Which is better?

[roesso]

Have not brewed any beer yet, hopefully by next weekend I will be. Which is better to bottle or keg the beer? If the money is there to buy kegs is it recommended to go ahead and keg instead of bottling? For a brew pot what is the best type of kettle to use, steel pot or keg cut in half?

Thanks,

roesso

 

[Orfy]

Kegs and Keggle for me.

Don't cut it in half just cut the top out.

 

[ajf]

Kegging is much easier, and much more expensive in startup costs.

Bottling is better for transporting small amounts of beer.

I do both, but it's approximately 90% kegs, and 10% bottles.

-a.

 

[Fingers]

Personally, I wasn't interested in brewing beer because the bottling was too much work. My wife suggested kegging and the clouds parted and angels sang. I'd brewed in a past life but it wasn't worth the bottling. As a caveat, I was brewing fizzy alcohol water so that may have had something to do with discontinuing my efforts. Had I known what I do now, I might have been bottling again long ago. But I digress.

Kegging gives you the same product with less work and way more cool factor.

 

[RickWG]

Personally, I wasn't interested in brewing beer because the bottling was too much work. My wife suggested kegging and the clouds parted and angels sang. I'd brewed in a past life but it wasn't worth the bottling. As a caveat, I was brewing fizzy alcohol water so that may have had something to do with discontinuing my efforts. Had I known what I do now, I might have been bottling again long ago. But I digress.

Kegging gives you the same product with less work and way more cool factor.

Seriously, wife has suggested kegging too. I should get busy on it and take her up on it before she get's wise. Kegging here I come.

 

[sirsloop]

kegsssssssss!!!

I currently have like 8 cases of beer bottles laying around my place boxed up. It takes a lot of space up compared kegs. If I want to brew a batch and keg condition it, I cna just toss it in the closet without having to worry about bottle bombs, etc etc. Cleanup is easier with kegs, you have quantity on demand with kegs, and definitely the "cool" factor. I'll warn you, if you decide to make a keggerator, plan on putting 500 bucks aside for a fridge, kegs, c02, regulator, tower, taps, faucets, shanks, lines... it adds up fast!!

The brew pot you use really depends on your wallet, and if you do full boils or partials. If you are just getting into brewing, i'm going assume you are doing extract kits. A 20qt stock pot should work out well for 5 gallon partial boil batches. You don't necessarily need to worry about aeration either if you are adding in a couple gallons tap water after the boil.

Ceramic coated steel is cheapest, then to aluminum pots, then to stainless steel.