Benefit of kegging.

[swampbrewcrew]

I’ve been kegging most of my beer for about a year, but I have had to bottle some over the last couple of months due to brewing more than I’m drinking. One thing I’ve noticed is a significant amount of beer gets wasted to dregs in the bottle. When kegging I may dump the first glass, but after that it’s all good. So let’s assume you leave the last ounce in every bottle. That’s a total of four beers getting dumped per batch.

This something I’ve never thought of until now, and it’s a point I don’t believe I have seen mentioned in the “Bottles vs Kegs” threads.

More beer is always better; unless you run out of kegs and have to start bottling again.

 

[Jtvann]

While I mostly agree, something that I’ve noticed especially with big IPAs ... how many times do you make exactly 5 gallons? I aim for a 6 gallon batch to account for trub loss in the fermenter. I may end up making a 5.5 gallon beer. If bottling, I can bottle the whole thing. If kegging, what to do with that last .5 gallons?

I rarely ever save .5 gallons to mix priming sugar with. I have bought some of the carbonating sugar tablets and put the rest in a growler to bottle condition.

In the end, I think it comes out in the wash

 

[Shwagger]

While I mostly agree, something that I’ve noticed especially with big IPAs ... how many times do you make exactly 5 gallons? I aim for a 6 gallon batch to account for trub loss in the fermenter. I may end up making a 5.5 gallon beer. If bottling, I can bottle the whole thing. If kegging, what to do with that last .5 gallons?

I rarely ever save .5 gallons to mix priming sugar with. I have bought some of the carbonating sugar tablets and put the rest in a growler to bottle condition.

In the end, I think it comes out in the wash

I always make 5.5 or more when kegging so i can bottle a couple. To give away or send to a competition. Simply keep a box of sugar cubes on hand to prime.

Or mix sugar in before kegging /bottling

 

[Amadeo38]

While I mostly agree, something that I’ve noticed especially with big IPAs ... how many times do you make exactly 5 gallons? I aim for a 6 gallon batch to account for trub loss in the fermenter. I may end up making a 5.5 gallon beer. If bottling, I can bottle the whole thing. If kegging, what to do with that last .5 gallons?

I rarely ever save .5 gallons to mix priming sugar with. I have bought some of the carbonating sugar tablets and put the rest in a growler to bottle condition.

In the end, I think it comes out in the wash

Oh man. You need a carb-a-cap and some empty 2-liter bottles. I always rack a 2-liter from the carboy before the keg to bring to others houses or my LHBS to share. Dumping 0.5 gallon of beer?!

 

[mongoose33]

I bottle off my kegs, so there aren't dregs in the bottles. No wasted beer.

 

[aprichman]

5.5 gallons into the carboy, 5 gallons into the keg.

 

[Sadu]

Yeah nothing gets wasted around here. Whatever doesn't fit in the keg goes into bottles with some carbonation drops or into a pet bottle with carbonation cap. Typically those dreg bottles are the last ones that get opened and are often the best. I consider them free beer, is there anything better?

 

[eric19312]

I also find kegs more convenient and probably less waste.

But I'd point out that if you are needing to leave an ounce of beer in the bottle you could also strive to improve your bottling process. Cold crash the beer before bottling to remove as much yeast as possible from suspension. Figure out a way to avoid sucking oxygen into the fermentor when you do that (there are lots of ideas here in homebrewtalk). Avoid oxygen exposure during bottling to minimize oxygen in the bottle. Yeast consume oxygen to multiply...that is why we oxygenate wort at beginning of the brew. Consider using highly flocculent yeast when bottling such as S-04. You can brew with a low or medium flocculent yeast and then bottle with a fresh pitch of a good floccer. I've had good results with about 2 grams of dry yeast in a 5 gallon batch.

 

[jonny24]

I ferment mostly in 5 gallon buckets, so 4.5 - 4.75 gallon batches. So no wasted beer here.

 

[FVillatoro]

You can do oxygen-free transfer from fermenter to keg for one, and of course there's overnight carbonation and not having to sanitize/clean all those damn bottles.
I have some pale ale that I brewed 4 months ago and forgotten about, and to my surprise, it's still got hop character and aroma - so it works! lol

Plus, you can also bottle if you connect a filler wand with very low PSI to keep things from falling into a open fermenter.

 

[brew703]

Cold crashing doesn't remove all hop/yeast debris when bottling. I cold crash for 1-2 days at 35 degrees and I still get crap in bottles. It isn't much but enough not to pour the entire bottle. I think part of it is how careful you are when racking. I've accidently stirred up the yeast cake/debris field and some of that was sucked up.
I don't bottle much since I got my keezer up and running.

 

[r4dyce]

I think you're overestimating the amount left in the bottle and assuming that's wasted beer. But anyway Let's say it is 1 oz in a 12 oz bottle. It's not like that was 1 oz that changed from beer to junk. In reality you filled your bottle with 11oz of beer and 1 oz of dregs, protein, yeast, etc. It's just that it was all suspended in liquid. True there's some minor increase because of yeast multiplication during carbing. But after carbing and cold crashing in the bottle in the fridge you're still left with ~11oz of beer and 1oz of compacted dregs. The same you started with. I don't think it's dramatically different than the sludge left on the bottom of your keg. You're not actually drinking 5 gallons when you empty a 5 gallon keg.

 

[Sailingeric]

Time savings for packaging the beer and pouring the amount of beer I want is a plus with kegging. As for waste, even though I cold crash, I still have to pour a pint or so down the drain due to anything else that settles.

 

[motosapiens]

I don't leave anything close to an ounce in bottles unless i'm really careless pouring the first glass of a 22-25oz bottle. the yeasts seem to settle pretty hard for me. I just keep pouring until i can see some sediment that is about to come out... then i stop. Usually like a teaspoon, sometimes less.

Personally I keg and bottle both. I don't find significant time savings from kegging as long as I am using large bottles, but sometimes the lack of wait time is nice. Mostly I use kegs for parties, and bottles for my normal at home drinking routine.

 

[cubalz]

Since I started kegging a long while back, the only time I will ever bottle is small amounts for competition.

 

[beernutz]

While I mostly agree, something that I’ve noticed especially with big IPAs ... how many times do you make exactly 5 gallons? I aim for a 6 gallon batch to account for trub loss in the fermenter. I may end up making a 5.5 gallon beer. If bottling, I can bottle the whole thing. If kegging, what to do with that last .5 gallons?

I rarely ever save .5 gallons to mix priming sugar with. I have bought some of the carbonating sugar tablets and put the rest in a growler to bottle condition.

In the end, I think it comes out in the wash

I have done each of these with beer that doesn't go in a keg:

• Bottle it adding priming sugar to each bottle
• Put it in 2 liter plastic bottles and force carb them with a carbonator cap. I bought a commercial carbonator cap but my brewclub friend makes his own out of 2 liter plastic bottle caps and tire stems
• Put it in my Ukeg and force carb it

 

[homebrewer_99]

LOL! The "dregs" at the bottom of the bottles is nothing but yeast from the re-fermentation...think Hefe Weizen. Pour the clean beer into the glass and drink the dregs. It's Vitamin B.