based on his personal experience
with…
…The Pinter
The Pinter is a system for home brewing 10
pints of fresh beer at a time. Essentially,
you fill the Pinter [the picture shows my
Pinter] with 10 pints of cold water, add the
pre-produced Fresh Brew of choice [there
are over 20 different ales, lagers and ciders
to choose from] and the yeast, close up the
unit to store at room temperature for
around a week, and then place in your fridge
for a further week* and then bingo - you
should have 10 pints of drinkable alcohol to
share!
*each drink has a slightly different time for
brewing and conditioning before it is ready
to drink.
Disappointment comes in many shapes, sizes
and experiences, especially when high
expectations have not been realised if
you’re a glass-half-full positive person…..
I was super excited when, out of the blue, I
received a Pinter and two packs of Fresh
Brew as a gift. One of my son-in-law’s
friends, Adam, had just purchased one
himself and my son-in-law thought it would
be a bit of fun for me.
The first batch of beer was excellent. Each
step of the process is explained in short
animated videos that are really simple to
follow. For the brewing process, you have to
connect a ‘dock’ to the main body, which is
then removed before you place the Pinter in
the fridge [make sure you’ve got a big
fridge] to condition.
With the first batch of 10 pints quickly
consumed, the second brew that came with
my gift was prepared. We noticed straight
away that attaching the dock to the Pinter
was difficult - it took several attempts
before it was correctly locked into place,
which was noticeable to the first brew when
it connected first time. Whilst the Pinter
was doing its magic, I ordered another 2
packs of Fresh Brew from Pinter. It wasn’t
exactly rocket science, but it was a bit of
fun, as was tying the different brews
available.
To cut a long story short [excellent Spandau
Ballet song from the early 1980s], the
second brew of 10 pints was ok, but not as
‘fresh’ as the first brew, and from there
onwards, the next three brews were
undrinkable. Each time the Pinter was re-
used, the dock became harder and harder to
attach. In fact, although the dock seemed
to be perfectly in place on the fourth brew,
when I fetched the Pinter from the under-
stairs cupboard, it was now loose from the
main unit. I carefully carried the Pinter to
the sink and hardly had to turn to remove
the dock. This was the result.
I did say that you would need a big fridge….
This was the time for some customer
service action. I contacted Pinter, told
them about my experiences, and after a few
email exchanges they kindly sent me a new
dock and a replacement brew of my choice; I
decided the Austrian Von Tap would be a
good choice.
The new dock arrived and easily connected
to the main unit. Hurrah.
I waited a couple of weeks to make the Von
Tap lager and now the dock was once more
difficult to attach correctly. With the dock
finally in place, and having followed the
instructions to the letter, this time I
stowed the brew in my bedroom wardrobe to
better ensure the constant temperature.
There was no repeat explosion of the dock
after brewing, but after the conditioning
time had ended [I left it a couple of extra
days that should produce an even better
brew] the result was a glass of foam that
eventually settled into an undrinkable dark
liquid instead of the thirst quenching
Austrian style lager I had been anticipating.
Before the dock had been replaced, I had
informed the people at Pinter that I had this
gut feeling that something was faulty with
my Pinter. Having followed the brewing and
conditioning instructions to the letter each
time, what else could it be? I updated them
with news of my latest failure and now asked
for them the replace the Pinter for a new
one.
Instead, I was asked if I had done a ‘deep
cleanse’ on my Pinter before making the last
brew?
Now if you follow the Pinter’s own
instructions, you have to add the purifier to
water from the hot tap and agitate the
Pinter for 30 SECONDS. They now
suggested that I should go above and beyond
and cleanse for 10 MINUTES.
I replied to say that I usually kept the
purifier in the Pinter and Dock for around 5
minutes [I personally didn’t think 30 seconds
was enough] but politely asked why this had
not been suggested to me at the time a new
dock was provided after the previous bad
outcomes. I again asked Pinter to replace
the unit to restore some faith. Of the 50
pints that I had now made, only 10 were
fantastic [the first brew] and 10 were good.
