PSA: Responding to bottling issues with "you should keg"

I am still bottling, and the only reason I want to keg is so I can carbonate faster. The only reason I'd want to carb faster is if I am making an IPA or something similarly hop-aroma-centric. Other than that, I don't mind anything about bottling at all.

I think this has gotten off topic yes I agree the answer t a bottling question is not you should keg. If you explain why kegging would solve the problem and is the best solution to the problem you can say you should keg because......

hillybilly said:

I think this has gotten off topic yes I agree the answer t a bottling question is not you should keg. If you explain why kegging would solve the problem and is the best solution to the problem you can say you should keg because......

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thats the thing though, kegging is never the answer to a bottling problem.
fixing the issue with bottling is.

Guilty! But Keggers Unite! We is better!

The OP obviously kegs. He had the time to create this thread

osagedr said:

I keg, then bottle...how's that for the worst of both worlds?

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Bottled 2.5 kegs this way last weekend.

Gotta love the Blichman Beer Gun!

keesh said:

I am still bottling, and the only reason I want to keg is so I can carbonate faster. The only reason I'd want to carb faster is if I am making an IPA or something similarly hop-aroma-centric. Other than that, I don't mind anything about bottling at all.

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You can force carb fast, but to me, just doesn't taste right! Still need to wait 2-3 weeks

The real "cool" micros keg and can. Bottles are for babies.

<- moar bottles!

brettwasbtd said:

You can force carb fast, but to me, just doesn't taste right! Still need to wait 2-3 weeks

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Ive had the opposite experience. For some reason, my kegged batches seem to have better body and better head. And i've done both to a batch. My esb in botttles seemed thin, with less body. The half I keggged was so much better. I dont know why, but thats the experience ive had with kegging.

mikeysab said:

Ive had the opposite experience. For some reason, my kegged batches seem to have better body and better head. And i've done both to a batch. My esb in botttles seemed thin, with less body. The half I keggged was so much better. I dont know why, but thats the experience ive had with kegging.

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I am talking about kegging. I was referring to the set and forget method of leaving you kegs at serving pressure and that takes a good 2-3 weeks for them to reach the desired CO2 levels. Shaking at a high psi gave too much carbonic taste for me. The poster I quoted was saying he was hoping he would have carbed beer faster then when bottling, which isnt the case for me.

Zamial said:

<- moar bottles!

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LOL nice pic.

For the record, even though I do not keg, I am far from anti-keg. I can absolutely see the benefits of it, but for now, bottling suits me fine.

What I am is anti-"post my asshatted comments for people looking for actual helpful answers", and it just so happens that keggers tend to do this a LOT to bottlers on this forum.

I will admit it, I sucked at bottling. I never could seem to dial in the perfect carbonation level. It also took me forever. My favorite thing about kegs is how quick it is, my wife's favorite thing is that I don't have hundreds of bottles all over the place. I do miss taking 6 packs over to friends' houses. I also miss leaving the last few bottles of a batch to age 6 months. Now I just have 4 homebrews available to be, which is honestly still pretty awesome. I see pros and cons both ways but definitely don't take any advice from me on how to bottle because I am very bad at it.

I have a 3 keg system, but find myself bottling often. The biggest advantage to kegging is quick carbonation(and a little less work) but that's about it.
Kegging is harder to share away from home, more money, more up-keep for seals,line cleaning,co2 refills,regulators,manifolds,ect. No cool labels, no cool bottles(I have a local pub that saves me Lambic, Chimay, orval, schneider weiss and other cool bottles).
Walking over and tapping a beer is nice, but there is something very satisfying about cracking open a bottle
Plus....what would I use that bar mounted bottle opener for?

brettwasbtd said:

I am talking about kegging. I was referring to the set and forget method of leaving you kegs at serving pressure and that takes a good 2-3 weeks for them to reach the desired CO2 levels. Shaking at a high psi gave too much carbonic taste for me. The poster I quoted was saying he was hoping he would have carbed beer faster then when bottling, which isnt the case for me.

