bottling camp vs kegging camp

I know that there is a lot to say for kegging vs bottling. But I have to say that while bottling is more work, I do enjoy the process of opening a beer bottle, listening to the hiss and watching the head develop as you pour. In addition, I do enjoy looking at all my bottles lined up like little soldiers. Each one fermenting and waiting for me to drink. I guess I'm old fashion in that way. I do see bottling as part of the fun of home brewing as well.

Have you done any kegging? It's pretty satisfying to put a glass under a tap and pull off a perfectly poured draft. It's also nice to be able to pour just half a glass to finish off a night or if you just have time for a taste.

Personally as an inherently lazy individual I was strongly attracted to the notion of cleaning just one container for five gallons of beer. As it is, I still fall behind and find myself scrambling to get cornies full and carbed when I get to the end of the current one. I can't imagine having to clean and fill all those bottles. Way too much work.

I think that the bottles have the advantage of variety. When i was bottling i always had four or five drinkable beers to drink. Now that my kegerator only holds two kegs i am only drinking two different beers at at a time and have to wait till the keg is gone till i move on. Needles to say i am working on getting a bigger kegerator.

tbulger said:

I think that the bottles have the advantage of variety. When i was bottling i always had four or five drinkable beers to drink. Now that my kegerator only holds two kegs i am only drinking two different beers at at a time and have to wait till the keg is gone till i move on. Needles to say i am working on getting a bigger kegerator.

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That's my biggest concern. Last night I had a bottle of my Dubble I brewed last September and a bottle of my RyePA I bottled 3 weeks ago. The previous night I had a new Scottish Ale and a 9 month old Imperial Stout. I keep a pretty good selection in my fridge.

Craig

tbulger said:

I think that the bottles have the advantage of variety. When i was bottling i always had four or five drinkable beers to drink. Now that my kegerator only holds two kegs i am only drinking two different beers at at a time and have to wait till the keg is gone till i move on. Needles to say i am working on getting a bigger kegerator.

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It's easy to bottle a few with carb tabs right before racking to the keg. I also brew some beers specifically for bottling (stouts) and I often have a decent variety. To me kegging was one of the smartest moves as it makes bottling day that much quicker, and brewing in general that much more fun.

Put me in the "life is great with both" camp. Having beer on draft at home is wonderful and kegging is quick and easy, but I think I'll always be bottling some beer, too, especially brews that either benefit from aging/cellaring or more novel brews that usually get consumed at a much slower rate, such as fruit beers and imperial anything.

The hardest part is sometimes deciding which beers to keg vs bottle.

Although, I just kegged a batch for the first time, I think using both systems will work. Kegs for the styles I drink most often, bottles for the styles that I don't.

This way there would always be a session beer on tap and a variety of stuff in bottles.

I anticipate going over to kegging when the treasury shot in the ass comes through.

The only thing I will miss is being able to give 6 packs away to co-workers and friends ... like next Friday we will be saying goodbye to a teacher, and I will be bringing some Haus Ale w/special labels .. I am glad I still had some avail...

kegging would mean growlers or hauling the whole keg over for abt 15 people ...

My time has become so valuable, I need it to enjoy the beer more and not bottle ...

Bottling isn't so bad if you have a dishwasher and are careful to rinse each dead soldier out thoroughly after pouring off the beer. The problem is, most of us have kegerator capacities of one to four kegs. So, you pretty much have to decide what you're going to keg, and bottle everything else. Otherwise you end up with kegs full of beer waiting to go into the kegerator, or two kegs of Southern English Brown, and getting one of them killed off so you can put the E.S.B. you've got waiting in the wings becomes a homework assignment instead of something fun.

Eventually, I plan to have three beers on tap regularly -- probably Mac Cumhaill's Extra Thick Stout, Wilhoit Springs IPA and Pirtle Station Best Bitter -- and everything else will end up in bottles. Currently, I have the bitter on draft, but the other offerings on tap right now are "homework assignments" ...

The other *really* nice thing about bottling is the "treasure hunt" aspect ... I go to my local granola store regularly just to peek in the "return cart" and see what cool glass I can buy back from them for a freaking nickel apiece. Last time I got a Grolsch swing-top and a Guinness Imperial pint bottle. I'm getting to where I just go for 22-ounce bottles and sometimes standard 12s. There are now hundreds and hundreds, half of them full of great beer, lying around the house ... along with three kegs of beer, two kegs of air and three carboys that are due to give birth at the end of the month!

cheers!

