Kegging and the wife...

So, I've been homebrewing for some time, mostly extract though I've recently built and plan to soon use a cooler-mashtun (batch sparge). My buddy and I are also planning on going in together on a kegerator build. My wife, who isn't a consumer of alcoholic beverages, made a comment recently that she's concerned having a keg around will only serve to increase the amount of beer consumed by those at my house, as well as contribute to the "disease" of alcoholism for those who come over who really do have a problem.

So here's my question to those of you who went from bottling to kegging: have you noticed any change in your consumption of beer? And does it seem the focus when you have people over has shifted to strictly being about the kegerator and your beer?

I'm very curious. Thanks!

My wife likes it, because there aren't bottles laying around. I have just gotten into kegging, and I have to say that it is a lot easier to pull a pint. Last night I had 3 before I knew it.

I generally drink about the same since switching to a kegerator. With a kegerator I can have as much or as little as I want. E.g. in 12 or 22 ounce bottles i have to have 12 or 22 ounces. Some times I want a beer and a half, I still have to open two. With a kegerator I can have a 6 ounce beer, a 12 ounce beer, maybe two 8 ounce beers. I can just pull out an ounce to check the carbonation levels. I've noticed alot more flexibility. I didn't generally let my friends drink all my beer before it was kegged and I don't now.

The catch to a kegerator is that it makes serving beer easier but you can't make it any faster. So generally I've seen consumption stay about the same. I do drink less store bought beer which is easy on the wallet and my taste buds.

If you have alcoholic friends that can't control themselves around beer they probably shouldn't be around it at all, and kegs or bottles are bad news.

Also on the focus of guests being the kegerator, its like any other household appliance. You get a new one and it's cool for folks to stare at and ooh and ahh over for a moment but it wears off.

The bottom line is its a different way to store and serve your homebrew, but if you or your friends change the way you act around it, thats on you and your friends.

+1 on the flexibility.

+2 on the flexibility. Since I began kegging I have not noticed a difference in my consumption. To be honest it might have dropped some based on the reasoning Thebaconator provided with regard to pouring the amount you would like. I will admit that on occasions friends will start to take advantage, as there is less to walking into my office and pouring a pint than dealing with bottles. My advice to this would be to place your keezer/kegerator in a location that you can close off and keep others away if need be.

The first month, yeah.... You'll drink more. Because it's new, exciting, and easy. But then you should fall back into your previous habits.

And I agree with some of the others here in that maybe you'll drink less. One trick I did was to always have 9 ounce plastic cups next to the taps. I go down there and see glass pints and mugs (that I'll have to wash) and usually choose the smaller plastic throwaway cup. So one can say that I reduced my average beer from 12 oz to 9 oz. I even find myself asking for half-pints at breweries as well now. Something as simple as smaller cups might appease the wife.

Baconator, I disagree with not making it faster... I can go grain to glass in 2 weeks now (force-carbing overnight) instead of 5-6 weeks including bottle conditioning. Oooooh, BUT - If you only have 2 taps, you can only drink two at a time... If you have 4 varieties of bottles, who's to stop you from opening them?

DubbelDach said:

Baconator, I disagree with not making it faster... I can go grain to glass in 2 weeks now (force-carbing overnight) instead of 5-6 weeks including bottle conditioning.

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As far as time goes I meant the actual brewing process rather than grain to glass. E.g. you still have to mash for an hour, boil for an hour, chill your grains and ferment. I don't have trouble finding an extra two weeks for my beer to sit and me not touch it, its the 4-5 hours for brew day that mess with the scheduling. I generally can come up with that once a month, kegging doesn't mean I can brew more batches in a month.

TheBaconator said:

As far as time goes I meant the actual brewing process rather than grain to glass. E.g. you still have to mash for an hour, boil for an hour, chill your grains and ferment. I don't have trouble finding an extra two weeks for my beer to sit and me not touch it, its the 4-5 hours for brew day that mess with the scheduling. I generally can come up with that once a month, kegging doesn't mean I can brew more batches in a month.

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Ahhhh, gotcha...

I agree about the quick carbonating too, that's a definite plus.

I actually drink less. As was mentioned above, instead of drinking whole pints all of the time, I tend to have a half-glass every-so-often. Sometimes a keg sits so long I have to fill up a growler and give it to someone just to help empty the keg faster.

I also drink less, don't use the pint glasses much any more. The people we have over are not focused on drinking and never have been.

