This week I take a look at some of the new no-boil beer kits that have entered the market and have the potential to bring new brewers into the hobby with a much lower time investment at a reasonable price.
It is arguably the best time ever to be a home brewer. The equipment, ingredients and base of knowledge we have access to as homebrewers have never been better, and home brewers have access to basically the same techniques and ingredients that pro brewers use. Despite this, home brewing as a hobby has been in decline since roughly 2014.
The reasons for this are multi-fold including improved Craft beer availability, lasting effects from COVID and demographic and drinking preference changes. However complexity has also played a role, as the majority of brewers have moved to all grain brewing in the last decade, and all grain brewing is neither simple nor easily approachable for new brewers. I started brewing with a bucket and a can of malt extract, and not a three tier all grain brewing system.
Two of my recent podcast guests are trying to change this, and bring simplicity back for new brewers. One is Chris Graham from MoreBeer who appeared on BeerSmith Podcast #309 talking about their new Flash Brewing kits. The other was Danny Monnot, operations manager at Pinter.com who appeared on BeerSmith Podcast #311 discussing his Pinter system.
These brewing systems and kits both offer a simplified no-boil approach to brewing. Basically you just sanitize your equipment, mix a malt/ingredient pouch with water, add yeast and possibly hop extract and ferment the beer for a week or two. This cuts the brew day from several hours to perhaps 15-20 minutes. The Flash Brewing kits are then bottled with their “pop shots” for priming. The Pinter system, which looks like a mini keg is not bottled but instead put in the fridge and served directly from the vessel. The entire process takes perhaps 2-3 weeks for the beer to ferment and age, but takes only an hour or two from the brewer.
Flash Brewing Kits from More Beer
The team at MoreBeer has been working to develop their Flash brewing kits for several years now. Chris tells me the idea evolved from “fresh wort kits” popular in Australia but MoreBeer wanted a kit that could be more easily shipped. So they started working with major Malt suppliers to develop a special malt extract that would preserve the advantages and flavor of a malt-extract beer without having to boil. According to Chris it took quite a bit of time to reach the right malt base formula.
The flash kits also leverage the latest developments in hop products. Their kits include isomorized hop extracts and also many use Cryo hops during fermentation to give you not only the bitterness but also the great aroma you would get from a traditional boil and dry hop. MoreBeer also includes the appropriate dry yeast packet for the style of beer you are brewing.
Chris tells me that even though they originally targeted flash brewing towards new brewers, the kits have also become popular with experienced brewers who are looking to get back into the hobby or perhaps are just short on time. The quality of the beer, according to him, has been quite good.
Their flash brewing kits are currently sold in a 5 gallon (19 l) kit size (about 48 bottles of beer), so if you are an existing brewer you probably already have an existing bucket or fermenter that can be used to brew. They also separately do sell a simple equipment kit which is a 7 gallon Fermonster fermenter with a bottling wand and small bottle of sanitizer for first time brewers. The customer needs to provide or purchase about 48 bottles to bottle the beer when finished. To date there are roughly 9 kits available in styles including Pale Ale, Blonde Ale, Irish Red, German Hefeweizen, and a variety of IPAs. MoreBeer is planning to add more kits.
The Pinter Brewing System
Pinter (pronounced like a pint of beer) takes a slightly different approach, centered around their “Pinter” vessel which looks like a small plastic keg. This is an “all-in-one” vessel where you mix your ingredients, ferment the beer, and then put it in the fridge to server your beer. The system includes a removable “brewing dock” which lets you remove the yeast and trub during fermentation resulting in a clearer beer. Each batch is smaller than the flash kits, roughly 12 pints or perhaps 16 standard bottles of beer.
The brewing process is simple as well. You sanitize the Pinter vessel, then mix the malt pouch with water and a yeast packet to start fermentation. The boil hop extract appears to be mixed in with the malt packet. They also have a “hopper” attachment with some kits that lets you add dry hops during fermentation. When fermentation is complete you remove the “brewing dock” which also separates the yeast sediment and then put the Pinter vessel in your fridge where you can directly server the beer. They have a phone app that walks you through the process which takes 7-14 days aging and less than 30 minutes invested time.
The Pinter kit is currently sold as a bundle with 2 ingredient kits at a pretty attractive bundle price. They have offered a $100 discount on new systems for a limited time (I get no kickbacks from this) if you use the code ‘BeerSmith49‘ or the link here to order a new Pinter system . As I mentioned makes roughly 12 pint servings in a single batch. They sell additional kits so you can reuse your Pinter vessel. You don’t need to bottle your beer as it is served directly from the Pinter vessel, but you do need space in your fridge to properly store and serve the beer. The Pinter vessel is roughly 9.5″ in diameter and 13.9″ deep, and comes in 3 colors. Currently about 22 kits are available in styles including IPAs, Pale Ales, Bitters, Hefeweizen, Stout, Brown Ale, Lagers, and even some Hard Seltzers and Ciders. They are also adding new kits all the time.
Closing Thoughts
Will either of these systems replace my all grain brewing system soon? Probably not, but if you are looking to get a friend started in brewing these kits are a great way to introduce them to brewing. If you are an existing brewer who’s short on time or perhaps just getting back into the hobby these kits may be a good fit for you as well. From all I’ve heard they make reasonably good quality beer with a minimal investment in time – literally sanitize, mix the ingredients and let it ferment until you are ready to bottle or server it.
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