Who prefers bottling over kegging?

[tallahasseegreys]

Are there any veteran home brewers out there who prefer to bottle as opposed to kegging? Forget money differences, or time till you can drink differences. Are there any all grain brewers who just *prefer* to bottle??

 

[RM-MN]

I brew all grain and I like to have a large variety of beers to choose from so I bottle exclusively. Can you imagine a home setup that had 20 kegs and 20 taps where the brewer was the only drinker and only drank one beer per day? The initial cost would be out of this world and keeping that many taps clean would take forever but I can bottle my beer and put however many styles as I want into my refrigerator and have any one of them on a given day. I think last spring I had over 300 bottles of beer and 18 styles at various stages of maturation.

 

[BradleyBrew]

everyone who doesnt keg

I only bottle big beers that I want to age and compare over time. Everything else gets placed in a nice SS cylinder contraption and consumed.

 

[roastquake]

I only bottle because I like getting free bottles and not paying for a kegging system. I do have a TAD system that I keg in, if you could even call it kegging. I got that for a birthday gift though, there's no way I would have spent the money on my own, not will all the empty bottles I have stashed away. I know I will never run out of free bottles so it isn't likley I'll every get into kegging

 

[Toga]

Bottling and kegging both have their advantages and disadvantages. I like the portability of bottles and the ability to have a greater variety on hand. I dislike the 2+ hours to clean, sanitize, and fill the bottles vs 4 minutes to fill a keg that it took me just a few minutes to scrub out after an oxy clean soak. That said I keg everything other than the odd size batch where I will bottle a gallon + or to enter into a competition.

 

[norsk]

For a long time I preferred bottling over kegging... Now it's about a 50-50 split. Have a nice 3-tap Keezer and an extra keg but still bottle for friends and always bottle our Belgian beers, which we make on a routine basis... It is nice having the option to do either. I often make 7-8 gal brews and toss 5 gal in the keg and bottle the extra...

 

[krackin]

If there was only one option, I'd go bottles for certain. Kegs aren't any where near logistically expedient for me far too often. They do have their place if you want to hang around their place all the time.

 

[Doctor_M]

I brew all grain and I like to have a large variety of beers to choose from so I bottle exclusively. Can you imagine a home setup that had 20 kegs and 20 taps where the brewer was the only drinker and only drank one beer per day? The initial cost would be out of this world and keeping that many taps clean would take forever but I can bottle my beer and put however many styles as I want into my refrigerator and have any one of them on a given day. I think last spring I had over 300 bottles of beer and 18 styles at various stages of maturation.

....a beer gun solves that problem. Never have bottle conditioned I went to kegging right out of the gates. I have 7 kegs. If I need a keg I bottle what's left of one of my beers and carry on as usual.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I prefer both. most anything over 6-6.5% tends to go in bottles, otherwise I get hangovers. it's too easy to just pull a handle and get another beer.

 

[passedpawn]

I brew all grain and I like to have a large variety of beers to choose from so I bottle exclusively. Can you imagine a home setup that had 20 kegs and 20 taps where the brewer was the only drinker and only drank one beer per day? The initial cost would be out of this world and keeping that many taps clean would take forever but I can bottle my beer and put however many styles as I want into my refrigerator and have any one of them on a given day. I think last spring I had over 300 bottles of beer and 18 styles at various stages of maturation.

Looks like exactly something I would have wrote up until about 1.5 yrs ago.

I went to a friend's house; he kegs, and I marveled at how simple and unexpectedly rewarding it was to pull that tap and get a perfect beer. Until that moment, I didn't have any desire at all to do it. I now have a 4 serving taps (3 beer, one soda), and also a 15 cuft freezer in my garage that stores my full kegs (~10) that I don't have on tap.

Anyway, I've got many, many cases of 500ml german wheat beer bottles that anyone can have

 

[cjones]

first rule of bottling
use a keg.
second rule of bottling
dont have a keg save up for one.

keg first bottle second from keg when you need another keg for a new beer.

lol rock on - :fro:

 

[sweetcell]

there is a certain zen to bottling. i get into the process.

that being said, sometimes the ability to keg would be nice. at the moment our house is packed pretty tight, i don't know where we would put a kegerator. so kegging isn't an option for now.

 

[krackin]

Two coolers full of crystal clear ale bombers on a sultry hot day will blow away any kegging system. Maybe not every day, but on that day they will.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

I sold off all my kegging equipment in 2008 and have never had the desire to go back to it. I can keep way more varieties of beer on hand more conveniently. But honestly, I just like the Zen of bottling. I'm not knocking those who prefer kegging, it's just not for me.

 

[Doctor_M]

Dear bottlers,

I can choose to have a 1 oz pour or the whole 5 gallons at the pull of a handle can you do that without wasting a bottle if you only want 1oz to taste? I can bottle my kegged beers and take them anywhere just like you bottlers and when properly kegged have zero sediment.

