[repo]

Well, kegging is much faster than bottling. Especially as the amount of beer increases.

[HoosierBrew]

For me, kegging takes the tedious end of brewing (label peeling,bottle sanitation,etc) out of the equation, arguments aside. 

[morticaixavier]

Well, kegging is much faster than bottling. Especially as the amount of beer increases.

I think his point is that if you take into account ALL the tasks involved with kegging, not just the wracking part, it's comparable.

I don't know if that's true for everyone though. for instance, I don't have tap lines to take a apart and clean all the time. Mostly I put some hot PBW in the empty rinsed keg and run it off through my cobra taps, follow with hot water rinse and sanitizer. but I bet each time a keg kicks I spend ~.5 hours dealing with it, another .25-.5 actually wracking beer to the keg. Then once in a while I have to take the keg and taps apart to clean deeply. every once in a while I have to drive ~1 hour round trip to get co2, etc.

bottling takes ~1 hours on the day but I have to spend maybe another hour delabeling and rinsing bottles. so I bet it's pretty close.

[repo]

Well, kegging is much faster than bottling. Especially as the amount of beer increases.

I think his point is that if you take into account ALL the tasks involved with kegging, not just the wracking part, it's comparable.

I don't know if that's true for everyone though. for instance, I don't have tap lines to take a apart and clean all the time. Mostly I put some hot PBW in the empty rinsed keg and run it off through my cobra taps, follow with hot water rinse and sanitizer. but I bet each time a keg kicks I spend ~.5 hours dealing with it, another .25-.5 actually wracking beer to the keg. Then once in a while I have to take the keg and taps apart to clean deeply. every once in a while I have to drive ~1 hour round trip to get co2, etc.

bottling takes ~1 hours on the day but I have to spend maybe another hour delabeling and rinsing bottles. so I bet it's pretty close.

But he clearly disregards all the tasks that go into bottling. Getting bottles, cleaning them constantly, snaitizing them, caps etc. 

I guess I don't spend nearly as much time cleaning kegs and keg hardware as you, even with free leaf hops in them.

Getting 10 gallons into kegs vs bottles  saves me at least half the time- all things considered.

[gogreen437]

Haven't read the post yet but if anyone thinks you don't save time kegging over bottling they're definitely "mad". Takes 10-15 minutes to strip apart a corny and another 10-15 minutes to rack. And I would argue it isn't necessary to strip apart a corny every time. I also think homebrewed draft beer often tastes better than homebrew bottled beer due to oxidation in bottled beer.

Rinse bottles after use, cover in tin foil and bake.  I realize the baking takes an hour, but I don't actually have to do anything during that time so I don't count it.  I do both and I think the time savings of kegging is often overstated.

[gogreen437]

Also don't agree with the kegging vs. bottling thing. I think kegs are pretty crucial to professional-tasting homebrew.

Just curious why you say that?

[snowtiger87]

I still bottle most of my Belgian-style brews. A bottling "session" for me takes a about 2 hours for 10 gallons. That includes sanitizing bottles, letting them dry while I activate the yeast, boiling the priming sugar, filling the bottles (mostly 750 ml - some bigger), then corking or capping them, and cleanup.

I could keg the same about of beer (including cleaning and sanitizing the kegs) in half that time with a lot less work.

[majorvices]

I do both and I think the time savings of kegging is often overstated.

Clearly some of you  including the author need to lay off the booze! Would take me 20 minutes to clean and sani and fill a corny. 5 minute tops to run acid through my lines. On the times that you need to disassemble a keg it takes all of 5 minutes!

And like I said, for a 10 gallon batch that is 2 hours of constant work hudled on the floor if gravity feeding or standing over the sink if pressure pushing.

No way in hades is the time saving of kegging "overated". I could clean and keg a 10 gallon batch in 30-40 minutes easily! 2 hours at least to handbottle that much and that doesn't count de labeling.

And let's not forget, in most cases kegged beer tastes better!

[kylekohlmorgen]

And let's not forget, in most cases kegged beer tastes better!

REALLY struggling to find an example of when bottle conditioning produces better beer than draft.

I don't buy it for sours or high-gravity, "ageable" beers. Unless you're trying to save cellar space or don't want to invest in kegs to age beers.

[majorvices]

And let's not forget, in most cases kegged beer tastes better!

REALLY struggling to find an example of when bottle conditioning produces better beer than draft.

I don't buy it for sours or high-gravity, "ageable" beers. Unless you're trying to save cellar space or don't want to invest in kegs to age beers.

The only example I can think of is possibly barley wine. It's the only beer I find that I really enjoy bottle aged. But even then the C02 level can sometimes be tricky.

[HoosierBrew]

+1 on time savings for kegging.  Not even comparable time wise. Even if you bought new bottles each time (not feasible), it's still not close. 20 yrs plus of streamlined kegging to back it up.

[AmandaK]

Am I the only one who thinks kegging is a huge pain? Yes, it's easy to fill a keg and it's easy to clean said keg (much more so now that I have Mark's Keg Washer). But am I the only one with a keezer love/hate relationship?

I love kegging because of the time saved in packaging (obvi). And because my keezer is pretty.  And because it is convenient to walk to the dining room and pour a half pint... or more. 

I hate kegging because I feel like my keezer always needs cleaning. (It's a 5cf GE with a 10" collar, LOVE controller and SS Perlick Creamers.) No matter how much I keep it sealed, it's always condensating. I have bought two of those Eva-Dry things that help a bit, but not much. And God forbid a tiny amount of beer gets dripped in there from removing a liquid post. Mold city!! Then to clean the thing, I have to pull everything out, thaw it out and then climb in there (or hang a$$ up over the collar) to clean it. The only thing I haven't done is wire a tiny fan in there - and I won't allow myself to do it because when I work with electricity, things blow up - seriously.

It's a love/hate thing for me, I guess.

[thetooth]

I keg most of my beer, but I still bottle 4 - 6 cases of it a year as holiday gifts and such... so I'm definitely aware of how much effort goes into each process.  That said, kegging wins hand down in my opinion.

I have to wonder if the people who think bottling is as easy or as fast as kegging have ever tried kegging their beer?  Once you've done both a few times, it's clear that kegging is easier.

[Joe Sr.]

I keg most of my beer, but I still bottle 4 - 6 cases of it a year as holiday gifts and such... so I'm definitely aware of how much effort goes into each process.  That said, kegging wins hand down in my opinion.

No doubt.

In my case, I also have small kids underfoot most of the time.  With kegging, no worries.  With bottling it gets a little dicey.  You can step away from a keg while it's filling without interrupting the process.  You cannot step away from bottling.

Plus, I still have a case of bottles I need to label.  With a keg, slap on the masking tape from the fermenter and you're good to go.

Even if it took the same amount of time as kegging (it doesn't) bottling is SO much more labor intensive it's not funny.

[hubie]

Plus, I still have a case of bottles I need to label. 

I just Sharpie the cap because it would be a pain to have to get the old labels off the bottles when I want to reuse them.

And let's not forget, in most cases kegged beer tastes better!

I don't have experience with this for my own beer; is this generally held true, or is this something that one could argue should be item 11 on the list?