are all beers good in a keg?

[StroudCreek]

I was reading somewhere (may have been in How To Brew John Palmer) that some beers are just better in bottles because of the bottle conditioning. Do any of you guys make a beer that you bottle no mater what?

 

[Golddiggie]

Nope... Everything I brew goes to keg when it's ready for carbonation and then going to glass. BUT, I do give bigger beers time to age before transferring them to serving kegs. I have a (12.5%) wee heavy that I made in December of 2011 that was kegged in December of 2012 and has been sitting on the gas carbonating in the basement. I plan on pulling a glass of it soon. I also have an old ale (8.9%) that was brewed in March of 2012 that was kegged the same day as the wee heavy. The wee heavy had been sitting on oak cubes for several months, and the old ale was sitting on a section of medium toast cherry wood for almost as long.

IMO/IME, kegging is better provided you give the brew enough time to do what it needs first. Kegging is better since you have complete control over the carbonation level of the brew. If you want low carbonation, you use less pressure/CO2. If you want to increase it after you sample it (after a few weeks) then you can give it more pressure. If it's too high, you can bleed off pressure and then lock it in where you really like it. With bottles, you pray that it carbonates to where you think it will and hope that it won't take several months to get there.

 

[zachattack]

A lot of people consider it blasphemy to keg a Belgian style, since bottle conditioning and the yeast is such a significant component of the flavor.

I've made the same hefeweizen a few times, and I've both bottle it and kegged it. The bottled version was noticeably better due to the increased yeast presence. Obviously a less-flocculant yeast would help out a good bit there.

 

[Revvy]

I believe that some brews are better bottle conditioned rather than on kegs, Belgian, Barleywines, and most big beers tend to be, to me better when bottle conditioned rather than kegged. Also some historical beers.

 

[heyblinkin]

German Hefeweizen is best in a bottle, in my opinion. Mixing up the yeast in the bottom of the bottle enhances the beer. I keg everything else.

 

[Golddiggie]

I guess I should point out that I'm brewing with ale yeast and styles from the British Isles. So no wheats, Belgians, lagers, etc.

I have a big barleywine that I started at the end of October that won't be done with it's processes (it's done fermenting, but I know it's no where near ready to drink) for at least another 10+ months. I intend to carbonate that in keg. Carbonation level will be low, since that's more to style. With the extended aging, and oak additions, I don't want to even think about yeast when it's time to go to glass. Granted it's using a rather hearty strain (WLP099) and only going to about 15% (15.3% +/-) so the yeast could carbonate it. I am thinking about bottling up some (from keg) to use as gifts for the holidays in 2014 or 2015.