Help me decide wether to bottle or keg

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

Well, the title is self explanatory. I've collected over 100 bottles from the beer I've been buying, and my first batch will be ready to bottle Sunday, so that's what I'll do. But moving forward from here, what should I do? Is it worth the cost to set up for kegging? I have a dedicated wet bar in my house with an open spot that's perfect for putting in an undercounter kegerator. I'm prepared to do that if the cost is justifiable. However, I also enjoy taking my beer with me, as I have an active lifestyle and probably drink 80% of my beer away from home. Can the carbonated keg beer be bottled? If so, how does that affect the quality, taste, carbonation of the beer?

I know it's going to take a significant investment to start kegging, and I'm prepared to do that. I just want to know if it's worth it. This weekend will be my first experience bottling, so I really don't know how much of a pain that will be. I guess I will find out, but in the meantime, can y'all help me with the pros and cons of each sysytem?

 

[madscientist451]

I bottled for years, and its a time consuming PITA and it takes practice to get consistency in your carbonation. With the extra handling there's also a chance in picking up off flavors or an infection.
#1 tip: get a scale to measure out your priming sugar.
#2 tip: avoid oxidation of your beer by reducing splashing.
There are lots of different ways to handle the bottling process including sanitizing your bottles, I won't get into all that, but would suggest watching a bunch of you tube videos on the subject to see how other people do it.
If you keep homebrewing, you'll want to get a kegging setup eventually. If you want to make IPA's kegging is definitely the better way to go, because you have less oxidation.
If you don't have temperature control for your fermentation, I'd get that first.

 

[Splyntr]

Going the kegging route is totally worth it IMO. First, you don't have to worry about saving, cleaning, and sanitizing all those bottles and your beer will be ready for drinking within 24hrs by using the force carbonation method. Second, can still bottle from the keg if you'd like. I've never had a problem with it. There's even a recent thread here on how to make a DIY beer gun for bottling from the keg for under $40. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/diy-beer-gun-40.html

 

[cubalz]

The only reason I would ever throw beer into a bottle is for competitions. The up front expense is worth it to keg. Way worth it....

 

[Yooper]

I hate bottling. I did it for years and years, and hated it then but didn't want to spend $300 or so to start kegging.

After starting to keg in about 2007, I couldn't believe that I was hesitant to do it. I would have stopped brewing long ago if I had to bottle.

That said, it's only "worth it" if you will be kegging for a while, and enjoying the beer.

You may want to bottle a batch or two first and see if you are happy with brewing. Some people just don't get into it enough to continue the hobby.

I would encourage you, if you start kegging, to get a kegerator set up that can hold a commercial keg (say, 1/2 or 1/4 barrel size) so if you decide to not have homebrew on tap you could buy a commercial keg locally. That may be an undercounter set up, but maybe not. So check into that before deciding.

 

[jlinz]

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason not to keg is the expense. That's why I bottle, and the only reason. Would love to get a kegerator and a few kegs, but you know how it goes with the scratch sometimes, need a new floor, a bit of a kitchen remodel, etc....

 

[Kee]

Don't be in too big a hurry to start kegging. If you do decide that's the way to go, find out where you will get refills before buying a CO2 bottle. Sometimes it's cheaper to swap out a 20# bottle than a 5#.

As much as I enjoy having a couple of kegs on tap, it's not really practical where I'm living now and I miss it less than I thought. Especially since I have quite a few batches in bottles.

 

[SlitheryDee]

No reason you can't do both. Keg until you run out of kegs to fill, then bottle the rest. I bottle myself, but I do plan to start kegging soon. What I may do it brew 6-6.5 gallon batches, keg 5 gallons and then bottle the remaining 1-1.5 gallons. That keeps the bottling headache to a relative minimum while ensuring I always have a few bottles to take with me. That has the added advantage to giving me the chance to compare the two and see if there's a notable flavor difference.

