Did kegging revive your desire to brew?

[Brew2Be]

Hi all. I am in serious considerations about investing in kegging, but I'm having some thoughts about it. I have been brewing on and off for six or seven gears, making cider, wine, mead and beer. I had the most fun making beer as I really love designing beers and seeing how my recipe pans out when they hit the glass. The only problem is that I haven't been brewing beer for the last three years. I feel like the hassle of bottling and (for some styles, the maturity wait) got me. I want to get back into designing, brewing, sharing and enjoying my own beers. So as a result I'm now looking into kegging in the hopes that it will revive my passion for the craft and as an added bonus I now have an SWMBO to help me drain the potential kegs . My question to you guys is: did switching to kegging affect your motivation to brew? Had any of you stopped the hobby but resumed the hobby after starting to keg? I have the money for kegging but not really the desire and time to be bottling anymore (I graduated a few years back and after a long day at work and cooking,
the idea of spending four or five hours bottling is off putting). I calculated/checked that I can get a full homebuilt setup for around $550 (fridge, 5 gallon corny, CO2 tank, faucet, regulator, fittings and hose)

Thanks for your input in advance!

 

[TheHopfather]

Well I didn't lose the desire to brew prior to buying my kegging setup, but I can tell you that I feel it is absolutely worth it. Rather than cleaning, sanitizing, filling and capping ~55-ish bottles for each batch you just do it for 1 keg. I can completely keg and clean up everything for a batch in under an hour on kegging day. I wouldn't go back to bottles from my kegging setup, no way. Plus there is something special about having draft beer on tap at home, its just cool.

 

[Konadog]

For me, it's a time saver not having to clean, sanitize, cap bottles anymore. But on the other hand, my wife will drain a keg faster than I can

It's also nice to be able to adjust your carb level, and not being surprised when you under/over carb a bottle and are stuck with the results.

 

[myndflyte]

Honestly, yes. I started with 2.5 gallon batches which at about a little over a case, was quick enough to bottle and I could drink it in a reasonable time. When I moved to 5 gallons, bottling sucked, and I pretty much had to drink the majority of it to free up bottles since my wife wasn't too keen on keeping cases and cases of bottles. So things slowed down quite a bit.

Now I have a 4 tap keezer and brewing is exciting again. I've got 4 different beers all contained within a freezer instead of having 200+ bottles of beer laying around. Plus kegging is SOOOO much better than bottling it terms of time, cleaning, etc. If you have the spare cash, kegging is the way to go.

 

[mongoose33]

I think my motivation to brew pushed ahead my desire to keg.

The major thing I didn't like about bottling from a bottling bucket was the layer of yeast in the bottles. When I learned I could also bottle from a keg, that was about all it took. Most of my beer is drunk either off the keezer, or poured into growlers, but I still do bottle some of it. I use either the "poor man's beer gun" which is a length of rigid plastic tubing w/ a stopper on it, attached to a picnic tap, or directly from the faucets into the bottle using a growler filler.

In the end, it kind of circles back--because it's so easy to keg, it's easy to plan a brew day knowing that when the time comes to keg, it's a half-hour maybe of fooling around, during most of which time I'm doing something else while the fermented beer transfers to the keg.

So, yeah, get going on the kegging!

 

[small_b_brewing]

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
It is just so much less hassle- both at the bottle/keg stage, and the consumption stage. I can transfer from my fermenter to the sanitized keg during my mash/boil, no problem, its that quick. Once kegged, everything is always cold and ready to go, and I can have the exact serving size I want. No half finished bottles, no wrangling sticky yeast cake bottles, its just so easy.
Bonus- while my husband and I were doing the kegging set up, we dedicated a keg for carbonated water. We both are a lot better about not drinking pop/soda, and hydrating instead.

 

[Iseneye]

No but it improved my beers. Kegs always stored cold, reduced oxidation, no crappy yeast layer at bottom of bottle, can pour whatever size I wanted rather than having to drink a whole bottle, cleaning, bottles everywhere, can keg hop. Not storing beer at room temperature for 2-3 weeks while carbonating, no cleaning bottles. The few people who like bottling are the ones who don't have a kegging setup.

