To Keg or Not to Keg

[Scturo]

I've been brewing for a little over a year now. It's been a blast, and I've learned a lot from many people in this forum. And even though I've made some solid beers, I haven't made anything outstanding.

I've been a bottle only person, and I'm wondering if this has limited me at all. Is it possible to make equally good beer, in bottles or Kegs? My recent beer was a NEIPA that did taste decent, but the look was a muddy brown. The general consensus was that oxidation was the cause, and Kegging would help minimize the problem. Thoughts?

Either way, I will be moving to Kegging. I've already got SWMBO's approval, and a $500 budget. Hoping to make a 7.0 cuft Keezer, and get at least 2 Kegs going. See how things go.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

A keg is a large bottle.
Make a good beer, practice good sanitation and storage practices, enjoy the benefits of force carbing, ( I think!), and you'll not look back.

I never bottled, went straight to kegging.

 

[Kene64]

I moved to kegs over a year ago and never looked back. I went with kegs because I didn't like having sediment in my bottles. Im sure you can make good beer without using kegs. The quality of my beer went up when I started kegging. To be fair, I did also make changes to my brew process at the same time. Kegging made it much easier to push the beer through filters to get clean, clear brews.
It also made carbonation much more consistent for me. Under carbed? Put a little more CO2 preassure on your keg.
I purchased the Mark II keg/carboy washer and found it made cleaning and sanitizing my kegs a breeze.
I hope you enjoy kegging as much as I do. Happy brewing!

 

[JDXX1971]

A keg is a large bottle.
Make a good beer, practice good sanitation and storage practices, enjoy the benefits of force carbing, ( I think!), and you'll not look back.

I never bottled, went straight to kegging.

Yep, that is what we did too. We started with cider making this last Fall straight into the four keg kit we got from keg connection. Now I am brewing beer too!!!!! Gotta get more kegs, we have two fermenters full waiting.

Scturo

Either way, I will be moving to Kegging. I've already got SWMBO's approval, and a $500 budget. Hoping to make a 7.0 cuft Keezer, and get at least 2 Kegs going. See how things go.

Definitely get more than two kegs if you can. We had one just for Star San for a while, before I filled it with Cyser. I miss my Star San keg, made it so easy.

 

[AkTom]

I just bottle. One day when I grow up... I'd say kegging won't necessarily improve your beer. Sounds like you may to work on your process. Just .02 worth of not much. The more you brew, the better it'll be. Congrats on getting SWMBO go ahead with kegging.
Cheers

 

[sky4meplease]

I have gone to kegging beers that I want to move quickly IPA's, Pale Ales, Cream Ale, Kolsch, Blonde Ale (you get the idea) and bottling the beers meant to mellow over time or that I don't want to push through the pipe line.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Go keg. You'll love it.
The downside is that you will drink more of your beer.
I't so much easier to just pour a pint, drink a little, top it up, have some more, pour a bit more...
And your beer will look better without the bottle sediment if you even care about that.
I use a 16 cu. ft upright freezer with a brewer thermostat to control temps. It fits up to four corny kegs or two and a carboy for lagering, plus a 5 lb. CO2 take with extra shelves for bottles of beer and whatnot. The downside is no tap handles or the like - just picnic spouts for all the kegs.
You can get them new for around $400 if you look, or used dirt cheap.

 

[SilverZero]

+1 to drinking more. I bottled for 3 years, moved to kegging and love it, but now I'm often brewing 11 gallons, kegging 5 and bottling the rest to share (or travel).

Want to know my secret? I ferment in a sanke keg with a custom dip tube spunding system I made. I can transfer to a keg with priming solution in it under CO2 pressure, then push from the keg through a spring-loaded bottling wand and bottle from there. No open buckets, no siphon. It's a dream. When I'm done bottling and the keg is empty, I can fill it again from the sanke and be done with it.

 

[Scturo]

Thanks guys,

I just bottle. One day when I grow up... I'd say kegging won't necessarily improve your beer. Sounds like you may to work on your process. Just .02 worth of not much.
Cheers

Yes sir, looking at my process as well.

I have gone to kegging beers that I want to move quickly IPA's, Pale Ales, Cream Ale, Kolsch, Blonde Ale (you get the idea) and bottling the beers meant to mellow over time or that I don't want to push through the pipe line.

Definitely will bottle for aging.

