Bottleing/Pressure Barrels

[Dan_Nicol]

Hi there
Im new to all the home brewing stuff as u may of guessed by prev post ha.
Basically I have done 2 kits now making up 80 bottles. Now im out of bottles and the ones in bottles need to stay in garage for as long as possible.
Instead would anyone recommend using a Pressure Barrel? If so how do I use them? Basically do I leave in FV for 2 weeks them move to the Pressure Barrel leave in spare room for a further week then put Pressure Barrel in garage?

If so any recommendations on which is best to buy?

Thanks :thumb:

 

[Dan_Nicol]

P.S i bew ales omly if that makes a differance

 

[cornyandy]

I personally think that there is only one barrel on the market that is worth having. After restocking my barrels with the cheaper one a few years ago I regretted it when I couldn't manage to keep any pressure in them so switched back to King Kegs which have given me very little problem. I like ales on tap with the low carbonation rate you get from a pressure barrel, you are pretty much spot on with what you do.

 

[Spapro]

I have 2 king kegs and have had issues with the lids - they have a round shaped rubber seal (which doesn't always seal) and there is no means to check the pressure so you don't know if the keg is carbing up or has a leak.

I have resolved my leaky lid issues with replacement lids from ballihoo - the ballihoo lids are just brilliant with a square cross section rubber seal, a pressure measuring schreader valve and digi gauge and also a stainless steal CO2 injection valve. A totally more reliable/robust lid than the standard king kegs.

My next kegs I buy will be this from ballihoo as they come with the lid and are otherwise very similar to the king keg top tap kegs:
Without CO2 bulbs: http://www.balliihoo.co.uk/balliiho...2-injection-valve-pressure-indicator-p-4.html
Including CO2 bulbs: http://www.balliihoo.co.uk/balliiho...sure-indicator-co2-bulbs-bulb-holder-p-5.html

Oh, and I bottle and keg, you do get a really nice creamy pint of ale from a keg, plus that hard to beat feeling of dispensing a pint without worrying about leaving the sediment in the bottle. Bottling has its pros but for ales kegging is cool !

Good luck with it.

 

[mrobinson]

If I were you and you've got about £100 burning a hole in your pocket, I'd go the cornelius keg route. You'll need a cornie ( there's a thread on this forum with them for £35 ), a regulator ( £25 ), co2 canister ( mine was £20 ) and a tap ( £5-50 depending on what you want ) and a bit of tubing.

I bottled and used plastic kegs for years. Hassle washing the bottles and endless problems with leaking kegs ( both the cheap wilko ones and the old brown Boots barrels ). Also with the regulator, you can force-carb and also maintain a perfect pressure ( rather than the twist-and-guess with the S30's ).

Since going that route, I've also invested in an undercounter fridge ( £130 ) that's coming next week so I can serve at prefect temperature and pressure all year round. I'd give the model number, but it hasn't been delivered yet so I don't want to point somebody at a fridge that might not be suitable ( it should fit two kegs from my measurements though ).