I'm fed up with bottling!

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drathbone

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Hello HBT!

I've been a bit MIA from the brewing scene for a while but I've got about 5 gallons of a banana nut brown ale just waiting to be carbed up and drank. Long story short, I went to bottle and my bottles got a strange film from my basement that doesn't come off - soaking, dish washer, heavy scrubbing etc hasn't taken it off and I don't trust them.

So, I want to start kegging! Is there a "go to" site to order a beginners keg kit with all the fixins or is it something I need to piece together? Any references or recommendations would be appreciated! Also, from a buddy, I was told ball lock > pin lock because of availability (which might be regional?). Some further info on this would be great!

Thanks again ahead of time! :mug::ban::tank::mug::drunk::rockin:
 
I like keg connection, ive also used keg cowboy who is a supporter of this site.
 
I just got my hands on a kit from amazon, it came with all the connections and a co2 tank. It came in at around $160.00 not bad. Also you can find store links on this site.
 
Yep order from keg connection... I just got my kit a few months ago and I will never make bottling a regular practice again. Just make sure you get the upgraded Taprite regulator with check valve and quick adjustment valve!
 
Tippin44s said:
Yep order from keg connection... I just got my kit a few months ago and I will never make bottling a regular practice again. Just make sure you get the upgraded Taprite regulator with check valve and quick adjustment valve!
Click to expand...

Just an FYI for the OP...I'm pretty sure all of Keg Connections regulator have check valves.
 
ah, kegging!

as I wash, fill, and cap approximately 50 bottles per batch, I often finding myself wishing I could do everything at once, one clean step, and be done with it, instead of taking 2 hours to siphon, add carbing sugar, washing bottles, filling them, topping them off, capping them....ugh!

but, bottling is pretty cheap. I have bottles. caps are cheap. if I started kegging...that's not gonna be cheap! gotta buy kegs, plus taps, and any filling equipment. CO2 tanks to avoid beer going flat, then I need a kegerator to keep it cool, since I cant fit a keg in my fridge (and keep the wife happy)

plus, if I keg it, it'll be too easy to drink it too fast! just go over and fill 'er up! As it is now, I could easily drink 4 or 5 bottles of beer a day --stay at home dad... have one at lunch, one or 2 through the afternoon, one at dinner, maybe one later at night-- and not ever get drunk, or have a problem, but my own conscience (thanks to doctors, and society's general consensus that someone who has 4 or 5 drinks a day has a problem) tells me that is too much beer to drink in one day, and I find myself having to ration how many bottles I drink per day or I'll go through an entire batch of beer rather quickly.
 
70Cuda383 said:
ah, kegging!


As it is now, I could easily drink 4 or 5 bottles of beer a day --stay at home dad... have one at lunch, one or 2 through the afternoon, one at dinner, maybe one later at night-- and not ever get drunk, or have a problem, but my own conscience (thanks to doctors, and society's general consensus that someone who has 4 or 5 drinks a day has a problem) tells me that is too much beer to drink in one day, and I find myself having to ration how many bottles I drink per day or I'll go through an entire batch of beer rather quickly.
Click to expand...

That's your problem right there, listening to others. Plus after half a dozen or more beers you won't care what they think anyway!
Remember, kegging is faster, therefore you get more "family time". You really should start to keg, if not for you, do it for your family.
 
Fuse said:
That's your problem right there, listening to others. Plus after half a dozen or more beers you won't care what they think anyway!
Remember, kegging is faster, therefore you get more "family time". You really should start to keg, if not for you, do it for your family.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a sales pitch has been formed for your conversation with the wife.
 
I'm new to homebrewing and in a couple of weeks I'll keg my first two batches. The fun part was finding the parts. Yes, it's a little expensive but worth it, in my opinion. Find an old fridge on Craigslist, order a kegerator kit from kegconnection, find some corny kegs (ball lock) and have at it! You'll have a fun little project.

Now, where did you get that recipe for the Banana nut brown ale?? That sounds yummy!
 
70Cuda383 said:
ah, kegging!

as I wash, fill, and cap approximately 50 bottles per batch, I often finding myself wishing I could do everything at once, one clean step, and be done with it, instead of taking 2 hours to siphon, add carbing sugar, washing bottles, filling them, topping them off, capping them....ugh!

but, bottling is pretty cheap. I have bottles. caps are cheap. if I started kegging...that's not gonna be cheap! gotta buy kegs, plus taps, and any filling equipment. CO2 tanks to avoid beer going flat, then I need a kegerator to keep it cool, since I cant fit a keg in my fridge (and keep the wife happy)

plus, if I keg it, it'll be too easy to drink it too fast! just go over and fill 'er up! As it is now, I could easily drink 4 or 5 bottles of beer a day --stay at home dad... have one at lunch, one or 2 through the afternoon, one at dinner, maybe one later at night-- and not ever get drunk, or have a problem, but my own conscience (thanks to doctors, and society's general consensus that someone who has 4 or 5 drinks a day has a problem) tells me that is too much beer to drink in one day, and I find myself having to ration how many bottles I drink per day or I'll go through an entire batch of beer rather quickly.
Click to expand...

