Keg or Bottle your brew - does it make a difference?

[Rennce]

As a newbie to brewing I was wondering if the community has any views on whether some beer styles are better kegged and some better bottled (in terms of beer finish, taste etc)? Does it even make a difference?  In terms of kegging, I don't just mean using the brewflo system, but kegging more broadly. Cheers Rennce

[Captain 3 Droids]

15 minutes ago, Rennce said:

As a newbie to brewing I was wondering if the community has any views on whether some beer styles are better kegged and some better bottled (in terms of beer finish, taste etc)? Does it even make a difference?  In terms of kegging, I don't just mean using the brewflo system, but kegging more broadly. Cheers Rennce

Good question. I now keg into stainless steel ball lock kegs (12l and 10l) and carbonate with co2 after many years of bottling. Bottling is a lot more work in terms of cleaning, sanitising, filling, capping ect. Also takes up a lot of room if building stocks and leaving to mature.

However I believe there is still a place for bottling when kegging and that is with stouts and high alcohol specials (eg. strong Scot brews). These are best left for maturing purposes, I have stouts in bottles that are just past 7 years and are absolutely delicious- confirmed by others). Why bottle them? When holding for a long time you are not tying up a keg, you usually only want a bottle or two and there is just something about glass. (PET bottles are not for long term storage, 9 months at best)

A keg  (ball lock kegs) set up can be quite expensive but you can do it in stages. When I went to kegs the BrewArt systems were not around. Depending upon finances and consumption the Beerdroid and Beerflo are excellent set ups. The down side is if you entertain or have others consuming your brews you do need to build up a number of 5l kegs for maturing and stocking the fridge.

However you can start off with both, bottles and kegs.

Hope the above helps, regards Mark 

 

[Rennce]

7 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

Good question. I now keg into stainless steel ball lock kegs (12l and 10l) and carbonate with co2 after many years of bottling. Bottling is a lot more work in terms of cleaning, sanitising, filling, capping ect. Also takes up a lot of room if building stocks and leaving to mature.

However I believe there is still a place for bottling when kegging and that is with stouts and high alcohol specials (eg. strong Scot brews). These are best left for maturing purposes, I have stouts in bottles that are just past 7 years and are absolutely delicious- confirmed by others). Why bottle them? When holding for a long time you are not tying up a keg, you usually only want a bottle or two and there is just something about glass. (PET bottles are not for long term storage, 9 months at best)

A keg  (ball lock kegs) set up can be quite expensive but you can do it in stages. When I went to kegs the BrewArt systems were not around. Depending upon finances and consumption the Beerdroid and Beerflo are excellent set ups. The down side is if you entertain or have others consuming your brews you do need to build up a number of 5l kegs for maturing and stocking the fridge.

However you can start off with both, bottles and kegs.

Hope the above helps, regards Mark 

 

Yes it does help thanks - very informative. I do like stouts and porters so if aging improves the quality then [glass] bottles may be the go.  I also don't drink many stouts at a time so again better suited to bottles.  Re kegs I likely would have gone down the stainless steel 10l+ path had the cheap brewflo come up for sale as I didn't want to outlay the cost for a new brewflo to see how it went... However going down the 10l+ path would also mean I would need to buy a second fridge (adding more cost and addressing space issues) but certainly a larger keg setup would be easier for entertainment. If I stay with brewing longer term perhaps then I will expand my setup. Cheers Terry

[Captain 3 Droids]

3 minutes ago, Rennce said:

Yes it does help thanks - very informative. I do like stouts and porters so if aging improves the quality then [glass] bottles may be the go.  I also don't drink many stouts at a time so again better suited to bottles.  Re kegs I likely would have gone down the stainless steel 10l+ path had the cheap brewflo come up for sale as I didn't want to outlay the cost for a new brewflo to see how it went... However going down the 10l+ path would also mean I would need to buy a second fridge (adding more cost and addressing space issues) but certainly a larger keg setup would be easier for entertainment. If I stay with brewing longer term perhaps then I will expand my setup. Cheers Terry

To be honest if the Beerdroid and Beerflo were around when I switched from bottles I would go down this path rather than the 10l+ keg route. Your right, there are the kegs, dedicated fridge, taps, co2 bottle, regulator, disconnects ect ect. With the BrewArt systems I would have built up a good 5l keg collection and just brewed and brewed. (🍻) Bottling when needed.

The brew print packages are great but remember you can just get the ingredients you need or use any wort for the Beerdroid. Eg. Kit and kilo preparations, purchased wort, biab (brew in a bag) grain preparations, mixture of Brewprint and own ingredients. I love the Coopers extract ranges of tins and do make up 10 litres of wort by using 1/2 of the recipe ingredients. (Keep the other 1/2 of the tin in the fridge - other thread/posts here about this).

However to get your processes and confidence starting off with the Brewprints is a good idea.

regards Mark

 

[Rob Courtney]

I keg and bottle each brew. I have never had an issue with the Brewflo so am happy to keep using it. I like to bottle half because you can sample it along the way whereas if I start a keg...yeah, I'm going to knock it off.

[Rob Courtney]

11 hours ago, Barrelboy said:

To I love the Coopers extract ranges of tins and do make up 10 litres of wort by using 1/2 of the recipe ingredients. (Keep the other 1/2 of the tin in the fridge - other thread/posts here about this).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was going to ask about this, as I am keen to keep the Brew store guy on side, I grabbed a couple of tins to try after I have finished the prints I have ordered. How do the cans stack up against the brewprints, as I have the two droids, I am going do a whole tin at once and then do a hop tea to supplement the hos flavouring in it

 

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Rob Courtney

[Captain 3 Droids]

I find they stack up really well if you use either liquid or dry malt extract. With some recipes it might be some light dry malt with say some dry amber and/or dry wheat malt extract. I find using the Brewprint yeasts a bonus, you can work out the lager, ale and stout/dark ale ones. Add hop teas, dry hop and you’ll be surprised at the results. There is no doubt the beerdroid’s temperature control plays a big part in the end result.

[Captain 3 Droids]

10 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

I keg and bottle each brew. I have never had an issue with the Brewflo so am happy to keep using it. I like to bottle half because you can sample it along the way whereas if I start a keg...yeah, I'm going to knock it off.

Good way to go, your right in once you start the keg. I’m lucky in the fridge takes 4 kegs (2 x 10l and 2 x 12l) and I have another 6 x 10l and 4 x12l ready to be chilled, carbonated and consumed. So usually the “youngest” keg in the fridge is 6 to 8 weeks before hooked up to the tap. (sometimes earlier, depending on the brew).

Have you every poured a glass side by side from each (keg & bottle) to compare? If so is there a difference between what is kegged and what is bottled?

Edited July 30, 2019 by Barrelboy

[Captain 3 Droids]

Refer to “Carbonation General Discussion” in the Advanced bBrewing thread.