I think the only real reason to not have a kegging system is cost and space and I completely understand that but come on now!

Besides if you don't keg you can't have cool toys like this

 

[tallahasseegreys]

Interesting responses. Keep em coming. I was initially curious if there are some who have the space, money, etc but just prefer to bottle for whatever reason. Myself, there's just something about a brown bottle of beer that is appealing.

 

[nukebrewer]

there is a certain zen to bottling. i get into the process.

that being said, sometimes the ability to keg would be nice. at the moment our house is packed pretty tight, i don't know where we would put a kegerator. so kegging isn't an option for now.

This. I love kegging and had room for it when I lived in Hawaii. I was on deployment when my wife was finding us a house in Connecticut to live in, so I didn't realize that there wasn't going to be any room for a kegerator. I won't be making that mistake on our next place.

 

[MrSpaz]

If I had the money I'd go try kegging. But that being said, aside the pain of cleaning, bottling is great because you can give out your beer to friends and family. Also, you can bring it to the LHBS and have the guys try it and help improve your beer like I am going to do in a few days.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app

 

[krackin]

I've never had anyone wanting just a 1 ounce taste. That would really leave me betwixt an insult and questioning brewing competence.

 

[fartinmartin]

I prefer bottling !
I have two plastic pressure barrels and about two hundred bottles, I love the bottles! when I use the barrels , I drink too much, and it seems to go off in the last quarter.
The bottles I can give away, or take away, I can look at , look at the colour, look at the sediment! Is it firm or fly away, be in absolute control when pouring, and get an extra element of satisfaction in my , our glasses, but , clear glass every time please, I can see a shiny clean bottle when it's empty, and a clean shiny bottle full of something I like looking at when full. All this light and dark stuff affecting taste??. Just drink emm !

 

[Billy-Klubb]

you're all a bunch of nerds.

 

[fartinmartin]

you're all a bunch of nerds.

Perhaps you are on the wrong forum !

 

[krackin]

you're all a bunch of nerds.

Well thanks bro! I didn't know us backwoods, stump jumpin', farmin' bikers could also be nerds!

 

[Hello]

My plan is to keg most beers but bottle bigger beers I want to age. I didn't mind bottling until the last time I did it. I just kept running into issues where I made a giant mess. It is my own fault but it's pushed me to want to keg more than ever.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Perhaps you are on the wrong forum !

nope. wanna know how I know? I'm a nerd and I brew beer.

Well thanks bro! I didn't know us backwoods, stump jumpin', farmin' bikers could also be nerds!

bruva, we're on a home brewing forum in the interwebs discussing whether bottling or kegging is better. and on the internet. we're all nerds at least a little.:rockin:

 

[fartinmartin]

Ok silly Kub capt xxxxxxxg awesome nerd , we understand you now.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

I'm the sort of nerd who gets pleasure from amassing a huge stockpile of bottles, and then filling them with way more beer than I can drink. Having an unreasonable amount of bottles full of various different beers just makes me feel better.

 

[mtnagel]

Can't really say I prefer bottling over kegging because I've never kegged in the ~35 batches and 2 years since I started brewing.

I have the money and space, but a couple things have stopped me from kegging.

As someone mentioned, it's just easier to have more variety in bottles. I think I have 13 home brewed batches in bottles. I've started brewing smaller batches more often than I was before to get more practice and (hopefully) get better. We can't drink that much even though I do smaller batches, so that means we have a lot left over. I try to drink the ones that don't age well faster, but sometimes they are hanging around for awhile.

Also, adding a 3rd fridge to my house seems pretty wasteful. We really enjoy having the extra space in the 2nd freezer in the spare fridge in the basement (where the fridge is full of bottles). It would be tough to lose that. So that mostly rules out a keezer unless I want to add a 3rd fridge. We do have the space, but I'd rather not clutter the basement more and it would cost more in energy costs. If I converted my fridge to a kegerator, I'd only be able to fit 2 (maybe 3) cornies in there and then I'd lose most of the bottle storage I have.

With all that said, I do think there will come a point where I will keg because bottling is a PITA. I thought I was cleaning the bottles out well enough, but I've found some residue in the "clean" bottles, so now I'm using a bottle brush and a drill and it sucks. So I'd like to keg, just not sure when or how it will happen. I could see having a small dorm fridge that fits one keg where I fill it with easy drinking pale ales or IPAs that we will turn over quicker and then bottling the rest. That sounds like a good compromise to me.

 

[mtnagel]

I'm the sort of nerd who gets pleasure from amassing a huge stockpile of bottles, and then filling them with way more beer than I can drink. Having an unreasonable amount of bottles full of various different beers just makes me feel better.

