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  • Moving kegs in and out of a basement

    At my brewery our cold room is in the basement. So that requires that as kegs are filled from the brite tanks they must be moved downstairs to be served & stored. Then when we need to deliver kegs they must be moved back up to street level. We're in an older historic building that has a "bilko" entrance outside, but there is no lift/elevator still there.

    We've tried a couple of solutions for moving kegs up & down. We have a slide that we can use. It requires 2 men to operate (1 to put the keg on the top and 1 to guide it down) although we could put a bumper at the bottom to "catch" the kegs. But this would mean alot of going up and down the stairs. And although it works ok for moving kegs down to the cellar, it's a really pain for getting kegs back up.

    We've also built a lift. It's hard to explain but it basically operates much like the front end of a forklift with a pulley & cable that raise and lower a platform with kegs on it and it's powered by a very heavy duty winch. However we've burned through several motors in a short period of time so obviously something is wrong with our design. Most likely it's because we're using the winch motors for something they weren't designed for.

    So my question is...Does anyone have any ingenious means of moving kegs up and down between 2 floors? I'm looking for something that would only take 1 person to operate and could move 2-4 kegs at a time. It could be electric or manual, at this point I really don't care as long as it works and doesn't cost a small fortune. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
    Hutch Kugeman
    Head Brewer
    Brooklyn Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America
    Hyde Park, NY

  • #2
    Hey Hutch,
    You should contact the guys over at Duclaw in Abingdon,MD, they have a brewpub location where the cold room is on the second floor and they use a motorized lift system for their kegs.
    Cheers,
    Mike Roy
    Brewmaster
    Franklins Restaurant, Brewery & General Store
    5123 Baltimore Ave
    Hyattsville,MD 20781
    301-927-2740

    Franklinsbrewery.com
    @franklinsbrwry
    facebook.com/franklinsbrewery

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    • #3
      I would imagine you could add an extra pulley to lower the load on your winch. It will go up slower but it will put less stress on the motor.

      Comment


      • #4
        Kinda' unorthodox, but how about doing a keg-to-keg transfer via a long piece of tubing from downstairs to upstairs?
        Just thinkin'........

        Prost!
        Dave
        Glacier Brewing Company
        406-883-2595
        info@glacierbrewing.com

        "who said what now?"

        Comment


        • #5
          Sorry for asking the obvious, but a chilled beer line from basement to 1st floor doesn't work?

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          • #6
            Modified 'stair lift' (like those used by many seniors). I think they're designed for a 3-4 hundred pounds

            You might be able to find a used one on ebay/kijiji.

            Pax.

            Liam
            Liam McKenna
            www.yellowbellybrewery.com

            Comment


            • #7
              it sounds like you solved your problem already. if your self built lift system works but is just burning up motors, you just need the right motor/gear reduction setup to have work correctly. if you have any industrial supply house local to your area, their sales people will probably be glad to come by and spec out the right components to solve your problem. if you would send me a simple sketch of your design, I may even be able to do it from here.
              www.beerontheriver.com

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              • #8
                I agree with v2comp. Get a chain hoist instead of a winch. It might cost a bit more but you won't burn it up. I used to have to move full pallets of grain up two stories using a chain hoist.

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                • #9
                  we built a ramp with guides for the wheels on the hand truck that flips down onto the stairway and then mounted a small winch on the wall to drag the hand truck up the stairs. Takes about a minute to clear the flight of stairs and haven't had any issues with it in a year of use.

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                  • #10
                    Giving this old thread a bump. We're once again having problems with our homemade lift for moving kegs into and out of our basement. Does anyone have any bright ideas for moving kegs from street level down into a basement (and back up again)?

                    Thanks!
                    Hutch Kugeman
                    Head Brewer
                    Brooklyn Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America
                    Hyde Park, NY

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by kugeman View Post
                      Giving this old thread a bump. We're once again having problems with our homemade lift for moving kegs into and out of our basement. Does anyone have any bright ideas for moving kegs from street level down into a basement (and back up again)?

                      Thanks!
                      I just came across the following. Pricey, but looks like it does the job...

                      The Rotatruck Stair-Climbers multidirectional wheels with lateral movement design, let the wheels rotate on a center axis . This allows for climbing or desce...


                      Grainger has them for $1536:

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by kugeman View Post
                        Giving this old thread a bump. We're once again having problems with our homemade lift for moving kegs into and out of our basement. Does anyone have any bright ideas for moving kegs from street level down into a basement (and back up again)?

                        Thanks!
                        This:

                        The Ergo Magliner Liftkar electric motorized battery power hand truck is the most popular model. You can buy it right here online at the best and...


                        $4000 though. Better than a lawsuit.

                        Pax

                        Liam
                        Liam McKenna
                        www.yellowbellybrewery.com

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