Is it better to bottle or keg, qualitywise for High Gravity beers.

Guys, I will be a new kegger in a few days.

I was just wondering about something, if I naturally carbonate my kegs, how would it compare to a bottle conditioned ale for say, a belgian tripel or something along those lines of might beers.

Thanks!

Typically I like high gravity brews to age for a long time.

With that in mind I see little difference between bottling and kegging.

I tend to bottle big beers because I do not drink them as fast as I want to rotate different brews threw the kegerator.

I use a secondary to condition my beer, as this technique also allows me to free up a primary bucket for future batches. Then keg that high octane jet fuel, invite some friends over, and pahty!!! ...There isn't currently anything on my taps that's below 6.0% ...maybe I should talk to someone...nah.....

Just in case you did not know, if you decide to carbonate in a keg it requires less sugar to get the same volume of CO2.

I use beersmith to figure out how much sugar to use, but I am sure there are other charts if you search for them.

I just took a best of show (out of 83 entries) with a high grav barleywine. I allowed it to bulk age in a carboy for 8 months and it was then in the bottle for over two years after that. I can't imagine tying up a keg for that length of time.

summersolstice said:

I just took a best of show (out of 83 entries) with a high grav barleywine. I allowed it to bulk age in a carboy for 8 months and it was then in the bottle for over two years after that. I can't imagine tying up a keg for that length of time.

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Congratulations!

I bottle anything high alcohol just because I drink it slower. I recently did an American Wheat, took a reading, then kegged it. After I finished kegging, I checked the reading and realized it over-attenuated and went to 9% (it was supposed to be 6.0%). So now its been sitting on tap for 2 months, which sucks.

summersolstice said:

I allowed it to bulk age in a carboy for 8 months and it was then in the bottle for over two years after that. I can't imagine tying up a keg for that length of time.

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I just got a ton of kegs for $20 a piece, so as long as I've got empty kegs, it's cheaper for me to tie up a keg for a year or two than a carboy. And from what I've been told, it's better to bulk age.

turkeyjerky214 said:

I just got a ton of kegs for $20 a piece, so as long as I've got empty kegs, it's cheaper for me to tie up a keg for a year or two than a carboy. And from what I've been told, it's better to bulk age.

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I also have a large collection of Cornies and don't have a problem committing a few to long term aging, especially for my favorite high octane Stouts, Porters and Dopplebocks.

If I have a problem, it's allowing a really big-@ss brew to age for the planned duration without letting that "I gotta try it!" itch get the best of my intentions!

Cheers!