Want to know my secret? I ferment in a sanke keg with a custom dip tube spunding system I made. I can transfer to a keg with priming solution in it under CO2 pressure, then push from the keg through a spring-loaded bottling wand and bottle from there. No open buckets, no siphon. It's a dream. When I'm done bottling and the keg is empty, I can fill it again from the sanke and be done with it.

I will probably ask you for pics and design, when I get that far.

 

[Dixon9717]

I bottled for about 3 years then started to keg over a year ago. Haven't bottled since then but I kept all my bottling stuff just to have the option of both. It's just so much cooler to pour from a tap then pop a cap when your at home.

 

[logdrum]

And also: you can bottle from a keg, but you can't keg from a bottle

 

[PADave]

I guess I'm some kind of weirdo or something. I've been bottling, and honestly don't really mind the whole process. Been keeping an eye out on CL for a keg setup, and bought one yesterday. But honestly, I'm not really looking forward to using it. It's only a single keg mini fridge and I'm still trying to figure out how I'd want to configure things. I'm definitely going to replace the lines, would like to get a good faucet, and would like to add a manifold so I can at least have a line to carb a second keg outside the fridge. Bottling has been working fine for me, I'm just still trying to figure out why I need to keg. I might give it a try, or I might sell it, not sure yet.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Keg. Buy my beergun. Have perfectly bottled beer always.

Seriously, legging vs bottling wouldn't fix an oxidation problem. They way you rack into a bottling bucket is the same way you'll rack to a keg. I'd say a muddy brown look was either not using gelatin, not waiting for everything to settle or chill haze.

 

[Brew_G]

Keg. Buy my beergun. Have perfectly bottled beer always.

Seriously, legging vs bottling wouldn't fix an oxidation problem. They way you rack into a bottling bucket is the same way you'll rack to a keg. I'd say a muddy brown look was either not using gelatin, not waiting for everything to settle or chill haze.

There seems to be a general issue for folks trying to bottle NE IPAs - loss of hop flavor/aroma and murky dark coloration after bottling. On a personal note, it's happened to me twice now, despite the fact that my other beers don't have that issue. And the difference between the NE IPAs going into the bottle and coming out of the bottle is striking.

Folks are trying to figure out what might be causing this to happen, and oxidation is one possible answer. The inability purge oxygen when bottling may be a big cause of this, but no one is quite sure.

As for the OP, if you have the money and time to devote to a kegging system, I say go for it. I'm about there myself, and even though I don't mind bottling, I'm really looking forward to having kegged homebrew available!

 

[motosapiens]

There seems to be a general issue for folks trying to bottle NE IPAs - loss of hop flavor/aroma and murky dark coloration after bottling. On a personal note, it's happened to me twice now, despite the fact that my other beers don't have that issue. And the difference between the NE IPAs going into the bottle and coming out of the bottle is striking.

how long did it take? i bottled 2 NE pale ales a few weeks ago, and they taste and smell exactly like the one I kegged before that. Perhaps I am doing it wrong.

Regarding packaging, I have been kegging occasionally for many years, but i usually only do it for special occasions and parties and stuff, or if i'm just in a huge hurry and don't want to wait 2+ weeks for bottle conditioned beer. I personally don't find kegging to be any easier than bottling, but i take the time to carefully rinse and dry bottles as soon as i empty them, so all i have to do is throw them in sanitizer while i'm getting everything else ready.

The main reason I prefer bottles is I rarely like to drink the same beer twice in a row, and i'm not going to invest in the gear to have 6-7 different beers on tap, but I almost always have at least that many different varieties bottled.

Also I suspect that the bottle-conditioning process helps guard against oxidation by scavenging what oxygen does get in introduced. At least I have never managed to make a beer that tasted oxidized, or really changed dramatically between bottling and several months later.

So, for the OP, keg if you want to, or if you find it more convenient, or if you just like buying more equipment, but don't expect that the mere act of kegging will do anything to improve your beer except making it drinkable a little bit sooner.

 

[JoeMamasIPA]

NEIPA is what drove me to kegging as well, the bottled stuff would go brown and taste bad before they even carbed up. Closed transfer to a purged keg is a must and a game changer.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Some people love kegging. And some people would rather bottle.

I started with bottling and did it for years.
Then I built a kegerator, acquired all the kegs, taps etc. built my own tap handles. I did 4 batches in the keg and haven't kegged since. That was 4 years ago?

"Why did I go back to bottling?" You may ask.
Because I found that I drank the kegged beer WAY to fast. I plowed through my first keg in 1 week. Yikes! [emoji15]
The other batches were almost equally as fast.
So for health sake, I feel bottling was a better way to pace myself.