 

[Lefou]

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason not to keg is the expense. That's why I bottle, and the only reason. Would love to get a kegerator and a few kegs, but you know how it goes with the scratch sometimes, need a new floor, a bit of a kitchen remodel, etc....

My mixed glass collection is somewhere near 5 dozen bottles. I bought the 22oz bottles and saved the 12oz small ones. A five gallon batch can sometimes last months. Matter of fact, I'm STILL drinking some leftover amber bock from 25 bottles made last February.

I have the majority of gear needed to start kegging, but haven't bought the CO2 gas cylinder yet. I need to find a good, reliable local source of CO2 and a cheap freezer, too. Funding is tight so some of it has to wait for now.
A guy near me has a complete kegerator, lines, kegs, and bottle with regulator on Craigslist Jersey Shore. Would love to have it, but don't have the $350 right now.

 

[Mainer]

If you want to make IPA's kegging is definitely the better way to go, because you have less oxidation.

I'm a proud bottler, but I will definitely second this advice. If you want to bottle, avoid IPAs. If you want IPAs, avoid bottling. It's just a lot harder to get a consistently good IPA when bottle-conditioning, both because of the oxidation and because of the extra time it takes your bottles to carb up.

 

[Mainer]

My mixed glass collection is somewhere near 5 dozen bottles. I bought the 22oz bottles and saved the 12oz small ones. A five gallon batch can sometimes last months. Matter of fact, I'm STILL drinking some leftover amber bock from 25 bottles made last February.

I have the majority of gear needed to start kegging, but haven't bought the CO2 gas cylinder yet. I need to find a good, reliable local source of CO2 and a cheap freezer, too. Funding is tight so some of it has to wait for now.
A guy near me has a complete kegerator, lines, kegs, and bottle with regulator on Craigslist Jersey Shore. Would love to have it, but don't have the $350 right now.

I bottle instead of kegging because I don't drink my beer very fast. I cellar some of my beers for six months, a year... or more. I find cellaring in bottles more convenient.
I also give a lot away to friends, and it's easier to fill a sixer of bottles than to make them bring you a growler.

My other reason for not kegging is that the Missus worries about the safety of storing one metal cylinder of CO2 inside the house. I've never bothered to point out that instead, there are currently 250 tiny glass cylinders full of CO2 in our cellar.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I brew small batches, and I most often bottle, I did pick up a few kegs for entertaining and built a party "beer dispensing system" from a garbage can and tap tower. You can fill growlers from your keg for sharing and traveling and you can still bottle some for the same. I like Yooper's great advice, wait until you are certain you enjoy brewing before investing more cash. Some say bottle conditioned beer is tastier, but I imagine that is truly subjective.

 

[Kee]

Some say bottle conditioned beer is tastier, but I imagine that is truly subjective.

I don't disagree with that, but for some styles (aged Belgian dark strongs, for example), it just seems easier to get the right taste by aging in bottles. YMMV.

 

[Mainer]

I don't disagree with that, but for some styles (aged Belgian dark strongs, for example), it just seems easier to get the right taste by aging in bottles. YMMV.

Could one even do something like, say, a Flanders Red or an Oud Bruin without bottle-conditioning?

 

[wisconsinitebrewer]

I have been all over the place over the years. When I first started brewing all that I did was bottle. About 5 years ago I made the switch over to kegging. Now days, I am actually back to doing both kegging and bottling. I brew between 7-10 gallons batches. 5 gallons of it always goes into a keg and the rest gets bottled by my brewing friends.
There is the initial cost of kegging but it was one of the best decisions I have ever made in brewing.

 

[dstockwell]

I brew 3G batches pretty much twice a month for the most part. I usually have 4 - 5 different brews available so If I went the keg route I would want at least 4 taps, I just don't see that happening.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

You have an open spot for an under counter fridge in a bar....it would be a sin not to keg.
An under counter fridge should/will hold multible kegs or a half barrel of store bought and a sixtel/corny of homebrew so you get the best of both worlds. The store bought will last for months without going bad. So you'll always a beer on tap when your around...and that's a beautiful thing.