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Agreed on the high-psi shake method. I overdid it once and screwed up 10 gallons of brown ale with that carbonic acid taste. I've also heard it can cause problems with head retention, as some of the chemical compounds in beer foam really only form once. I no longer use the shake method.

However, what I do is leave the new kegs overnight in the fridge set at 40 psi for 24 hours. That's enough to get me ~80-90% of desired carbonation. 2 days later, I'm good to go. It's not as fast as the shake method, but it's a lot quicker than set & forget. It's 24 hours to carbonated beer, and 72 hours to "perfect" carbonation.

IffyG said:

That same rule also stipulates that copy and pasting stuff is also frowned upon, yet a certain member constantly posts nothing but copy and pasted rants on an all too frequent basis. Seeing the same exact post dozens of times irritates me more than people saying search more... Should I start reporting those too?

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it sounds like you just described the internet. 5% original content- 95% re- pitching!

rawlus said:

Kegging isn't about being elite, it's about being evolved.
It is the all grain to bottling's extract.

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BULLSPIT. Seriously. WTF?

I use my keg to prime and beers that I want to age and don't want in a keg, and there is something BEAUTIFUL about a bottle.

The ONLY time I pull out a "YOU SHOULD KEG THIS BATCH" is when the beer is SO big that the yeast won't carb it up. Doesn't happen often, but when it does, there is no option but force carbing.

homebrewdad said:

This is perhaps my very biggest pet peeve here on HBT.

Some guy will post a question about bottling, or relate a issue he has had. Within half a dozen posts, some enlightened genius/comedic mastermind will respond with a comment along the following lines: "if you really want to fix your bottling problems, keg your beer! Hurr hurr hurr."

I'm not talking about those who advocate kegging in a "this versus that" type of discussion, nor am I bashing those who may bring it up in other appropriate situations.

No, I'm talking about the so and sos that seem to believe that they are somehow superior because they keg, and seem to gain some perverse joy out of annoyingly interjecting themselves into bottling discussions.

Some people bottle because it is more convenient for sharing or trading. Some bottle because they don't own kegging equipment, and may not want to invest in it now/ever. Some may just enjoy bottling.

Forums, and real life, would be better if folks would follow Wheaton's Law. If you aren't familiar with it, look it up.


Now, go ahead and flame me, keggers. :rockin:

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This is the equivalent of asking on the internet for help on a PC problem and getting replies of 'Get a Mac'

MadHopper said:

This is the equivalent of asking on the internet for help on a PC problem and getting replies of 'Get a Mac'

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well if people would just keg and use macs there would be no homebrew or computer related problems!

MadHopper said:

This is the equivalent of asking on the internet for help on a PC problem and getting replies of 'Get a Mac'

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Hit the bullseye, you did.

atom said:

well if people would just keg and use macs there would be no homebrew or computer related problems!

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This reminds me of going to a local pub nearby and every time I walk in I don't feel trendy enough. All the kids with their goodwill clothes and macs. of course PBR is trending high there as well, go figure..Microbrew or PBR be cool.

Bottles are easier to turn into weapons, and Unix slaps mac kiddies with a full sized penguin. I think however I am going to step up a trend, and walk around with a mac and a leather skin full of fermenting beer. Yeah, a leather backpack with beer fermenting in it, and a paisley shirt with a bowtie and red suit-coat with pink pants. Noone could touch me then.

dbhokie said:

This reminds me of going to a local pub nearby and every time I walk in I don't feel trendy enough. All the kids with their goodwill clothes and macs. of course PBR is trending high there as well, go figure..Microbrew or PBR be cool.

Bottles are easier to turn into weapons, and Unix slaps mac kiddies with a full sized penguin. I think however I am going to step up a trend, and walk around with a mac and a leather skin full of fermenting beer. Yeah, a leather backpack with beer fermenting in it, and a paisley shirt with a bowtie and red suit-coat with pink pants. Noone could touch me then.