This is why I still bottle. Plus, I really don't find it to be that big of a hassle. Sure it takes up 1.5 hours or so but it is easy. I typically do it while I listen to a college football game on the TV.
 
check craigslist in your area as well as the classified section here

you can find some great deals for used equipment
 
I don't understand the hatred with bottling. It takes me 10 mins to bottle a 5 gallon batch. It's pretty easy to do as well. Plus, you get the satisfying pffffft when you open a properly carbonated bottle.
 
Kaanan said:
I don't understand the hatred with bottling. It takes me 10 mins to bottle a 5 gallon batch. It's pretty easy to do as well. Plus, you get the satisfying pffffft when you open a properly carbonated bottle.
Click to expand...

I usually bottle while I brew so it really takes no time at all. I like variety and always have several different brews in the fridge. I just counted and I have 13 different brews in bottles, in varying quantities. I have 5 different brews in the fridge right now.
 
I hate bottling too, but I've been doing it for years. I can't fit a kegerator in my apartment!
 
I got a 250$ gift card to an LHBS for my birthday and picked up a dual keg system for 246$ last weekend. I just kegged yesterday and i'm force carbing so I am super excited to try some of it tonight or tomorrow. I just started doing 10 gallon batches so I have a 50 beers bottle conditioning too. So stoked to have my beer last longer than just a 5 gallon batch (2-3 weeks)
 
Fuse said:
That's your problem right there, listening to others. Plus after half a dozen or more beers you won't care what they think anyway!
Remember, kegging is faster, therefore you get more "family time". You really should start to keg, if not for you, do it for your family.
Click to expand...

If not for you, do it for your family lolol. Kegging can be done cheap with patience while you are bottling keep your eyes peeled for good deals on craigslist.
 
Kaanan said:
I don't understand the hatred with bottling. It takes me 10 mins to bottle a 5 gallon batch. It's pretty easy to do as well. Plus, you get the satisfying pffffft when you open a properly carbonated bottle.
Click to expand...

what steps are you leaving out?! how do you wash and sanitize your bottles/caps, siphon the beer into a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, bottle it all, cap them all, and be done in 10 minutes?!

even if you ferment in a bucket that already has a spigot on it and bottle straight out of that, you still have to add priming sugar, stir it in (without stirring up that yeast cake), clean and sanitize your bottles, fill, cap, etc...
 
Fuse said:
That's your problem right there, listening to others. Plus after half a dozen or more beers you won't care what they think anyway!
Remember, kegging is faster, therefore you get more "family time". You really should start to keg, if not for you, do it for your family.
Click to expand...

true!!

but in all seriousness...I don't want to be that guy where people mutter behind his back "that guy has an alcohol problem...he's drinking a 6-pack a day?!" because, while I don't feel like having 4 or 5 home brews a day is a problem, the first thing that someone says when they DO have a problem is "I don't have a problem!"

the way I try to look at it is, if I was working full time, I would not come home at the end of the day and drink 5 beers between dinner and bedtime. just because I'm home all day and can spread 5 drinks out to 10 hours, doesn't mean I should.

and if I had 5 beers a day every day, a batch would last me 10 days. even with the pipeline I have going, I'd need to get 3 more carboys and a lot more bottles to keep the pipeline going...and spend a LOT more money on grain!

there you go...that's the answer right there! "I don't have a drinking problem...I don't make enough money to be able to afford a drinking problem!"
 
Thanks for all the info everybody! I'll start looking into some of the websites given.


jfire said:
Now, where did you get that recipe for the Banana nut brown ale?? That sounds yummy!
Click to expand...

I used NB's nut brown as a base, modified it a bit (mostly with carapils and a bit of biscuit) and added bananas. I also have some banana extract that I might split the batch and add to half of it, mostly because I'm afraid it'll taste too much like banana runts, because that's what the extract smells like.
 
By the way, I'm looking at Kegconnection.com and it looks like a ball lock 2 keg kit, a keg and Co2 tank would run me about $165+shipping. This seems unreal since I just called 2 LBHS and their regulators alone were $100-$115 each. Am I missing something here?
 
Its real, their house reg is only $40 and the upgrade taprite is $60
 
I do both. Last Friday I bottled 2 cases worth but my keg is running low so I will probably split my 10 gal batch that I brewed over the weekend and put half in bottles and the other half in the keg. I do need to get more kegs. One is not enough! But on the other hand I do have around 260 bottles.

beerloaf
 
I just started kegging and it's easy and fast. I don't regret bottling for as long as I did but I am sure glad I went to kegs.
 
