To keg or not to keg??

[kombat]

+1. Kegging is great for a multitude of reasons, but I don't see how it's any easier. Cleaning kegs, disassembling posts and poppets, relubing everything, leak tests, cleaning beer line etc is all more time consuming than tossing 50 bottles in the dishwasher on sanitize cycle for me.

First off, maybe your dishwasher is better than mine, but I can never be sure that the dishwasher's jets are getting all up inside the bottles through those narrow necks and thoroughly cleaning them. Whenever I need to clean a batch of bottles, I soak them in a bucket of hot Oxyclean overnight, then scrub off the label glue and rinse them with a bucket of cold water, and then a blast the insides with a bottle jet nozzle attached to my sink faucet.

Secondly, kegging may require some work, but not nearly as much as bottling, particularly on kegging/bottling day. I store my kegs cleaned and sanitized, so when a batch of beer is ready for packaging, all I have to do is pop the lid, dump out any remaining Starsan, then rack the beer into the keg using a sanitized autosiphon. Once it's done, I put the lid back on (after giving the O-ring a swipe with keg lube), seal it up, attach to CO2, purge it 5 times, then put it in the freezer to carb up. Everything after that step (i.e., cleanup) is the same for both processes, so doesn't count.

No weighing/boiling/cooling priming sugar, no sanitizing 50 individual bottles one at a time, no capping, none of that. It takes me maybe 20 minutes, at most to keg a batch of beer. How long does it take to bottle 5 gallons?

 

[robbyice]

bottling is the worst and can be crazy inconsistent. don't bother, just skip right to kegging equipment if you can afford some. you will buy it soon anyway.

 

[AQUILAS]

I'd say it depends entirely on your funds. If you've got the funds to get a keg set up, do it. You'll have beer ready to drink much quicker than bottles and it's a whole lot less cleaning altogether. Plus, you can still bottle from kegs.

But with that said, there's nothing wrong with starting off with bottling. If anything, it'll give you a higher appreciation for kegging. Lol. I've been bottling and just now starting to look into kegging.

 

[iijakii]

First off, maybe your dishwasher is better than mine, but I can never be sure that the dishwasher's jets are getting all up inside the bottles through those narrow necks and thoroughly cleaning them. Whenever I need to clean a batch of bottles, I soak them in a bucket of hot Oxyclean overnight, then scrub off the label glue and rinse them with a bucket of cold water, and then a blast the insides with a bottle jet nozzle attached to my sink faucet.

Secondly, kegging may require some work, but not nearly as much as bottling, particularly on kegging/bottling day. I store my kegs cleaned and sanitized, so when a batch of beer is ready for packaging, all I have to do is pop the lid, dump out any remaining Starsan, then rack the beer into the keg using a sanitized autosiphon. Once it's done, I put the lid back on (after giving the O-ring a swipe with keg lube), seal it up, attach to CO2, purge it 5 times, then put it in the freezer to carb up. Everything after that step (i.e., cleanup) is the same for both processes, so doesn't count.

No weighing/boiling/cooling priming sugar, no sanitizing 50 individual bottles one at a time, no capping, none of that. It takes me maybe 20 minutes, at most to keg a batch of beer. How long does it take to bottle 5 gallons?

I have a rubbermaid of strong PBW solution I've had for about half a year. I submerge bottles in it for a few days and then the labels have generally fallen off. Some require peeling... never any scrubbing. After that I rinse them well, dry, and put them in my 'clean bottle' rubbermaid. Night before or morning of bottling day I load the dishwasher with bottles and throw it on sanitize cycle. That's it. On already de-labeled bottles I rinse after opening and when they're dry they go back to my 'clean bottle' rubbermaid. It's really that simple.

Is my dishwasher better than yours? Perhaps. I don't worry about it getting up in the bottles as I'm just worried about the heat sanitizing them. A quick rinse after opening ensures there's no gunk stuck to the sides. No infections to date.

I keg as well, and enjoy it for many reasons, but I'll never understand why people think bottling is so difficult. I've never timed it, but maybe 40 minutes including racking and what not? Wife bottles and I cap, so I do have a helper. The act of kegging is quicker, but when you count in cleaning there's no way it's quicker than bottling. All I have to do is rinse and throw a bottle in a bucket. When I clean and disassemble keg poppets it's a lot longer...

 

[kombat]

When I clean and disassemble keg poppets it's a lot longer...

You don't have to do that with every batch.

 

[NickTheGreat]

You don't have to do that with every batch.

I toss them in a bucket of soapy water, then rinse and soak in sanitizer. Still doesn't take much time at all

 

[slym2none]

bottling is the worst and can be crazy inconsistent. don't bother, just skip right to kegging equipment if you can afford some. you will buy it soon anyway.

I will never buy a keg nor any kegging equipment.

Please refrain from making all-inclusive statements when you don't know what you're saying.

 

[douglasbarbin]

I will never buy a keg nor any kegging equipment.

Please refrain from making all-inclusive statements when you don't know what you're saying.

Are you serious? So you don't plan on ever serving your beer at festivals?