LOL. That's kind of me too. I think I counted at one point the equivalent of 500 x 12 oz bottles in our basement. I almost think I'm addicted to the act of collecting them. Of course I enjoy drinking them, but we buy more than we can drink and we end up with some less than optimum beers because of it.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I'm the sort of nerd who gets pleasure from amassing a huge stockpile of bottles, and then filling them with way more beer than I can drink. Having an unreasonable amount of bottles full of various different beers just makes me feel better.

you just took the first step.

 

[thisisbeer]

I have a few kegs for beers I need to turn around fast for parties or house beers all my friends expect me to have when they come over (I mean you BM Centennial Blonde) and have a few drinks. I can see how people want a lot of bottles of different styles, but usually I have a few things I have on tap a lot. I also like to keg my IPA's so they are ready to drink faster.

Is there a rule that says you can't do both? I keep kegs for a few beers and the other beers I bottle. These can be small batch experiments, beers I age, or recently a beer that was bottle conditioned with Brett. Plus if the kegs are full I bottle whatever is ready instead of waiting for a keg to open.

 

[Photopilot]

You don't have to choose. I have over a dozen kegs and still bottle some. I really like kegging as it is easier and I have 8 taps, so there is not a shortage of choices. When I want to share I can fill a growler and take with.

I do bottle as well. Sometimes I will split a batch 5 to keg and the rest to bottle. I like to bottle big beers for aging but usually have enough kegs to let it age a bit in keg as well. I am tempted to bottle a 12 gallon batch or two just to have a lot of beer to take with. Another reason to bottle is to experiment. I can split off small batches and try different hops, oak, bourbon.

Kegs just make everything easier: transfer, carbonate and pour. Kegs can be portable also, when I joined my local HB club I brought a few beers to share and get critiqued. The next guy that showed up had a corney in each hand, every other member brought a corney. The club has two jockey boxes with 5 taps each for 10 on tap at each get together.

 

[smccarter]

I prefer bottle conditioned beer, but I absolutely hate bottling.

Cleaned up my kegs recently and discovered why I started kegging in the first place.

I'll bottle again some day, but I needed a break from it. It really started feeling like work to me. Kegging is so much faster.

I do miss bottled beer... especially when I go on vacation - can't take it with me. Not enough to start bottling again, but still...

 

[T29]

Depends on the beer. I like bottling my beer the only downside is cleaning and filling them lol leggings is nice and simple

 

[Doctor_M]

I've never had anyone wanting just a 1 ounce taste. That would really leave me betwixt an insult and questioning brewing competence.

Way to avoid the question... so instead of an answer you turn it around and suggest it's cause I brew bad beer. My question still stands. To each their own I suppose, although I feel l've proven my point. I can do anything a bottler can do and more. Like I said before space and cost are really the only negatives to kegging and I understand that, but aside from that would you care to enlighten me as to how I am wrong?

And I get the whole "bottling is my Zen" .. I get that same Zen feeling while bottling..... from my keg with a blichmann beer gun.

Edited to add OP I'll step out of this thread now... sorry for the banter.

 

[skitter]

For me it's money and space. I would love to be able to keg, but it's not as cheaply portable. My LHBS has a huge stack of donated craft bottles from people that I grab a case regularly for free. I have had no bottle costs up to this point and that is perfect for my budget

I live with the in-laws. I have a brother-in-law that doesn't respect the law of not touching another mans beer, even in large quantities. If I kegged now, I would have no beer in the keg a day from opening it. As it is right now I bottle, and simply do not tell him where I am hiding this batch of maturing beer, he has raided my stash before and the stories of him needing to use the restroom all day was quite amusing, especially as he works for DOT and had to spend time not in the restroom in a truck on the road.

 

[Zuljin]

All I've done is bottle. I know some keggers. They're all a bunch of weirdos.

 

[E-Bot]

I prefer bottle conditioned beer, but I absolutely hate bottling.

Cleaned up my kegs recently and discovered why I started kegging in the first place.

I'll bottle again some day, but I needed a break from it. It really started feeling like work to me. Kegging is so much faster.

I do miss bottled beer... especially when I go on vacation - can't take it with me. Not enough to start bottling again, but still...

THIS

I'll bottle a wit or hefe. Otherwise if I want to give away or take somewhere I'll bottle from the keg.

 

[ArcLight]

I only bottle.
Neither my wife and I are big drinkers. I have a few hundred swing top bottles, and brew 4 batches of beer around the same time so i have lots to choose from.
While it would be fun to have a 2 tap kegerator, it would take 2 months to empty it.

Plus I give away 10 bottles from each of my brews, plus a few 750 ML bottles.

I'd keg if someone gave me a kegerator and a fleet of kegs. And it would still get little use.

The only thing I'm envious of is I do have more yeast per bottle than those who keg. Now a dedicated BIG beer refrigerator would be nice to have.

 

[IanJ]

I don't have kegging space thanks to my small apartment, but I hate bottling and am looking forward to the day I can keg... and then use a beer gun to fill a few quick bottles to bring with me (or age). Really envy those of you with options!