The cost of an under counter fridge is way more than a kegerater but look nice built into a bar...like mine

 

[secondbase]

I bottled for four years before moving to kegging. Kegging is so easy! The only problem I've run into is that Belgians and mixed fermentation sours just aren't the same when kegging, so I continue to bottle them. If you plan on making mostly clean American, British, German styles kegging is definitely the way to go.

 

[TheHopfather]

I do both, but I mostly keg. If you are on batch #1 I'd keep going with bottling for a while to make sure brewing is something you'll stick with before getting a keg system. If you can see yourself sticking with the hobby go with kegs for sure. Cleaning and filling 1 vessel is much easier then cleaning and filling 50+ vessels for each batch. Plus there is something awesome about having draft beer on tap at home.

That being said I also bottle condition from time to time. I've actually got a kettle soured Gose fermenting right now that will go into bottles when its done. I've never done a kettle sour before so I did a 3 gal batch, perfect for 24 bottles, and I won't tie up a tap with a beer I'll drink slowly.

Both methods have their pro's and con's. If I had to pick one it would be kegging.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I think everyone should bottle their first few batches, at least.

Probably in the minority here, but I never minded bottling. It is more work than kegging, but there's a lot of cleaning and fooling with hoses/fittings there too.

But I'd just hate to have the OP invest in a kegging setup and find out he doesn't like brewing. Or beer. OR something. :

 

[plepper]

I've been brewing for a little over a year and have just now bought all the gear to start Kegging. I don't mind bottling at all but am tired of the inconsistency with bottling conditioning, most likely my fault but I give most of my beer away and the cost of bottles and hassles of storing empties sucks. I'm going to go to growlers for people that want my beer, I'll give them one and no beer if they don't return it. I'll still bottle for me for on the go beers and drink from the kegs with friends and neighbors.

 

[eadavis80]

If I had the re$ource$ and space to keg, I would, but since I don't, I bottle. Pencil in 60-75 minutes to bottle a batch of beer from start to finish. You'll learn how to save time as you go. For example, make your priming sugar, then while it's cooling, sanitize, etc. Anyway - I just throw on something on the radio and do it. I don't know why some said bottling and IPA's don't mix. I've never had an issue with that combo. But, as long as you can get your kegged beer into bottles, you're "80% beer outside the house" thing shouldn't be a problem. That being said, if you have kegs (notice I used the plural as I'd always want to have at least 2 different styles on tap at all times) I'd expect that 80% to drop to 50%

 

[jekeane]

I personally wouldn't start kegging until you knew you were hooked on home brewing.

You can and should buy most of your keg equipment used of craigslist etc... Don't spend more that $40 per keg used.

You can fill bottles / growlers from kegs and have no worries about stirring up all the sediment from bottle conditioning while you are traveling.

https://sanmarcos.craigslist.org/for/d/all-grain-brewing-equipment/6258046152.html

Not sure how far that is from you but tell the guy you'll take the kegerator with gas and 4 ball locks for $400 and you would have everything you need for a decent price.

 

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

You have an open spot for an under counter fridge in a bar....it would be a sin not to keg.
An under counter fridge should/will hold multible kegs or a half barrel of store bought and a sixtel/corny of homebrew so you get the best of both worlds. The store bought will last for months without going bad. So you'll always a beer on tap when your around...and that's a beautiful thing.

The cost of an under counter fridge is way more than a kegerater but look nice built into a bar...like mine

There's a lot of good advice for me to think over in this thread. Thanks for all your input. I have really thought hard about the used keezer route, but I won't be able to convince SWMBO into letting me go that route. She's set on me putting in an under counter unit with the stainless tap tower attached to the counter top. I am definitely enjoying home brewing. My first batch is lagering in my fermentation chamber until November. My second batch is finishing up fermetation in my closet, and the ingredients are already ordered for batches 3 and 4. That being said, who knows how long I'll be homebrewing, but I know I'll be drinking beer for a while, so a kegerator would always have good use.