 

[jrcrilly]

It isn't either/or. I started out kegging everything and doing a few bottles from the kegs to give to friends. I found that very inconvenient. Now I bottle half of most batches and keg the remainder of each. Some batches (those intended primarily as gifts) are totally bottled. The only batches that go entirely to the kegs are those I brew just for me.

 

[slym2none]

Are you serious? So you don't plan on ever serving your beer at festivals?

I am a homebrewer that makes 2.5 gallon batches. No, I never plan on serving my beer at festivals, although I am sure I could serve from bottles if I were going to. If that is against some rule, then so be it.

Call me cheap or frugal - that's just too much money to be able to carbonate a beer & pour a beer. A little sugar in each bottle, wait a little while, pop the bottle open & pour - that's what works for me.

I guess level of technicality also bears weight here - I will go AG some day (soon!) but I will always BIAB. To me, those multi-container setups look like a brewery at someone's house, not a home-brewers' setup. I want to keep things as simple as possible, and you don't get much simpler than a pot, a bag, and your ingredients. Same with a keg system - it's too complicated, again to me, it's like a Rube Goldberg device. I can get nearly-equal-to-equal results with much less technicality.

This is not a diss to anyone who owns these multi-vessel HERMS/RIMS/whathaveyou systems. I am sure you have your reasons for buying them, just like keggers do theirs.

It's just not for me. But it does get old when people say "You'll keg anyway, so screw bottling!" and that's what I am really tired of hearing.

I will never keg my beers. I hope one day, someone out there in HBT land will drink one of my beers and tell me they like it. But it will be poured from a bottle, bottle-conditioned & carbonated.

 

[douglasbarbin]

There's no rule I've ever heard of that would prevent you from serving from bottles. I was just thinking that you would have a hard time keeping up with demand if you had to keep opening bottles and pouring as opposed to pulling from a faucet.

You are probably in the minority by saying that you will never keg. Nothing wrong with that, though. To each their own.

 

[ericbw]

I do small batches (2.5-3 gallons), and I love to keg. It is an investment, but I made it over time. I started with a 2.5 gallon keg and a paintball tank. Picnic tap. I got the fridge from my old landlord when we moved (and already had a fridge in the new place). Eventually, I added 4 taps through the door (2 at a time). I have 4 kegs and a 10 pound CO2 tank now. The only additions I will make now would be more kegs, but again, 1 or 2 at a time. I might get a 5 gallon keg next time.

And I don't know that I will ever serve beer at a festival - not even sure what that means??

 

[robbyice]

I will never buy a keg nor any kegging equipment.

Please refrain from making all-inclusive statements when you don't know what you're saying.

wow. In my opinion bottling is inconsistent. my experience shows this to be true for me. please refrain from being a jerk. I do happen to know what I am saying since I've done both and feel strongly that kegging is far superior to bottling.

 

[Jim311]

Seems to me that everyone who kegs currently still has the gear to bottle. Some stuff ages well in the bottle, or maybe they want to hand out a few brews to friends as a gift or whatever. There's very little equipment that costs very much as far as bottling is concerned so it's not like you'll have wasted a bunch of money if you eventually move to kegging.



I bottle but I hate a lot of aspects of it. One is the house is full of damn bottles all the time. Two is the time spent washing and sanitizing. Three is that I never have exactly the perfect portion. Four is that there's always some bottle trub or yeast that isn't terribly appealing. Five is that it takes longer to carbonate and requires use of priming sugar.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

One more thing about kegging, you can't do this with a bottle..

View attachment 1443027777270.jpg

 

[slym2none]

wow. In my opinion bottling is inconsistent. my experience shows this to be true for me. please refrain from being a jerk. I do happen to know what I am saying since I've done both and feel strongly that kegging is far superior to bottling.

Your quote was "just buy kegs at first, you are going to anyway." That's what I am talking about, as that is what responded to in your quote. I like that you went for the part of your post that I had nothing to do with... that's telling.

And, no, no I am not going to buy kegs. You're wrong. Please don't be a jerk and put words in my mouth with such all-encompassing statements.

 

[slym2none]

One more thing about kegging, you can't do this with a bottle..

It's cool that you can, but one doesn't need to.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

It's cool that you can, but one doesn't need to.

Got rid of cable and ate PBJ sandwiches for 6 months. It's worth it! 😃

 

[slym2none]

*lol*

 

[unionrdr]

I'd say so, yes. Bottling isn't that bad unto itself, but to me, keeping some 5-7 batches worth of bottles around takes up a lot of space. Especially when you try to keep boxed empties separated from full ones. In my opinion, the storage space issue is the only down side.

 

[Dixon9717]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443297357.773202.jpggot this for $85 on CL now I need to figure out what a good CO2 regulator is and convince the SWMBO that the spending won't go on forever it'll just seem like it. Then goodbye bottling except for the HB to go..
Any advice on a regulator is greatly appreciated......

 

[MattyIce]

View attachment 305729got this for $85 on CL now I need to figure out what a good CO2 regulator is and convince the SWMBO that the spending won't go on forever it'll just seem like it. Then goodbye bottling except for the HB to go..
Any advice on a regulator is greatly appreciated......

