Downside to draft beer at home

[azazel1024]

I hated bottling. I switched to keggin pretty early (before fermentation temp control) and I'm pretty sure if I hadn't gone to kegging I would have eventually stopped brewing because I hated it so much.

I love when people guesstimate how fast they can do things. Bottling consumed an afternoon for me. It wasn't something I did between getting home from work and making dinner. It was time consuming, messy and completely unenjoyable. Just before I switched to kegging I had let a couple batches sit in the fermentor several extra weeks because I was dreading bottling them.

I am not saying I love it, but my typical process is either sanitize in the oven the night before and bottle the next day, or do it about 3hrs before bottling and open the oven to cool faster.

When my wife helps, I enjoy bottling a lot more. A couple of things that improved the process for me was finally getting a siphon clamp so I wasn't standing there like a schmuck holding a siphon for 5-10 minutes. The other was switching to using my oven instead of sanitizing in my bottling bucket with idophor. When I actually sit down to bottle from start to finish with clean up usually is about 90 minutes. So if I do it in the evenings, once my kids are to sleep, I generally start about 8:30 and I am done by 10pm. If I do it on the weekends I usually do it before lunch or right after lunch.

The only time I hate life with bottling is when I do something stupid like brew 3-4 things in the course of a week or two. Then I tend to end up bottling 3-4 times in a week or two, or maybe three. Then by the end I am dreading when I need to bottle a batch. When I am only bottling once a month or so, I don't mind it.

 

[azazel1024]

For me, it's totally the opposite. I can regulate just fine, but I may give my wife the "look" after about 7 beers. There's a reason one of my brews is called "wife screamer!" :cross:

The reason why if I ever go keg, I will. Never. Keg. My. Pumpkin Ale.

I'd keg it and the next week I'd be trying to figure out why nothing is coming out of the tap and it would take me 15 minutes of fiddling to realize my wife already kicked the keg.

 

[Owly055]

I'm "pseudo kegging", and like the results using my Tap-a-Draft system. I'll soon have a paintball bottle for serving pressure.
The real downside is that about half my fridge space is beer now, with 3 Tap-a-Draft bottles, half a dozen .5L flip tops, one 2.5 gallon batch cold crashing, and one lagering.

I'm being forced to rely on beer more and more to meet my nutritional needs. For example, I brew a grapefruity IPA as a breakfast drink. This eliminates the need for orange or grapefruit juice. Eggs are a staple........ They are in the door, and take up none of the critical beer space. I removed one crisper drawer........ I don't like them anyway as they freeze veggies instead of crisping them. I keep only enough meat, fruit, and produce as I need. I'm now eating spent grains with oatmeal stout over it as a breakfast cereal, and trub pudding, trub pie, and trub ice cream are my normal deserts....... waste not want not. I see myself being forced to keep foods in my Coleman piezo electric cooler using the 110V adapter. I'll keep that out in the shed.......no reason to keep food in the house.... I'm consuming less and less actual solid food all the time ;-)

H.W.

 

[beernutz]

The reason why if I ever go keg, I will. Never. Keg. My. Pumpkin Ale.

I'd keg it and the next week I'd be trying to figure out why nothing is coming out of the tap and it would take me 15 minutes of fiddling to realize my wife already kicked the keg.

That is not a hypothetical problem. I regularly make a Blue Moon clone for my wife because it is about the only beer she likes. On the last 10 gallon batch I made, I kegged and force carbonated five gallons and left the other in the primary.

A couple of days ago, 18 days after I had first kegged it, she said to me, "boy I would really love one of your Blue Moons" but when she pulled the tap all she got was dregs. The pathetically sad look on her face was almost funny especially because I knew I was the main culprit as she really had not drank very much of it yet. What can I say, it came out better than usual.

 

[slym2none]

Those that say they don't have room to keg, that's just an excuse. It takes far more less room to house a 5 gallon keg AND the equipment to clean/maintain. You don't need a giant keezer. If you have room for 50 bottles, you have room for 1 5 gal keg.

On this point - I can spread out my bottles in 6-packs. They don't all have to go in the same place. Now, for conditioning, I put my bottles in my bedroom closet and can move them around, I don't have all the bottles in one spot. Can't do that with a keg.

So, I am sorry, but the space concern is valid.

 

[SnakeRidge]

On this point - I can spread out my bottles in 6-packs. They don't all have to go in the same place. Now, for conditioning, I put my bottles in my bedroom closet and can move them around, I don't have all the bottles in one spot. Can't do that with a keg.

