How many use bottles?

[DarrenTheDrunk]

I've been bottling for 3 years now and enjoy the process on bottling day I do about 25 litres and have it all done in 3 hours. That includes set up, sanitising, bottling, and cleanup of all equipment and fermenter. my bottles are always stored clean and covered so a quick sanitise and away I go. I find bottling has a reduced consumption effect on me. Having it kegged would be too tempting for me to poor a quick one each time I pass the beer tap.

ha ha ...That is why I do it..!!!

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

I don't drink that much, but I like to have a half dozen types to choose from each evening depending on my mood, or the weather, or what's for dinner........

And to be able to offer to guests.

So bottles is just right for me.

 

[yankinoz]

I'm a bottler, but then again I wind my car up with a big key before driving.

As I recall, there is a way to take a poll on this site, but the number of respondents would probably be too small to give you a reliable idea.

 

[trustyrusty]

As I recall, there is a way to take a poll on this site, but the number of respondents would probably be too small to give you a reliable idea.

thanks - good idea, I suspect only bottlers are answering this question....

 

[CJay]

I've been bottling for 3 years now and enjoy the process on bottling day I do about 25 litres and have it all done in 3 hours. That includes set up, sanitising, bottling, and cleanup of all equipment and fermenter. my bottles are always stored clean and covered so a quick sanitise and away I go. I find bottling has a reduced consumption effect on me. Having it kegged would be too tempting for me to poor a quick one each time I pass the beer tap.

"Having it kegged would be too tempting for me to pour a quick one... " lol. I just started brewing this year. Am loving it. Im just doing basic kits and bottle them but my first batch I drunk them all within 2 weeks of bottling lol. I know I need to let them sit longer. But its just too tempting.

 

[Paddy Melon]

Beauty with bottles they are (mine are) 330ml. With beer on tap I would use a pint glass and probably wouldn't stop at one.

 

[ozdevil]

i wouldnt say i am a bottler , more on the keg side only 1 thing to clean rather then x amount of bottles on bottling day .

but having said that i also bottler occasionly from the keg if i am going somewhere

being a truckie i have somewhat learnt i cant pour a beer each time i walk past the kegerator ..

 

[An Ankoù]

"Having it kegged would be too tempting for me to pour a quick one... " lol. I just started brewing this year. Am loving it. Im just doing basic kits and bottle them but my first batch I drunk them all within 2 weeks of bottling lol. I know I need to let them sit longer. But its just too tempting.

The secret is to have at least three batches bottled up so that at least some of them get a chance to condition properly. So brew up and bottle three batches and when you start brewing the fourth you can start drinking the first.
The downside of this is also the upside as it means you're going to have to buy more supermarket beer to increase your supply of bottles.

 

[fifis101]

I bottled for 13+ years mainly because that's what I learned and I didn't even really know about kegging. Once I heard about kegging I did all the research and got everything on order. This was over a year ago now. I will never go back to bottles. The quality of kegging over bottles is the best part (I used to bottle carb, which is the main reason you get that destinctive "homebrew" taste). Having 4 beers on tap is great. I am disciplined in my fitness so I don't overindulge. If I ever need to take a few bottles with me camping etc I just fill a few up.
The major downside of kegging would be the initial setup costs (and ongoing CO2 costs) but fir the quility increase it's well woth it.

 

[Bark0s]

I bottled for 13+ years mainly because that's what I learned and I didn't even really know about kegging. Once I heard about kegging I did all the research and got everything on order. This was over a year ago now. I will never go back to bottles. The quality of kegging over bottles is the best part (I used to bottle carb, which is the main reason you get that destinctive "homebrew" taste). Having 4 beers on tap is great. I am disciplined in my fitness so I don't overindulge. If I ever need to take a few bottles with me camping etc I just fill a few up.
The major downside of kegging would be the initial setup costs (and ongoing CO2 costs) but fir the quility increase it's well woth it.

To counter this point a little bit...I bottle but I don't bottle condition. I either brew under pressure or add pressure during cold crash, then I counter pressure bottle fill.

I don't have the space indoors for a kegerator (nor the free space for one in the garage). I'm still tempted to go to kegs though.

I have an excess of bottles, maybe 20 dozen. My faves are 500ml german or czech amber bottles. I just like drinking that much beer in a glass. I have less than a slab's worth of 330-375ml bottles. Generally those are for sharing. Close mates know to boomerang the 500ml bottles, especially if they want more beer.

There's also something really nice about opening a champagne bottle of something dark, rich and aged. We do 'taste' a little bit with our eyes. Well, it sets a nice mood anyway.

