Do experienced brewers bottle?

[Scoper50]

I've noticed just from lurking around here the past couple months that most of you experienced guys keg. But do any of you still prefer bottles even though it's more labor intensive? If you do, why?

[berryman]

I've noticed just from lurking around here the past couple months that most of you experienced guys keg. But do any of you still prefer bottles even though it's more labor intensive? If you do, why?

Scoper, I really like this question and have been waiting for someone to ask it for a long time. Not sure if I am qualified to be an experienced brewer, but maybe, started in 2009. I have thought heavy on kegging and with all the information and good help on here and other sites would be easy to do. But I still bottle and will explain why. I like a variety of different styles of beer and whenever the mood strikes me I change it out on any given night. I may go from a pale ale to a IPA, a stout or to a Belgian or a light wheat or many other styles of beer and I like them all. This is hard to do if you are committed to a few kegs of beer on tap. Don't get me wrong I love kegged and tap beer but just don't work for me. I also like to give out variety samples to my friends and bottle beer works better for that. On the down side, I really don't care for bottling day even though I have quite a good system going, but not my most fun part of brewing but still do it for the above reasons. Bottling is a PITA but I do it anyways..................

[John Sand]

Berry makes a good point. I started small and simple, I think it is best. Brewing and bottling small batches is a good way to learn. I brewed 21 batches my first year but only 11 last year. My learning would have been slower in bigger batches, and I generally only have two styles available because that's what my kegerator holds. Progress at your own pace.

[bpgreen]

I switched to kegging about the same time as I stated brewing 5 gallon batches (also about the time I got divorced).

In my case, it was more that I didn't like bottling that many bottles. I can transfer a 5 gallon batch to the keg in less time than I could bottle 2.4 gallons.

[dbrowning]

I do both
Kegging most of my beers for about 2 years,
But I usually bottle the ones I drink slower.
higher alcohol beers, Stouts, Porters go in bottles
as well as anything that is going to require extended aging
because they would tie up a keg to long.

[BlackDuck]

Berryman makes a great point about having variety available when you bottle. That is so true. If you like to have a lot of variety available, bottling smaller batches is definitely the way to go. For me, I pretty much brew/drink pale ales, IPA's and German/Czech Pilsners. My keg system can run 4 kegs. But usually I'm only running 3. The 4th line is usually available if I want to try something different (I've got a Berliner Weiss on right now). If you're like berryman and like a lot of variety, bottling is smart. But if you're like me and happy with just a few beers available at any given time, kegging might work best. Either way, there's no right or wrong and really doesn't matter if you're new to brewing or an experienced guy. Bottling definitely as it's pro's and con's and so does kegging.

[RickBeer]

CONSUMPTION comes into the equation also. Excluding beers that need a long time aging, people that keg tend to consume more beer than those that don't keg. In a normal week (outside the Michigan football season), my wife and I drink maybe 3 or 4 beers total per week. Given that your beer lines should be cleaned regularly (ideally every 2 weeks, no longer than every 4 weeks), I'd be putting in a lot of effort (and wasting some beer) if I cleaned my beer lines with that low consumption. Some drink 4 beers per day.

I also like BREADTH of beer selection - once was up to 14 different brews at once. Not going to have more than 4 on tap in most home environments.

With no kids at home any longer, my beer sits longer. I'm working through a large inventory, haven't brewed since April and probably won't until close to summer because I'm drinking year old beer now. Ideally, beer that doesn't require aging is consumed in 6 months or less.

So I don't see kegging in the near future for me.

[swenocha]

Much like what others have said... I'm in my 8th (I think) brewing year, and I've long talked of switching to kegging. But it's kind of a quandary for me, as I don't consume a lot of homebrew (or commercial beer, for that matter) these days. For various reasons, including just caloric reasons, I generally drink maybe 1-3 beers on a weekend, and usually none during the week (unless I'm meeting someone for tastings or happy hour, which doesn't happen a lot in these colder months). And the wife does wine (and a bit of cider) exclusively, and doesn't drink beer at all. And there are a ton of great commercial options in our market now. So, like Rick and others said, I don't really go through the volume of homebrew that cost- or time-justifies the switch. The quandary is, though, that I feel like I'd brew more (and drink more) if I kegged. I think that the majority of my falloff on brewing is just the tedious (to me) chore of bottling. So that leads me to consider switching, even though the earlier comments make it maybe not justified. And I'll agree that I like the variety that bottling provides. But I would love a quicker packaging day, and I'd also like to be out of the business of natural carbing and the trubby results that that brings. Yes, a real quandary...

[John Sand]

Everyone has a story, this is a good discussion.
I think I drink less with kegs. With bottles, if I open one, I finish it. Open two, finish both. The keg lets me easily drink half a beer or a beer and a half.

[Tabasco]

I can transfer a 5 gallon batch to the keg in less time than I could bottle 2.4 gallons.

Yah, I agree ... it's the time element that rules supreme for me ...

[Banjo-guy]

I’ve been kegging for a few years. Bottling and kegging both have advantages and drawbacks. I have small 2.5 gallon kegs. That’s as big of a batch as I ever brew. I can’t even drink that small amount of beer.

When you keg,a certain amount of beer will sit in the line and go flat in a couple of days. I have 10 Foot serving lines and I lose about 2-3 ounces of beer unless I’m drinking everyday before the beer in the line has a chance to go flat. I always end up throwing the flat 2-3 ounces away if the keg hasn’t been used in 2 days.

Kegging is easier but not easy. I really don’t like the bottling process so I keg. Many times I’ll get impatient for a keg to kick and will bottle what’s left to free up a keg slot. It’s a good way to get some variety in the pipeline.

[BlackDuck]

Hey Banjo...I have 10 foot lines too. I know what you mean about the first couple of ounces being flat. Try bumping your psi up about a pound. This should take care of it. The first couple ounces will still pour flat, but the rest should be carbed enough to take care of it. This has worked for me and I never have to dump the first few ounces.

[berryman]

You guys will NEVER hear me say I enjoy or look forward to bottling day, but I do like the variety that can come with it. At most any given time I usually have 7 to 10 different beers to choose from. I do all 5 and 5 1/2 gal batches so that is somewhere between 50 and 60 bottles I clean and sanitize each time. I do rinse the bottles out good right after I pour a beer and before I even take a sip and I have so many bottles on hand that if they are stained or don't clean up good I toss them.
At one time I was seriously considering kegging and was doing research on the equipment needed and it wasn't a cost factor that stopped me, it just didn't fit into my style of home brewing. It actually doesn't take me that long to bottle a batch, but just the thought of doing it, not as fun as the planning and brewing part.

[Scoper50]

Thanks for all the replies! I haven't really considered kegging until recently because I assumed that it was crazy expensive and that there would be a steep learning curve. But after watching some youtube videos I realized that it's not really that complicated. I'm' not sure if I'll make the leap anytime soon but it's good to get some perspective on the matter.

[MadBrewer]

I think I drink less with kegs. With bottles, if I open one, I finish it. Open two, finish both. The keg lets me easily drink half a beer or a beer and a half.

This is the case with me as well. Kegging allows me to drink just a sample here and there if I want which I enjoy doing. I like kegging for when I have company or a party, everyone really enjoys pouring their own beer and it's more of an experience.

The other hand I do miss bottles at times for more variety and portability. I do not bottle much at all, and going forward with some of the changes I have made with my brewing I will bottle even less. The only reason I would need to bottle is for competitions which for me are also getting very scarce. But I will say there is something about bottle conditioning for certain beers that kegging and force carbonation just doesn't do.