Okay, maybe more like 4.5 bottles and a small keg. Indeed, it was time for another round of bottling my most recent batch of beer.

This time I chose to try brewing a lager style. I’m still using my small Mr. Beer kit and a can of extract. This makes the process rather fool proof as you really just need to be good at following instructions. The biggest thing is the cleaning and sanitizing. Any crud, microbial or otherwise can ruin the batch.

I did try to increase the alcohol content this time by adding some additional corn syrup for fermentation. I’m not sure if this worked yet, but will soon find out.

What was new this time was the shiny new keg and carbon dioxide charge. This eliminates the need for priming sugar and another three weeks of secondary fermentation to produce carbonation.

Things moved smoothly, although I must admit I made a mess by accidentally hitting the keg dispensing lever and spilling some beer. Lesson learned to be more careful! I ultimately got the keg into my spare refrigerator in the basement to chill. I look forward to my first full glass of cold lager.

About half of the batch was kegged while the rest was bottled as normal and primed. This will provide a comparison. I’ve had good luck with the standard bottling and priming.

I use 1L (1 quart) German-style glass bottles primarily. This allows me to not have to cap the bottles as they have a reusable stopper. I do still bottle a couple of plastic bottles as they’re good for checking carbonation.

I have one more extract kit. An Octoberfest Märzen that I’ve made before and is quite yummy. After that I may look to a bigger recipe and Maybe some bigger kegs.