 

[tubbsy]

I bottle only because I just started out and am doing it on the cheap. But even with spare cash, I would still bottle at least half as my kegerator would need to be in my shed, which is away from the house. No way I'm walking out to the shed each time I want a beer. With bottles I can grab a couple and bring in the house.

So a year on and I have had a kegerator for 6 months and the only beer I have bottled is a Barley Wine for long aging. The walk out to the shed proved to be no impediment.

 

[ozdevil]

To counter this point a little bit...I bottle but I don't bottle condition. I either brew under pressure or add pressure during cold crash, then I counter pressure bottle fill.

I don't have the space indoors for a kegerator (nor the free space for one in the garage). I'm still tempted to go to kegs though.

I have an excess of bottles, maybe 20 dozen. My faves are 500ml german or czech amber bottles. I just like drinking that much beer in a glass. I have less than a slab's worth of 330-375ml bottles. Generally those are for sharing. Close mates know to boomerang the 500ml bottles, especially if they want more beer.

There's also something really nice about opening a champagne bottle of something dark, rich and aged. We do 'taste' a little bit with our eyes. Well, it sets a nice mood anyway.

you may not bottle condition but your still bottling your beer

Aging in the bottle i thought you may lose carbonation over time

dont get me wrong i counterpressure fill bottles as well but do it for immediate use only

 

[jtgoral]

What is a bottle?

 

[Narapoia]

I bottled for 13+ years mainly because that's what I learned and I didn't even really know about kegging. Once I heard about kegging I did all the research and got everything on order. This was over a year ago now. I will never go back to bottles. The quality of kegging over bottles is the best part (I used to bottle carb, which is the main reason you get that destinctive "homebrew" taste). Having 4 beers on tap is great. I am disciplined in my fitness so I don't overindulge. If I ever need to take a few bottles with me camping etc I just fill a few up.
The major downside of kegging would be the initial setup costs (and ongoing CO2 costs) but fir the quility increase it's well woth it.

There are some commercial beers that also bottle condition - so I think with care you can avoid off flavours but maybe they have more filtering of the beer prior to bottle conditioning? Incidentally I've had beers my grandfather made after 6 or 7 years in the bottle and they still tasted fine + fully carbed. I've always associated the 'homebrew' taste with kit beer, the first (& only kit) batch I made was from a tin that came with the starter kit and it was like hombrew I'd had before and disliked.

I've been brewing and bottling for about 1.5 years or so now, and am curious about adopting kegs. Things that put me off would be having to go to the shed to top up a glass - heading out and down stairs in the dark every time feels like a drag. If I could have one or two taps going in the house that would be great - though dangerous potentially as a few others have pointed out. The bottling process I don't mind too much to be honest - chuck a podcast on and soldier through, it's just time consuming. Will probably try kegs at some point - but it's an investment as you say. Plus it is nice to have several different varieties cold and available.

 

[fifis101]

There are some commercial beers that also bottle condition - so I think with care you can avoid off flavours but maybe they have more filtering of the beer prior to bottle conditioning? Incidentally I've had beers my grandfather made after 6 or 7 years in the bottle and they still tasted fine + fully carbed. I've always associated the 'homebrew' taste with kit beer, the first (& only kit) batch I made was from a tin that came with the starter kit and it was like hombrew I'd had before and disliked.

I've been brewing and bottling for about 1.5 years or so now, and am curious about adopting kegs. Things that put me off would be having to go to the shed to top up a glass - heading out and down stairs in the dark every time feels like a drag. If I could have one or two taps going in the house that would be great - though dangerous potentially as a few others have pointed out. The bottling process I don't mind too much to be honest - chuck a podcast on and soldier through, it's just time consuming. Will probably try kegs at some point - but it's an investment as you say. Plus it is nice to have several different varieties cold and available.

The general rule with bottle conditioning is the longer the better (to a certain point of course). I used to have enough bottles to last 6 months of conditioning before I drank them. Not sure if it's true about kit beer giving the homebrew taste as I still use kits now I'm on kegs I don't have the flavour any more. Move beears are all crisp, clean and free from any off smells or flavours. To me the flavour comes from carbing in the bottles. It could potentially be the increased amount of oxygen that comes with bottling but I used to use PET bottles and squeeze the beer right up to the top so there was next to no air in the bottle. I do think doing that improved my beer but still a long way short of what it's like now with kegs. I still think it's bottle carbing that makes the flavour.

I have my kegerator in the garage that is attached to my house, so I only have to walk down the hall way etc to pour a beer. I can definitely understand that it could be annoying for people who would have to have their kegerator in a shed etc away form the house.

