Bottles or Keg ?

CJay

I'm just interested in brewers views on which is best , using bottles or a keg ?
When I brewed a nelsons revenge , I done 16 bottles and the rest in the keg .
The beer in the bottles are definitely better than the keg beer .

HBO_Staff

No doubt different brewers will have their preferences, but this may give a little more info:

http://homebrewonline.vanillaforums.com/discussion/299/bottles-or-pressure-barrel#latest

BUDFORCE

I do both.

There are pros and cons to both but I will list the ones that I mainly consider and are just in my opinion, that is not to say that what I say is correct as everyone has their own preference.

Bottling:

Pros:

- Seem to get a better finish to the beer, keeps carbonated better
- Can transport your beer around (take soem to friends, give some away etc)
- Easier to chill (hard to get a keg in the fridge!)

Cons:

-Need to keep alot of bottles around which take up alot of space
-Assuming you re-use bottled there is far more cleaning involved
-Generally just a lot more work to bottle than keg

Keg:

Pros:

-Quicker and easier than bottling, less cleaning invovled
-Takes up less space

Cons:

-Have to buy co2 bulbs or some kind of pressure system otherwise your beer goes flat
-Prone to keg failure, lids leaking pressure etc
-Quality of the beer can deteriate towards the end of the keg


To summarise I prefer to bottle, and I re-use glass bottles. However every third brew or so I will jsut keg it, as it is so much less hassle.

DrunkenMonkey

I also do both.

I usually keep an ale going in my Keg which I normally just fill, and use as and when as a 'last resort' kind of thing.

But both my self, friends and family much prefer the bottled option. As mentioned above though it is a lot more work because of the amount of bottles you have to keep clean. In my opinion if you invest in decent bottles (which you may have to if you want to keep a good cycle going) it can work out a little bit on the expensive side. I think I paid £33 for 50 glass bottles delivered... Thats the cheapest I found so far.

Zak

CJay

Thanks for your comments , I think i am favoring the bottles . The last brew i did , the bottle are definitely better , especially when the keg was getting low .
There is a glass firm (pattersons glass) on ebay selling brown 500ml bottles in various qty s , obviously the more you buy the cheaper they are . I've just bought 50 for £23 delivered .
They came really well pack and delivered next day , they look nice quality as well , they are the stubbier style of bottle .
I can highly recommend them .

BUDFORCE

I just started collecting bottles from shop bought beer over time and also asked my local village hall if I could take the empties after a quiz night which they would have binned anyway so bottles didn't really cost anything. Reckon I got over 200 bottles.

I need to bottle a batch this afternoon , and clean and sterilise everything, it is a bit of a chor a good few hours from start to finish, the keg is already full and maturing with another batch.

DrunkenMonkey

I went into my local last night and had a few bottles of Brown Ale... Asked if they had any spare bottles and my mate who works there went out the back and brought me a crate full back through!! Happy with that!..