Is kegging that much of a PITA?

[balrog]

self control can be an issue, fer sure.

 

[bracconiere]

If you have a co2 leak, it can get frustrating.

that's why i started keeping my co2 tank on a scale.....

$25+, which IMO a rip off.

it's $27 for a 20lb swap here, lasts me a year...

Forty bucks to swap out

$40 sounds high for a swap?

 

[grampamark]

and taps and homemade tap handles!

And lots of signs, banners, stickers, etc to cover the kegerator with!

 

[bracconiere]

Add on my fragile self-control with carbs, a tap would destroy my diet.

if you don't like carbs, there's always gluco!

 

[grampamark]

that's why i started keeping my co2 tank on a scale.....



it's $27 for a 20lb swap here, lasts me a year...



$40 sounds high for a swap?

Forty might be high but, I live in the middle of nowhere, and the gas distributor delivers to the welding shop just a few miles from my farm. I’d spend the difference driving somewhere else.

 

[bracconiere]

Forty might be high but, I live in the middle of nowhere, and the gas distributor delivers to the welding shop just a few miles from my farm. I’d spend the difference driving somewhere else.

makes sense, and what's that last you, two years?

 

[Kharnynb]

I don't keg, simply because I live in a quite small place(we have a good sized shed and cellar, but the "living space" is limited, and I would want a minimum of 3-4 kegs on tap if I switch over.

I make a lot of different beers and like to switch things up, so bottling is easier, just park them in the cellar and take 6-8 bottles up to the fridge when needed.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Kegging requires cleaning, preparation and maintenance of just one big bottle vs. 50-60 tiny ones. It's the opposite of a PITA. Kegging also opens the door to making changes to a beer after it is done. Keg hopping. Back-sweetening. Adding flavorings, spices, oak, etc.

I was a die-hard bottler for a long time, and I still bottle from time to time but kegs are just so much more practical not to mention professional.

Plus you get to feel like a beer god pulling draft beers for friends and family. Trust me, your beer geek cred will skyrocket.

 

[grampamark]

makes sense, and what's that last you, two years?

I get over a year out of 20 lbs. I probably use as much cleaning as I do serving.

 

[BruceH]

I bottled (and still do from time to time) for over two years. I thought kegging would be some big complicated thing.

One day I was picking up some free bomber bottles from someone local and he showed me how easy everything about kegging was. That was just about a year ago. I think I've bottled twice since then and I'm wondering what to do with all the 22oz bottles taking up space.

Kegging allowed for an improvement to my beer via spunding. Very little chance of oxidation this way and it's natural carbonation, the co2 tank is only used to push the beer out. I don't think I've used even half of a 10lb. tank in 6 months. The gauge hasn't moved much but it's in the fridge so it reads lower than normal anyway.

 

[bleme]

Kegging also opens the door to making changes to a beer after it is done. Keg hopping. Back-sweetening. Adding flavorings, spices, oak, etc.

As an experimental brewer, this one was kinda big for me. For instance, I had an event where I knew my keg would be gone in 1 day. I made a simple wheat beer, chilled it, juiced a full flat of strawberries and dumped the juice in, and kept it cold until 'show time'. The result was a fresh strawberry taste that you just couldn't get ANY other way. The crowd went wild. I was a hero.

 

[bracconiere]

The gauge hasn't moved much

it won't budge until the liquid is gone, as soon as it moves the tank is empty....you'd have to put the tank on a scale and compare it with the, usually, stamped on TW weight.....


those gauges are pretty much worthless...

 

[Jayjay1976]

As an experimental brewer, this one was kinda big for me. For instance, I had an event where I knew my keg would be gone in 1 day. I made a simple wheat beer, chilled it, juiced a full flat of strawberries and dumped the juice in, and kept it cold until 'show time'. The result was a fresh strawberry taste that you just couldn't get ANY other way. The crowd went wild. I was a hero.

Awesome idea!

Even if it weren't reasonable to expect to kick the whole keg in one day, it would be easy to swap out the keg lid for one with a gas post, attach a spunding valve to prevent over pressuring and then enjoy it at your leisure over over a week or more. Serving temps will definitely slow down the secondary fermentation and preserve the fresh juicy flavors.