There's a place not far from me that sells under counter built in kegerators. The brand name is tap draft. I can get one with a triple tap tower that will hold up to 4 corny kegs, with used kegs, tap rite dual body co2 regulator, 4 way manifold, 10 ft beer lines and a 5 pound co2 bottle. Also come with perlick flow control taps. This unit will also hold commercial beer kegs, so it's flexible. The whole setup will cost me $1700. That's pretty pricey, but its in line with the other under counter units I've seen, like the edge star or marvel units. Like I said in the OP, I'm willing to drop the coin on it, but only as long as it's worth it.

How difficult is it to fill bottles or growlers out of a keg? Is there any special equipment required? And what's the quality and shelf life of those beers after carbonating in a keg and being moved to a bottle or growler? I have the capacity to make 6 to 8 gallon batches, so perhaps it would be better to do that and keg 5 gallons and bottle the rest.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

She's set on me putting in an under counter unit with the stainless tap tower attached to the counter top..

You mean like this
I've since switched to a 2 tap tower.
FWIW I got the fridge on craigslist for $180 years ago and a tower with perlick flow control taps for under $200. The door is a little dinged up but I can get a matching door panel and it will look like 2 cabinets and you wont even know the fridge is there...draggin ass on doing it for no good reason....
It doesn't have to be expensive

 

[jekeane]

You really have 3 ways to fill from a keg.

1 Directly from the tap. There are different little hose adapter inserts for different brand taps they are usually $2-$20 this method is good for beer that is getting consumed quickly (night out / weekend) as there is more oxygen exposure. You can just slip some silicone hose over the end of a lot of taps and plop it in a growler.

2. Attack a picnic tap to the keg and insert a racking cane in the tap then put that in the bottle / growler Works quite well and reduces some oxygen exposure.

3. Bottling gun / counter pressure filler these attach to the keg and are able to purge bottles of growlers with co2 prior to filling work similarly to method 2. They are pricey $75-100 and they take more cleaning and assembly. I only use mine when I am bottling for competition or a lot of beer all at once.

 

[Kharnynb]

I don't keg because:
1. space, my place isn't huge, and a purpose built bar etc would consume valuable space.
2. drinking speed and beer styles, I like having a lot of different beers, and don't see myself having a 4-5 tap system
3. bottling just isn't that big a deal, with some help from the wife it's done in less than an hour for a 5 gallon batch..no big deal.

 

[xpops]

i'll keg, but then when i have a new beer ready to put on tap i'll bottle up the rest. kinda best of both worlds!
when you want to go somewhere and bring beer...bottle/growler up what you need and go. it's cold, carbonated and ready at all times.

i initially ordered a single corny kegging kit with a beergun so i could at least bypass the bottle conditioning and filling bottles from a bucket....that QUICKLY turned into a keezer and 6 kegs once I discovered how much easier it is (space provided) to just have it always kegged and available to bottle when needed!

 

[jalc6927]

I've done both, bottles for years then found a great deal on kegs and fridge

Trouble with foam on kegs, but much easier to keg then bottle

I'm going to bottle next batch just because I have all these bottles staring at me.

I love bottled beer , just a PITA sometime

Bottle until you get tired of it, then keg

Use 22oz bottles

 

[Brownalemikie]

I think everyone should bottle their first few batches, at least.

Probably in the minority here, but I never minded bottling. It is more work than kegging, but there's a lot of cleaning and fooling with hoses/fittings there too.