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Please, please, please post pics of this.

bwarbiany said:

Truthfully, that's the better option. You can carbonate & clear in the keg, then put nice clear beer into the bottles. You don't have to worry about being perfect with mixing the priming sugar, or whether you have enough yeast left to carbonate, etc.

Kegging to carbonate, then bottling w/beergun off the keg, actually *does* solve a lot of bottling problems.....

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Beergun? BEERGUN???

Why... we no need no stinkin....

Oh....

Hold on.

*** sorry ***

LMAO @ BierMuncher

BierMuncher said:

Beergun? BEERGUN???

Why... we no need no stinkin....

Oh....

Hold on.

*** sorry ***

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you delete a bunch of threads for being ot, then this?

Oh...it was on topic.

Although I've never bottled a batch, I have to agree with the OP. Way too often people just jump in without a clue as to how useless their 'advice' is. Maybe if I had bottled that batch of 'Narleywine, I wouldn't have lost most of it to a gusher infection.

Even worse though, IHO, are the guys from the USA who post on threads from outside the States with solutions that are impossible to implement anywhere but here.

I may keg at some point, but I really enjoy sharing beer with others and bottles make it easy. Not to mention, kegging would certainly lead to an increase in alcohol consumption on my part... and I drink too much as is.

When I see the posters commenting on how you should keg, I just assume they are compensating for their miniscule genitalia.

I don't get angry, I pity them.:rockin:

Bamsdealer said:

I may keg at some point, but I really enjoy sharing beer with others and bottles make it easy. Not to mention, kegging would certainly lead to an increase in alcohol consumption on my part... and I drink too much as is.

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Yeah, i'll say. I just burned through a keg in 8 days. I gave a bunch away, but not more than I drank

this happens everywhere. I posted on a DIY site asking how to install laminate flooring in my basement. The first response I got was 'Why are you installing laminate?' 'You should install hardwood'.

lou2row said:

When I see the posters commenting on how you should keg, I just assume they are compensating for their miniscule genitalia.

I don't get angry, I pity them.:rockin:

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Where you peeking at me again?

Anyway, we can all agree that saying "you should keg" is inappropriate. Make sure you click "report this post" so a moderator can delete it. Sometimes just a word or a simple delete of inappropriate responses, no matter what the topic, is enough for people to learn how to behave in our forum.

mikeysab said:

Yeah, i'll say. I just burned through a keg in 8 days. I gave a bunch away, but not more than I drank

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It's easier to control if I only put a few bottles in the fridge at a time. Not sure I could resist if I had a fresh tap or three tempting me every time I stood up.

Bamsdealer said:

Not sure I could resist if I had a fresh tap or three tempting me every time I stood up.

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Resistance is useless. I am now on my way to the 13% Cherry braggot on tap.

I have a handfull of 10gal kegs but never use them (except as fermentors). I might use a 5 gal keg if/when I finally pick one or two up. I love bottling my beer because 75% of what I make is belgian, and half of that is saison. I like my saisons at 3.5-4 volumes and that's EASY to do with bottles. I guess it could be done with a keg but I also do a lot of more interesting brett beers. I equally would rather bottle them. I don't want to need 20 kegs because I brew something that I'd like to age. Kegging is great if you brew all "consume now" types of beers. However when I brew a sour I'd rather just clean and package in bottles so I can have 2-3 cases of it for long term consumption. I tend to think that if someone is having such a tough time bottling they're doing something very wrong. Spend the $40 get a bottling tree with a vinator and make your life easy.

Also while Sierra Nevada and Bells both keg, their bottles are all bottle conditioned too. If a brewery can do it bottle conditioning saves money for breweries by decreasing CO2 use.

Plus how cool is it to pop the cork on a 9L bottle of saison for a party?

Could not agree more. I have no desire to keg,Have thought about tap a draft or some other mini system to be able to take to cook outs or what not.