Finally kegging now. Has anyone else noticed a big improvement in flavor (like me)?

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Wow, what a difference. Even my beer that's 8+ weeks in bottles don't taste as good as 1 week in the keg. Maybe I had an issue with my bottling process who knows. I guess its just one more reason on top of many others that I'm sold on kegging. I absolutely love it - and I was a pretty die hard bottler.

Bottling equipment to be up for sale soon.
 
To be honest, I noticed a difference too. I could never get carbing in bottles down. I tried weighing the sugars in grams and measuring exact volume, temp control, time, everything I could think to do. It seemed to be always a crap shoot. Sometimes super carbed, sometimes flat. Flavor was deffinitely affected. Kegging is so easy. Always a nice creamy head in just a couple weeks. Flavor has deffinitely rounded out with proper carb levels.
 
+1 to this. I think less handling and less waiting = fresher, cleaner beer. I also suspect bottling leads to more oxidation due to exposure. Kegs FTW!
 
Funny. Someone pointed out to me at our local competition that most of the winners were bottle conditioned beers as opposed to bottles filled from kegs.
 
i've had some pretty good beers that have aged in the bottle for months but nothing beats kegging. when i give beer out and have to clean and sanitize bottles to fill i'm reminded how much i don't miss that process
 
I agree. I think it's funny how beginners usually start out bottling. I mean it makes sense from a financial point of view, but bottling is a much more advanced procedure. Bottling is the most crucial part of the process, IMO. It's the easiest place to pick up unwanted bacteria. Even if you picked up something while racking to the keg, most of us cool the keg right away, which would inhibit any bacteria from working in the beer. When you bottle, you need to let the beers sit for a few weeks at 70° which allows any bacteria to settle in and start eating sugars that the yeast couldn't. How many times have we heard "It tasted great at bottling, but now it has this off flavor"? I think more brewers that bottle end up getting bottling infections and not knowing that's what it is and attributing off flavors to other things like extract, water, ingredients, etc.
 
I think kegging is better for certain styles. The refermentation during bottling does change the flavor a bit, and I think some styles benefit from the flavor addition, while others are better with the cleaner taste of artificially injected CO2.

For example, I think the stronger Belgians are better bottle conditioned, but something like a Kölsch or Cream Ale tastes better on tap.

It's all personal preference, though, of course. :)
 
Funny. Someone pointed out to me at our local competition that most of the winners were bottle conditioned beers as opposed to bottles filled from kegs.

I'm not sure I believe that. For one thing, nobody has the data to say that conclusively as nobody collects it. For another thing almost all of the prolific competition winners fill from kegs (I know one that does not and he also brews extract). Is that to say kegging is better? No. It's more like the all grain vs extract thing. The best brewers on balance happen to have been brewing longer and you tend to pick up all grain and kegging over time.
 
I've never kegged before... I will say, though, that MOST commercial beers that I've had, the bottled version wasn't as good as the stuff on tap (assuming they had both and I had tried both).

However, when I finally move to kegging... I'm probably not going to pitch the bottling stuff. There are times I'd like to share the beer with a few people but not want to have to take the keg to where they are. This past Thanksgiving, for example, I took a few bottles accross the country with my for some extended family to try. There's no way I would have stuck a keg in the Mustang, gas tank, etc....and try to keep it cold for almost 700 miles.

But when everyone comes to my place, Kegging FTW! (whenever I finallly get around to getting the stuff!)


Nic
 
+1 I've done 5 batches of beer, first 3 in bottle and the most recent 2 kegged, and the kegged beers are by far the best tasting I've produced even without much, if any, aging.
 
I think kegging is better for certain styles. The refermentation during bottling does change the flavor a bit, and I think some styles benefit from the flavor addition, while others are better with the cleaner taste of artificially injected CO2.

For example, I think the stronger Belgians are better bottle conditioned, but something like a Kölsch or Cream Ale tastes better on tap.

It's all personal preference, though, of course. :)

i agree. very malty beers seem to benefit from the additional fermentation time bottling (but i don't like malt, and am a hophead). most of my kegs are full, but i have probably over 200 empty bottles in the garage. i guess i could find them, if i looked under the tallest piles of dust
 
I think kegging is better for certain styles. The refermentation during bottling does change the flavor a bit, and I think some styles benefit from the flavor addition, while others are better with the cleaner taste of artificially injected CO2.