But I'd just hate to have the OP invest in a kegging setup and find out he doesn't like brewing. Or beer. OR something. :

I'm with Nick. After spending $45 for a Grifo bench capper, bottling became a pleasure vs using the wing capper. Every Friday is bottling day, which frees up a carboy for brewing every Saturday. I brew 3 gallon batches so about once a month I skip bottle day and brew day when I have plenty of surplus beer in my beer frig out in the garage

 

[Mainer]

I'm with Nick. After spending $45 for a Grifo bench capper, bottling became a pleasure vs using the wing capper. Every Friday is bottling day, which frees up a carboy for brewing every Saturday. I brew 3 gallon batches so about once a month I skip bottle day and brew day when I have plenty of surplus beer in my beer frig out in the garage

I use my wife's grandfather's American-made cast-iron-and-steel bench capper that probably dates from the 40s. There's a lot of history in that capper. It's a privilege. I've never used one of those wing cappers, They look like a pain.

 

[moose5180]

I bottled 2 batches and switched to kegging. I kegged a batch last night and the plan was to bottle half of it, well i started to rack to the keg and just kept going as i didnt want to mess with the bottles. I can see where bottling has a couple advantages i am missing with the keg but honestly kegging is just easier and faster and draft beer is fun.

 

[greyghost]

Bottling is my Zen time.I usually have 6 to 10 different beers on hand. Kegging not real practical.Bedsides I cellar some for years.

 

[PADave]

I bottled for quite a few batches, 32 to be exact. Said I didn't want to get into kegging. Back in Jan I bought a single keg setup off of CL. Sat in my basement all summer and I finally got it setup and had my first pour a couple days ago. Yes, I will continue to bottle the bigger beers for now, but wow this keg makes things easier. Future plans are to build a 4 tap keezer once I make a space for it. I would say bottle for now, get the brewing part of things right, then get into kegging. There can be quite an expense building a good keg setup.

 

[seatazzz]

I haven't bottled in over a year. I too got a great deal on a kegerator through a friend (single tap) and changed it out to a 2-tap. A couple of months ago I swapped it for a standard refrigerator that holds 4 cornies and has two taps. When I share my beers with friends I'll fill a couple of bottles from the tap or swap growlers with them. One of the previous replies had a great idea for a bottling setup off the keg that I'm going to use once I get another black disconnect and the hardware, I have my old bottling wand that fits nicely in the picnic tap.

 

[Lefou]

I brew 3G batches pretty much twice a month for the most part. I usually have 4 - 5 different brews available so If I went the keg route I would want at least 4 taps, I just don't see that happening.

I'm thinking the same way right now. Going with 3 gallon brews and bottles for this fall-to-winter season as a way to reduce the work and leftover beer. I'll get around to kegging eventually. The ball lock keg and fittings aren't going anywhere soon....

 

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

Thanks for all the advice. I have over 100 bottles myself, and just received another 100 or so 16 oz bottle for free. So I think I'm going to keep bottling for a while and instead, focus on upgrading my brewery. I believe I'll take the money I was going to spend on kegging equipment and build a Brutus type setup with automated temperature control. I've got my eye on a set of spike kettles and a conical fermenter. I've got temp control on my fermentation chamber already, so it's either start kegging or upgrade the brewery. I've always had an eye for things that shine.

 

[Oh_Papi]

oops

 

[ratinator]

1. Bottling costs lots of time and money (cleaning, santizer, caps, capper, filler)
2. Kegging is way less of a mess and your only syphoning into 1 container
3. Less storage space for kegging (stacks of 24 bottles) and dont have to collect bottles after drinking
4. Don't have to wait 3 weeks for your beer to carb (force carb in week or less)
5. Don't have sediment from yeast (which turns off alot of non-homebrewers)

Only positive to bottling is your can bring your beer to a friends house. Before i switched to kegging i did start bottling into growlers (1/2 gallon) which cut batches to about 11 growlers.

 

[DrunkenCanuck]

Once I got to 5 gallon batches, I decided to forego bottles for a keg setup, it's just so much less space wasted and less work cleaning a keg than cleaning about 36 bottles.