The rest were poured down the sink…..
THAT IS EXPENSIVE HOME BREW IN MY
WORLD, AND A MASSIVELY
DISAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE.
The last email I received from Pinter
informed me that the hardware [the Pinter
itself] is not the issue. They gave me two
explanations as to why the beer hadn’t
fermented properly.
1. The temperature during brewing may not
have been high enough, meaning the yeast did
not activate
2. The Fresh Press, water and Brewing Yeast
may not have mixed thoroughly during
brewing
Pinter again offered to send me some
replacement Fresh Brew. I’ve told them that
I don’t see the point. They assured me that
their hardware is perfect. My heating bill
confirms my belief that our home is
sufficiently heated for home brewing - my
wife and I are working from home most of
the time now, and I’ve followed their
instructions to the letter.
I feel so disheartened with Pinter that I now
want to take a sledgehammer to the unit and
ensure that it never fails again.
Unfortunately, my sledgehammer was lent to
a family member and hasn’t yet been
returned.
I’ve given up on Pinter, but in writing this
blog there are two things that I’ve learnt.
1. During 2021, a new Pinter 2 was launched.
This new one is aluminium and has a
removable tap that is taken out for cleaning
separately to the main unit. My plastic Pinter
has no such removable tap, so I’m left
wondering if the internal tap is difficult to clean
and if impurities are left behind that affect the
next brew? That might be why a 10 minute
cleanse that is at odds with the 30 second
cleanse shown in the video has been
recommended?
2. And then I thought about my son-in-law’s
friend Adam, and wondered how he was
getting on with his?
Well, it turns out that he had a very similar
experience to me. His first two brews were
good. The next two undrinkable.
Adam doesn’t use his Pinter anymore.
Time for a Beerwulf?
Before I was gifted the Pinter, I had been
considering buying a Beerwulf Sub Keg.
You buy 2 litre mini-kegs of beer, pre-chill
them in the fridge and then pop one into
the BeerWulf and pour yourself a glass of
beer, or lager, or cider, or IPA. Like Pinter,
there’s a great choice of drinks available
too.
I was going to tell you that it works out a
little more expensive per pint than Pinter,
but in my experience of 3 totally
undrinkable Pinter brews, that’s not been
true for me.
Nor do you have to keep it in the fridge
taking up all the room my wife wants for
food and her Prosecco! And once you’ve
cracked open your Austrian Lager [Zipfer in
my case with my first order] it will keep
fresh for up to 17 days, not that 2l of
thirst-quenching Austrian lager is going to
last 17 days. I’ve also got some Amstel,
Moretti, and Pelforth Blond [from Lille] as
part of my first order waiting to be
untapped.
And another little benefit of the BeerWulf
system, is that you don’t have to bring the
unit to the edge of the work-surface to
pour a drink as the tap is high enough to get
a glass under.
It looks great in our kitchen, and the wife
has the room back in her fridge.
https://www.beerwulf.com/
Time for a Beerwulf?
I fully understand - and had bought into -
the sustainability advantages of using the
Pinter system, but if the outcome is
unreliable, that’s an argument that’s
difficult to sustain.
You only have to look at the reviews on
TrustPilot for Pinter to know that mine and
Adam’s experiences are from being part of a
minority of 2! Here’s one of many:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/61c33cb4
9f60695a25fd4b28
Maybe the new aluminium Pinter 2 has solved
the problems that I have experienced. I
gave Pinter the opportunity to provide a new
Pinter 1 or Pinter 2 to restore some faith.
If I were considering Pinter again, which I’m
not having now acquired a Beerwulf and a
rich assortment of supplies, then I would
have to take into consideration the upfront
cost of the unit and how many perfect brews
of 10 pints I would expect for it to be
financially and sustainably viable. Far more
than the 1.5 positive outcomes that I
experienced from the first five attempts.
But then, maybe it’s just my incompetent
ability to follow simple instructions?