the site shows 20 varieties. I was not aware of the extra shipping cost
I actually had to look that up, very interesting product there as well. For one this is several hundred dollars cheaper and there are no digital or electronic components. I think this makes a smaller batch as well.
It would be worth trying if they dropped the price on every thing by 50%, but I can not see the point in paying more and doing the work for the same beer I can purchase. Unless it is a hobby and a passion but then I would go full boat and do grain.
Pinter 1 was good. We were then sold that Pinter 2 was better - it wasn’t and many went bang including mine. I gave up with Pinter after many failed brews and the price per pint getting higher. However it got me in to enjoying a fresh beer and now I brew from grain so a big thank you to Pinter - although my wife would disagree!
I think the price of the Fresh Press is the real con, though the Subscribe & Save option makes that better. What are your thoughts on using it with your own extracts?
This is not "Brewing". It is something else. Not necessarily a negative. I would analogize it to emptying a can of Campbell's into a pot and warming it up and saying you "Made soup" you did not. Still interesting, I suppose.
I don't quite think thats fair. I think the best part about this is that it gets people into the hobby in an innovative way and that's worth quite a lot. Most extract brews get emptied like a can of soup, just add the boil step and some extra hops.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Sure. Maybe heating up soup gets someone to be interested in cooking too. Like I said not necessarily a negative and interesting too. Just not brewing, like warming up soup is not cooking. Cheers.
Of course not for me - but a fun video to watch nonetheless. More ways to get people into our hobby the better I say. And yes I watched until the end! lol
I would say that mr.beer has more of a claim to brewing than this. I’ve made good beer with Mr.beer the trick is starsan for a sanitizer and using us 05 yeast
This is ridiculous. How could you possibly claim that anyone would learn about beer making from this again prices. All you will learn from this is how to make Kool-Aid.
Nope. It's not an ad. I legitimately thought it was an innovative concept and a great option for beginners and wanted to try it out while sharing my experience. You have no idea how many products and companies I say no to on the regular
I was one of the original Kickstarter '789' backers for the Pinter back when it first appeared, and I really cannot stress how poor these devices are and the number of problems they have had over their 3 iterations. They've basically spat out new models of the device each year since launch or close to and while that's not unheard of, the company has really alienated customers to the point I wouldn't trust this product at all. Pinter 4/5/6 when? I even early tested a device for them and it was rough. Problems: They had pinters exploding beer up people's walls, syrup presses popping and sanitizer also doing the same. I don't trust a company making their own pressure valves, kegs use standard PRVs for a reason. They leak, its less so now but people still say it happens. I could never trust it so much that it was always brewed in a bucket which felt like it defeated the point. They've regularly altered pricing on the beer presses to where its not as attractive value wise anymore. Extract kits on the market yield far far more and are cheaper. The presses change in flavour and consistency without notice all the time and they say nothing about it. People often report the syrup doesnt ferment well and is just sitting in the dock basically wasting money. Good luck getting the presses you want in stock, they're always sold out or they struggle to manufacture the different brews. The company discourages using the kit to brew non pinter syrups and extracts. It's equipment with a proprietary extract you have to use, imagine clawhammer saying you had to use ONLY their grain or your warranty is void? The device says it can brew cider, stout, lager you name it. After a while it will start to smell odd from mixing all those styles to where I wouldn't trust it, the liners cheap plastic that isn't replaceable. There's loads of issues, and it really isn't that beginner friendly to repeatedly use. For the cost, get a bucket and a generic extract kit! Those cheap beer kits online are poor, but they do what they're designed for, for far less money and recurring costs of other extracts. Take the pinter with a massive pinch of salt, and do research into people who've used it for a while.
Thanks for the input. That's disappointing to hear and I'm sorry your experience was so negative, but everyone's experience will vary. I completely agree with some of the drawbacks you mentioned. I did some research on the issues you mentioned too, and it looks like they all happened on very small numbers of the Pinter 1 and 2, something I saw mentioned a recall for those units. I have yet to see anything happening with the Pinter 3, but of course my experience isn't a big sample size and it's relatively new. I have to stress the reason I did this video for them is because I still think the concept is innovative and interesting. Taking the bottling step out and using pressure fermentation will always yield a better beer for beginners. I see the company attempting to improve the design, and I see it still being a good stepping stone to real brewing. I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone tell me they tried homebrewing once and didn't continue since it tasted awful because of completely preventable issues that the concepts here solve. I would never promote something that is objectively terrible, as integrity means a lot to me, but my personal experience with my Pinter was a surprisingly good one and from what I've seen in the other comments here and elsewhere, the vast majority of others have had similar good experiences. One should always do their own research before buying something though, so thank you for this comment.
@@TheApartmentBrewer would love to see a follow up from you if you keep using it! Completely agree on the concept of this and no bottling aspect, less steps to go wrong and get a better plebs result. Im quite clearly slightly jaded from my experience, here's hoping you get better mileage. I also only just clocked the price you mentioned in your video, that's pretty steep!
No offense meant at all, but imho, this has absolutely *nothing* to do with "brewing" in the actual sense of the word... no manual work, no creativity, no nothing... But I guess some people will love it nonetheless...
You right - it is a home fermenting and carbonating device, no brewing takes place with this devise whatsoever. I really do not understand who is the target audience for this gadget.
No offense taken, but this is meant to get people into the hobby. I seriously doubt anyone who's been brewing for a long time would take this up as a replacement to standard brewing
@@TheApartmentBrewer I understand what you mean, but personally, I doubt that it will get anyone into the hobby... That being said, maybe it's due to the "beer landscape" being very different in the US. Over here in Europe (where commercial beer is so much cheaper), I don't think there's any market for this device, which is actually more about drinking than it is about brewing...
Fair enough, different markets and different reactions, although the US kickstarter campaign significantly exceeded its targets, and looks like it saw great success in the UK before that. I think the market is there. I just found it to be am innovative and interesting way to start brewing and I think that's valuable.
It's meant to get people into the hobby - I don't see why that is a breach of freedom, you can still brew your own wort and throw it in here, I just thought it was innovative.
@@TheApartmentBrewerIt is perfect for people who travel around, fits in a suitcase. Or people who like the hobby but want to make reasonable amount of beer for 1 person.
A very expensive gimic for people who want to play at brewing and then boast about their "skills"!!! It's cheaper to go to the supermarket and buy quality beer in bottles than this toy.
