Home brewing with kegs sounds a little expensive and maybe a little (lot) more trouble than the bottling method but after the original outlay the extra expense is not very much and the beer quality will really make up for that.

Once you get used to using the keg method then the ‘little more trouble’ will not be a problem, you will feel it is an advantage.

I have a link here for an article about home brewing with kegs and  the costings involved  http://www.air-up.com/home_brew.html, okay it is in Australia but wherever you are globally, there is almost sure to be a similar system.

I also found this for you on Cooper’s website and rather than try to explain in my words, thought it best to let Coopers tell you after all they really are the experts.

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“Kegging beer

There are a couple of options open to you when it comes to kegging. If you are in a hurry for the beer (a party on the weekend) and it will be consumed within a couple of months, then artificial carbonation is the best option. Natural conditioning will give you a better beer in our opinion but the conditioning period is much longer (several weeks as opposed to several days). Well made, naturally conditioned beer will last as long in the keg as it does in bottles (at least two years or so).
Artificially carbonated beer will deteriorate after a few months.

Natural Conditioning

1. Clean and sanitise the keg thoroughly.
2. Prime with sugar at the rate of 4g per litre.
3. Rack via a piece of sanitised, flexible tubing so that the beer runs to the bottom of the keg. Leave 5 – 10 cm of headspace at the top.
4. Seal the keg then invert and give it a shake to mix the sugar and check that the seal is good.
5. Store at 18C or above for a week, then allow the beer to condition for at least two weeks.
6. Refrigerate for a day or two, momentarily release the keg pressure, then connect the gas at required pouring pressure 35 – 100 kPa, depending on your system. (Fifty litre kegs through a temprite or miracle box may require up to 300 kPa).

Artificial Conditioning

1. Clean, sanitise, purge (purge by connecting the CO2 bottle to force the air out of the keg) and rack as per the natural conditioning procedure, without the priming sugar.
2. If you are in a hurry for the beer, seal the keg, pressurise to 300 kPa and shake it about 100 times (for an 18 – 20 litre keg) with the gas connected. If there is no rush or you’re not feeling energetic, leave the gas connected with the regulator set at 300 kPa for 2 – 3 days. CO2 will be absorbed more quickly if the beer is refrigerated.
3. Place in the fridge for several days then adjust to pouring pressure. The beer will be drinkable as soon as it is cold, but will improve for several weeks in the fridge.

For crystal clear beer, rack into a sanitised, airtight, food grade container (flush with CO2 first) and refrigerate for a week. Once the beer is clear, keg and carbonate artificially.

Troubleshooting

Degassing the keg over a day or two will usually rectify over-carbonation. Agitate the keg and release the CO2 several times a day until the beer has reached the desired level of carbonation. If the beer is pouring badly but appears to have little or no carbonation, check to ensure that there are no kinks or holes in the beer and gas lines. Contrary to logic, heady beer can be a result of low gas pressure and increasing the pressure via the regulator will often fix the problem.  A short beer line may also be the cause of heady beer.  Look to use about 3m of 5mmID line, 2m of 4mmID line or an in-line restrictor.”

Here is the link to Coopers Website http://www.coopers.com.au/homebrew/
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Now something that is so very important is that the CO2 that you use be clean food grade, no  CO2 from anywhere like fire extinguishers because your brew will be contaminated and so will your keg and yourself.

Here are some advantages to home beer brewing with kegs and they are:-

# No bottle washing
# No need to add sugar
# No exploding bottles ( although some will say you are not a home brewer until you have had bottles explode, they go off with a big *Bang* too)
# No Capping (you may miss that part haha…not! )
# No breakages
# No wait , you will not need to wait the two weeks for your beer to ‘brew’

So all in all there are some excellent advantages to using kegs to brew your own beer at home and the biggest one seems to be the taste…so much better and isn’t that what all home brewers want.  So if you can get a better tasting beer by home brewing with kegs, then why not give it a try.