First Kegerator Purchase..

[atomeyes]

to each his own.

i can break down your argument, grub, just like you broke down mine. boiling a primer - i'm not generating the heat to make it boil. nothing interactive about a boil and a cool down.

my bottles are all clean, so a 15 min sanitizer rinse is all i need. i keep the original labels on because i couldn't be bothered to remove them (i label the bottlecaps instead. much easier).

the idea of having an actual draught line in my house is frightening and fascinating. it is frat-boy cool to have it, but i think there's also a stigma of sorts of having a line or pouring pitchers. i see it both ways. it would be great to just pour me a pint when i'm thirsty, but i can see how non beer geeks would think it is really weird or going too far when you do that. almost like your stoner friend who's pouring hemp seed on everything he eats and wears hemp clothing. you want to say "i get it, but man, you're taking this way too seriously."

i guess i equate beer geekery to being a wine geek. my wine friends don't have a draught line. i've seen them shotgun $40 bottles of wine. but no matter what, you show your wine collection/cellar to your friends and it shows what you are accumulating. a keg shows what you're actively guzzling. so while i know my wine geek friends are pounding the shit out of their collection, i know that the key word is "collection". and a keg no longer feels like a collection to me.

/rant

[grub]

i guess i equate beer geekery to being a wine geek. my wine friends don't have a draught line. i've seen them shotgun $40 bottles of wine. but no matter what, you show your wine collection/cellar to your friends and it shows what you are accumulating. a keg shows what you're actively guzzling. so while i know my wine geek friends are pounding the shit out of their collection, i know that the key word is "collection". and a keg no longer feels like a collection to me.

you seem to be assuming that having a keg suddenly turns you into a maniacal drunkard whose consumption quadruples the moment it comes in your door. 99% of the time I'm still just wandering down and grabbing a beer (anything from 8-20oz depending on the beer), averaging no more than 5 pints a week. some weeks that's a bottles boneshakers or whatever cool seasonal is around, others it's pints of an especially tasty keg. if there's other folks around then pitchers make sense. i drink no more now (with 6 taps) than i did with 3 in my previous kegerator or the bottles that came before both. i didn't move up to more taps for more consumption, it was purely for more variety.

a collection is what you see it. as i said, i see a 5gal batch of beer in bottles (your way) as no different than a 5gal keg (my way) - except it'll take me 1/4 as long to package it... not to mention have consistent carbonation in 7-10 days every time.

[JeffPorter]

One thing I'll say is I don't think kegging necessarily causes you to drink more. In fact, one thing that IS appealing about kegging is I like the idea of just having a few ounces of beer when I feel like it, and not be committed to a full pint. If any format causes you to drink more, I'd say it's 10% 750ml corked bombers! Just getting a little sick of larger format bottles. Regardless, atomeyes seems to be talking more about perception of having a draft line.

For me, I'm certainly not brewing a lot and not drinking as much right now. Plus the only place I could put a kegerator is in my basement which is my kids' play area.

If we ever move into a house with an old style bar in the basement, I'll consider it, but you gotta do what fits your lifestyle not to mention the people you live with.

(*Interesting side point: some culinary folk are thinking that draft wine is going to be the next big thing in high end restaurants.)

[atomeyes]

part of my problem may have been asking my wife about running a draught line up from the basement and into our kitchen.
maybe that wasn't the best place to start....

[grub]

Regardless, atomeyes seems to be talking more about perception of having a draft line.

hmm... unless everyone i've ever told/show it to has been lying, that perception ain't quite right. perhaps it's that i really don't care what other people thing about how i live my life.

part of my problem may have been asking my wife about running a draught line up from the basement and into our kitchen.
maybe that wasn't the best place to start....

haha, well i've actually seen that done quite tastefully before. someone used an old dumbwaiter or similar to run the lines up and they just had two taps sticking out of the wall beside the fridge with a nice stainless back plate and drip tray. fit right in beside the stainless appliances. but I can understand that's kind of coming at the idea from the wrong end, in the wife's eyes anyway. my fridge was stocked and dedicated to beer for a long time, so it was no big deal when it got its first and later third keg. once you've had that in the house for a while it was easy enough to bump up to the fancy kegerator (and it looks pretty sweet). bonus points when you have one of her favourites on tap too.

