Okohme said:
So if you put your beer into a soda keg, do you omit the yeast portion of the project? I was under the impression that that was what accounted for the carbonation. Does that change the flavor or texture or anything?
No yeast is required for kegging. You CAN still carb using priming sugar in the keg. But I've never tasted a difference so I stopped that several years ago, and just force carb (see below for my procedure).
I connect the CO2 to the keg, and turn the pressure up to 30 psi. Then I lay the keg on its side and gently roll the keg back and forth on the floor. I usually do this with my foot. I just stand near the keg with one foot on top of it. then I just push my foot back and forth to roll the keg and gently slosh the beer. The CO2 dissolves into the beer quickly. You can hear it bubbling into the keg as you rock it back and forth. When the bubbling starts to slow down, I know I'm pretty close. If I'm in a hurry I'll keep rocking until the bubbles almost come to a stop. Then I let the keg sit for an hour or two to settle (like an over shaken pop can). At that point its ready to serve.
Okohme said:
If I ended up doing soda kegs, would I be able to dispense beer into my little reusable bottles to take and share?
Yes! That is exactly what I do, and what Maine Homebrewer is stating above. It is dead simple. I use a party tap (aka cobra tap). A 3/8" racking cane fits into the spout perfectly. So, I took a racking cane and cut its length down to a few inches taller than my tallest bottle.
1. Insert the top of the racking cane into the mouth of the cobra tap.
2. The bottom goes into the bottle.
3. Drop the regulator pressure to 5 psi, and release all pressure from the keg (pull the pressure release valve).
4. Open the cobra tap, and beer will flow VERY slowly.
5. Increase the regulator psi until beer is flowing at a medium rate, but isn't foaming.
6. Fill bottle until foam comes out the top, then close cobra tap.
7. Remove racking cane from bottle, and cap.
I use swing-top (grolsch style) bottles. I use the 1 liter size. I like 1 liter because its a good compromise between individual servings, and wasting beer because only a partial was served. I've served parties of 25 using this method. In fact I just did this exact thing for New Years eve.
I don't even bother with sanitation. I'm only filling to transport and drink the same day. At most the left overs (if there are any) will be drunk within a week. That's not enough time for an infection to develop and create any off flavors.
it is also possible to bottle straight from the bar taps. There is a guy over on homebrew talk that sells (or used to sell) a machined insert with o-rings that would fit perfectly into a perlick style tap. Then you could attach a length of vinyl or silicon tubing and fill straight from there. I've never tried it, but the youtube videos looks like it works great.