For example, I think the stronger Belgians are better bottle conditioned, but something like a Kölsch or Cream Ale tastes better on tap.

It's all personal preference, though, of course. :)

This is my thoughts as well. It seems some beer from the tap is just plain better, while others seem to be great after some weeks bottle conditioning.

I recently made a ten gallon batch of my pale ale (with lots of hops). I kegged five gallons and bottle-conditioned five gallons. The kegged version was delicious after a week in the keg, and was gone by three. The bottled version took four weeks to taste "clean", and by then the fresh dry-hop taste was diminished from what was in the kegged version. This proves to me that THIS beer is better kegged. I need to do this with more beers. I suspect most Belgian beer (and many other styles) might have opposite results.
 
I'm not sure I believe that. For one thing, nobody has the data to say that conclusively as nobody collects it. For another thing almost all of the prolific competition winners fill from kegs (I know one that does not and he also brews extract). Is that to say kegging is better? No. It's more like the all grain vs extract thing. The best brewers on balance happen to have been brewing longer and you tend to pick up all grain and kegging over time.

Believe what you want. I don't even know HOW he knew this unless he looked at the forms later. I'm just telling you what he told me.
 
That's fascinating to me. Of course, kegging is just out of the question for me. Just no space. I plan on getting 2 batches going one right after the other, but the hell if I know where I'm even going to stash the bottles! To be honest, I'm not too happy with the carbonation I've gotten out of the 1st 2 batches. Not too bad, mind you, but I upped the corn sugar on batch #2 but the it's not any more carbed than batch #1. I envy those who are able to keg!
 
The best brewers on balance happen to have been brewing longer and you tend to pick up all grain and kegging over time.

This makes the most sense to me. Beginners often start out with extract recipes, and bottle conditioning as it's the easiest and the kits come with it. They end up wanting to try more challenging recipes as they get better at brewing, and eventually nail down their skills. I bet if an experienced brewer switched back to a bottle conditioning or use extract, their beer would taste great, and much better than a beginner brewer who think they have gotten better at brewing after a few batches.
 
A friend says bottle conditioned beers are better, but not sure I agree with my limited experience so far. I started bottling, but have since moved to kegging. The last two brewdays I've gone from 1 10 gal batch to two 10 gal batches. Since this has really pumped up the pipeline, I have to bottle some because of my limited keg supply. I have a Belgian Strong Ale bottled for 5 weeks and its twin 5 gal batch kegged. The kegged version tastes at least as good as the bottle. One bottle had a nice head, another not so much, so I think there is some variability amongst bottles in terms of carbing. The keg-carbed beers are easier to control the carb level.

I'll be testing this with a Choc Oatmeal Milk Stout and a Pale over the next month as I plan to bottle half of these. I was able to carb up one batch of the Pale and Oatmeal stout to drinkable levels in a few days by shaking while under 30 psi in my 35 deg garage several times a day. The stout was actually amazing considering it's only21 days old. I love the ability to have a new beer carbed up for sampling in such a short time.
 
I've noticed that some of my bottles have an off taste as well. I have been cleaning with Oxyclean, rinsing with tap water and then sanitizing with iodophor. I'm going to skip the oxyclean step for bottles that were rinsed properly and see if the flavor goes away.
 
i'm guessing it's the advancement of your skills as well. after you've kegged a few batches, bottle one and see how good it tastes. i agree that hitting the exact carbonation is tricky with bottles, but if you know what temperature it finished fermenting at and have a scale, you should be able to get pretty close. i still bottle a batch from time to time (big beers or ones that i want to keep around a long time) and they taste just as good as the kegged batches.
 
I can't say I've had any problems with my bottle conditionned beers, but it's normal that a beer that was carbed using yeast will taste different than a beer that was carbed with CO2. But I agree that it's easier to "mess up" bottling moreso than kegging, especilly with temperature swings and storage issues. A keg will go straight to the freezer/fridge, while bottles oftentimes hang around a basement where temperatures might vary.

The fact that you also have to wait for bottle carbonation from the yeast means that styles that are meant to be enjoyed fresh might suffer a bit (namely low gravity beers, such as milds) or ones that have an agressive and assertive hop character (pale ales, IPAs, etc.). For me, it's a small price to pay: hop more to compensate or buy upwards of 100$ of extra stuff :)

But I would love to keg if I had the opportunity to.
 
