Bottling vs. Kegging

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mowilly

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I've heard many of you say how much bottling sucks and I'm curious as to why. I've yet to bottle my first batch, so I just can't know, yet. Of course, I HAVE done the time removing labels, and that's a pain, but what else is there?

Also, what are the drawbacks to kegging, if any?
 
Bottling sucks...it's time consuming from cleaning the bottles to bottling them and capping them. I haven't tried kegging but I can only imagine once i have 3 or 4 batches of beer I think my fiance will mind when I am taking up a whole room for the bottles..
 
I guess I'm in the minority, I actually enjoy bottling. To me it's relaxing... to each their own.
 
I bottled for twelve years, and I stopped brewing this past spring because of bottling and vowed I would get the kegerator going, and then continue brewing. Drilled the holes in the side of the fridge for the taps just last night! Have an IPA in secondary right now and a batch is getting brewed Sunday.
I'll never bottle again, and I can't wait until the kegerator is finished. I haven't been this excited of brewing since I first started.
 
I started kegging early this year, it's a lot less time consuming and it's really cool to be able to go to the keezer and pull a pint. I still bottle some batches, primarily stouts and other styles that I don't drink as quickly.
 
However I do agree with some ppl here that its nice to take your own six pack and pop open your own bottled beer at a get-together
 
I am a kegging fan. It is less time consuming and my beers are better. It works great for me.

However I do agree with some ppl here that its nice to take your own six pack and pop open your own bottled beer at a get-together
Just fill a couple of growlers and take them with you if needed. They work fine for gatherings.
 
I like(d) bottling only for the fact that I could more easily share my beer.

The big difference between bottling and kegging (aside from all of the bennies listed here) is - you can always bottle your beer once its kegged. But you cant keg it once its bottled.

I like the ease of bulk aging, having a choice of priming (with half the sugar now) OR force carbing, kegs take up less space and the list goes on. A benefit of bottling is you can 'forget' about some of your bottles for a goood long time. Its a bit harder to lose a keg, so self control has to be exhibited to not drink it all so damned quickly. (Or get a pipeline!)
-Me
 
I generally keep several batches of beer around (in bottles) and enjoy whatever I'm in the mood for at the moment. Sometimes I even go days without a beer (gasp)! It seems to me that were I to keg, I'd end up with fewer varieties on hand and cold. I mean, really, who has room for an 8-keg cooler in their living room? While 24 bottles in the fridge take up little space, letting me indulge in up to 3 bottles of any given variety.

My other concern about kegs is the waste. If there's been beer sitting in the line for several days, that's gotta not be good drinking. So don't you have to let the tap run a bit before you get to the "good beer," the stuff that's fresh and cold from the keg? How much beer do you let run to the ground each time?

I do see that for some occasions, kegging would be better. If you were brewing for a party and expected to serve most of a batch in one day, for example. It would definitely be a more efficient way to accomplish the task, and save labor as well!

But for my day-to-day casual use, I don't see kegging as practical.

[EDIT]
It occurs to me that my space argument is specious. I've got 5 large tupperware containers filled with bottled beer inside the house, and another 3 giant containers full of empty bottles outside. Plus a couple of cardboard boxes to handle the occasional overflow, whichever side it occurs on. Maybe if I were to clear all that crap out, a kegerator would actually give me MORE space.
 
They're all relative terms plus you toss in time and money...

I bottle and keg and NEVER complained about bottling. I still enjoy it. ;)

When it comes to brewing and bottling the MOST difficult problem I have is deciding WHAT to brew and then deciding if I want to keg or bottle it. :rockin:
 
I'm only on my third batch so I'm too much of a noob to have a strong opinion but, I don't find bottling to be that big of a pain. I read the Revvy thread on bottling and it probably saved me a lot of the "learning curve" - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/

I just bottled a batch last weekend (2 cases of 12 oz & 3 22 oz bottles). It took me a little over an hour and a half and that included prep & clean up. I also like sharing my beer and it's easier to do if I can tote a six pack along with me when visiting friends.
 
I've only completed one batch at this point. It was bottled. It took me about 1.5 hours to complete the process. The ACTUAL bottling part only took about 30 minutes. Kegging does seem immensly more expensive, andits not like you don't have to clean kegs, clean lines, taps, etc. etc. Soooo. I think its just preference. There's no right answer to all of this. If I ever go any sort of kegging route it will probably be mini-kegs.
 
Disadvantages of bottling:
(1) Cleaning and sanitizing 54 bottles.
(2) Filling 54 bottles.
(3) Capping 54 bottles.
(4) Waiting another two weeks for carbonation.
(5) Inability to pour samples, or any other arbitrary amount. This is really a pain if your glass runs dry 20 minutes from the end of a movie -- do you pour a new bottle, or do you go without?
(6) Much less cool.

Disadvantages of kegging:
(1) More expensive to setup.
(2) Limited number of beers you can have at one time, depending on how much you spend on system.
(3) Harder to give beer away (bottling from a keg is possible, but once you discover the ease of kegging you're reluctant to bottle again).
 
Disadvantages of bottling:
(1) Cleaning and sanitizing 54 bottles.
(2) Filling 54 bottles.
(3) Capping 54 bottles.
(4) Waiting another two weeks for carbonation.
(5) Inability to pour samples, or any other arbitrary amount. This is really a pain if your glass runs dry 20 minutes from the end of a movie -- do you pour a new bottle, or do you go without?
(6) Much less cool.

Disadvantages of kegging:
(1) More expensive to setup.
(2) Limited number of beers you can have at one time, depending on how much you spend on system.
(3) Harder to give beer away (bottling from a keg is possible, but once you discover the ease of kegging you're reluctant to bottle again).

If you used 1/2 liter bottles it's only 37...:D
 
My other concern about kegs is the waste. If there's been beer sitting in the line for several days, that's gotta not be good drinking. So don't you have to let the tap run a bit before you get to the "good beer," the stuff that's fresh and cold from the keg? How much beer do you let run to the ground each time?

I may be doing it wrong, but i don't lose any beer. All my lines are in the fridge so what is possibly hurting the beer that is in the line? Maybe the contact wtih the plastic? It's still sealed, so it's still carbed. Technically, and i could be wrong, but isn't all the beer in the line still 'touching' the beer in the keg? I mean once it's tapped on the post it's up to the faucet to allow the beer to flow out.

Some might let some run, but i don't. I think one reason bars do is they might have a longer draw and need to chill the lines a bit (or in the case of a tower setup, the cold air doesn't naturally rise into the tower).

To the OP: i find that kegging is easier because it takes up less space. I can keep 5 kegs on tap at any time. This means as soon as i empty one i can tap the next and move another into the fridge to chill and carb. If i want to place something else on tap and move a beer out of the fridge, all i have to do is clean a few bottles and fill off the keg. Then i can store them as i want. If i wanted to keep all five beers around i'd have to find space for 250 bottles, which would basically end my brewing since my wife would kill me.
 
I've never run beer out. In bars, the lines are a lot longer and generally warmer, so the beer sitting in them gets warm and tends to come out with more head.

The first glass I pull usually has more head than the others, but I don't mind. It's also been less pronounced since I upgraded to a 3 inch tower.
 
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