Was kegging easier? YUP! Just rack from carboy to keg. Hook up the CO2. 10 mins.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Pointer:
I looked on Craigslist for a 20lb CO2 tank.
With the cost of the tank and the shipping it was $50.
Here's the catch. The tank was expired. BUT... I took it to a CO2 refill place and they just swapped it out for a brand new full tank. Just like the Blue Rhino propane exchange.
Only cost $20 for the exchange.

 

[Bobb25]

I keg my beer, so that I can sample it as it conditions. When the keg is about half gone <g>, and I am finished sampling, I bottle what is left with a beer gun. This frees up one of my kegs for the next batch, and gives me a supply of home brew to bring with me when I snowbird for three months. This year I brought somewhere around 100 16 oz. flip top bottles with me.

 

[jmcquesten]

I guess I'm some kind of weirdo or something. I've been bottling, and honestly don't really mind the whole process. Been keeping an eye out on CL for a keg setup, and bought one yesterday. But honestly, I'm not really looking forward to using it. It's only a single keg mini fridge and I'm still trying to figure out how I'd want to configure things. I'm definitely going to replace the lines, would like to get a good faucet, and would like to add a manifold so I can at least have a line to carb a second keg outside the fridge. Bottling has been working fine for me, I'm just still trying to figure out why I need to keg. I might give it a try, or I might sell it, not sure yet.

Give it a try for a while. I didn't hate bottling, but it also wasn't my favorite. I started kegging after 2 years of bottling and love it. Been kegging for 3 years now. Yes, it's convenient only cleaning and filling one vessel. And it's fun pouring your own draft beer at home. But the best part of kegging for me is the control I have over carbonation. I don't have the random over or under carbonated beers anymore like I always got when bottling. And that was properly dissolving priming sugar and mixing, etc.

Of course there's a cost to all of it that can be a little steep. Especially if (when) you get carried away with it, which you will. I started with a used fridge, 6 craigslist kegs and 4 used, free chrome faucets and a single regulator. Within a few months, I ordered a new taprite 4 regulator secondary manifold setup, 4 perlick 630ss and new stainless shanks, as well as 4 more craigslist kegs. But then there's the cost of ball (or pin) lock connectors (2 per tap), 15 - 20 ft of beer line for each faucet, swivel connectors, hose clamps, new o-rings for kegs, co2 refills, more co2 refills when chasing down the leak that leaves your first tank empty, etc. So you get an extra co2 tank for a backup. Then, you gotta get the kegged beer into bottles for a competition or to bring somewhere, so you look at a beergun (another $100 ish), and maybe a growler filler too.

Oh yeah, don't forget about the hours of trying to figure out why your kegged beer is really foamy but isn't carbonated. The first thing you try in this situation is turning the pressure down to serve, then turning it back up. You'll get sick of chasing the carbonation so you might be tempted to settle with under carbonated beer serving at like 6 psi. Then you post here again asking why the beer is still flat or foamy. Someone will tell you that you HAVE to by new flow control faucets to fix the foam, but you've already spent $40 each on new perlick 630ss. So, as a last resort you try using mikesoltys.com line length calculator and get new 15-20 ft beer lines to replace the 5 ft ones that came with your "kit", or that the LHBS told you would be sufficient. At that point, you'll start to enjoy drinking your properly carbonated, kegged draft beer at home.

The point is: kegging is great and I wouldn't go back to just bottling, but be careful, it's a very slippery (expensive) slove.

 

[kristiismean]

How many gallons do you brew,
how much do you give away or bring to friends house
can you get away with a growler..
there is your answer.

for example:
Me:
brewed 147 gallons
Kegged: 45 gallons (started kegging in april)
Bottled: 102 gallons
gave away 70 gallons
so I will continue to bottle AND keg.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Oh yeah, don't forget about the hours of trying to figure out why your kegged beer is really foamy but isn't carbonated. The first thing you try in this situation is turning the pressure down to serve, then turning it back up. You'll get sick of chasing the carbonation so you might be tempted to settle with under carbonated beer serving at like 6 psi. Then you post here again asking why the beer is still flat or foamy. Someone will tell you that you HAVE to by new flow control faucets to fix the foam, but you've already spent $40 each on new perlick 630ss. So, as a last resort you try using mikesoltys.com line length calculator and get new 15-20 ft beer lines to replace the 5 ft ones that came with your "kit", or that the LHBS told you would be sufficient. At that point, you'll start to enjoy drinking your properly carbonated, kegged draft beer at home.
.