--Finn

But the biggest advantage of having both is, sometimes we bottle things that can't be drunk with a smile. Too much hops in that IPA? Not enough everything in that cream ale? Brewed a pale mild or a summer bitter 'cos you didn't know any better, and now are stuck with 20 bottles with less flavor than Bud Light? Or too much primer, and they foam all over the place? Dump 'em all into a keg and mix it up! It may not win any awards, but the ability to make beer blends can save you from either storing undrinkable beer or wasting food by dumping it out for the slugs to enjoy. One of my drafts, which I've dubbed Spoke Norton and the Wheelies Brown Ale, is made this way. It's actually very tasty right now!

kappclark said:

kegging would mean growlers or hauling the whole keg over for abt 15 people ...

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You can bottle from the keg and no one will be the wiser! See the sticky for BMBF. ("We don't need no stinkin beer gun" sticky) That is certainly a major pro for kegging. You can bottle from the keg, but you can't keg from the bottle.

I keg now, but pretty soon I am going to build one of BierMunchers gadgets to bottle from kegs. That way I can get the carb level exactly where I want it, and I can give sediment free bottles to friends.

EDIT - Jamo99 beat me to the punch!

Do both! It is VERY nice to be able to go to YOUR tap a pour one...and to have 2 or 3 others in bottles...you don't have to limit yourself to one or the other. Just keep makin the beer...cause it WILL be drunk!! (or you might be?) I know...bad engrish!

I do both.

Since I only have 23 cornies I have to supplement my beers on-hand with 20+ cases (1/2 liter German bottles) and 100+ wine bottles (for meads - already filled).

Jester369 said:

I keg now, but pretty soon I am going to build one of BierMunchers gadgets to bottle from kegs. That way I can get the carb level exactly where I want it, and I can give sediment free bottles to friends.

EDIT - Jamo99 beat me to the punch!

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+1 on this plan.
It's kinda hard to give a 6 pack of cornie to a buddy.

homebrewer_99 said:

I do both.

Since I only have 23 cornies I have to supplement my beers on-hand with 20+ cases (1/2 liter German bottles) and 100+ wine bottles (for meads - already filled).

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Looks like you are approaching the 200 Gal limit ... your secret is safe !

I have trouble forcing myself to get my meads bottled. Popping caps does nothing for me and I've NEVER bottled a batch of beer. Went from min-kegs to cornies. I also like the freedom of being able to pull a half pint or an Imperial. Or sample 5-6 beers while brewing, without losing track of the process. With 15 kegs, variety isn't a problem.

I bottled a batch of beer last night. While working, I was watching a tv show where guys were building and testing torture devices from the dark ages. I wanted a turn in the iron maiden.

I'm enjoying my first kegged batch of hefeweizen... wow, it's cool to draw a pint straight from the keg (and it impresses the hell out of people). However I also love giving bottles to friends. I just gave a sample bottle to my four beer loving friend's at work; that was really cool too.

Just to point out once you keg, you can then simply use a counter pressure rig and bottle all the bottles you want to give out, and not yeast sitting on the bottom grossing out the bud lite drinkers.

I too got tired of only having one keg tapped, so I broke down and made a four tapper, and holds two kegs being conditioned. If I need more taps, I'll just drill a few more holes and add them. Life may not be great but its looking a lot better now.

I bottled for a long time and there is nothing wrong with it at all, just kegging is so much easier and time can be the biggest factor.

Jamo99 said:

You can bottle from the keg and no one will be the wiser! See the sticky for BMBF. ("We don't need no stinkin beer gun" sticky) That is certainly a major pro for kegging. You can bottle from the keg, but you can't keg from the bottle.

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Not to be any more of a smart #sS than I am, but my carboys are just big glasses.
But still once you keg, you realize what hell bottling was.

I dig bottles but I dig kegging much more.
I still buy commercial (I just cannot give up the tons of killer beer out there just because I make my own lol) and I've two taps on my kegerator so having variety is no issue.