[atomeyes]

it is actually very simple to do. you can drill a hole through the subfloor (there likely already are holes under your kitchen cabinet so the water connections can run to to the basement). the only question is where you mount the taps.
if you have a granite counter, it gets tough and i wouldn't fuck with that. but the smart thing to do is mount a tap near your sink.

[markaberrant]

My wife has actually been on my case about running tap lines up into our kitchen/dining room. She thinks it is very cool. She's planning to brew a few batches with me this spring. She is a great wife.

Really though, the idea that there is a "stigma" about having kegs in your house, yet bottles are somehow ok, is absurd. Worrying about what other people think is a waste of time.

If you think the idea of having kegs in your house is frightening, then maybe you really do have a problem, and should be thinking about your drinking habits in general.

I have absolutely no problem showing off my kegs/beer collection to anyone that comes over. Most people think it is really cool, especially when I give them a glass and turn them loose on the 4 taps - they usually stand there dumbfounded for awhile, because they aren't sure which one to pour first. They eventually figure it out, and they go trotting back and forth to the kegerator to sample away. Friends and family brag to other people who know me when they get invited to my place for a meal or party.

A few people over the years have implied that I must be an alcoholic if I keep so much beer in the house. I quickly point out that every alcoholic I have ever known never kept a drop of alcohol in the house... they drank so much, it was impossible to ever build up a supply. They usually agree, and then drop the topic.

Kegging takes way less time. You get consistent carbonation. And it is typically easier to store your kegs cold, which extends the freshness. Bottling from a keg is really easy, and you get no sediment. I've gotten rid of most of my bottles now that I keg, so the amount of space used has actually gone down.

The only people I know who stick with bottling try to come up with some sort of romantic idea about the joy of bottling. Gimme a break. I didn't necessarily hate bottling when I was doing it, but once you get a keg setup going, you realize how much easier and better it is. I'm not saying you are a fool if you want to stick with bottling, but I do think anyone that is planning to stick with this hobby over the long run would be wise to do kegging.

Again, I'm not saying you HAVE to keg, but I'm really surprised by some of the comments in this thread... there's been a few doozies.

[lister]

bonus points when you have one of her favourites on tap too.

I think that's a requirement.

Whenever we get more space I definitely want to get a kegerator of some sort for eventual homebrews and commercial stuff. If we ever manage to get a cottage it's definitely getting one. A big one. 'cause that means I'm retired.

[atomeyes]

you can take a bottle to friends houses for dinner. i probably take 3 bottles a week to people's homes for dinner.

aging brett beer - better in a bottle. you can age them slowly. most of my recent brews are brett beer,

aging tripels - not interested in dedicating a keg to bottle conditioning or aging a tripel.

cost - especially if you are brewing brett beer, the cost of kegs littered around for aging can be a lot.

want more excuses?

[markaberrant]

you can take a bottle to friends houses for dinner. i probably take 3 bottles a week to people's homes for dinner.

aging brett beer - better in a bottle. you can age them slowly. most of my recent brews are brett beer,

aging tripels - not interested in dedicating a keg to bottle conditioning or aging a tripel.

cost - especially if you are brewing brett beer, the cost of kegs littered around for aging can be a lot.

want more excuses?

It is ridiculously easy to run off a bottle/growler from a tap. And you just do it on demand, whenever needed. Much better than wasting time bottling 50 bottles per batch, and drinking 40 of them at home.

A keg works just fine for aging brett/sour beer. So does a carboy. I've never ever heard that bottle aging brett/sour beer is better, in fact you risk bottle bombs.