So, I am sorry, but the space concern is valid.

True. I condition all my beers down in the basement, but there is no way I'm fighting giant spiders and aggressive mushrooms every time I want to have a pint.

 

[slym2none]

Sounds like you need Frodo's Sting!

 

[SnakeRidge]

Sounds like you need Frodo's Sting!

I refer to my machete as Sting.

 

[azazel1024]

That is not a hypothetical problem. I regularly make a Blue Moon clone for my wife because it is about the only beer she likes. On the last 10 gallon batch I made, I kegged and force carbonated five gallons and left the other in the primary.

A couple of days ago, 18 days after I had first kegged it, she said to me, "boy I would really love one of your Blue Moons" but when she pulled the tap all she got was dregs. The pathetically sad look on her face was almost funny especially because I knew I was the main culprit as she really had not drank very much of it yet. What can I say, it came out better than usual.

Yeah...I am thinking I am going to brew my Belgian single again soon. It isn't exactly a Blue Moon clone, but it is rather Blue Moon-ish.

The look on my wifes face when she cracked a bottle...I know I'll be brewing this again. The saving grace is she had minor surgery, so she can't drink for 2 weeks. Allows them to finish bottle conditioning as well as me take a rest from brewing for a couple of weeks. That and it was a big batch, so even she will take a little while helping me drink through the 5 gallons of beer.

 

[azazel1024]

I refer to my machete as Sting.

Hey, whatever you want to knick name it, just know your wife probably has a different nickname for it.

 

[SnakeRidge]

Hey, whatever you want to knick name it, just know your wife probably has a different nickname for it.

I think you may be winkingly referring to the Sword of Truth.

 

[MattyIce]

I keg. I enjoy bottling, but kegging saves me a lot of time, carbs high gravity stuff quickly, and allows me to share beers with the uninitiated without having to explain away sediment.

I still bottle now and then. Turns out a keg is also the best bottling bucket I could imagine to use.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Turns out a keg is also the best bottling bucket I could imagine to use.

Haha, funny but true.
A keg is a bottling bucket dispensing perfectly carbed, cold conditioned, sediment free, crystal clear beer.

I like kegs!

 

[Gameface]

Last few posts for the win.

Kegging doesn't stop you from doing anything you can do bottling.

It does cost more up front.

It does take up more space.

Other than that, it is an enabling technology, not a disabling one. You can do everything you did as a bottler after you start kegging, and in many cases you can do it better.

 

[roastglint]

When My keg kicks I literally rise with really hot water right away and push hot water through my lines. Takes like 10 min tops. Never had an infection. Push More hot water through the system before I sanitize when I'm ready to keg (20min).
Plus once you purge and put your beer on gas you really cant **** it up anymore. So that's dope as well.

 

[azazel1024]

I keg. I enjoy bottling, but kegging saves me a lot of time, carbs high gravity stuff quickly, and allows me to share beers with the uninitiated without having to explain away sediment.

I still bottle now and then. Turns out a keg is also the best bottling bucket I could imagine to use.

This is the biggest reason why I may switch to kegging as soon as I can.

Its a pain to explain to the noobs D) that "no, don't drink out of the bottle, pour it in to a cup/glass and make sure you pour carefully avoiding the last half an ounce in the bottom so you don't get the dregs".

So when I have people over I always feel compelled that I have to server them so they don't end up with the dregs.

Though often times once I am 3 beers deep I just go "F it, they can drink the dregs if they want, I am done with this bartending crap".

I feel like it still makes an actual party of more than 3-4 guests a lot easier with a keg though.

 

[Psylocide]

When My keg kicks I literally rise with really hot water right away and push hot water through my lines. Takes like 10 min tops. Never had an infection. Push More hot water through the system before I sanitize when I'm ready to keg (20min).
Plus once you purge and put your beer on gas you really cant **** it up anymore. So that's dope as well.

I just leave it hooked up and pour more beer in. I've got three batches through one keg in the last couple months.

Might clean that one out now... maybe.

 

[RmikeVT]

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention that I often do: I bottle a 6'er or a 12'er from the keg. I can save the beer, give it away, take on road trips etc. Its cold, carbonated and clear. I can give the beer to friends with no instructions. If they pour into a glass it will be clear and free of yeast clumps or they can drink right from the bottle. If I don't give to friends I can toss in the basement and save for another day, long after the keg has run dry.

