Hi everyone,
So i've been brewing AG for a few years now and I've always bottled my beer. My wedding is coming up and I need to do a double (possibly triple) batch and the thought of bottling all that is putting me off the whole thing. My question is, are the cheap plastic kegs any good? should I use the ones with the little c02 canisters?
I am planning an carbonated American style IPA. and want it to stay carbonated. The other problem of course is keeping them cool. I'm not really up for the expense of buying corny kegs.
Sorry if this has already been asked a billion times.
Dispensing Beer at my wedding. Bottle or Keg?
Re: Dispensing Beer at my wedding. Bottle or Keg?
I don't think the plastic kegs are good for fizzy beer as they can't hold much pressure. For English ales they could work well if you are going to drink it quickly as you can just let air in as it gets drunk.
Re: Dispensing Beer at my wedding. Bottle or Keg?
Budget kegs are great for "real ale" style beers and with the gas you can get a nice foam head on no problem. If you genuinely want your beer to be fizzy rather than have a nice foam head, budget kegs are not the way to go. They are just not intended to take that sort of high pressure.
Ale with foam head = budget keg with c02 pins cartridges or S30 gas cylinder
Ale without foam head = budget keg with no gas solution. You would open the top of the barrel when serving and drink within a couple of days so the oxygen doesn't kill it.
Ale with Lager levels of head and carbonation = bottles or Corny keg.
Personally I don't know why you would want a heavily carbonated IPA (but I don't like ale that is fizzy like lager). I think the budget kegs coupled to C02 in the top produce a really nice finish to the beer. If working properly (you must make sure all the seals are working properly) the beer does not come out fizzy but it does come out tasting vibrant and fresh with a pleasant foam head on it, like you would see on most keg beers at a pub. It won't be fizzy like lager or lemonade though.
Ale with foam head = budget keg with c02 pins cartridges or S30 gas cylinder
Ale without foam head = budget keg with no gas solution. You would open the top of the barrel when serving and drink within a couple of days so the oxygen doesn't kill it.
Ale with Lager levels of head and carbonation = bottles or Corny keg.
Personally I don't know why you would want a heavily carbonated IPA (but I don't like ale that is fizzy like lager). I think the budget kegs coupled to C02 in the top produce a really nice finish to the beer. If working properly (you must make sure all the seals are working properly) the beer does not come out fizzy but it does come out tasting vibrant and fresh with a pleasant foam head on it, like you would see on most keg beers at a pub. It won't be fizzy like lager or lemonade though.
-
mshergold
Re: Dispensing Beer at my wedding. Bottle or Keg?
Is someone going to be serving it or will people serve themselves? If there's one or more people who know beer or can at least be taught to serve it properly, either method of dispense should be fine and I would say go for it. Otherwise, unless your all your guests 'know their beer' I foresee the following potential problems:
Bottles: If it's bottle conditioned, unkind comments of the 'this beer's cloudy' type and lots of wastage from people pouring the whole bottle and seeing it cloudy thinking 'I'm not drinking that' and leaving it untouched.
Draft: Sometimes kit can be temperamental. Do you really want to spend your wedding day worrying if someone's going to knock/kick the keg; the tap or fitting becoming damaged, the C02 running out or someone who 'used to work in a pub' deciding that it's too carbonated/not carbonated enough and fiddling with it.
Bottles: If it's bottle conditioned, unkind comments of the 'this beer's cloudy' type and lots of wastage from people pouring the whole bottle and seeing it cloudy thinking 'I'm not drinking that' and leaving it untouched.
Draft: Sometimes kit can be temperamental. Do you really want to spend your wedding day worrying if someone's going to knock/kick the keg; the tap or fitting becoming damaged, the C02 running out or someone who 'used to work in a pub' deciding that it's too carbonated/not carbonated enough and fiddling with it.