Would also be super easy to drop in a block of frozen juice concentrate, just sayin'!

God damn, what a neat idea!! Thanks Blemer!

 

[LittleRiver]

...I'm resisting the urge to keg for two reasons: I have a small adorable child who I parent full-time and go to the gym regularly... one bottle of beer a day... a tap would destroy my diet.

You will not acquire a new personality when you acquire beer faucets. The amount I drink, one a day, has not changed since I switched from bottling to a four tap keezer.

...for those who need to control their beer drinking, bottling makes sense.

I disagree.

If you switch to kegging you'll have more time to spend with your kid, or for the gym, or whatever.

 

[seatazzz]

I've been kegging for over 2.5 years now, and will never go back to bottling. I keep some bottles around for competitions and sharing with friends, but nothing, absolutely NOTHING, beats coming home from a long day at work and pulling a perfectly carbonated pint of something I brewed myself. Also I hate cleaning bottles. Back when I was bottling it seemed like every other batch was oxidized to the point of being barely drinkable. No worries of that with kegging. And my husband doesn't drink that much, so when he's in the mood for a beer he doesn't have to waste whatever's left in the bottle after he's had his 6-8oz pour. As for cleaning the lines, I just replace them every 6 months with brand new line; I'm kinda lazy and don't want to buy the stuff I would need to clean them, not to mention wasting co2 that could be used for carbonation instead.

 

[BruceH]

it won't budge until the liquid is gone, as soon as it moves the tank is empty....you'd have to put the tank on a scale and compare it with the, usually, stamped on TW weight.....


those gauges are pretty much worthless...

Funny you mentioned that. I was pushing cleaner and starsan through a few new to me kegs yesterday and the needle started to go down quickly! There is still some in there but it's time to take the tank for a refill.

 

[Transamguy77]

+1 to all the benefits that have been said, kegging really is much easier and less time consuming. And kegs take up way less space that bottles do.

If you look on Craig’s list you can find someone getting out of the hobby selling off their stuff pretty reasonably or keep your eye out for sales. My wife bought me my first setup for a few hundred then when it made sense or I found a good deal I bought more kegs.

I would recommend buying or making a keg washer, it’s not necessary but it does make the cleaning easier. I also have a lot of kegs and make 10 gallon batches so I’ll wait till I have 8 or 10 to clean and do them all at once.

 

[bracconiere]

Funny you mentioned that. I was pushing cleaner and starsan through a few new to me kegs yesterday and the needle started to go down quickly! There is still some in there but it's time to take the tank for a refill.

at least it was just cleaner/sanitizer you were pushing....it really is a PITA when it drops while you're pushing beer! happened to me once, had to bug the neighbor for a ride to the welding shop!

 

[balrog]

THe 20lb tank gets filled about once a year for me. I brew maybe 36 5g batches a year, all kegged. THe emergency 5lb has never been used. When I travel with kegs I use the 20oz paintball tank, which gets filled about 2-3 times a year. I guess the point is to have a backup.

 

[bracconiere]

I guess the point is to have a backup.

food for thought...i keep mine on a scale now though....

 

[LostHopper]

Leaky CO2 is something to keep an eye on.
Sharing easily with friends is not terribly difficult but tricky, when filling bottle/growler from kegs.
It is more expensive.
If you don't have something to chill a keg (I use the stairwell/hatch off my basement in winter and can hold quite a bit. In summer I have one of those 5cuft chest freezers, no collar/mod, to hold two kegs with picnic taps).
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Sorry to hijack but I kegged my first batch yesterday after years of bottling and had a question about those taps that fit directly on kegs.

