Serving Homebrew at a Party

[weepete]

Hi guys,

It'll be my birthday next month and I was planning on getting my mate's round for a BBQ should the weather hold out. If everything goes to plan I should have 23l of strawberry cider (which is just finishing clearing now) and 23l of blackberry and vanilla wine (which should be finished fermenting now and ready to clear) which I am going to put out for general consumption. I quite fancied keeping them in a couple of big containers and letting people dip into them as they wish but I've allways bottled before and was wondering if there was a decent (but reasonably cheap) way of doing this or should I start washing bottles now?

I also wouldn't mind a slight fizz to these (the cider has had fermentation stopper added so I could backsweeten but the wine has not) but I'm fine with serving still as well, so is there an easy way of carbonating these (i don't have a corny or anything yet)?

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

How cheap?

You can pick up an economy keg from your LHBS for £30, which will have a tap on it.

Alternatively, by the sounds of it you have some 5 gallon FVs. You can buy a tap for a few pounds and fit it to the FV. There's a space for a hole to be drilled out near the bottom, and a tap will fit right in there.

 

[godfrey]

how about bag in a box

you can get them from HBS and reuse them :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

how about bag in a box

you can get them from HBS and reuse them :thumb:

I agree, the 1 gallon ones are perfect for wine too.

Put at least a little in bottles anyway and open it in a year - the difference is huge!

Otherwise...2L bottles? hahah.

 

[godfrey]

how about bag in a box

you can get them from HBS and reuse them :thumb:

I agree, the 1 gallon ones are perfect for wine too.

Put at least a little in bottles anyway and open it in a year - the difference is huge!

Otherwise...2L bottles? hahah.

agree on the 1 gallon, fit in the fridge better to serve chilled :thumb:

 

[weepete]

Thanks Hypnoticmonkey, how do the economy kegs fare when keeping stuff a bit longer? I might have some booze left over (unlikley with my mate's but you never know!) And I'd hate to waste it. I've also seen some pressure kegs going cheap on eBay and was wondering if they could be used or if they are the same thing?

Thanks for the suggestion of the bags Godfrey, they look like an idea for the wine!

I really should get round to putting some by Rob, but wine does not last long in my house! Mind you the last batch I did manage to keep for 5 months and it was lovely!

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

Yeah, pressure kegs are what I was talking about.

Have to admit I'm not sure how well the booze keeps afterwards, as I've only used one once before to keep some TC, which went very quickly. I have 36 pints of Woodforde's Nelson's revenge maturing in one at the moment, and the kit says to let mature for 2 weeks before drinking, so I'm hoping it at least lasts that long!

 

[Antony]

Maybe some mini kegs or polypins for the cider?

 

[RobWalker]

Yeah, pressure kegs are what I was talking about.

Have to admit I'm not sure how well the booze keeps afterwards, as I've only used one once before to keep some TC, which went very quickly. I have 36 pints of Woodforde's Nelson's revenge maturing in one at the moment, and the kit says to let mature for 2 weeks before drinking, so I'm hoping it at least lasts that long!

Pressure barrels will keep your beer basically as long as you want, but the beer itself is likely to depreciate after 6 months regardless of vessel (unless it's one of those that gets better with age.) Just keep it pressurized!