The No Post Post

[bpgreen]

AHA has a big discount on Pinters, and although I will likely not stay subscribed to their "kits", I wanted to try one of those little things out, since they are little automatic spunding "kegs" with a tap. So, I grabbed one for fun.

Do you have a link? I searched for aha kits and mostly found things for the American heart association. Added beer to these search, which helped, but i didn't find anything like you're describing.

Looks like pinter was the term i needed to include,

[bpgreen]

There's currently a black Friday deal going on at pinter.com where you can pick up the fermenter, a couple of kits, and a tasting glass for $49. I think you have yo sign up for repeated deliveries to get the deal, but you can cancel any time.

I think it makes about a gallon and a half per batch, which is pretty small, bir that might be a good size for me in my current condition. The kits are pricey compared with all grain. Maybe in line with Mr beer (which is a more fair comparison), but I don't see any reason I'd have to use their kits. It's basically a ferment- and- carbonate in one vessel approach and I'm pretty sure I've seen other systems that tried that (beer machine? ). I'm a little more attracted to this right now because of my limitations.

[mashani]

American Hombrewers Association has the link on their partners site as well.

I will brew my 2 "free" batches, but then probably not use their kits and just make my own wort. No reason to not be able to ferment anything in the thing. And probably I won't even do that and just use it as a self primed keg, IE like a little British beer engine. It's small enough that the pours will keep coming out carbed. Just put in some priming solution and fill it from one of my fermenters, and then walk away. Save some bottling time.

[bpgreen]

Sounds like a plan. I think I'm going to doi something similar. I can handle a gallon and a half a lot better than 5 gallons right now

[bpgreen]

I ordered a pinter and two recipes. I agree with mashani. I can't see spending that kind of money (tube less expensive ones were $25) for a 1.5 gallon batch. But I'm also thinking that the time involved makes mashing impractical for such a small batch. So I'll probably either find a way to get to slc, or bite ths bullet and order some lme from the beer nut. They sell bulk lme for something like $22 for 6 lbs. They used to give a discount if you brought your own containers and bought more than a certain amount. I don't know if they still do, but I can't get there, anyway. I have a *lot* of hops, so maybe I'll do some small extract batches.

[berryman]

Don't count me out on not brewing, it's in the works, now a little snow storm has set me back again.....

[mashani]

Pinter - Isn't it cute... when used just as a self priming "keg" like I am here (toss in sugar, add beer, let the spunding valve do its thing) it holds about 7-8 of the 750ml bottles sitting next to it depending on how much you want to push the limits. 8 is likely fine (IE 13 pints), as messing around with levels, I think the 12 pint capacity internal line is mainly set there so that if you are actually fermenting in it then normal amounts of krausen won't be trying to clog up stuff like said spunding valve, which would be bad. I have 8 in here. There is an emergency valve in the thing as well as the adjustable spunding valve just in case. It actually seems like a quite well-designed little system. Cleaning the tap is likely going to be the only thing that will be tricky.

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[bpgreen]

I bought one of those pinters, also. But i got a deal that included a couple of kits. I don't think I'll buy any more because they're pretty pricey, but using a prehopped extract might be a good way ti ease into it. My lhbs sells bulk lme, and I've got a lot of hops and yeast, so maybe I'll make a few 1.5 gallon beers before "graduating" to the lbk. I may be able to do a mash after a few extract batches, but for now, i think I'll be happy doing small extract batches.

[bpgreen]

I haven't started a batch yet. I want to set the fermenter in a disposable aluminum roasting pan just in case. I should be able to get one in the next couple of days.

[mashani]

I ended up getting an extra one for $59, and have 2 of the brews as well, so I'll do it the "normal" pinter way a couple of times here shortly. I'm sure I can ferment pretty much any wort in these if I wanted to do a full pressure fermentation / serve for a small batch. I think with all grain you just want to make sure you're pouring pretty clean wort into it without grain bits of lots of hop matter that might plug up the valves. Extract will always be totally safe.

If your kits came with little bottles of hop oil to add through the port, save those bottles once you use them. My understanding is that the port itself is sealed, and the little bottles open an internal valve when you tighten them down, they are like both a bottle and a magic key. When you unscrew the bottle the valve seals back up. So, if you wanted to make a custom batch and then "dry hop" it, you could buy any kind of hop oil/extract and put it into those little bottles and cover the top with a bit of foil then stick them in the port and crank it down to add that oil/extract.