I'm on my 3rd kegged batch now (after approx 30 bottled batches) and I still can't believe how good my beer tastes. I never produced anything like this in bottles even after weeks/months of aging (and I have scored well in comps - 40+ several times). Maybe it was my bottling process but I have scrutinized that beyond recognition. The flavor I seemed to always be fighting was in my estimation acetalhyde which I just thought I would forever be dealing with.

I am so glad I'm kegging now! Best move I ever made.
 
Wow, what a difference. Even my beer that's 8+ weeks in bottles don't taste as good as 1 week in the keg. Maybe I had an issue with my bottling process who knows. I guess its just one more reason on top of many others that I'm sold on kegging. I absolutely love it - and I was a pretty die hard bottler.

Bottling equipment to be up for sale soon.

I have kegged one batch so far but I do plan to have the same batch kegged and bottled in the future for comparison.

However, from what I have heard, the bottle beer usually tastes a little better in general, but especially in beers where the yeast is a component of the flavor.

I like my current kegged beer (Oktoberfest) but it does have a mild gas (soda-like) taste to it, and I suspect the bottled version would have been better.

Perhaps I over-carbonated it? I don't know. I just set it at 12 psi and let it rest for 3 weeks before dialing back to serving pressure (8psi). According to what I read here, it should not be overcarbonated, but it's been 2 months now in the keg and still has that very mild gas taste to it. Thoughts?
 
. . . For me, it's a small price to pay: hop more to compensate or buy upwards of 100$ of extra stuff :)

But I would love to keg if I had the opportunity to.

You also have to figure what your time is worth to you. I enjoy brewing, but packaging is just a chore. When I bottled, it would take upwards of an hour and a half - perhaps quite a bit more if I had to soak bottles. Now with a keg, I can be done in 20 minutes start to finish. Best $180 I ever spent.
 
I've never kegged before... I will say, though, that MOST commercial beers that I've had, the bottled version wasn't as good as the stuff on tap (assuming they had both and I had tried both).

I'm not sure that is a fair comparison - what about the effects of filtering and pasteurizing? It's tough to make a true apples to apples comparison unless you know the entire packaging process of each beer.
 
I started with kegging, but when I brewed a big beer I bottled using corn sugar to prime. Last year I built a counter-pressure filler. So far what i've noticed (and this is just anecdotal, I haven't done a true split batch/double blind) is that the beers that had keg time taste better. It could have something to do with cold crashing in the keg and getting a chance to draw off that last bit of sediment, I'm not sure.

From my experience, though, naturally carbing in bottles is easier, but I prefer the ones that I fill with my bottle filler, so that's what I'm sticking with.
 
I'm on my 3rd kegged batch now (after approx 30 bottled batches) and I still can't believe how good my beer tastes. I never produced anything like this in bottles even after weeks/months of aging (and I have scored well in comps - 40+ several times). Maybe it was my bottling process but I have scrutinized that beyond recognition. The flavor I seemed to always be fighting was in my estimation acetalhyde which I just thought I would forever be dealing with.

I am so glad I'm kegging now! Best move I ever made.

Unless you are super sensitive to that then I would have to suspect something in your technique. I don't see the yeast producing that much during carbonation, not to mention they would have plenty of time to clean it up too....
 
Unless you are super sensitive to that then I would have to suspect something in your technique. I don't see the yeast producing that much during carbonation, not to mention they would have plenty of time to clean it up too....

Yep, very likely a technique issue. I guess if kegging eliminated the issue, then I'm fine with that.

Something else I thought of is that I cold crash in the fermentor a few days prior to kegging which I never did when bottling. Maybe that makes a diff?
 
I keg, carb, and then bottle from the keg alot. It tastes better to me, and I don't have to worry about giving the warning about crud on the bottom.

I get more consistent carbonation levels from a keg, and overcarbed beer tastes really bad to me.
 
. . .
Something else I thought of is that I cold crash in the fermentor a few days prior to kegging which I never did when bottling. Maybe that makes a diff?

I think that's the biggest difference to me (aside from the time savings). When I bottled, it took a long time for my bottles to fall to bright and no matter how carefully I poured, I'd get a little yeast sediment stirred back up. Usually, I'd just say "screw it" and drink cloudy beer. But now I cold crash and use gelatin in the keg and it goes clear practically overnight. Getting that yeast out of there really lets the other ingredients step forward and also gives it a crispness I never had previously.
 
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