I'm pretty new at this, 55 gals brewed so far. Thing about kegs is how many kegs does one generally have? I really like having a wide range of beers to chose from. Right now I have a choice of a BB Red, Coopers Lager, Dark, Real Ale, MB Kolch, with MB Irish, MB Christmas racked and MB Belgien and Mild Brown on deck. What about gift beers? Do ya'll bottle a few before kegging to give?
 
70Cuda383 said:
what steps are you leaving out?! how do you wash and sanitize your bottles/caps, siphon the beer into a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, bottle it all, cap them all, and be done in 10 minutes?!

even if you ferment in a bucket that already has a spigot on it and bottle straight out of that, you still have to add priming sugar, stir it in (without stirring up that yeast cake), clean and sanitize your bottles, fill, cap, etc...
Click to expand...

Forgot about that part. But honestly, after a hard day at work sitting at a desk, the ability to shut off your brain to clean and sanatize bottles is a great thing. I guess I like the method. And knowing caps are cheap and bottles free if you get them at a bar.
 
My wife got pissed because our kitchen fridge always had a ton of beer in it and little room for that other stuff...food. I remedied that by buying a Kenmore Kegerator from Sears and converted it to a twin tower to dispense 2 homebrews at a time. It fits in the space I have and can't be more convenient. I always have a IIpa and something else on tap.
 
I don't mind bottling. I like to drink it down to a 6 pack then keep the last few around for a while. I still have two from my first batch. I just bought a keg for 20 bucks and I am getting a tank for free from a buddy. I am trying to do it el cheapo. Bottles are nice to have still. Will do both. Eventually fill bottles from the keg. That makes the most sense.
 
orleans said:
I'm pretty new at this, 55 gals brewed so far. Thing about kegs is how many kegs does one generally have? I really like having a wide range of beers to chose from. Right now I have a choice of a BB Red, Coopers Lager, Dark, Real Ale, MB Kolch, with MB Irish, MB Christmas racked and MB Belgien and Mild Brown on deck. What about gift beers? Do ya'll bottle a few before kegging to give?
Click to expand...

I have 10 kegs. 4 on tap, 2 cold on deck, 4 warm on deck and 2 for some upcoming Brett beers. I usually bottle once the kegs are carbed and aged a bit. If you get perlick taps you can bottle from them with a foot of hose.
 
Beezy said:
I don't mind bottling. I like to drink it down to a 6 pack then keep the last few around for a while. I still have two from my first batch. I just bought a keg for 20 bucks and I am getting a tank for free from a buddy. I am trying to do it el cheapo. Bottles are nice to have still. Will do both. Eventually fill bottles from the keg. That makes the most sense.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, but when you only have to clean one big "bottle" instead of 54 little ones, kegging becomes very appealing. El Cheapo is fine as long as your kegging. You can always bottle from kegs and the lack of yeast sediment is always a plus. I can't tell you how many times snarky people say "oh homebrew always has $h!t at the bottom of the bottle", and I give them a 4 month aged Dubbel I bottled from a keg and they're floored by the presentation and quality. It makes it all worthwhile.
 
70Cuda383 said:
ah, kegging!

as I wash, fill, and cap approximately 50 bottles per batch, I often finding myself wishing I could do everything at once, one clean step, and be done with it, instead of taking 2 hours to siphon, add carbing sugar, washing bottles, filling them, topping them off, capping them....ugh!

but, bottling is pretty cheap. I have bottles. caps are cheap. if I started kegging...that's not gonna be cheap! gotta buy kegs, plus taps, and any filling equipment. CO2 tanks to avoid beer going flat, then I need a kegerator to keep it cool, since I cant fit a keg in my fridge (and keep the wife happy)

plus, if I keg it, it'll be too easy to drink it too fast! just go over and fill 'er up! As it is now, I could easily drink 4 or 5 bottles of beer a day --stay at home dad... have one at lunch, one or 2 through the afternoon, one at dinner, maybe one later at night-- and not ever get drunk, or have a problem, but my own conscience (thanks to doctors, and society's general consensus that someone who has 4 or 5 drinks a day has a problem) tells me that is too much beer to drink in one day, and I find myself having to ration how many bottles I drink per day or I'll go through an entire batch of beer rather quickly.
Click to expand...

The first part contains the reasons I decided quite a while ago not to keg.
 
In the middle of building a keggerator myself. Kegs- Be sure to ask around if anyone has a friend at pepsi or a beverage distributor (a 5 dollar handshake goes a long way). I've been cruising EBAY and finding a lot of good deals on kegging equip.
 
I dont mind bottling either but still want to move up to kegging. I have a pretty good system down bottling tree and put my bottling bucket on top of fridge and bottle on the counter next to it no bending maybe takes me an hour so what I can keep bottles for a long time
 
I have a large old printer stand I now use for fermenter stand/equipment storage to the right of my comp hutch. I set the bottling bucket on that when I'm bottling. My videos in my profile show my sit down system. It makes bottling a pleasant part of brewing. Takes about 1.5 hours set up to take down.
 

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