On a whim while at the LHBS I picked up a barebones kegging setup using a picnic tap since I have room for one keg in a spare fridge. I asked the owner about those on-keg taps and he recommended for the first try to use a beer line (he gave me 5') and a picnic tap. He said the line length makes getting proper carbonatiion with less foam a little easier for novice kegger. He also said if the keg is in a tight spot in the fridge it's easy to accidently turn it on and have a spill. My question is about the beer line length. Is the on-keg tap trickier to get proper carbonation. Now that the keg is in the fridge it might be a tight fit for the tap anyway. Thanks

(To anyone thinking about kegging let me assure you it is easier. As someone mentioned, it's like filling your bottling bucket except now your finished.)

 

[balrog]

Keg top taps are fun. They are tall, especially with a handle, and won't fit my chest freezer.

They provide no back pressure, as does 10' of beer line of course, and you will get the problems inherent with that

But if kept COLD, then little headspace pressure is required to carbonate to appropriate levels, so the keg top tap works fairly well. Once temps in my hatch rise above 40 or so, I have to keep higher headspace pressure to keep proper carb, and then I either put on a 10' line and picnic tap, or bleed keg, pour, repressurize keg (using more CO2).

 

[balrog]

Just to add:

I have seen people recommend putting little plastic epoxy mixer stems into the dip tube to provide back pressure but I've never tried them.

 

[user 254557]

I have been kegging for years and love it, and much like many others here I have some bottles for comps or sharing and dont have any plans on ever going back to 10 gallons worth of bottles.

I dont know where you are but one thing that i found out the hard way is the storage areas that you will be storing or cold crashing, im in Minnesota and this winter when i put a couple kegs in my "cold storage" to condition and cold crash i found that there was a bad oxidization issue, my cold storage was too cold and when the CO2 absorbed into the beer and the poppets allowed air to get sucked into the keg when the everything got down to the 30 degree cold storage room temp, just watch for that, and get a Mark II keg washer, those things kick a$$

 

[bleme]

Sorry to hijack but I kegged my first batch yesterday after years of bottling and had a question about those taps that fit directly on kegs.

About the only thing I have found that taps useful for are English beers that are only carbed to 1.5-1.7 volumes. Anything above 2.0 was just too much foam.

 

[LittleRiver]

... question about those taps that fit directly on kegs.... Is the on-keg tap trickier to get proper carbonation....

I assume your question is about getting a proper pour without excessive foam, and not about getting proper carbonation.

As others have mentioned, since everything is in the fridge having it all cold helps hold down foaming. You may be just fine with some line and a picnic tap. Leave it in the fridge, even if it's disconnected.

If that's not enough, you can increase your line length, or if you don't want to deal with a longer hose a flow control adjustment can be used. You can get a flow control faucet, a flow control disconnect, or an in-line flow control.

 

[LostHopper]

I assume your question is about getting a proper pour without excessive foam, and not about getting proper carbonation.

As others have mentioned, since everything is in the fridge having it all cold helps hold down foaming. You may be just fine with some line and a picnic tap. Leave it in the fridge, even if it's disconnected.

If that's not enough, you can increase your line length, or if you don't want to deal with a longer hose a flow control adjustment can be used. You can get a flow control faucet, a flow control disconnect, or an in-line flow control.

Correct. I meant foam control during pour, not carbonation.
Thanks

 

[Yesfan]

How's that old rap song go?

"You got bottle problems, I feel bad for you son.
I got 99 problems and a keg ain't one."

I remember someone posting that years ago in a keg vs bottling thread. I was looking into kegging back then and that post has stuck with me since. At that point, about 7 years ago, I had only 5 batches under my belt.

.......Plus you get to feel like a beer god pulling draft beers for friends and family. Trust me, your beer geek cred will skyrocket.

Absolutely agree with you. 100%

 

[Leezer]

Sharing easily with friends is not terribly difficult but tricky, when filling bottle/growler from kegs.

Many advantages to kegging, but a marked decrease in sharing with friends is a definite downside.

 

[day_trippr]

Doesn't have to be that way. When I went to kegging I kept my bench capper, a case of 12s and a case of 22s and all of the unused caps.
I still do "boat beers", shares and gifts from the faucets using 12 ounce long necks and occasionally 22 ounce bombers (those I want back! ) I stick a tube in the faucet bore and fill wet, chilled glass and cap on foam...


Cheers!