To Bottle Or Keg

[melinda]

G'day Men,
I want to put down a stout for winter. I have read that it is better if left in the bottle to condition. I recently bottled a couple of ales and then kegged the rest. The draught beer was beautiful, but the same beer in the bottle seemed too fizzy, even though the correct amount of sugar was added to the bottle. I don't want my stout to turn out like this if I bottle it. Is it just a matter of putting in less sugar, or will it taste just as good out of the keg?
Thanks,
Cadbury

 

[thesunsettree]

G'day Men,
I want to put down a stout for winter. I have read that it is better if left in the bottle to condition. I recently bottled a couple of ales and then kegged the rest. The draught beer was beautiful, but the same beer in the bottle seemed too fizzy, even though the correct amount of sugar was added to the bottle. I don't want my stout to turn out like this if I bottle it. Is it just a matter of putting in less sugar, or will it taste just as good out of the keg?
Thanks,
Cadbury

two words, keg it

cheers
matt

 

[thesunsettree]

if u do incorrecctly charge it, u can adjust easily, two words - keg it

 

[fcmcg]

Sunsettree...that is not being helpful....not everyone can afford kegging.....
Have a look at the right amount of CO2 per style....using the plastic thing you got with your gear isn't always the "right amount"
Maybe your putting too much sugar in...that is...too much
Bulk priming is one option of getting the right Co2 for your beers...do a search....some beers are foamier ( is that right english ?? ) that others...
Otherwise ,
Check how much grams of sugar your putting in per bottle...it may be too much...for the style...(again...search...)
Also...did you have 3 days of the same gravity reading...it may have still been fermenting...
All things to check !
Hope this helps
Ferg

 

[EK]

Sunsettree...that is not being helpful....not everyone can afford kegging.....

I recently bottled a couple of ales and then kegged the rest.

Ferg, Looks like cadbury can.

Though I agree, cadbury should look into bulk priming and ensuring his FG is stable.

Guinness is packaged in kegs, so why not your own stout?

If you are using the sugar measure, then I would suggest that you stop and find a better method of priming as those things are bloody inaccurate (and you get sugar everywhere when you bottle).

Bulk priming is simple to do and requires less stuffing around at bottling time. Here is some basic information from HowToBrew. Note that you will need to have a look at the amount of sugar or dex you use to get the right level of carbonation. Search for "bulk priming calculator".

Sorry that I don't have time to elaborate further, but there are some pretty good articles on AHB and elsewere on the internet about bulk priming.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[Screwtop]

Bulk Priming Calculator: http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/sirl...Calculator.html

Screwy

 

[Pennywise]

Beer conditions quicker in the keg, so if you have a spare keg then I'd go that option. For me though, any beers that need a few months conditioning go into bottles as the few kegs I have are full with house beer most of the time.

 

[jiesu]

Why Not do both? Not that I keg at the moment But I imagine when I do I will allways fill a few longnecks up just to compare the difference between the two and see if giving the beer say 6 -12 months in the bottle does anything for it. Not really a big hassle when you throw in a couple of those carbonation drops.

 

[EK]

Why Not do both? Not that I keg at the moment But I imagine when I do I will allways fill a few longnecks up just to compare the difference between the two and see if giving the beer say 6 -12 months in the bottle does anything for it. Not really a big hassle when you throw in a couple of those carbonation drops.

Why not indeed. If you have brewed a 23L-25L batch, then it won't fit in a 19L keg...bottle the excess.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[wambesi]

Why not indeed. If you have brewed a 23L-25L batch, then it won't fit in a 19L keg...bottle the excess.

:icon_cheers:
EK

Exactly what I do. I began kegging last year and at the moment my keg fridge is the shared (second) house fridge so normally only one keg fits. As a result I usually bottle a few at least and leave them so I can taste later and also have a bit of variety.
In saying that I also still bottle complete brews (and will continue one the chest freezer is completed), my brews are normally to about 21L so works out quite well with just a couple of litres less than the full keg.

 

[thesunsettree]

Ferg, Looks like cadbury can.

ummm.... yeah, thats what i thought.....hence me giving my opinion on which way i thought was best

matt

 

[haysie]

Both will provde great results yet I find it hard to get "as is same as that"results from both methods. I in the past brewed 21-23 ltr batches and bottled the first 3,4,5 bottles off the top then kegged the rest. Both were good beers and the bottle carbonated version has placed at comp level, so with that in mind I know bottling does work with a little bit of hit n hope behind it. More recently I brew only 19ltrs in carboys and have bottled from the keg, the #1 upside for me is no sediment, #2 is way more consistent beer coming out of the bottle inj line with what was drunk out of the keg #3 I can brew and experiment more using less volume and less bottling #4 She got her laundry cupboards back that were full of 3-4 ltrs of every batch every year.
edit, she being not the cats mother.

 

[Bribie G]

+1 with Haysie, that's why I'm getting a counter pressure bottle filler on Wednesday. It's disappointing to have a really great beer on tap and take a bottle conditioned version out of the same batch round to someone to show them what a luvverly drop it is, or worse take it into the club meeting and it presents quite differently to the keg version and often not as good. Maybe it's the 'conditioning quicker in bulk' phenomenon going on or something like that. Using BIAB in an urn I often find it's hard to get up to the full 23L using a big grain bill - which I usually have - without sparge in a bucket or other tweaks, so 20 L sized brews (allowing for some sullage) is ideal for my system.