Bottles or pressure barrel? Any advantage

[Portisheaddan]

Dear fellow experts.

I have just tried my second batch of home brew larger. Coopers oz larger. After only two weeks of bottling it tastes really nice. I am plesently surprised. I am just wondering if it is better/easier to use a pressure barrel instead of bottling.

I do find the cleaning / sanitising of the botles a bit of a process.
Does a pressure barrel give the same result? Any disadvantages?

dan

[Portisheaddan]

Ok then. Good advise is worth a fortune. So not worth buying one of those king kegs then at £40 ! Phew

Ill look at better ways of cleaning my bottles then.

Thank you for that.

[sib67]

Use Cornies.

[Lillywhite]

Ok then. Good advise is worth a fortune. So not worth buying one of those king kegs then at £40 ! Phew

You could always give a budget keg a go at less than £18.

[Portisheaddan]

well if bottling is the best il stick with it. I do always rinse them once drank and then store them. So next time I need them all I should have to do is sanitise them right? I just put the last lot in the bath for an hour with a good shaking of thin bleach and then rinsed.

Seams to have done the trick..

[Portisheaddan]

What is a cornie?

[sib67]

What is a cornie?

Cornelius kegs - they're the dog's danglies. Personally, I would have probably stopped brewing years ago if I had to mess about with bottles everytime. Here's a link to one.

I would get in touch with Norm (normannumpa on ebay) if you want some - he should be able to do them for around £30 or so for a basic keg. You'll also want a tap (a cheap one is fine to get you started), gas (pub gas works out cheapest if you can get hold of it), a gas regulator, and disconnects (used to make the beer and gas line connections to the keg).

[brysie]

ah you cant beat the `fssst` you get from cracking the top off a bottle of your own brewed lager though.

[randomdave]

An you cant hand a keg to a mate. I do find cleaning 35 bottles a ball ache but like brysie says the PSST you get is the sound of a job well done and for me more than makes up for the hassle. Also I concider the 2 handle capper a form of exercise

I do my bottling in the kitchen and I clean em out as im filling, that way I dont clean more bottles than I need.