Congrats! Fancy stainless. I recommend a dual regulator. It allows you to carb at different levels according to style. This is a plus to me since I have space for 5 corny kegs in my fridge.

I use this one: http://www.amazon.com/Taprite-Product-Pressure-Kegerator-Regulator/dp/B0060NOX40/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443302299&sr=8-1&keywords=taprite+dual+body+regulator

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

View attachment 305729got this for $85 on CL now I need to figure out what a good CO2 regulator is and convince the SWMBO that the spending won't go on forever it'll just seem like it. Then goodbye bottling except for the HB to go..
Any advice on a regulator is greatly appreciated......

Get a double regulator, trust me, I think it was $50? (I use my 2nd for co2 blanketing.) Got 95% equipment, used kegs, etc, at MidWest supplies. Try googling "coupons xxxx" whatever your supply store will be. Probably saved $120-150 on a 4 keg system.

 

[Dixon9717]

Was looking at that same Taprite regulator but don't really pay attention to reviews thanks for the review Mattyice. Great idea on coupons Pianoman. Thanks for the tip.....

 

[Zepth]

I started off with bottles. Back in the golden age of hopped extract or bust when my father started up, I remember the bottling days. Had a good chain going on, with one family member using that pink powder sanitizer, one rinsing, one filling, one capping. A good wholesome family activity. Going alone is not quite so fun. While we do have starsan now and it takes rinsing the bottles out of the equation, it's still time consuming.

For myself I'd usually get about an hour and fifteen minutes start to finish on a 5g batch. This includes all sanitizing and measuring of priming sugar. The whole gig. With a friend I could bring that down to 45 minutes. Looking at HBT and how many people keg I was of the mindset "These people must really be into their beer." Then I ended up getting a 2 keg and regulator startup kit. After the first good Oxy soak and re-assembly I was ready for racking. About 10 minutes later I was done. Quite the time saving. Add that to the fact that I wanted to start brewing 10g batches, and the future path was clear.

Haven't looked back since. Donated some bottles to a friend who was just starting up with the bucket and carboy equipment kit. Expanded the keg collection, and have a perfectly functional keezer. I can also fit 6 cornies into the closet space that once held 4 cases of bottles. 6 batches in the space for 2. Having limited storage (condo tower) this is important to me. Come to think of it, that keezer eats up part of my living room. There goes the space savings. I guess it's better looking that a stack of beer cases though.

I still bottle the occasional batch. More and more rare that it happens, but sometimes. I'd recommend most people bottle a few batches at least and see if this hobby is for them, or for the birds before the jump into a few hundred (or closer to a thousand) investment on serving equipment. People and myself included have mentioned that having 5 batches of bottles around takes up a lot of real estate. Truth is having enough cases for one batch is enough to test the waters and decide if you want to go off the deep end.

 

[Dixon9717]

3 ball lock corny kegs $100
Co2 tank and reg. $70
Fridge $85
Lines, quick disconnects and what not $80
2 taps and shanks free....
So far $335. I know I need cleaning supplies and extra O ring sets but mostly need the time to put it all together.....
Now I just need the time to put it all together....

 

[Rairdog]

I just started and went with a keg system. I already had dorm fridge that holds 2 corny's, 8.75 gal turkey fryer and misc other equipment to start brewing. I brewed 15 years ago and the pain of bottling never went away. It made more sense to get into a keg system than spend the money on a shiny SS brew system when BIAB and alum. pot work well. I got plenty of bottles washed and ready to put back after filling with the keg. You brew for a few hours and you drink for weeks. A bad batch tastes bad either way. It's easier to dump a 5 gal keg than go through 53 bottles to see if one is good lol.

 

[jmcquesten]

Kegging is really nice. I just switched after a couple years of bottling, and don't regret it. Yes, the initial cost sucks. Yes, having a full tank of co2 leak out over night sucks. And yes, setting all of it up just to find out your first glass of beer is mostly foam with a little flat beer at the bottom is discouraging. However, once you've pieced together as much used equipment as possible, then fixed your leaks (by buying new equipment to replace the used stuff you pieced together), and accept the fact that 5 ft of beer line really isn't enough (neither is the 10 that most people recommend) to slow the beer down enough to keep the co2 in the beer rather than turning into a glass of foam when it shoots out of your faucets, you'll never look back.

Point is, kegging is great once you get it figured out and set up right. It does take some time and patience to get the bugs worked out, but it's nice once you do.

 

[thekraken]

reading some posts and doing some research it appears kegging is superior to bottling.
However, as a first time brewer is it a safer bet to just bottle?

That is essentially what this thread is about. Go back and read the first few pages. To summarize: As a first time brewer bottle a few times and make sure you like the hobby enough before spending the money on kegs and kegging equipment. Once you've decided you like it and will continue with the hobby then look into purchasing kegging stuff.

 

[andy6026]

If you can afford it then go straight to kegging. You don't have to buy a bottling bucket, capper, bottles, bottle brush, bottling wand, bottle sanitizer, etc. While these don't amount to a huge cost, if you know you're serious about this hobby - and it sounds like you are - then don't fart around with half steps now. Go the full hog and you'll save in the long run.