Tripels are best within 12 months. If you are talking about other big beers, I keg them up, then bottle off using a beergun, which is much easier and more predictable than bottle conditioning... especially with the really high alcohol beers, where you really aren't sure if the damn thing is going to naturally carbonate or not.

About the only case where bottle conditioning makes sense is a high carbonation beer. It is very tough to properly dispense and/or bottle from a keg with high carbonation.

Kegs are still cheap if you know where to look. I pay $15 on average.

[dale cannon]

you can take a bottle to friends houses for dinner. i probably take 3 bottles a week to people's homes for dinner.

aging brett beer - better in a bottle. you can age them slowly. most of my recent brews are brett beer,

aging tripels - not interested in dedicating a keg to bottle conditioning or aging a tripel.

cost - especially if you are brewing brett beer, the cost of kegs littered around for aging can be a lot.

want more excuses?

It is ridiculously easy to run off a bottle/growler from a tap. And you just do it on demand, whenever needed. Much better than wasting time bottling 50 bottles per batch, and drinking 40 of them at home.

A keg works just fine for aging brett/sour beer. So does a carboy. I've never ever heard that bottle aging brett/sour beer is better, in fact you risk bottle bombs.

Tripels are best within 12 months. If you are talking about other big beers, I keg them up, then bottle off using a beergun, which is much easier and more predictable than bottle conditioning... especially with the really high alcohol beers, where you really aren't sure if the damn thing is going to naturally carbonate or not.

About the only case where bottle conditioning makes sense is a high carbonation beer. It is very tough to properly dispense and/or bottle from a keg with high carbonation.

Kegs are still cheap if you know where to look. I pay $15 on average.

And let's not forget one of the neatest things about kegging......you don't have to stop bottling.

Anyway, this isn't really about debating the relative practical merits of kegging and bottling. atomeyes has also mentioned concern about the cost of a kegerator, fear that beer on tap will lead to excessive consumption, the happiness of his wife, getting fat and social stigma. Perhaps once he's worked through all of these issues, and has actually tried kegging homebrew, we can resume the debate.

Incidentally, anyone ever met a homebrewer who laments the nuisance of kegging their beer, and yearns to return to the good old days of bottling?

[kafercrazy]

Maybe there's something wrong with me but I keep 4 - 20L kegs of homebrew on tap and each never lasts more than 3 months. Brewed a great Wit last summer that was gone in 3 weeks!

I need to hang out with you more often.

[atomeyes]

A keg works just fine for aging brett/sour beer. So does a carboy. I've never ever heard that bottle aging brett/sour beer is better, in fact you risk bottle bombs.

i'll have to disagree with you here. had a discussion with some big US brettheads on another website. there's definitely a difference between aging in a bottle vs a carboy. i assume it is due to the neck/air volume in a carboy and the osmotic properties that airlocks still have (they do let in some O2). but it is also due to the pressure build up that you get in a bottle upon carbonation.

i assume that can be duplicated in a keg, but not in a carboy.

[markaberrant]

i'll have to disagree with you here. had a discussion with some big US brettheads on another website. there's definitely a difference between aging in a bottle vs a carboy. i assume it is due to the neck/air volume in a carboy and the osmotic properties that airlocks still have (they do let in some O2). but it is also due to the pressure build up that you get in a bottle upon carbonation.

i assume that can be duplicated in a keg, but not in a carboy.

Yes, I am well aware of the potential benefits of aging brett beers under pressure. For safety reasons, a keg would by far be the best way to do this on the homebrew level. I'd still choose a carboy over a bottle if those were my only options, the potential benefit does not outweigh the risk. And by aging in a carboy/keg, you still have the opportunity to dial in the carbonation... by aging a brett beer in a bottle, it's a total crapshoot.

[aaronthechamp]

I'm currently selling my kegerator. If anyone is interested, please see the craigslist post below.

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/app/3576482699.html