Well I just ordered my deluxe starter kit from N.B… From Amazon I ordered a 8 gallon stock pot with spigot and a wort chiller. After a lot of thought I want to go straight to kegging. I need help with selecting the right kegging system and supplies. I also need to know if I can bottle a few from a batch from the kegs without sacrificing quality. Are there any good dvd’s or youtube videos on this?
Thanks!
Brent
Yes you can bottle from the keg but some beers benefit from bottle conditioning. You should take the time to learn to do it. You’ll also need a bigger pot if your doing all grain. And a mash run.
I wish I would’ve gone straight to kegging. I’d just make sure you have enough kegs and fridge space to allow for conditioning.
You can bottle some before you keg, and prime each to bottle condition. Carb tabs come in handy for this.
I only bottled 3-4 batches before I started kegging. If I need beer for gifts or sharing I bottle a few bombers or growler off the tap. If I’m doing more than a few I use a beer gun.
Here is a great video that walks through how to build a keezer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHWy_Vlw3J4
I bottle from the keg using a Blichmann Beergun: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/beer … iller.html
If you ever need to bottle condition for some reason, it’s easy enough to learn how to do it. I don’t see any reason to start with that if you have the funds to keg and are sure you’ll be in the hobby long enough to justify the expense.
I pretty much started kegging early in my brewing. But I disagree that bottling is easy to learn. Sure you can get some carbonation in a bottle but to get the right amount for different styles is a little harder to master. Plus a lot of styles need that secondary fermentation to really improve. If you only brew pales ales and pale lagers you probably don’t need to bottle. Darker beers and Belgians all need some ageing IMO. I’ve started doing secondary fermentation in kegs of some beers from there they go to bottles and on the shelf. Of course that requires more kegs. The other thing, like a lot of us ,you will start brewing more than you have kegs for, oops. :cheers:
Definitely. I’ve also been tempted to get a 2.5 gallon keg or two to keg and bottle 1/2 of a batch.
muellerbrau on here has a great vid on his site of bottling directly from his taps by bleeding excess pressure off the keg. I do this so often now, I sold my beer gun, and I love to bottle off the kegs for transport, competitions, etc… Many purists would turn their noses up at me, but especially with using O2-absorbing crowns, I have not found an issue with shelf stability of my beers doing it this way. I am a ‘Certified’ rank BCJP judge as well FWIW.
I’ve had discussions with a brewer in my town who specializes in importing and ageing ales from all over the world. From what I have learned from him is if you just keg your beer and don’t age it with yeast and sugar you are efecivly killing your beer. In order to keep your beer “alive” you must bottle or keg condition. In his opinion beer should be alive. Co2 conditioned beer may mellow over time but probably won’t change much so that could be a benefit for that way. I do both so I’m not advocating one or the other I’m just putting it out there.
I have a freezer with a collar setup with 3 taps. I kind of want to ditch that and go to picnic taps. So much easier to clean and replace things. But I’ve already got the stuff… Probably when my freezer dies and I need a new kegerator, I’ll do that. I don’t know, who knows what I’ll be thinking 10 years from now as much as it changes on a weekly basis now.
So, OP, don’t feel like you have to go crazy right off the bat and get a huge tap setup. Just get the bare essentials and upgrade as you go, if you feel the need.
I just got 2 kegs off ebay. They arrived in great condition, smelling of soda but pressurized along with an extra new set of o-rings. They’re undergoing a PBW soak ATM. Pretty good deal.
Beersk I’m solving that same problem…drinking the last pint and saying, damn shouldn’t have tapped this so soon…by purchasing more kegs and brewing more often to get more in the pipeline. I currently have 4 kegs in my serving fridge and 3 lagering in the chest freezer. I’ve got 4 beers in fermenters right now so 2 will go into the new kegs for conditioning. I’ll brew again on Wednesday and try to keep 2-3 fermenters going all the time. That should keep me ahead of the curve!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-5-GALLON-CO ... 43d51b56fbForce carbing beer with CO2 gas does not “kill” the beer. Bottles filled from a force carbed keg still have yeast in them (sugar really has nothing to do with bottle conditioning), and they can still bottle condition and age just like any naturally carbonated beer. Unless you pasteurize or filter the beer to remove the yeast, it’s still very much “alive”.
[quote=“dannyboy58”]I just got 2 kegs off ebay. They arrived in great condition, smelling of soda but pressurized along with an extra new set of o-rings. They’re undergoing a PBW soak ATM. Pretty good deal.
Beersk I’m solving that same problem…drinking the last pint and saying, damn shouldn’t have tapped this so soon…by purchasing more kegs and brewing more often to get more in the pipeline. I currently have 4 kegs in my serving fridge and 3 lagering in the chest freezer. I’ve got 4 beers in fermenters right now so 2 will go into the new kegs for conditioning. I’ll brew again on Wednesday and try to keep 2-3 fermenters going all the time. That should keep me ahead of the curve!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-5-GALLON-CO ... 43d51b56fb[/quote]That a boy
Sounds like he’s one of those CAMRA - “only cask ale is real ale” guys! I have to disagree. It’s just carbonation either way and doesn’t change the makeup of the beer or ‘kill’ anything that “naturally” carbonating wouldn’t also kill. Having said that…whatever works for ya!
[quote=“dannyboy58”]I just got 2 kegs off ebay. They arrived in great condition, smelling of soda but pressurized along with an extra new set of o-rings. They’re undergoing a PBW soak ATM. Pretty good deal.
Beersk I’m solving that same problem…drinking the last pint and saying, damn shouldn’t have tapped this so soon…by purchasing more kegs and brewing more often to get more in the pipeline. I currently have 4 kegs in my serving fridge and 3 lagering in the chest freezer. I’ve got 4 beers in fermenters right now so 2 will go into the new kegs for conditioning. I’ll brew again on Wednesday and try to keep 2-3 fermenters going all the time. That should keep me ahead of the curve!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-5-GALLON-CO ... 43d51b56fb[/quote]Thanks for the link, Danny. :cheers: Just ordered two of these myself. Should have enough kegs to keep me going now…
My sources if your intersted
Sounds like he’s one of those CAMRA - “only cask ale is real ale” guys! I have to disagree. It’s just carbonation either way and doesn’t change the makeup of the beer or ‘kill’ anything that “naturally” carbonating wouldn’t also kill. Having said that…whatever works for ya![/quote]
Thanks for this!
I’m also looking into starting to keg and building up my kegerator (birthday is coming up, so I should be getting some goodies, haha).
I’ve read about bottle aging and conditioning and how it is better than force carbing in the kegs and I started getting confused. I guess I would have to taste it to see! I have been bottling all my beer so far, but I just don’t think I can pass up the ease of kegging.
Force carbing beer with CO2 gas does not “kill” the beer. Bottles filled from a force carbed keg still have yeast in them (sugar really has nothing to do with bottle conditioning), and they can still bottle condition and age just like any naturally carbonated beer. Unless you pasteurize or filter the beer to remove the yeast, it’s still very much “alive”.[/quote]
Also, the yeast goes dormant in bottle conditioned beers anyway. I can see the mini-fermentation in the bottle being useful in terms of scrubbing residual Oxygen, which would help extend shelf life in theory. I’m no microbiologist, but but I don’t see how yeast does anything beneficial for your beer after going dormant.