 

[Narapoia]

Ah that's interesting - I have read that PET bottles are oxygen permeable so you will get oxidation over time that you won't see with glass bottles. It's a relatively distinctive off flavor so maybe that's it if you were giving them 6 months?

All that said - I definitely am curious to try kegging some of mine to see if that makes a difference as others have definitely mentioned a quality increase as well. I may have to put up with the walk!

 

[raybies]

My only story about bottles:

My very first brew ALL those dozens of months ago was at a DIY brew shop. I chose a dark lager from the menu and 120 bottles for $380. The recipe was using extracts, but I did not know the difference. Batch size was 50L, I followed the recipe and times with just a vague idea of what was going on. The shop fermented everything @ 18c because they only had I chamber.
6 weeks later I turned up to bottle 120 dang bottles, I spent a good 2hrs on the task and the smell was starting to get to me by the end, but I also consumed a couple so I could endure the experience while single in my mind "99 bottles of beer on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall, 98 bottles of beer on the wall... ". I had a paragliding accident in 2007, which broke my back in 3 places, and I have a titanium cage between L1~L3, so standing is not my strongest attribute. Only about 85 bottles were filled so I'm not sure where the rest of the 50L batch went.

The beer tasted ~ok.
Drove home and put a dozen in the fridge.
I drank a couple and they tasted too sweet and heavy.
By day 2 the beers were starting to taste a lot better, the sickly sweet was starting to go, I just thought I was getting used to it.
By day 4 the beers were starting to taste a bit sour.
Day 5, wtf is up with these beers... taste like beer and champagne mixed.
And then it dawned on me, infection, so I took random samples from the ~78 remaining bottles, and all tasted the same.
All the bottles ended up in the yellow bin.

My 2nd brew was at home with my newly acquired brewzilla, a 19L + 5L kegs and some CO2. It took me about 20mins to clean and keg my Vienna lager which remains to this day the BEST beer/lager I have ever tasted. I've never quite managed to repeat the success for some reason.

With a keg I can dial in the CO2 which gives you further flavour profiles.

I will never touch bottles again. If I want more variety I'll buy more small kegs... and they look cute too... if you ignore the CO2 tank close by.

Yes I have to ask Alexa to open the garage every refill, but I also bought bigger glasses/mugs... or I sit by my herb patch near the open garage eating chips while picking herbs to mix with the chips... Golden rose merry is my favourite.

 

[fifis101]

Ah that's interesting - I have read that PET bottles are oxygen permeable so you will get oxidation over time that you won't see with glass bottles. It's a relatively distinctive off flavor so maybe that's it if you were giving them 6 months?

All that said - I definitely am curious to try kegging some of mine to see if that makes a difference as others have definitely mentioned a quality increase as well. I may have to put up with the walk!

This is true with PET but I'm pretty sure an oxygen barrier is added to stop this. Plus there's been many times a beer hasn't last as long as 6 months in a bottle

 

[An Ankoù]

I agree that filling and washing bottles is a complete pain in the r-se. When I lived in the UK, I was in a town, all my beers were conditioned and dispensed from plastic pressure barrels (a fore-runner of kegs). I had my double garage fitted out as a bar and all was good with the world. My mates could come and drink their fill and then stagger home without having to worry about driving. Now I live in the country and we love every minute of it, but our neighbour on one side is an old gent who'll take two hours to down a glass and those on the other side are, let me be kind, not very high up on the evolutionary scale. The rest are in driving distance so, if I want to share my beer I've got to bottle it and since I enjoy the brewing as much as the drinking, I make far more than I can manage. So people come for one or two and take a couple of bottles on with them.
This is what I've found about bottling: Lagers, whether Pilsner types or not, do well in a bottle and get better as the months pass by. Year-old bottled lager is miles better than 8-week-old bottled lager. English-style ales don't do too well: they reach a point where they're good and then they start to go downhill a bit. Many of the yeasts that are good in casks are not all suited to bottling as they continue to nibble away at the higher sugars and you end up with Vesuvius! I've ended up using chico-type yeasts (like US-05) and North German yeasts as they do the job, settle out and go to sleep. Stouts and porters do ok, about the same in the bottle as in casks. So now I use my pressure barrels as lagering tanks since I can't easily get the gas for them in France, but I think it's high time I invested in some metal kegs. Just for the English ales.

 

[philrob]

English-style ales don't do too well: they reach a point where they're good and then they start to go downhill a bit. Many of the yeasts that are good in casks are not all suited to bottling as they continue to nibble away at the higher sugars and you end up with Vesuvius!

Ah ha, finally someone with the same experience as myself. This is the reason I gave up using WY1968, even though I love the character it brought to my UK Ales.