 

[IronLion409]

I have a dual keg setup. Bought after my first batch. I bottle too. We share a lot of beer and bottles can be stored longer without losing carbonation. If the people I share with don't get pouring into a glass then they probably aren't interested anyway. If someone lives close that I'm sharing with I'll fill growlers. Since the people I share with aren't homebrewers I get lots of cool craft beer to try as a trade. I try to bottle a few from each batch regardless so I can try them at different ages. I had a brown ale I made on my second batch ever the other day. I must say I've made some progress. Not to mention being able to take a case camping, vacationing, visiting family, etc. My wife really likes home brewed beer too so she helps me bottle. So I guess my point is why limit myself to just kegging when there are advantages to both.

 

[xcdarrel17]

I bottled probably 25 batches before switching to kegging and don't plan to go back except the occasional brew. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet: your IPAs will most likely improve when you switch to kegging with less exposure to oxygen. I found that no matter how many hops and dry hops I used, my bottled IPAs would fall off quickly and leave me wanting more.

 

[roastglint]

I just leave it hooked up and pour more beer in. I've got three batches through one keg in the last couple months.

Might clean that one out now... maybe.

I think people forget sometimes how hard it actually is to infect a beer. especially one that fermented out already.

 

[IronLion409]

Hook up lines to keg half full with warm water and oxiclean that was used to wash the keg hit co2 and purge. Repeat with hot water to rinse. Repeat with star san. Seems like a lot but takes about five minutes ten if interrupted by sips of homebrew.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Silly n00b question but since we're talking about it, would it be beneficial to bottle the first few pours from a keg? They'll be cloudy but eventually they'll settle in the bottle and you can drink as normal right?

Seems like a win win. You get a few bottles for long term storage and have no waste from the first bad pour or two.

 

[Hello]

Silly n00b question but since we're talking about it, would it be beneficial to bottle the first few pours from a keg? They'll be cloudy but eventually they'll settle in the bottle and you can drink as normal right?

Seems like a win win. You get a few bottles for long term storage and have no waste from the first bad pour or two.

You could. It's obviously just the yeast that has settled and maybe a little hop debris. It certainly wouldn't hurt and it would save the first pint down the drain. I usually only have to pour off a pint before I am good to go and often that pint is consumed. I try to be conservative with my transfers and I don't capture a whole heck of a lot of yeast, or try not to.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

Downside to kegging- beer magically disappears and you're forced to rebrew sooner than expected.

I keg my everyday beers, and will bottle stuff I prefer to have every now and again. For the most part I'll keg, but when I do bottle, I get help from the kids. They love to help scrub bottles and cap, so it definitely speeds up the process.

 

[robotinc]

Downsides to kegging:

-Setting a beer to carbonate and there is a small leak in your line and you lose a full tank of co2.
-big beers can take a tap for a while creating a bottleneck
-cost


I tried but I can't think of any other serious downsides.

I too love 4-6oz pours, bottling from the keg, less work. I don't think anyone mentioned that if you are kegging you probably have a fridge/keezer to go with it which opens up lagering.

I still bottle condition big beers and most my sours as I like how they continue to improve in the bottle. That being said, having a Flemish red on tap was the best/worst thing ever. Best because it was, and worst because it's over now, and it's going to take a while to get back in business.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I clean out my kegs a day or two after they're kicked. The crud inside is still soluble and flushes clean with a warm water rinse followed by some StarSan solution pushed through with Co2 pressure.

I've never left a keg to sit long enough for the crud to turn into a hard sticky mess before cleaning, that's a overnight soaking in PBW project at least right there. I still bottle but use a beer gun to eliminate the whole hope the carbonation is ok in three weeks associated with bottle priming.

Getting back to the OP my only downside is keeping the kegs filled with beer and remembering if I ate lunch the day before at the barbeque we had last weekend.

 

[chisena]

No legitimate downside if you can Make the investment.

 

[Natdavis777]

Im going to go through my >year Lambic too fast. Its so good when it touches the lips...

 

[moreb33rplz]

Are people being realistic about kegging costs? I have wanted to buy the stuff for a long time, but always hold back because it costs so much:

2-3 kegs: $150
CO2/Regulator/lines/fittings: $150-175
Chest Freezer: $200
STC-1000: $30

Is there a way to do a reasonable 2 keg setup for less that $550?

My main complain with bottling is the inconsistent carbonation. The temp in my house changes, the batch size always seems to vary (hard to estimate an exact volume with big dry hop from whole cones).