[Tabasco]

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!

[FrozenInTime]

Merry Christmas, hope Y'all had a good one!

[bpgreen]

I ended up getting an extra one for $59, and have 2 of the brews as well, so I'll do it the "normal" pinter way a couple of times here shortly. I'm sure I can ferment pretty much any wort in these if I wanted to do a full pressure fermentation / serve for a small batch. I think with all grain you just want to make sure you're pouring pretty clean wort into it without grain bits of lots of hop matter that might plug up the valves. Extract will always be totally safe.

If your kits came with little bottles of hop oil to add through the port, save those bottles once you use them. My understanding is that the port itself is sealed, and the little bottles open an internal valve when you tighten them down, they are like both a bottle and a magic key. When you unscrew the bottle the valve seals back up. So, if you wanted to make a custom batch and then "dry hop" it, you could buy any kind of hop oil/extract and put it into those little bottles and cover the top with a bit of foil then stick them in the port and crank it down to add that oil/extract.

If I'm reading and understanding correctly (not a given these days), the brewing dock is supposed to capture trub and other brewing debris. It's designed for prehopped extract batches though, so that's probably a limit to its effectiveness.

I started a batch on the 24th. I think their instructions said to brew for 4-7 days. My original plan was to go 3 weeks, but i might scale back to 2 weeks. It'll take a while to drink it (I'll undoubtedly mix it up with some commercial beers). Then I'll figure oor how to clean it (I'm disinclined to trust their instructions) and start a new batch.

By the time that finishes, I'm hoping I'll be driving again and can swing by the beer nut on the way to or from a visit to my daughter and pick up some LME (they have bulk lme at a good price). I'm reasonably certain that i have a lot of hops (some homegrown). I hope by that time I'll be recovered enough to be able to brew an extract batch, either a 1.5 gallon pinter batch or maybe even an lbk batch. I've got some (not a lot) of grains, so if the extract batches are successful, I'll try an all grain batch or two. Of course, I'll have to remember how to use BeerSmith first.

So many things that used to be automatic are now somewhere between difficult and impossible. It's a real adjustment realizing that an extract batch with a hop boil might be beyond my abilities right now, but I'm hoping I'll be up to the task in a month or two. I'm guessing all grain is probably still a year away.

You probably don't need to be told this, but don't get hit by a truck. I needed to learn that the hard way. It's not nearly as much fun as you'd think. And i realize you probably don't think it's much fun. It's less fun than that.

[mashani]

Yeah that dock captures the trub, and when you take it off the "lid" you attached it to will seal, it has a valve in there it connects with. You clean that up and then set the pinter itself it down on its "feet" after that, and it becomes a little British beer engine of sorts. For what I did (just using it like a keg), I stated there. I haven't actually brewed the real pinter kit yet, but I will soon.

There are some videos on YouTube of people disassembling all the bits of the Pinter to clean everything.

You could probably brew old school Mr. Beer or Brew Demon HMEs in it. Just the plain ones and just a can of it without the booster stuff, and for sure not the deluxe ones with some LME as they would turn out crazy strong. That would be less expensive than the Pinter kits.

I think if you brewed a small stove top extract or AG batch with a hop boil, you could also just dump that into it. You might want to throw some cheese cloth or such over the opening when pouring it in to catch any grain bits. That's about it though, it should work.

Anyway, I've been hit by a truck mirror on the shoulder and ended up in a ditch, but not full on like you. That was more than enough "fun" on its own, I can't even imagine what you went through.

[bpgreen]

My pinter batch has been in just over a week (I think they sent me an email telling me to move to the next step). I'll probably put it in the fridge in the middle of next week.

I've got another 1.5 gallon batch in an LBK, so when i drink the beer in the pinter, I'll clean it up and put the next batch in.

I also ordered some (32 lbs, but i might have messed up and ordered 2, so maybe 64 lbs) LME on Amazon (actually cheaper than my lbs). So I think I'm going to be able to brew enough extract batches until I'm healthy enough for all grain. I think i also have a couple of pounds of hops (some homegrown). I might stick to 1.5 gallon batches until I'm sure i can lift more.

Once i can handle all grain again, I've probably got 50 lbs of two row (not sure why, but probably got a deal) and a bunch of something else (probably c60), so once I'm healed a bit more, i think I'll be able to stay busy