If there's one thing I learned while working at a craft brewery with a tap room, it was how to pour beer from a tap.
When I was kegging (before I worked there) I could NEVER get my kegged beer to stop foaming. But the owner watched me pour one out of the wall one time and said... "There's your problem. You don't know how to pour. "

Basically I had to open the tap and let it run for around 1 solid second before putting the glass under to begin filling. Because the reduced pressure in the lines, nucleation sites in the hose and from temp differences, any beer sitting in the hose before you pour will be overly foamy.

Let the beer flow for a second and that foam goes away.
It's wasteful but it's the only sure fire way to make it work.

Once I learned this, I never had another problem from my kegged beer ever again.

Just make sure you have a good drive tray.

 

[skraeling]

Thanks guys,



Yes sir, looking at my process as well.



Definitely will bottle for aging.




I will probably ask you for pics and design, when I get that far.

building one was fun :
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=593107

 

[Morrey]

Honestly, if I hadn't started kegging I would have stopped brewing altogether. That's how much I dislike the bottling phase. Kegging saved my brewing career!

I treat kegs as a brite tank just like large breweries. Carb, dry hop, lager, age, condition....what ever you choose in a keg. Dispensing can be tricky at first with foaming, I simply use Perlick 650SS flow control taps to make good pours.

When you keg a beer that ends up being a slow mover, you may want to use a counter pressure bottle filler if you need to bottle something for later. I also have kegged and carbed beers specifically to bottle when I want to slow age a beer like an oaked Porter that may like a year to condition. The uses for a keg are well worth the investment.

 

[jmcquesten]

If there's one thing I learned while working at a craft brewery with a tap room, it was how to pour beer from a tap.
When I was kegging (before I worked there) I could NEVER get my kegged beer to stop foaming. But the owner watched me pour one out of the wall one time and said... "There's your problem. You don't know how to pour. "

Basically I had to open the tap and let it run for around 1 solid second before putting the glass under to begin filling. Because the reduced pressure in the lines, nucleation sites in the hose and from temp differences, any beer sitting in the hose before you pour will be overly foamy.

Let the beer flow for a second and that foam goes away.
It's wasteful but it's the only sure fire way to make it work.

Once I learned this, I never had another problem from my kegged beer ever again.

Just make sure you have a good drive tray.

I think this is a different situation. The first pour can be a little foamy, especially if someone has non cooled lines or a tower. I'm referring more to line length balancing. I don't know that letting it run for a few seconds fixes unbalanced systems, nor do I want to pour out a half pint of beer every time. Also, I'm not sure how many homebrewers have a "plumbed" drip tray. Mine doesn't have a drain and would only hold a pint before I had to dump it.

Letting it run IS wasteful, but is NOT the only sure fire way to make it work.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Oops. App messed up.
I deleted a duplicate post.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Kegging is awesome.
5 gallons transferred from primary in exactly one minute.
Drinking the fruits of my labor in 2 days
Lets not forget the cool factor of pulling a tap in your house.
I hate cleaning up bottles after a party let alone washing and sanitizing them...no thanks

 

[motosapiens]

But the best part of kegging for me is the control I have over carbonation. I don't have the random over or under carbonated beers anymore like I always got when bottling. And that was properly dissolving priming sugar and mixing, etc.

hmm. i must be doing it wrong. in 26 years of brewing and bottling thousands of gallons, i have only ever had 1 under-carbed beer, a german doppelbock, and zero over-carbed beers.. then someone tipped me off about adding more fresh yeast when bottling high-gravity beers. problem solved.

 

[The_Bishop]

Basically I had to open the tap and let it run for around 1 solid second before putting the glass under to begin filling. Because the reduced pressure in the lines, nucleation sites in the hose and from temp differences, any beer sitting in the hose before you pour will be overly foamy.

Let the beer flow for a second and that foam goes away.
It's wasteful but it's the only sure fire way to make it work.

Once I learned this, I never had another problem from my kegged beer ever again.

Just make sure you have a good drive tray.

If you need to dump beer for 1 second, you're doing it wrong. I have *0* issues pouring without wasting a drop.

Your system is either unbalanced, or your beer lines and taps are uncooled/warm.

It's an easy fix; just get some air circulating.

 

[Scturo]

building one was fun :

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=593107

^^^^ Nice setup, I'm also going to use a 7.0 chest freezer (Insignia). I'm hoping to fit 4 kegs.