Some beers better in bottles vs kegs?

Initially, my Hefe tasted great. Very flavorful. But about 1-2 weeks after I kegged it, the flavors waned. The alcohol was there, but it tasted like a regular ale after 2 weeks. I had to add Oregon cherries to give it some more flavor, but it was odd. So, next time I brew a Hefe, since it gets its flavors primarily from the yeast, should I just bottle it, not keg it. That way each bottle has some yeast and thus flavors?

I'm planning to brew some Belgians soon, which I understand also get lots of their flavor from the yeast. So, should I bottle those too, saving the kegs for lagers, pale ales, and stours?

Have not keged a Hefe yet (only keged 4 batches to date), but have been told to shake the keg every other day to keep yeast suspended. Dont know if this helps but next brew is a hefe so I'll find out in about 5 or 6 weeks. If it works I'll post.

There is NO difference between bottles or kegs. If you protect bottles like kegs against huge temperature swings the beer will be the same. If you use a Hefeweizen liquid yeast such as White Labs or Wyeast they are pure strains and will give the best results. Characteristic haze and taste of a genuine Hefeweizen depends on their being 50 to 60% wheat. I have had hefe on tap for 3-4 month’s and it does not change flavor or any other trait. If you put a bunch of other (too many) adjuncts in the hefe then you are changing the character of the brew to not resemble Hefeweizen and then that is why strange things happen to your brew.

What WBC said, but I have to add that I like my bottled HWs better than the kegged.

But, I also secondary my HWs (to allow more yeast to fall out) and add yeast back into suspension when racking. The bottles end up with less yeast in them and less in the glass, but enough to make the brew cloudy again.

I've also kreusened with good results, but it's a hassle to have a couple of bottles sitting in the fridge waiting for pitching.

So for me it's bottled.

WBC said:

If you protect bottles like kegs against huge temperature swings the beer will be the same. If you use a Hefeweizen liquid yeast such as White Labs or Wyeast they are pure strains and will give the best results.

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I get all that; my kegerator only varies between 40 and 45 degrees, and I regularly use Wyeast (though I plan to harvest the Belgian yeasts from commercial bottles). But I was concerend about the yeast falling out and being removed quickly in the keg. Yeast is always in the bottles, always there for flavor.

This may just call for a scientific test, splitting a new batch of Hefe and bottling half, kegging half, and do comparative taste-tests over time.

No doubt the yeast dropping out in the keg will change the flavor. If you do a split batch, you might also consider shaking the keg to resuspension the yeast.

The hefeweizen yeast are a low flocking yeast which is why the yeast does not drop out. To each his own on the bottle verses keg but I see the keg as nothing but a big bottle. The yeast are in there too.

Good points. I'd rather not wash 50 damn bottles anyhow for a simple Hefe! That's why I got the kegs in the first place.

What about the Belgians? I can see a layer of "stuff" (yeast?) on the bottom of the bottles of Chimay Blue and Westmalle Triple I picked up on Friday. Is it worth the effort to bottle Belgians instead of kegging them (especially since the Westmalle clone is ~9% alcohol, meaning longer conditioning time required)?

WBC said:

The hefeweizen yeast are a low flocking yeast which is why the yeast does not drop out. To each his own on the bottle verses keg but I see the keg as nothing but a big bottle. The yeast are in there too.

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I pour a hefe hard out of the bottle, I dont flip the keg