Bottles, Barrels and Kegs
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Beer Bottles, Fillers and Washers Bottling home brewed beer isn’t difficult, although it is perhaps, a little boring. But whilst bottling your brew is tedious, it is also rewarding and enables you to keep your beer fresher for longer, store it in the refrigerator and easily take it along to parties and BBQs. |
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In 1891, the bottle cap we are all familiar with and still the most widely used in home brewing was invented. William Painter, an Ex-pat Irishman living in Baltimore, came up with a single use cap which he called crown cork. The cap used a metal lid lined with a thin cork disc for improving the seal and protecting the drink from the metal's toxicity. |
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A well-designed, professional beer label presents people with a first impression of your homebrew beer. Without it yours is just another so-so brew, probably too sweet, too highly hopped or way too much alcohol. Of course, you know it isn’t any of those things, but without a beer label you are missing an opportunity to form peoples opinion of your beer before they actually taste it. |
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The Cornelius keg system, affectionately known as the Corny, is simply the system of choice for most home brewers who keg their beer. Cornelius kegs are actually the containers in which soft drink syrups are delivered to restaurants, bars, etc by soft drink bottlers. Pin-lock kegs, which are manufactured for Coca-Cola and Ball-lock kegs, which are the Pepsi brand. |
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Although it is common to refer to draught beer containers of any size as barrels, this is only correct if the container actually holds 36 gallons. Where as the terms, keg and cask refer to containers of any size. The difference between kegs and casks is that kegs are used for pasteurised beers that are dispensed using an external gas source. Real ale and similar beers complete their fermentation in their containers, which are called casks. |
