To keg or not to keg??

[slym2none]

Why would you not keg.

Hundreds of dollars just to carbonate & put beer in my glass?

There are lines & taps & ball locks & other things to clean as well for kegs.

Bottles fit in my fridge. A keg doesn't. Oh, more money to make/buy something that will hold my keg...

Overall, no thanks. No offense to people who do keg, but it ain't for me, and since you asked, I gave a few reasons.

Those are my reasons. No one's reasons for kegging are going to change my mind, but I like how many people had to respond to my response.

 

[murphyslaw]

I dont know that anyone is trying to change your mind. I think people respond to you because they disagree and want the OP and anyone else who finds this thread to know that, for their benefit.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Both are great! I just split a champagne corker with a buddy and I'm planning on cork and a cage for wild beers and Belgians. I've got beer in bottles legs and barrels. Just go for it!

 

[Ariza-Poet]

Thank you gentlemen, lots of great information here for me (and anyone who reads this) to make some educated decisions.

Bottles definitely seems the way to go for me at this point, with my lack of knowledge and funds.

I hope one day to get to kegging as it seems better IMHO.

I love the passion for both, kegging and bottling,
that I read in these comments and hope one day to be balls deep in this hobby
and brew up some monsters up to par or even better than the commercial brews I love,
as well as some simple great tasting smaller beers.

again thank you for this great info.
This thread turned out much better than i anticipated.

I'm sure i'll be back to this thread in a couple years when I'm ready for kegging.

 

[pedalbiker]

I have these kits for a good price http://www.kegglebrewing.com/Three-...ck-Kit-DRIP-TRAY-NOT-INCLUDED-COPY_p_411.html. Check craigslist for a cheap fridge. There is nothing wrong with used corny kegs. You can start with a single keg kit for less than $200.00. I know that's more than some can afford but start small build up to what you want. Most of us started brewing on the stove and plastic buckets to ferment in.

 

[mbobhat]

Bottle first, just make sure you use a no rinse sanitizer like starsan. I used bleach first and it is a pain in the ass to rinse and you still get off flavors

 

[Dixon9717]

I bottled for two years and got my first keg system done today. Now I'm sitting and staring at it waiting for the beer to carb up. Going to be a long day. Pieced this together mostly from CL for under $450View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1444177464.137978.jpg

 

[Dixon9717]

Served my first draft beer last night. Man that feels cool. Some of the guys didn't know it was homebrew. Thought I'd filled the kegs at a local microbrew. Thanks for all the help HBT. I've learned mostly from here that's got me this far.

 

[bobeer]

Buy the keg stuff. You can always bottle if you want to but sometimes you don't have time to wait the 3 weeks for the beer to condition out. Having options is always better than not having options.

 

[bobeer]

If my wife hadn't decided to stay at home when our daughter was born 2.5 years ago, I'd have a kegging system by now. She and I made the exact same salaries, and since she now only works very part time from home, we don't have the disposable funds to allow me to get the kegging setup I really want (three-tap system with SS Perlicks). I could go a little cheaper with picnic taps, but even then I can't justify the cost since I know I'll want to upgrade to Perlicks at some point.

This is my situation... Wife stays home with the kid and works about 8 hours a week to cover some extra expenses. I'm all for kegging because it saves time in all aspects as compared to bottling. BUT you have to keep buying c02 which is about $18-20 for my 5 lb tank. A tank lasts about 4 and some times 5 beers for me. I have a very small budget to brew with so when that budget is low it's back to bottles I go. I'd rather spend that $20 on grain/hops/yeast and keep the beer flowing over spending it on the satisfaction of pulling my own pint.

Like I said in my initial post.. If you have the money to buy a draft setup then go for it so you at least have it. IDK if the OP is married, if you have kids, etc, but life throws crazy things at you and I"m happy I bought my draft setup before I had kids because there's no way I could afford it now.

One last point is you don't have to spend hundreds on a setup. If you wait and buy the parts you need as you see them, either on sale or on Craigs List, you can save a ton of money on a setup. It took me almost 2 years to get my setup together but I didn't have to spend a dime of my own money. I used bdays and xmas to get a few things, and then just kept my eye out for free visa cards for promos (like switching to verizon from comcast paid me $300, refi'ed my truck with my other bank paid me $250) and other sales on the homebrew websites. It's totally possible to make a draft setup on the cheap if you just wait and grab things as you see them. Good luck!

 

[unionrdr]

Well, at this stage of the game, for me, Co2 purchases for a 10lb tank or so to run a 3 keg kegerator would cost prohibitive. So bottling it is. Priming sugar is cheaper & a 10 cu ft fridge is a couple hundred at two places where I can use my plastic. It'd fit about 18 or so 12oz beers on each of the shelves if spaced right. Then I can have 3-4 different beers in there, including a freezer for hops & space on the door for yeast & LME. So spend a similar amount on a fridge & prime, or get a keg system & keep buying Co2...

 

[numba1brew]

I think it really depends on how much you're willing to invest into brewing. I like to think of keg's as the gateway between a part time hobby and something you're really serious about. If you're going to try and sell your batches, or you have some free money to spend I would say go for the keg, otherwise skip it!

