Switching back to bottling from kegs

[Hpal]

 

[pablo_h]

Anyone considering getting rid of kegging gear is crazy (unless they plain no longer have the room for storage of it).
Bottling sucks not just because of the act of cleaning and bottling, but also for flavour and time. EG Priming bottles means another fermentation, goes bad before it gets better, less control of the taste, ie often it tastes better out of the fermenter flat and warm than it does after 2 weeks in the bottle. Also oxidization, that 2" of air on top inside the bottle does you no favours either.
Other thing is bottle bomb risks are also present (not just for the amateur, but physical defects in any bottle can cause it too.)
Lastly, bottles take a lot of storage room and maintenance (clean and put away, retrieve and clean again, all these boxes sitting in a corner somewhere. Plus of course you have to attain these bottles from somewhere. I think I've bought about 90 PETs, and have cases and cases of king/tallies. Most are from my buy a case of coopers stout every fortnight for 3 years habit, some are older (when coopers sold twist tops), some are even older (twist top lagers, guinness).
Recently I've had to go through them all, tossing the 380g thin wall twist tops ones, keeping the 415-420g ones only

I had to pack up brewing entirely 6 years ago, glad I kept everything I could, fermenters, bottles and equipment, because there's no way I could start again or have the mrs approval spending so much...

 

[peekaboo_jones]

Bottling sucks not just because of the act of cleaning and bottling, but also for flavour and time. EG Priming bottles means another fermentation, goes bad before it gets better, less control of the taste, ie often it tastes better out of the fermenter flat and warm than it does after 2 weeks in the bottle. Also oxidization, that 2" of air on top inside the bottle does you no favours either.
Other thing is bottle bomb risks are also present (not just for the amateur, but physical defects in any bottle can cause it too.)
Lastly, bottles take a lot of storage room and maintenance (clean and put away, retrieve and clean again, all these boxes sitting in a corner somewhere. Plus of course you have to attain these bottles from somewhere.

Fair enough I guess.
So those who don't have an appropriate space for keg & refrigeration etc will have to drink crappy beer.
Might as well just sit the fermenter in the cupboard and serve flat warm beer. yeah, that'd be lovely

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

It can be a pretty subjective argument. I can't afford a kegging setup and so I must bottle if I want to brew. I clean em as I drink em so bottling day is just a case of sanitising, priming, bottling and capping. About as much time and effort as mowing the yard. Mowing makes me thirsty and irritable - bottling gives me beer to take away the pains of mowing.

 

[earle]

Bottling sucks not just because of the act of cleaning and bottling, but also for flavour and time. EG Priming bottles means another fermentation, goes bad before it gets better, less control of the taste, ie often it tastes better out of the fermenter flat and warm than it does after 2 weeks in the bottle. Also oxidization, that 2" of air on top inside the bottle does you no favours either.

This might be your personal experience but maybe it is because of poor method or something. Plenty of people bottle and get great tasting, unoxidised beer. I bottled for 20 years, now I keg and bottle the excess, but I still bottle for case swaps and comps. No comments about poor tasting beer or oxidised beer from case swaps. My bottled beers do well in the state comp with some making it to the national comp, again no comments on the scoring/feedback sheets about oxidation.

I agree that for people who don't bottle often it is more of a PITA as they don't have the practice to do it quickly and/or well.

 

[warra48]

I don't mind bottling. Have done it exclusively for the last 9 years, except for the odd borrowed keg I've filled for special club events.

I have the space in my garage, so it's not an issue for me, but my consumption isn't huge, just one longneck a day.

Time is not an issue either, as I'm retired, so can fit it in any time I have a few spare minutes amongst all my other hobbies and activities.

Seems to me, the decision is an individual one, depending on your circumstances. However, I can see the logic in hanging onto kegging gear once you have it. The cost will only go up if you ever want to resurrect the activity.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yes I must say as much as I find bottling a PITA, the beers never turned out crappy as a result of it. Same as earle, I keg most of my batches and bottle the excess. It's interesting to compare how they both age. The bottles take longer than the kegs but they still end up tasting good. Never had any oxidation issues. It's horses for courses really but I agree once kegging gear is there, I would be doing everything I could to hang on to it.

 

[Tony121]

Agree with comments above, go forth and bottle but store kegging gear if possible.

 

[BDD]

Moving to kegging for me basically kept me brewing. There's no way i can picture myself still brewing now and bottling.