dispensing

[tatlock]

hi guys!

my first post on this forum so here goes!

what is the best way of dispensing your homebrew?

i have tried barrels,(but they either leak or do not seal properly) and the cornelius thing sees gar too complicated!!

i was thionking of trying the brupacks polypin but that bag would be difficult to sterilize.

just looking for a simple way to dispense my homebrew apart from bottles.

[richard_senior]

It really depends on how much you make, and whether you've got the homebrew bug.
If you only make one or two brews a year, stick with bottles.
If you plan on making one a month or more then I'd go with corni kegs and all that goes with it.

A good corni setup including a modified fridge to cool it and a beer engine to dispense will set you back about 250 quid (at least), and take you a good few hours to get set up. But once you've done it... it's done.. and you're pretty much guaranteed to get good, cool beer every time without any faffing about.

You can't take it down to your mates house and pop it in his fridge though, like you can with bottles.

[ashbyp]

is bottling that much more time consuming than messing around with cornies I wonder - once you've got the hang of bottling and have a decent collection of de-labelled bottles that you clean after use?

I only bottle so don't know the answer.

[tatlock]

i am just returning to the hobby after a 2 year break!

i plan to do 3 or 4 2 gallon batches a month (i have scaled down as i don't have the space/time now to do larger brews.

i don't mind bottling all my beer i was just hoping there might be something simple in between to dispense 2 gallons of beer.

[stevezx7r]

From the FV straight to a barrel with my beer. It's the simplest/cheapest method, for me anyway.

I can't be bothered bottling 40 odd bottles anymore, though I do sometimes wish I had as I could keep a better record of what I've brewed.

I think I'll go the cornelius way soon, once I have the spare cash anyway and as far as not being able to take them to a mates house, you can. I currently draw off several litres from my barrel into 2 litre pet bottles and take them round and the same could be done with a cornie.

[booldawg]

I bottle 100% but would like to get into cornis or kegs purely because some beers are alot better served from the tap.

[richard_senior]

is bottling that much more time consuming than messing around with cornies I wonder..

I think there are two considerations..
Volume, and dispensing preference.
You can't recreate a hand pulled beer with bottles, but you don't want to be spending a fortune on a semi-professional dispensing system if you only make one brew a year. I like bottles for cider and lager though. Although lager from a corni is great too.

..i was just hoping there might be something simple in between to dispense 2 gallons of beer.

I don't think you'd have any problem with polypins other than the beer would be flat. Although if you pull it through a beer engine it wouldn't really matter. Buy a polipin, a diaphram valve and a beer engine?

I'm not sure if those new carlsberg things wouldn't take 2 gallons, but I'm not sure how you fill them up. I'm guessing that you need to buy a special carlsberg refil which has valves on it and so forth.

[NickL]

This is a question I shall shortly be seeking an answer to as I am sick of bottles. A friend of mine who has been brewing for a while (albeit kits) says he has the laziest and (crucially for him ) cheapest way of doing it and that is to use 2lt plastic coke bottles. He reckons it is a quarter of the work of beer bottles, they dont explode and are obviously free.

I don't always want to drink two litres in one go though.

I was going to try a small plastic keg, but if what you say is true then perhaps I won't Cornelius kegs are a pretty big step up though. Expensive to buy with all the accessories and do seem quite complicated.

Hohum...

[tatlock]

i would avoid those 2 gallon plastic kegs if i were you nickl.

i have 4 and they have always caused me problems!

[richard_senior]

Trust me.. I'm pretty lazy.
It's for that reason that I think corni kegs are the future.
I've done bottles.. I own enough swing tops to take 120L!
I own 5 king kegs too.. but they leak and can't be properly connected to the beer engine or anything else for that matter, and you can't really use them for lager (they won't take the pressure captain).. and they're too bulky to fit in a standard fridge.. etc
I think most people here who use cornis have followed the standard homebrewers upgrade path... and all because laziness is the real mother of invention, necessity is just a nanny.

[NickL]

I think most people here who use cornis have followed the standard homebrewers upgrade path... and all because laziness is the real mother of invention, necessity is just a nanny.

What if you're lazy and cheap

[richard_senior]

It's an old truth : Buy cheap, buy twice.
In the case of beer kegs.. I can tell you it's definately true.
And in terms of laziness, you can faff with placcy, or you can just buy something proper

[Aleman]

I bottled my Coopers lager for the first time in ages, not that difficult to do, The crucial thing was that I used 1.5L swing top bottles . . . . That turned out to be a mistake, as you have to pour the lot in one go . . . . And I have a 1.5L glass bought for me by a 'friend' . . . Its too tempting . . . . Definitely back to 500ml bottles for me next time

[richard_senior]

I have a load of the grolsh 1.5L ones.. and I agree.. they're dangerous!
The ikea swingtop are really well sized.

[tatlock]

i have thought about cornies before but as i said they seem so complicated.

i think if i saw one being used i would probably realize there is not much too them but i am afraid anything slightly technical freaks me out!!!

anyone know of any videos etc online that demonstrate how they work?