Serving draft beers instead of bottles

[Seb]

I read that 5 gallon batches can fill up 48 bottles. I've been thinking of doing 2.5 gallons batches to make it to 24 bottles. It would still take a lot of space in my fridge.

So instead of bottling the beers, could I simply put it in some kind of kegs and serve draft beers? Is this kind of system expensive and worth it?

 

[tchuklobrau]

expensive? well it can be depends on how crazy you want to go. worth it i think so. I only use a 1 tap system but i love having beer on tap. my fridge is set so i can fit a 30pk of cans on the shelf above the keg, and have room on the side for 8 bottles of beer. fridge cost me 179 new. and I believe my keg setup was 279. but i have had it for about 3 yrs now and did not really shop around for deals.

 

[choffon]

It is expensive but is worth it to not have to bottle

 

[choffon]

I paid about the same price and got a two keg setup with two kegs and taps and co2 tank and I'll never bottle again

 

[choffon]

I paid about the same price and got a two keg setup with two kegs and taps and co2 tank and I'll never bottle again

 

[hawgwild81]

I only have about $300 invested in mine and I think it's worth it. I hated cleaning and sanitizing all those bottles. Another plus is if your impatient like me you can force carb the beer and it will be ready to drink in about two days instead of two weeks.

 

[unionrdr]

It seems to me even though you can carbonate faster,it still needs some aging.?...

 

[shawnbou]

There are a number of sticky threads in the Bottling/Kegging forum that talk about various setups. You can also search for "keezer" (a chest freezer converted to a keg cooler/dispenser) to see different systems. It seems like it's not all that expensive if you're handy and comfortable with DIY projects.

I still bottle, but I'll be kegging someday. I am not a big DIY guy, so I'm going to need to psych myself up for the project.

But if your only reason is the lack of space in your fridge, you can do what I do: bottle it and keep it in a closet for conditioning and cellaring. Just put a 6-pack or 2 in the fridge at a time to serve it.

 

[ndsgr]

My original set up was about $200 with the help of craigslist. 5 kegs, picnic taps, 20lb CO2 tank and refrigerator to keep it all in.

My new setup (in build process) will be about $700 with use of the old parts, plus a chest freezer, 5 perlick tap setup and all accessories. Eventually I'll add a nitro set up to it for another $200-300.

It's really all about what you want to spend.

Also, it's worth mentioning that kegs can aid in bottling. For example, I am brewing a sour that I plan to bottle in a year. I don't want any O2 anywhere in the process, so I'll purge a keg with CO2. Then I'll add the beer, fresh yeast, priming sugar and give it a good shake (no O2 present). Finally, I'll purge bottles with CO2 and fill them pushing the beer from the keg to the bottle with gas.

 

[hawgwild81]

It seems to me even though you can carbonate faster,it still needs some aging.?...

That is true. Especially with say a porter or a stout. But with something light bodied, I've never really let them age and they taste good to me.

 

[unionrdr]

Even though I still bottle,I notice that the malt & hop flavors need time to develop fully. I got bottling day down to a sit down,no reaching above the shoulder routine. 1.5-2 hours set up to clean up. Like max,I'm beginning to enjoy it...

 

[Seb]

There are a number of sticky threads in the Bottling/Kegging forum that talk about various setups. You can also search for "keezer" (a chest freezer converted to a keg cooler/dispenser) to see different systems. It seems like it's not all that expensive if you're handy and comfortable with DIY projects.

I still bottle, but I'll be kegging someday. I am not a big DIY guy, so I'm going to need to psych myself up for the project.

But if your only reason is the lack of space in your fridge, you can do what I do: bottle it and keep it in a closet for conditioning and cellaring. Just put a 6-pack or 2 in the fridge at a time to serve it.

I'm not a DIY kind of guy, unfortunately. I wouldn't have any problem to pay more if the system is already set up. Tho if it's something higher than 1000$ I wouldn't.

Reason isn't only lack of space, it's also that I love draft beers and I'm a very lazy guy. Bottling 48 bottles + sanitizing would be a pita.

 

[WhiskeyR]

You can get into kegging fairly cheap. It's an added expense but its very much worth it. Its a major time saver, you can control how much carbonation you want and your beers will be ready to drink in less time.

Craigslist is a good place to start. That's where I got mine and then I made some upgrades.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

There are some cheap alternatives for kegging small batches. The party pig and tap-a-draft are both commercial alternatives to kegging that go in your fridge. Some people hack those Miller home draft systems to work the same way. I have a party pig that I use from time to time. It holds 2.5 gallons of beer and keeps it carbonated for about a month in the fridge before it starts to go flat. It's not too hard to work with.

 

[ZamaMan]

It can be as expensive as you make it. My freezer was 370 ish new, temp controller is $60, kegs are 40-50 bucks each. 15lb co2 tank $80, regulator $50, picnic taps are cheap but great perlick faucets run like 40-50 for the whole.assembly. so it can add up but having up to 6 beers on talk at the same time is priceless.

Find a cheap or.free upright fridge and a one keg system for under 300.