Bottle or Keg

Hello HBT,

I am brewing my first all-grain beer this weekend, and want advice on whether to bottle or keg...

I will be making a 10 gal recipie, and I am not real excited about the prospect of filling 100+ bottles.

Consistency is the key for me, I feel like i would get a better product going straight from my secondary to kegs.

I dont have any bottles yet, but figure the cost to setup a kegerator vs buyung bottles will be about the same ( i have found a second hand kegerator for 300 on Kijiji)

Advice?

 

I acquired over 500 bottles just by saving the empties, and I built my 6-tap keezer starting with a Craig's List 10cf freezer. Even if you paid say $15 a case for clean/unlabeled empties, your hundred bottles would be a lot cheaper than your $300 kegerator.

Anyway, keg, bottle, either way it'll be beer. But I wager everyone with a kegging system started with bottles, so maybe cutting straight to the end game might be the best choice

Cheers!

 

Go straight to kegs, in my opinion.

When I started out, I was bottling 2.5 gallon batches. That was fun and tolerable. When I started doing 5 gallon batches, it was no longer fun or tolerable. More broken bottles, more frustration, not enough room, etc. I now keg my 5 gallon batches and I actually really look forward to doing it.

I can't even imagine bottling a 10 gallon batch. I know people here do it and love it, but I wouldn't do it. Just my opinion.

 

Bottling gets old and you will probably end up buying a keg system sooner or later so `in the long run` i think you'll be dollars ahead if you skip buying bottles alltogether.
If you do get bottles imho it's best to just save your old guinness ( or w/e it is you drink ) ones as that way you at least get beer with them.

 

Both have advantages and both have pitfalls. Kegging is easier and less work but the beer is harder to transport. Bottling is more labor intensive yet more portable.

I am going to my LHB tonight and taking a 6 pack of beer. All I need to do is pull it from the fridge and run.

 

I thought about that...I have a few growlers around that I figured would be good for Beer on the go

My biggest concern is consistency of my beer...sounds like kegging is the way to go