 

[ericbw]

I think it really depends on how much you're willing to invest into brewing. I like to think of keg's as the gateway between a part time hobby and something you're really serious about. If you're going to try and sell your batches, or you have some free money to spend I would say go for the keg, otherwise skip it!

You can't sell your batches of home brew.

 

[beergolf]

I like to think of keg's as the gateway between a part time hobby and something you're really serious about.

I totally disagree with this. If kegs work for you then great. But you cannot sell homebrew, so it is a hobby. If you want to go pro then do it, but as a homebrewer, kegs do not make you a more serious brewer.

It all depends on what you brew. I brew a lot of Belgians, Saisons and Sours. A lot of these like age on them and it would be almost impossible to keg them all. I have probably probably over 30 brews ( in varying amounts) aging in my basement. Can I keg all of them? No. So bottling and aging them is the best option. Do the Belgian and sour brewers keg their brews? No 99.9% of them are bottled. So these breweries that have been around for generations are not serious? Does that make me a not serious brewer, because I bottle most of my brews? I am about as serious as you can get about producing the best brews I can.

Do I keg? Yes of course. I have 2 taps. I usually have an IPA on tap on one tap. The other tap is a Nitro tap that usually has a stout or an Irish red on it. So maybe I am semi serious.I also have about 10-12 different brews in the fridge. So great variety. I can pick bewteewn many brews when I go to the fridge. Most cannot have a 15 tap sysem in their house.

Kegging has nothing to do with being serious about brewing.

 

[unionrdr]

To all this, I have to say the passion, or seriousness, is in the brewing & fermenting. Packaging is more practical to the brew. I just decided to stick to bottling because of my age. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to enjoy this hobby. Till I die, I hope.

 

[beergolf]

I agree with unionrdr on this one. It is just about packaging. Kegging or bottling has nothing to do with your passion.

I have tasted crappy brews that were kegged, and tasted some of the best brews I have ever had that were bottled. The package does not make the beer.

 

[numba1brew]

You can't sell your batches of home brew.

I didn't actually mean sell, more like giveaway to friends

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I voted "Other". if you're not drinking beer straight from the bucket or carboy, you're home brewering all wrong.

 

[beergolf]

I didn't actually mean sell, more like giveaway to friends

Then bottles are easier....:smack:

 

[schematix]

I bought 2 kegs with all my brew equipment for my first batch. I knew bottling 10G was going to suck.

Now i'm up to 7 kegs and sometimes wish i had more...

 

[ericbw]

You will waste less beer with kegs. The friends that taste a bottle and don't like it. The people who tip it bottom up and wonder why it tastes funky. The times when you only want half.

But for giving away, bottling from the keg is frustrating and messy.

 

[unionrdr]

That's where taster glasses come in handy.

 

[kombat]

That's where taster glasses come in handy.

Right. But I think he means that with bottling, you can't just open a bottle, pour half into a taster glass, then recap it and put the bottle back in the fridge. Once it's been opened, it must be drank in its entirety, or wasted. With kegging, you can pour off a half-glass or a taster glass, and no beer goes to waste.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, that's true. Not a problem when there's a couple people drinking, at any rate.

 

[murphyslaw]

.

But for giving away, bottling from the keg is frustrating and messy.

Look into getting a beer gun. After trying the biermuncher method a couple times with poor results, i bought a beer gun and bottling became super fast, easy, and clean.

 

[Remmy]

A tank lasts about 4 and some times 5 beers for me. !

That's crazy. I, too, have a 5-lb. CO2 tank and it lasts me through roughly 15 5.5-gallon kegs.

 

[wilserbrewer]

BUT you have to keep buying c02 which is about $18-20 for my 5 lb tank. A tank lasts about 4 and some times 5 beers for me. I have a very small budget to brew with so when that budget is low it's back to bottles I go. I'd rather spend that $20 on grain/hops/yeast and keep the beer flowing over spending it on the satisfaction of pulling my own pint.

If the cost of CO2 is an issue, buy a 5 lb bag of cane sugar and prime your kegs and let them carb. The CO2 used to just dispense the beer is far less than that required to force carb. I have a 20 lb tank that only costs around $20 to fill, so there is not much savings to be had, but with a 5 lb tank and fills at $20, table sugar will be cheaper.

I think my local grocer has a 4 or 5 pound bag of sugar on sale for only $1.49....that's a lot of CO2 I'd imagine

 

[kombat]

That's crazy. I, too, have a 5-lb. CO2 tank and it lasts me through roughly 15 5.5-gallon kegs.

Carb + serve or just serve?

 

[Remmy]

Carb + serve or just serve?

Carb and serve. I carb at 30 psi (shake for 90 seconds) and set to 10 psi for serving.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Everyone is always repeating the downside of setting up a kegging system is the upfront cost. I have a slightly different viewpoint. I have acquired a bunch of kegging equipment on the used market, CO2 tanks, sanke kegs and couplers, cheap / free fridges and freezers. Most if not all of my kegging equipment is worth about exactly what I paid for it 5 years ago, so my actual cost of kegging will be nil someday, perhaps only when my heirs sell it off

Now bottle caps, those things are getting pricey