Razorback IPA: bottling vs pressure barrel?

[Haversham]

My next kit is Festival Razorback IPA, and I'm wondering how best to package it, when the time comes. I have a spare King Keg pressure barrel and I also have plenty of swing-top bottles available. Forgetting about the (in)convenience of one method over another, do people have opinions on how this IPA will 'perform' in bottle vs keg? I guess it will last longer in bottle, but will the flavour develop differently? Are there benefits of using the PB apart from convenience? Thanks for any views.

 

[Yellow Car]

It's a popular kit, so I'm sure you'll other views, but my experience was that I had two different, but equally good flavours barrel vs bottle.

I made this as per the instructions, so added the hops to the wort un-bagged, which was a mistake. Even with a bag over the syphon tube it took a long while and several goes at clearing the hoppy mush off the bag to syphon it out of the primary - so I feared I'd got too much oxygen into a potentially sensitive brew.

I put 4l into bottles, and the rest into a barrel. The barrelled ones had a lovely tangy nectarine flavour, and the bottled ones (opened later) more of a citrus taste. I think the difference may be down to dissolved CO2 in the bottles adding a carbonic acid taste to the fruitiness, though it may also have been an age thing - the last from the barrel was consumed just over 12 weeks from transferring it, and the bottles a few weeks after that.

I've got another in the bucket at the moment to be barrelled on Thursday, but stuck the hops in a bag this time!

 

[Haversham]

Thanks @YC, that’s useful, and a good tip re hopping. I’ll probably PB it. If it’s as good as everyone says, no doubt I’ll have a future opportunity to try it in bottles.

 

[Alan_Reginato]

Put some of them in bottles, so you can compare.

 

[Sandimas]

I always bottle IPAs as they need a bit of carbonation and also benefit from a bit of cooling in the fridge.

Pressure barrels are better for real ale type brews where you don't want a lot of carbonation.

 

[Haversham]

I always bottle IPAs as they need a bit of carbonation and also benefit from a bit of cooling in the fridge.

Pressure barrels are better for real ale type brews where you don't want a lot of carbonation.

The carbonation was really what I was getting at with my original question.

 

[Yellow Car]

I'd second the 'do both' suggestion and see which you prefer. I thought the flavour was significantly different with the two approaches, and personally preferred the flavour in the barrel. There are quite a few citrus-forward IPAs (bottled flavour), but this was the only nectarine flavour (barrel) kit that I've found.
I'll still stick a few litres in bottles though I try to keep 3 barrels on tap, it's nice to have the variety of a few bottles as well.

 

[Haversham]

I'd second the 'do both' suggestion and see which you prefer. I thought the flavour was significantly different with the two approaches, and personally preferred the flavour in the barrel. There are quite a few citrus-forward IPAs (bottled flavour), but this was the only nectarine flavour (barrel) kit that I've found.
I'll still stick a few litres in bottles though I try to keep 3 barrels on tap, it's nice to have the variety of a few bottles as well.

Good advice, thanks. I'll do that.

 

[Yellow Car]

One more thought - as I've just been reminded as it's barrelling day (dry hops have been in 5 days)...
I pretty much always follow the 2+2+2 timing, so added the hops on day 9, so as to bottle today on day 14 with 5 days dry-hopping. Only to find the gravity is at 1.009 as opposed to 1.005 which is supposed to be the final gravity. Looking at my spreadsheet I had exactly the same last time, and intended to let this one get to around 1.005 before adding the hops. But forgot...

The last one turned out fine, so I guess it just carried on fermenting in the barrel/bottles, and the PET bottles I used weren't particularly over-carbed, so I'll crack on and barrel/bottle. But you may wish to let the gravity get closer to final before hopping, as this one seems to take a bit longer than claimed to finish, despite being kept at a steady 22C.