An alcoholic will find their fix regardless.

I think the glass size is a big difference. I have 8oz glasses and even if I split bottles w/ the lady, after 2 glasses I "feel" as though I've had 2 beers b/c I've filled the glass twice.

I am a proud alcoholic and have found that I have been drinking less since I got the keezer built. There is something about being able to take just a snort or two that keeps me satisfied without having to crack an entire bottle.

Plus, NO MORE BOTTLES. That ought to sell the wife. Sold my wife enough that she paid for the keezer parts!

My mom bought my dad a kegerator to reduce the bottles around the house, but he doesnt brew and consistently re-use bottles, so they can add up very quickly there. So i kind of second the idea of less bottles.

as far as consumption goes, i find when i have a keg visitors drink alot more because it is alot easier. I should mention though that my house is kind of an open door policy, if its in the fridge dont feel like you need to ask, jsut go for it. Visitors arent all that frequent for me other than weekly band practice & those guys usually bring some beer with them as a offering to the kegerator gods.

My own habits are that i tend to drink a little less when i have the keg going for two reasons.

1. without being able to tell how much is in there i always feel like its almost gone and try to conserve which leads to me drinking less.
2. during the summer months i am much less apt to pour a pint and take it outside than i am cracking open a bottle or can while working in the yard or grilling or what have you.

Just thought of an idea for a t shirt. "My old lady said I drink too much. My new lady helps me brew."

I have drank less with my keezer than when cans / bottles. before I brewed my beer I would open 2-4 beer at any given sitting, now I haven't had more than 2 keg poured beers at a sitting. I want to make my beer last since I can't just go out and buy more home brew.

-=Jason=-

For me, less when I used to bottle. I could only keep about 12 bottles in the fridge at that time and liked to keep them there a good 3+ days before popping one open. So when I ran out, I'd take a few days and then start again. Now, I have all I want on tap, cold, and ready at any time. I also have a lot of parties and a beer fund jar. I brew about 5 batches a month (25-35 gals) and go through that in 2 months. But on a good note, the beer fund pays for all my ingredients!

+1 drink with flexibility, I Usually drink less.

Much less with the keg than bottles (including commercial and homebrew). I keep the glasses on one side of our apartment, and the kegerator on the other side in a different room. On the other hand, if I already have a glass near the kegs I'm waaaay more likely to fill it up again. SWMBO doesn't mind the kegerator, either. It's a little noisy but convieniently wired to a wall switch. Movie on= kegerator off. As far as company goes, they're just as likely to bring beer than to drink mine- it evens out. And those stacks of commercial cases that need returning are a thing of the past. Kyle

I've found i'm drinking about the same. As others have said the advantages of not having bottles all over the place or taking up refrigerator space is something the wife will love. Also you have no chance of having bottle bombs if thats a concern. I saw a video about some guy getting cut up pretty bad from some bottle bombs, and the wife actually encouraged me to start kegging, glad I showed her that video.

I started kegging just over a month ago. For a week or two I drank more because of the novelty of the kegerator and using it with my giant liter mugs. I keep it in the basement with the rest of my brewing equipment so it takes more effort for me to get another. Now I'm drinking probably less than when I was bottling since I was mostly using 22oz bottles in smaller glasses. The ability to do whatever size pour you want is great.

I find that have drank a little more (12-14 pints per week) since I began kegging just over a year ago. But then again I am also brewing more to keep the pipeline stocked.

Yep. I drink more. Seriously man your wife has it right!

am am no less drunk than i was before i got a keezer, i just have to recycle less now!

My kegerator has been operational for 1 week and I notice that it depends on the glass you use. If I pull pints I drink more, pull smaller glasses I drink less. I also have a rule that I do not drink two hours before bed and I only drink on days that starts with T's. Tuesday, Thursday, THaturday, THunday.

I tend to drink more when my wife is around. Your wife may very well be the cause of your disease too.

My comparison doesn't necessarily relate to bottling vs kegging, as I already had a kegerator before I started brewing. In general though, I like the keg for several reasons. Consumption is basically the same for me, with the only difference I have noticed is that I tend to drink less when doing yard work. When I was drinking cans, I would always have one on the mower or near by when doing other work. Too much dust gets into an open glass for my taste, so this sector of my consumption has been cut way back.

The benefits for me are:

1) less bottles/cans to recycle.

2) the cool factor.....there is absolutely nothing you can put in your man cave (except maybe a striper pole) that tops a kegerator in coolness.

3) Extra freezer space due to using a fridge conversion

4) for commercial beer, I greatly prefer draft to bottles

I don't have too much trouble with friends abusing the supply. Most of the guys that I have over are neighbors, who all have their own man caves with beer fridges in them. They drink my beer when we are throwing darts in the garage at my place, and always have plenty for me to drink from their fridge when I go over. Other friends/relatives can drink what they want, but I knew that when they were invited, and isn't frequent enough to be an issue.

I drink less now that I keg, I have a varity of glass on hand, from 6oz tasters to liter mugs. I can pour what I feel like. More often than not I'll only pour mayself a small beer every other day or so.
The wife loves it because of the bottle factor, she hated having all those bottles around.

oh....one other good point, with a kegerator, those instances where your wife does drive you to drinking, you can go get a beer and chug one or two before returning to her presence. Much easier to hide these actions when you don't have to deal with bottles or cans. This is assuming that you manage to keep it in an out of the way place, such as the garage.

I drink about the same. But the first thing I did after I got the kegging set up was to lower the ABV%. you can forget how many you had and over do it.

Baldy_Beer_Brewery said:

I tend to drink more when my wife is around. Your wife may very well be the cause of your disease too.

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x2. My consumption has dropped 90% since the divorce.

I'll add a couple points, relevant or not:

A. I wouldn't go in with a friend on a kegerator. If for whatever reason he doesn't get to come over and drink as much as he likes, or if your friendship slips a little bit, a kegerator doesn't split in two. I would highly recommend saving up the money, and have your own.

B. On the alcoholism note. Having a kegerator lessens the accountability, as it's easier to lose count of how many beers you've had, but I don't find it any worse than homebrewing alone. As others stated, I actually drink less. Some days i'll want to see if a beer is starting to clear up in the keg, or how it's coming along, so I'll pull 3-4oz into a juice glass. There's much more flexibility, rather than being stuck with 12 or 22oz servings.

Let's face it though, homebrewing is not a good hobby for those with addictive personalities, or those that face problems with alcohol abuse. I've very personally dealt with alcoholism in my family, so I'm rather cognizant of my own level of intake. If you're actually worried that you are skirting the lines of alcoholism, I wouldn't take it lightly, as I can tell you it gets out of hand very quick, and truly destroys lives. I don't intend to start preaching to those that don't care. Many of us joke about being alcoholics; I do it myself from time to time, but if you or your loved ones actually feel concerned about addiction, I'd take a step back.

Airborneguy said:

I actually drink less. As was mentioned above, instead of drinking whole pints all of the time, I tend to have a half-glass every-so-often.

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The key word in this quote is "so often". So often I lose track of it.

Kegs are awesome man, honestly I drink way more now that it's super easy to pull a pint. No more physical evidence laying around either. I rarely finish a beer, just keep topping up. How many beers did you have? Still working on the first one dear, haven't "finished" it yet. Nothing cooler than having the boys over to the man cave too, I love to share my BBQ & brew.

I'm with SmokeShank, I've cut back on my drinking, now I only drink on days that end in a "Y".

Going to have to +1 the "I actually drink less" category.

+however many thus far... having a kegerator definitely provides increased flexibility and ease of serving. Having two good brews on tap all the time is great, and having some bottled in the basement (i.e. oak aged bourbon ales) is an added bonus for when good friends are over, you know, the ones that appreciate real beer.

I also drink less since kegging my brew. I keep a 5oz sampler glass by the kegerator for days when I want to just have a taste of beer and not a whole bottle.

HappyHeadBrew said:

My wife, who isn't a consumer of alcoholic beverages, made a comment recently that she's concerned having a keg around will only serve to increase the amount of beer consumed by those at my house, as well as contribute to the "disease" of alcoholism for those who come over who really do have a problem.

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Alcoholism is one of those things that can be tough to define and can also vary from person to person.

I've known folks that define it as anyone that has a "craving" for an alcoholic beverage.

What I do know is that it doesn't just happen....it occurs over a span of time.

With that said her concerns may be a thinly veiled attempt to state that she's concerned about your consumption rate. She may not be comfortable with it now and she may very well have a valid concern based on what her definition of what alcoholism is.

+1 for drinking less.. I use the small 8oz coke glasses from the dollar sore as my glass and 8oz solo cups are always next to my taps.. Friends come over and laugh when I give them a glass but after 2 they realize why...