Bottle or keg first beer?

[ontilt01]

Brewed my first beer yesterday should I just take the plunge and keg it? I've read mixed opinions but not sure which route to take.

 

[8dannyB2]

I prefer kegging. Takes out all the worry of having to do a priming sugar and possibly making bottle bombs. And there's nothing more satisfying than pouring a pint of your own beer on tap.

 

[stevo4361]

What did you brew? Big beers and Belgians I like to bottle, keg everything else.

 

[flars]

How many dollars in your budget for kegs, regulators, cooler, taps, and etc?

 

[Newsman]

I have to agree with Bdanny... bottling is a PITA! I keg everything. I've even got some cider I'm getting ready to keg.

 

[ontilt01]

Brewed an IPA.

 

[ontilt01]

I have the funds to start kegging. I figure a frig in the garage would do nicely.

 

[Coupleathree]

I have never kegged, but bottling is the biggest pain of brewing, right in front of cleaning out the Mash Tun. If I had the space to keg, I would.

 

[stevo4361]

Definitely keg an IPA if you can.

 

[butterpants]

I split batches and do both. Usually 4 gal to keg and 1 bottle. Bottles are really easy to share, travel with and cellar a smlal amount for long periods of time. Kegs are good at everything else.

 

[ontilt01]

I like the split idea. Think I will try that out.

 

[RM-MN]

How many different beers do you want to be able to serve? I have 14 varieties in bottles now and 4 more in fermenters....whoops, 6 more in fermenters. How many kegs and taps can you afford? I like to be able to fit the kind of beer to my mood, not be stuck with the one that is on tap this week (month for me, I don't drink much).

 

[rocketsan]

I absolutely LOVE bottling. All the store bought beer I drink now has to come in a 500ml or bigger bottle. I crave new bottles...crave them.

 

[Newsman]

I split batches and do both. Usually 4 gal to keg and 1 bottle. Bottles are really easy to share, travel with and cellar a smlal amount for long periods of time. Kegs are good at everything else.

You can easily do both.. use the keg to force-carb and then bottle from the keg. The easiest way to do that is to use your bottle filler hooked up to a picnic tap.

 

[Tekn0ph1sh]

Keg it. The dark will preserve your hoppiness. Look up counter pressure bottle filler. You can basically do one with a cobra tap a drilled #2 stopper and a cut racking cane and you could fill a bottles from the keg.

 

[beergolf]

I am with RM-MN on this one. I do keg but 95% of my beer goes into bottles. I have probably 25 different brews hanging around and usually have at least 10-12 different brews in the fridge at all times. I like variety and bottles is the only way I can have that kind of variety on hand at all times.

Also I brew a lot of Belgians and Saisons so bottling is a good way to age them.

 

[brewguyver]

Brewed my first beer yesterday should I just take the plunge and keg it? I've read mixed opinions but not sure which route to take.

Bottle your first few beers. It can take a while to dial in your kegging procedure. It's not hard, but line leaks and the like are VERY frustrating. Bottling is pretty simple, cheap, and you have some buffer putting your beer into 52 containers instead of 1.

 

[ontilt01]

Thanks for the help

 

[Dutchbier]

There is no correct answer here. Both have their merits. I prefer bottles for their flexibility regarding sharing.