Its being a while since my last blog post, so I thought Id write on a hot topic with homebrewers that is a long disputed and much asked question...to keg or bottle? 

Some like to bottle so they can keep track on how much they have drunk and like to just chuck a bottle or two in the fridge. Its cost effective to bottle, the equipment you need is very minimal. You will only need a capper, caps and of course the bottles which many I expect you could have from empties collected. 

When I first majorly bottled I 'minesweeper-ed' a lot of empties from a friends BBQ party. However there always is a constant rinse and clean cycle, which when it comes to sanitising and filling come bottle day some find it quite tedious which you also may run out of space in the kitchen surrounded by bottles. Bottling however is a great way to share the fruits of your labor. 

Kegging is very convenient, after a long day you get home and fancy a beer but only 1/2 having a keg is very handy for this. It also reduces alot of time come bottling day and cleaning. For carbonation and clarity kegging is the way to go. 

There are many entry levels to kegging you can get a 5l mini keg or Tap a Draft (TAD) that are seemed as a good stepping stone into the world of kegged beer.  

I have used a TAD when I first started out, I really liked using it, however after 4 kits (one which was a stove top extract kit) I quickly went into 12l BIAB batches as I didn't see the need of using these as I could easily just bottle 18 or so bottles and let them naturally carbonate over a few weeks. So I have lined this up to give to a friend who has very recently started home brewing, catching the bug very quickly however he has had problems with a leaky pressure barrel.

For me I would dearly love to do a DIY Kegerator however I know the powers that be (aka Mrs B) will not have that until I have a man shed or such area she can lock me away in.  So if I can push it to just a 9L corny keg (tucked away in a corner) with a regulated Co2 charger and chrome tap will cost in the region of £130. That's not including a cool jacket or Co2 capsules. 

You never know I might try my luck placing it on my upcoming birthday list. 




There is so many pros and cons for the two so I'll leave it here....How do you do yours? do you bottle, keg or a mix of the two? What do you prefer?

Are there any Home Brew Suppliers/companies willing for me to test/review keg products? 

Until next time......Happy Brewing

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For Christmas I was lucky to receive a Strainer and Stand, from The Home Brew Shop.

Hop Strainer clipped on top of bucket

I have a standard 25L fermenter bucket and also a 30L bottling bucket, both of which the stand clips on it very securly.

The bag has 4 slits that go through the top of the stands arms, was a bit fiddly to find if it was inside out or not, so I made sure the seam was on the inside, although some hop debris did collect around it washing it in a bowl of hot water easily removed any Klingons.

In order to strain my wort I used a sanitised jug and poured a jug full at a time into the strainer. Once all the wort and hops were out of my boiler pan I decided to pass the top up water through the strainer that had all the hops still in place.
I must say that I was concerned (as once I passed water through it did pull quite tights) if this would split the bag however as the recipe used 50g it wasn't enough to do so.

I wouldn't want to put any more than this in the strainer, also the hops were leaf hops not pellets so I'll have to keep this in mind if I use pellet hops next time.

Once the required amount of water was in the fermenter the strainer was just about touching the top of the wort, but it was already slightly aerated.

Emptying the strainer was simple, just turned the strainer inside out and the hops plopped into the bin. I set aside the strainer in my boil pot until I finished aerating and pitching the yeast.

I know there are other methods of straining, many people just simply use a coarse colander and I've read into hop spiders,bazookas or filters that can be directly used within the boiling wort.

I've been really impressed with how clear the packaged beers have been. I force carbed 1 TAD and a week after initial carbonation you can see straight though the glass once poured. Something of a luxury that I never have had before. An instant success which I look forward to using next time.

The only thing is that it could be a little stronger and also larger inner dimensions, just so it could be comfortable in holding the hops without the fear of it splitting or ripping of the arms, this is only minor as I wouldn't think I'd put much more hops than this in one batch, I like hoppy beers but not overly hoppy.

4 1/2 Bottles out of 5

What do you use for straining hops/wort, if anything? Have you noticed any improvements using one compared to not?

Until next time......Happy Brewing

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Ever had any bottle bombs due to over carbonation? 

Ever had a flat beer from under carbonation?

Branching out on creating different styles in 2016?

I have recently come across a few Priming Sugar Calculators that will help, it certainly opened my eyes to the different beers styles and amount of sugar & CO2 that is recommended.


When I first starting brewing I came across a quick and fast rule of the sugar amount, which with the beers I was brewing probably made them off style and in cases slightly over carbonated. 

The best one I found was Homebrew Dad's Priming Sugar Calculator  this calculator has both the option to input the desired CO2 level that you want to achieve (for the science boffin). If you like me find it easier to relate to the styles they have a very extensive list to select from and aims to place the carbonation at the mid range level of each style. 

A very useful tool indeed! I'll certainly be using it in the future.

Until Next time......Happy Brewing. 

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