Alternatives to kegging - Too Keg or not too Keg?
Arh the eternal question, too keg or not too keg?
It is actually a tricky descision, unfortunately there is no right answer. The decision whether you bottle the beer or keg it is largely dependent on a number of factors.
You’ve made your beer you are please that it has turned out well, now what, do you keg it bottle it in big bottles or little bottles.
Bottling beer.
The old faithful is bottling beer, I’ve tried bottling beer in smaller pint bottles and in the larger PET (fizzy drink bottles). Both methods have been successful.
Bottling in smaller pint bottles is great because the beer lasts the longest, there is little oxidation in smaller glass bottles so the beer will last a couple of years. Personally this is perfect when you have made a batch of beer that you really like you can build a stock of beer that you can sneak a pint every now and then. Plus they will fit nicely in the fridge. The down side of course is that 40 bottles is a lot to wash and sterilise, and of course to store, they do tend to take a lot of shelf space.
The next size up is the 2L coke type bottle. Just like its smaller brother the beer does last in the larger bottle. The downside is there is 4 pints to a bottle, so once open you have to drink the 4 pints, it’ll go flat pretty quickly once open. Serving beer from a 2L bottle gets tricky, once you start pouring you can’t stop so you do need a 4 pint jug to decant into.
Kegs and Barrels
The cornelius keg is regarded as the rolls royce of kegs for homebrew, I have 2. Serving a pint from a corny keg produces a lovely smooth pint, with just the right head. As close to the pub as you can get. They do have there downsides, the beer needs to be crystal clear before it goes into the keg. So you need an extra fermenter to settle the beer. The kegs themselves are expensive I think they are nearly £70 ($140). They do provide a tidy way to store 4 gallons of beer though. They also have a limited shelf life, about 4 months, after that the beer starts tasting funny.
Barrels are cheaper than kegs, they don’t need the beer to be super clear when you fill them, again the beer only lasts 3-4months. With a barrel though you can’t move the barrel so whereever you put it if you move it you’ll stir up the sediment.
So what to do, well I use a corny keg for beer that I really like and will drink 4 gallons in a couple of months. If I make a special recipes, ie Christmas ales, I’ll bottle them in pint bottles. Beers like stouts that I like but won’t drink a lot of i’ll bottle in 2L bottles.
Here is a trick though, I have a 2 gallon barrel. If you have people coming around for the evening and you fancy a few beers, siphon 4 2L bottles into the barrel. The beer will be clear so you can wave the barrel around, and because you can gas the barrel the beer won’t go flat. Doing this the beer will last a good month in the mini barrel.
The conclusion to all this is there is no right answer, a combination works for me, look at how much space you have and how much beer you drink.
Similar Posts:
- None Found
May 11th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’ve been bottling using 500ml fizzy water bottles - its about the ‘right’ amount for me to drink, they don’t go boom and you can often get them relatively cheap in the supermarket. (12 for 3 quid, last time I looked)
May 17th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Good idea ben, any fizzy bottle works well, coke is stored at a much higher pressure than beer is so it shouldn’t pop. I like beer bottles, but than it feels like a beer when you pop the crown cap.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I hear that beer doesn’t keep for more than a week in a barrel after the first pint is poured? Im guessing due to the introduction of O2.
I currently use glass pint bottles, but I may give the plastics a go. I am looking for a way to store beer for a good few months, maybe even a year as I am producing even more beer now as my friends are enjoying my new games room
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
A trick you can try is before you fill the barrel take the cap of the barrel and fit is to your gas bottle, add a squirt of carbon dioxide into the barrel then fill the barrel by placing the end of the siphon tube to the bottom of the barrel.
As carbon dioxide is heavier than air it’ll settle to the bottom of the barrel, as you fill the barrel the air will be pushed out by the beer leaving a layer of carbon dioxide on top of the beer.
Provided you don’t open the barrel and keep gasing the barrel with carbon dioxide the beer should keep for about 3 months.
However careful you are the beer will oxidise in the barrel but it’ll take a couple of months before the flavour starts going.
A cornelius keg is better, you should get 6 months from a keg.
Sounds good about the games room, I’m brewing now for BBQ season.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I’m struggling with the cleaning and sterilising of many a bottle at the moment and have noted the corenlius keg as a decent option. Can you recommend where to purchase one online?
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Hi Rick
If you are here in the UK a good shop for ordering online is http://www.hopshopuk.com the guys there are excellent. very helpful.
If you are outside the UK then, I’m not sure. The corny kegs are an excellent way too serve beer, well worth the investment.
I’m about to try a method of cleaning and sterilising bottle, because I too I’m fed up of washing 40 bottles. I’ll post when I’ve tried it.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
After watching a programme on Channel 4 i decided to have a pop at making elderflower ‘champagne’ (get it? pop? champagne?).
Problem is i dont know where to get my hands on some good glass bottles that have a good seal on the top to keep in the bubbles (a catch like on grolsh bottles would be good). i know plastic has many advantages in that it wont explode etc but theres something fundamentally wrong with drinking a sparking wine from a plastic bottle. im starting this lil project tomorrow hopefully so any advice would be very much appreciated!
June 27th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
You can by champagne style bottle from your local homebrew store, if not buy a few bottles of cheap fizzy wine from the supermarket. You’ll have to drink the wine first, but you get the bottle. You will have to use the proper corks and a cage on the top to hold the cork in.
September 19th, 2008 at 6:42 am
I am having problems with the home brew taste and am interested in the comments regarding sugar. I suspected this could be the case but as I am a complete novice was not sure. I live in Cyprus so cannot really use a keg until the weather cools down but the comments on the Cornelius Keg sound promising.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
good! good! …this post deserves nothing
…hahaha just kidding 
…nice post 
July 8th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
haha … the one who is posting the comments
July 25th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
As a novice, to keg or to bottle? How about:- with a bitter finished & waiting & a new bitter on the brew with CO2 bubbling away nicely, I placed a plastic tube sealed with blue tack from the bubbling fermenter to the ready bitter fermenter. Under light pressure this keeps the beer fresh & I can drink it straight from the fermenter. Then a following brew will feed the next ready bitter & so on.
Just a thought, it works for me.
Regards Trevor
September 8th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Respect man, solid post.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I was having a bad day but you just cheered me up!