Keg, bottle or both?

[yugamrap]

Actually I don't have a kegging system (yet) but Santa may be good to me this year.  I'd expect I would only bottle after that if I had all my kegs in use and needed the keg.  I would then bottle to free up the keg.  And also bottle for competitions.

+1 for me.  Bottling is horrid. 

question-which probably has no definative answers:

How many Kegs does a newb kegger need.  I have a couple sources-the legit one is about $15 each picked up.  I am thinking I want 6-8 to start with.

question 2-when I rack from primary can I condition at my beer cellar temp? -So if I get more kegged than I'm drinking, can I build up a stockpile?

How many kegs to start with depends on how fast you go through beer, how many you intend to have on tap at the same time and, to some extent, what styles you brew.  I have 8 corny kegs.  I usually have four beers on tap at the same time and, on average, go through a keg or two in a month.  With 4 on tap, that leaves the other 4 to have a couple "on deck" and a couple in longer-term lagering.  That has worked out okay for me so far, but I sometimes have to do some careful planning, or bottle-off the end of a keg to free one up for a batch - so I'm planning to get 4 more.

Concerning question #2 - Once your beer is done fermenting, you can force carbonate it (which works best once the beer is cold), or you can naturally carbonate it as you would a bottled beer.  I usually force carbonate, but have naturally carbonated kegs at basement temperatures (62-66F) with good results.  Once a beer is carbonated, it can be stored at cellar temperatures for several months without harm.  I often brew 10-gallon batches and store one of the kegs in this way if I don't have room in one of my fridges.

[brewsumore]

I'm still very new to kegging via kegerator - still in process of dispensing my second and third full home-dispensed cornies.  Since I started kegging I have split one 11 gallon batch of +9% ABV IIPA between bottling and kegging.  Mostly the bottles are for giving to friends and family, some of who live 200 miles away - but also to take when traveling (read "fishing trips").  I have always been intrigued by bottle-conditioned ales and so spend the time although thankful that kegging can be the primary dispensing system, especially for many lower gravity styles.

[benjammin]

right now i only bottle but hopefully santa will bring me a corny kegging system.

[akr71]

I only bottle, but only because I'm not set up for it yet and don't have a spare fridge to turn into a kegerator (yet).  My next major brewing purchase is going to be a grain mill, then I'll start saving for the kegs.

[dbarber]

I mostly keg, except my funky beers, meads and ciders, they go into bottles.

[bbump22]

right now i bottle using 22 oz or 64 oz growlers...I like taking my beer to friends houses, so bottling helps.  I do hope santa gets me a keg system this christmas (HE BETTER!) though.  I might bottle a growler from each batch or something like that, but will most likely keg most often.

[enso]

I mainly keg.  I still seem to have a ton of bottles though and seem to clean them alot!   

I have 13 (LUCKY 13!!!) kegs and lately I keep them full fairly well.  So I find myself bottling partial kegs to make room for ready beers in the fermenters.  Especially higher gravity beers like barley wines and Belgian Strongs that I do not enjoy with frequency.  I use the old cut off racking cane and #2 stopper method to fill.  Also, now that I have such a large volume of beer I am much more generous about giving beer away.  A growler is not always appropriate to give away so I bottle a bunch.  I also am intersted in playing with bottle conditioning Belgian ales more now.  I plan on filling from the keg though.  I will keg it, age it some more and then add priming sugar and yeast if needed.  Purge the keg of air and roll to mix.  Then fill by pushing with C02 using the aforementioned high tech bottling gadget.    Then there are competitions...

I guess when I had only a few kegs and brewed less I had not much reason (other than comps.) to bottle

[Beertracker]

The poll is closed, but I'd hazard to guess that 80% of my stuff is kegged. A reasonable estimate? 

[euge]

I keg almost exclusively.

I would bottle more...but I'm just too lazy. Kegging is so much easier.

That's me in a nutshell.

Though it would be nice to have a greater selection available- I can only serve two kegs at a time.

[CASK1]

I nearly always keg, but I am making more exceptions. On an infrequent high gravity, I will bottle the whole batch. I will bottle from the tap for comps or to take to a party.  Lately I have discovered that I prefer the head quality on Belgian styles when they are bottle conditioned. The head seems thicker, moussier, and more persistent. So on Dubbels, Tripels, etc, I have been bottling 2-3 gallons and kegging the rest.

[euge]

I'll agree that some beers are better or at least best handled in the bottle. I've had a devil of a time kegging Belgian styles.

[Malticulous]

I just got a few taps. I bottled half right before I kegged the other five gallons of what I have serving now. The bottles are better. I hop the keg catches up but it taste more green an still not as clear. I think there is something to the bottle conditioning thing.