 

[SEndorf]

I like the "hybrid" model....
I have 7 taps and brew 10 gallon batches. There has been no looking back from kegging for me. I love the kegs.
But what seems to be often overlooked, is the shelf life of kegs are limited. Not so with bottles. In fact many types of beers are ENHANCED by aging in bottles. You can't do that in kegs. Kegged beer turns stale if held too long. IPA's lose their hops if stored too long. For me, the best of both worlds are kegged beer, then bottle a portion from the kegs AFTER carbonation and fining. There's no way I can drink all the beer I make. Bottling from kegs is the way to distribute to family and friends.
There's no doubt, kegging improves the clarity and overall taste of my beers. But employing some bottling from a beer gun ensures no staling and enjoyment by all!

 

[Rev2010]

did switching to kegging affect your motivation to brew?

Motivation... no. Switching to kegging though has made that part of the process much much more enjoyable and it has also improved my beer. I always hated bottling day. More than that though, I hated bottle conditioning for like two weeks at room temp then another week in the fridge - and some times a beer may need even more time than that in the bottle. I don't have any problems whatsoever force carbing at 30psi for 24 hours then resetting to my desired psi for 4 days. So I get to drink the beer in 5 days (and you can do it even sooner) and everything tastes awesome. I also used to hate when the bottle filler would stick in open position and overflow a bottle - ugh!! And I also hated having to immediately rinse out my bottles after pouring each beer. Then there's the issue of having cases of bottles - well you know the deal.

Sure, kegging means you'll instead have a kegerator or keezer taking up space, but I think all us beer nerds are happy to have one As others have mentioned, you can also adjust the psi. If it's too low just raise it and give it a day or two. Too high? Vent it and set it lower. Oh yeah, and no more boiling/cooling sugar water. So it might not change your motivation "to brew", but you won't find yourself dreading packaging day anymore.


Rev.

 

[BrewMan13]

Yes, yes, YES!
I love every aspect of brewing, except I despised bottling with a passion. I "joke" that I would have given up brewing if I had to keep bottling. Never looked back since I got a kegging setup; I brew more now then ever before.

 

[thewho6]

Yes it did. save a lot of time to

 

[Brew2Be]

Hey everybody.

I decided to take the plunge and last week I received and assembled my first keg system and kegged a beer! I kegged a maris otter / amarillo SMaSH. It's still a little green but I hope it will get "there" soon. Thanks a lot for your encouragement. I'm sure with time it will be well worth it. I am already planning my first dry irish stout.

I bought a Perlick 330SS faucet and it looks so sweet.

 

[pvpeacock]

I started brewing in 1992 and quit in 1994 because I hated bottling (cleaning, priming, capping, storing, bottle bombs, over-carbed beers, undercarbed beers, etc.) About 6 years ago, I decided to dust off my old equipment and explore the hobby again. While there have been many changes for the better since the early 1990's, the biggest one that sold me was kegging. I've been brewing regularly ever since and just finished batch #103. If it weren't for kegging, I would have quit again after a few months.

 

[day_trippr]

I'd say kegging kept me home brewing, after suffering through the hottest day of 2008 bottling 40 gallons of beer (long, epically sweaty story).
I ordered the bits to build my first 6 tap keezer the next day...

Cheers!

 

[mongoose33]

Hey everybody.

I decided to take the plunge and last week I received and assembled my first keg system and kegged a beer! I kegged a maris otter / amarillo SMaSH. It's still a little green but I hope it will get "there" soon. Thanks a lot for your encouragement. I'm sure with time it will be well worth it. I am already planning my first dry irish stout.

I bought a Perlick 330SS faucet and it looks so sweet.

I've done a SMASH using Maris Otter and Styrian Celeia, which is great. I'd think an Amarillo version would be terrific. It took a bit to smooth out--don't be surprised if it takes up to a month. Patience is a virtue here.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Glad to hear you went for it! Still to answer your question, yes it did. I almost quit brewing a few years ago and my now fiance made me start kegging so I wouldn't quit. Best decision I've ever made. Well, she made [emoji41]

 

[mongoose33]

Glad to hear you went for it! Still to answer your question, yes it did. I almost quit brewing a few years ago and my now fiance made me start kegging so I wouldn't quit. Best decision I've ever made. Well, she made [emoji41]

You mean agreeing to marry you wasn't the best decision she's ever made?