Pinter are a company who specialise in helping you brew fresh beer at home in a really simple way thanks to their Pinter devices and fresh beer packs. In our Pinter 3 review we share our thoughts on the brand new Pinter 3 with active pour tap. Want to pick one up and save £20? Follow our link!
The Elephant in the Room: The Pinter 2
Before we write about the Pinter 3 we need to talk about the Pinter 2. We’ve had one and after writing an initially good review Pinter discovered a product vulnerability that caused a few to explore, recalled every Pinter 2 and replaced them. This then lowered the pressure of the devices and caused some tap issues.
We’ve had some great beer from our Pinter 2 but the tap is frustrating and a few replacement parts and replacement packs when brews have failed.
And at the start of a Pinter 3 review this is important because the Pinter 3 is Pinter’s last chance to create something decent and, (more positively) from our experience if/when things do go wrong Pinter’s customer service is excellent and they’ve happily replaced fresh press packs when brews have gone wrong and helped diagnose the issue.
So…now that’s out the way…onto Pinter 3!
Pinter 3 Review: The Design
With a choice of red, blue and grey the Pinter 3 looks very similar to the Pinter 2 but really that’s where the similarities end.
The Pinter 3 has a polymer body instead of the previous metal body found on the Pinter 3. This makes it 45% lighter and this is noticeable, especially during the phase of the brewing process when you have to shake your Pinter a lot to make sure your fresh press, water and yeast are all mixed together.
In addition to that the hopper cap, pressure valve and tap connect now have textured finishes which means you can grip, adjust and remove them even when wet.
Finally, the new active pour tap (also sold separately to use with a Pinter 2) is a redesigned tap. It has a nice, easy to remove handle and is spring loaded which gives you greater control of your pour and feels much more like working behind a bar. That internal straw is gone (thank goodness!!!) make this much, much, much easier to clean!
We should also mention the dock which has also had a slight redesign with a nice embossed logo and also a lot lighter too.
Brewing Beer with the Pinter 3
The brewing process largely hasn’t changed with the Pinter 3 apart from you can grip the pressure dial when it’s wet not (previously I kept a monkey wrench in the kitchen!).
To brew beer you can follow along the improved instructions in the Pinter app which talks you through sterilising your Pinter, mixing your fresh press with water, yeast and syrup in the Pinter and then attaching the brewing dock (which is easier to attach than with the Pinter 2).
You then leave it for the suggested time before adding a hopper (if you have one) and removing it from the dock, reattaching the tap handle and putting it into your fridge to condition for the suggested amount of time.
Drinking Beer!
Next is our favourite part…drinking beer!
The great thing about the Pinter is that once it’s conditioned in your fridge you can pour straight into your glass and keep your 10 pints of beer fresh for up to 30 days in the Pinter.
The new active pour tap seeks to make this much easier than the old Pinter 2 tap which quite often gave a pint of foam rather than beer and it is a much needed improvement. Initially, we were disappointed when our Stonebridge gave a pint of foam however, on investigating we found that this was probably due to the fridge not being cold enough…so we turned down the fridge, left it for 24 hours and the beer now pours perfectly…the tap gives you much more control of your pour and really does make the Pinter experience great!
Choice and Price of Beer
As with the Pinter 2 you have a choice of hopper and non-hopper based Pinter packs. The hopper packs cost £19.99 for a 10 pint pack and the non-hopper based packs £17.99. There’s also some colab packs with breweries which are £22.99 when available. There is a great selection of light to hoppy to dark beers and even ciders and the only beer we haven’t enjoyed over the last year was the Stars and Stripes (but this is personal preference!)
£1.80-£2.20 a pint might be cheaper than your local pub but still isn’t cheaper than your supermarket cans however, the fresh aspect and fun home brewing experience makes it worth it (in our opinion). You can also save money by joining the Fresh Beer Club, this subscription can be paused or cancelled any time easily through the Pinter website!
If you join some of the Facebook groups you’ll also see others have split 40 pint Wilko/Mangrove/Woodforde home-brew packs and used their Pinter to brew those giving you 40p Pints!
Pinter 3 Review: Verdict
In brewing and drinking our first beer with the Pinter 3 it’s nice to see that Pinter have listened to the feedback from the Pinter 2 and kept what worked and improved everything else. The grips on the tap, hopper cap and pressure valve are great, the product feels well made and that new active pour tap is excellent.
The only thing we’re slightly concerned about is the cap itself. On our Pinter 2 we found the rubber washer could come loose over time and cause leaks. The cap looks largely the same and so it’ll be interesting to see if this issue occurs again however, when it happened for us previously Pinter quickly replaced the cap and wasted fresh press pack so it’s good to know their customer service is ready to step in!
