Barrel or bottle?

[the red devil]

Hi, Been all grain brewing for a few months now and I am having problems with carbonation when barrelling my beer. What I have found is that, if I bottle the beer the carbonation levels are much higher then if I barrel it. It’s not a pressure thing cos trying to get the beer out of the barrel can be quite tricky (just have to crack the tap a little or it fills the glass with foam). I did see a clip on u-tube which shows ‘rolling’ a cornie a little to get the gas into the beer. I do have a soda-steam canister so could add more gas. I prefer the barrel cos it’s easier, but the bottles seem better (more like the pub beer). Anybody got any comments?

[Northern Brewer]

It's the normal progression. We start out bottling before quickly concluding that it's a PITA. We then pop along to homebrew shop and buy a keg. This never conditions the beer correctly so we then invest in some gas. This still doesn't work properly and it's expensive. We then get in touch with Norm...

[Tequilla6]

I've been going around this question for a while now. yes you are correct the better carbonation comes from bottle in my opinion and although the pressure barrels look to be less work I am not getting on with them at all really. I have looked at but not tried capping as it seems the best way of doing this is to use a bench capper (more money). But with Tesco selling a very good dark Czech Lager in 500ml swing tops I have now got a seizable collection of swing top bottles for Beer as well as my two pressure barrels. Well it a good buy as it stops me from trying my beer too early once conditioning and provides me with bottles..

My Top tap leaked and always needs CO2 injection, the bottom tap (my new one) always seems to require CO2 as it has a small leak somewhere..sigh My main concern with the Cornies was too much carbonation for a real ale but In visiting Jubby to watch a brew day session and to sample many of his wonderful beers (Sampled them all actually ) I have been converted to the shiny side and will be moving to cornies for the ability of using a proper size CO2 tank (doesn't cost a fortune to buy and refill) and the build quality and inherent reliability of the cornie once you sort out all the seals etc.

So there is my two pennies worth. Conclusion go to Cornies....but have a few bottles around for ease of transport

There you are "Northern Brewer beat me to it"..lol

[stevezx7r]

I tend to keg and bottle my beer. The difference is noticable between the two (same beer in each). Bottling is a PITA but you have the benefit of it being more portable and you can make proper lager in them too, something you can't do in a standard keg. Cornies are a good mix between the two - you can regulate the gas, they're fairly portable and they last for ever (apart from needing new seals every now and then). I personally like the taste of keg conditioned ale more than bottled so I think I'll be sticking to using those for a while yet.

[brianboru]

was going to ask about my pressure barrel. it gives out a lot of foam ,,,on the up side for less carboanted beverages like stout it gives a really good thick head but not a lot of life in the beer....i have those litte l c02 cylinders and the cap to put them in but im not sure when you actuoly ue them..i have a barrel of pale ale that has 3-4 pints out of it am i ok to take off the cap maybe reprime a little and replace it with my Co2 Injector System 2" - c/w 2 x 8g Bulb ? or is it best to leave it go half way down first ?

[the red devil]

Well theres a mixed bag of opinions I guess from what has been said that i'm not doing anything wrong, just that overtime barreled beer loses carbination. I guess the only conclusion is to drink it faster
One day i'll but a cornie and gas andsee if it's better (for me). I do agree that, especially in the warmer months, bottles are probably best as they are easier cooled.

[brianboru]

that seems to be my problem...i dont crack the top till it doesnt flow ...and the resultant beer while haveing a great head that really lasts is flat...I will play with the injector from now on....cheers

[towser]

I have a related issue for this weekend.
On Monday, my beer will have been in the FV for 10 days. However, I'm going on holiday for almost 2 weeks. I was expecting delivery of a replacement Soda Stream C02 injector, but that hasn't arrived yet which is annoying as I was going to keg 10 litres and bottle 15 litres.

My cheapo pressure barrel is fitted with a S30 pressure release valve (but of course no C02 delivery system until it arrives). Would it still be ok to keg with the addition of some priming sugar and no C02? It needs to last 2 weeks until I get back, hopefully then I can inject the C02.

Alternatives would be to bottle the lot (but I was really hoping to do a taste test between bottle versus keg). I suppose I could also secondary ferment for a further 2 weeks and then bottle/keg once I landed home. If I was to do this, should I add priming sugar or some extra yeast?

[towser]

but i'd use the same amount of priming sugars in the keg as you would do for a full batch to allow for the extra head space

I have 2 kegs, One a 25 litre and another a 10 litre. I was thinking of using the 10 litre keg, leaving an inch or two space at the top and using about 35 grams of cane sugar. Should I increase the sugar from this?

[kevthebootboy]

bottleing up my brews it my preferred method, i dont mind the extra time and efford, i like the satifying *tist* when cracking one open, you know how much you have buy a glance in the cella plus plastic barrels are a massive let down for me.

dont get me wrong, id love a corny or two, just cant justify lashing out on them while work in the building trades looking bleeck.

but untill them, cant fault bottleing!

[tatlock]

I found that bottling 5 gallons of beer in one go was a total PITA,so i used to rack off the beer into 5 gallon demis and just bottle 8 pints every few days.
Also if you are busy/going away for a few days/weeks the beer keeps fine under airlock.
Just makes the whole bottling process less daunting!

[ChrisG]

Beer all grain brewing for half a year and done 13 brew so far, this is my view.....

Bottles keep the hop flavour better and yes it can be a pain but that what we need to do to get cheaper beer.

I have 3 plasic barrle and they work great, one second hand Boots brand, Humbleton Bard (top cap is useless so replaced with old Boots brand and seals very well and last a bottom tap King Keg. I like the ease of them and never really had a problem.

Cornie would be great but other things to buy first.