Bottles v keg?

[Darcey]

Simply for me kegging is easier and bottles taste slightly better but are harder to store!

I usualy keg 19l and bottle the rest and hide them somewhere for a rainy day..... perhaps a sunny day would be more special!? :shock:

 

[orlando]

For people who batch prime, do you not think it is a bit of a pain to rack off into a seperate container just to dissolve the sugar?

Not really, putting sugar through a funnel into 100 litres of bottled beer would be that. If it was just priming I still like to do it as I can be sure how much goes into each bottle but as I usually fine as well the lot gets done in one go.

 

[graysalchemy]

I've had uneven corbonation with batch priming on occasion, as the sugar solution can sink to the bottom a bit I find

But if you put your sugar solution in the bottom of a clean FV and then add the beer it all gets mixed up so you wouldn't have this problem. :thumb:

 

[Taf]

For people who batch prime, do you not think it is a bit of a pain to rack off into a seperate container just to dissolve the sugar?

Not really, putting sugar through a funnel into 100 litres of bottled beer would be that. If it was just priming I still like to do it as I can be sure how much goes into each bottle but as I usually fine as well the lot gets done in one go.

I am also sure how much goes into each bottle as I use a measuring spoon. I find it quicker than drawing off some beer, disolving the sugar in it, cleaning a bottling bucket, racking into a bottling bucket and then bottling/kegging. There was only this amount of bottling as I didn't want to keg my hopfenweiss, as it's high strength and I prefer high carbonation on it. Anyway, I guess it's all a matter of preference so. I don't fine as I don't find it necessary and prefer my beer natural.

I think I am just trying to put the point across that you can go straight from primary to bottle/keg without racking, with just as good results in my opinion.

 

[orlando]

For people who batch prime, do you not think it is a bit of a pain to rack off into a seperate container just to dissolve the sugar?

Not really, putting sugar through a funnel into 100 litres of bottled beer would be that. If it was just priming I still like to do it as I can be sure how much goes into each bottle but as I usually fine as well the lot gets done in one go.

There was only this amount of bottling as I didn't want to keg my hopfenweiss. Anyway, I guess it's all a matter of preference so. I don't fine as I don't find it necessary and prefer my beer natural.

It is, and as I say I do both. As for natural, gelatine is natural but I take your point as in time all well made beer will drop clear, I just like to make sure the yeast packs down tight so I can get more beer out :party:

 

[graysalchemy]

I find if a beer is left on a concrete floor for a few days it clears as long as it has finished fermenting. All to often brewers are eager to get a beer into a keg or bottle before it has finished properly and have to resort to fining to clear it.

 

[orlando]

I find if a beer is left on a concrete floor for a few days it clears as long as it has finished fermenting. All to often brewers are eager to get a beer into a keg or bottle before it has finished properly and have to resort to fining to clear it.

I agree, but it isn't about over eagerness. If you are using a yeast that does not flocculate well once it is in the bottle I have found that merely opening it can stir up the yeast so I stop pouring sooner than I like. My palate is just not fine enough (pardon the pun) to detect the difference (if it really is detectable) between fined and unfined so in the end it's just a more practical consideration and I confess I now do it as a matter of course. It adds little to the cost, is simple to add and guarantees a "polished" beer with little left behind.

 

[graysalchemy]

Well pointed out. Some yeasts just don't compact down or floculate well which results in the yeast staying in suspension for longer and as you quite rightly say are easily disturbed in the bottle. But my point was that just because a beer has reached its FG and no longer has a head doesn't mean that the yeast has finished. It still produces co2 (which is what keeps it suspended) when it metabolises by products of initial fermentation.

:thumb:

 

[orlando]

Quite right and of course some needs to come through in order for conditioning to occur. Most of the problems caused by diacetyl and isoamyl acetate could be overcome by more patience and letting the yeast take its own time to do the whole job.

 

[graysalchemy]

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[artyb]

ive kegged a couple of brews...and they have been great,
one a lager type..it was more than fizzy enough,

another ale that was in the keg for 5 months ..needed a co2 top up once or twice but was excellent ... :party:

bottled a few that ive kept for two years in PET bottles and they have been very good too :thumb: