Kegging ... Wow!!!

Sorry, had to come in here and brag. I've had a kegerator for cheap stuff for a long time, and finally decided to buy a corny for my homebrew. All I can say is WOW! 16 days from pitching to drinking, and it's one of my best beers yet. The fiancé and friends agreed as well. Maybe it's just the draught method that makes it all better, but d*** am I impressed. I also thought it was funny because it was the cheapest kit I had bought yet, and I used plain tap water. I also think because it was a wheat beer it was able to finish out so quickly. Luckily, German wheat beers are my favorite, so it looks like I'll be brewing a TON of that from now on.

Sorry for the pointless rant, but I just had to let the community know! I guess if anything it can serve as a good method to get the quickest turnaround in the pipeline. Ferment for 14 days, cold crash for two, force carb at 30 for 4 hours with a little shaking, and serve!

I actually like bottling, though I get sick of random gushers and the extra sweetness that priming sugar can impart into a still-young beer. I also just got some kegging equipment, and although I can appreciate how easy it is to properly carb your beer this way (and how much more quickly you can drink it), I still feel like some of the old-world charm is lost when you don't bottle.

What did your carb level come out to be with the forced carb? I haven't done that myself. Seems kinda spotty to me.

I actually did exactly the same thing about a week ago, the beer turned out great.

PistolsAtDawn said:

I actually like bottling, though I get sick of random gushers and the extra sweetness that priming sugar can impart into a still-young beer. I also just got some kegging equipment, and although I can appreciate how easy it is to properly carb your beer this way (and how much more quickly you can drink it), I still feel like some of the old-world charm is lost when you don't bottle.

What did your carb level come out to be with the forced carb? I haven't done that myself. Seems kinda spotty to me.

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How do I know the carb level?

HappyDrunk said:

How do I know the carb level?

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By using a carbonation chart

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Do you notice any taste difference between a force carbed beer and one that is bottle carbed and conditioned?

BBL_Brewer said:

By using a carbonation chart

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

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Hard to tell because of the temperature change. 30 psi at room temp for about 2 hours with a little shaking, then into the fridge for about 4 hours. Seems slightly more carbed than most bottles. Perfect in my opinion. Maybe just beginners luck!

Using 50 as an average temp and 30 psi, that puts me at around 3.5 - just what a German wheat should be.

PistolsAtDawn said:

I still feel like some of the old-world charm is lost when you don't bottle.

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"Old-world" ... dont think they bottled beer back in the day when they first started making beer Unless you mean they put it into oak barrels and didnt care about what it made them taste like Just busting your balls.

I suppose you're right about that if you're arguing semantics. Would you be more comfortable in a size "1950s-charm"? Ha.

Rhuarc said:

Do you notice any taste difference between a force carbed beer and one that is bottle carbed and conditioned?

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Sorry, I completely missed your question! YES, I have only done four batches thus far, the first three bottled, and they all had a strange twang to them and way too hoppy for me. So for this batch I cut the hops WAY down (only .5oz flavoring, and .5oz aroma), so that would explain the bitterness going down. That "twang" - for lack of a better word - was completely gone, and the beer just tasted perect. I don't know if it has something to do with the corn sugar producing that twang, or what! Hopefully someone much wiser can comment on that. Perhaps I just like german wheat beers so much! I HATE IPA's and most anything with much hops, so that could simply be the solution. I find it odd that my fiance and best friend would agree though, as they both seem to like hoppy beers (my best friend LOVES Sierra Nevada, which is way hoppy to me).

I guess I'll bottle some of this next batch (which was made pretty much the same way minus a late extract addition and DME instead of LME) and see what happens. I'm so young in the game, I just don't know!