Serving
Carbonating and Serving
Would you rather clean 50+ bottles or 1 large bottle?
Would you rather wait 2 weeks to drink carbonated beer or 2 days?
Would you like so serve beer only in 12 oz increments or in any amount you like?
Would you like to have several kinds of beer,
fresh, cold and on tap?
NO ONE who goes to a draft system ever wishes they hadn’t.
You’ll never go back to bottling beer again.
If you love beer, the initial expense will be well worth the long term gain of having draft beer.
There is a good article on this method here and I have another page on how to carbonate beer here.
Tap a draft
If you don’t have an extra refrigerator for a complete CO2 draft system, this is a good alternative: three 1.6 gallon bottles. Will not carbonate as quickly as a draft system, but takes up a lot less space.
Economy Draft kit
With this kit, you could avoid the cost of a CO2 tank, carbonate the beer with sugar and still have great beer on tap without the hassle of bottling. Great introduction to draft beers and nothing is lost if you decide to get a CO2 tank/ regulator later.
Full Draft kit
This is the full draft package without a through the door draft handle. (inexpensive addition later if you want)
This is the way most homebrewers start. It works and is good for entering your beer in contests or giving to friends, but it is the most work of all the methods here.
Pros:
inexpensive
good for transporting beer
Cons:
time consuming
labor intensive
lots of bottles to clean/ store
takes 2 weeks to carbonate
serve in 12 ounce increments
Pros:
relatively inexpensive
faster than bottling
good for taking to a party
relatively small size draft
Cons:
uses disposable CO2 cartridges
slightly more expensive
takes 2 weeks to carbonate
Pros:
much faster than bottling
easy to move to next level
great for taking large amount of beer to a party
Cons:
uses disposable CO2 cartridges
even more expensive
takes 2 weeks to carbonate
Pros:
real draft beer
much faster than bottling
carbonates in 1-2 days
easy to make carbonated sodas
Cons:
most expensive option
