Like half the people here, I'm working on opening a brewpub. Searching the threads, I was surprised to find very little discussion on serving from bulk tanks vs kegs. Specifically, I'm comparing serving from bulk tanks and a small number of kegs (so I don't have tap downtimes) with serving exclusively from kegs. Below is my take on the situation, but I'm curious about what the rest of you think.
Tank + keg dispense pros:
-Less time spent on cleaning.
-Less time spent on transferring/filling.
-No additional brite tank required.
-Easier to rotate filled keg inventory.
-Less work for bartenders.
-Less required space, both in the cold room and brewery.
Keg-only dispense pros:
-Lower up-front cost.
-Don't have to clean serving vessels in the cold room.
-Don't have to fill kegs in the cold room.
-Ability to serve at higher pressures (no A$ME tanks for me).
-Less confusion for bartenders.
-Kegs would be pre-filled for direct sales, distribution & off-site events.
At a brewpub I used to work at, the cold room floor drain and water supply - aka the kitchen prep sink with a hose on its faucet - were located outside of the cold room itself. Cleaning the tank was only a fraction of the battle. We cleaned our kegs manually with a modified keg coupler and a lot of shaking. Hassle-wise, I'd rather have cleaned 20 1/2-bbl kegs than one 10-bbl serving tank. Time-wise, the tanks required a lot less work. If I were to have a dedicated cold room drain and water supply, as well as a keg cleaner/filler, which dispense method would you prefer? For what it's worth, I'm hoping to have a small neighborhood pub (50-75 seats) with a 7-bbl brewhouse and expect to brew about 250 barrels a year (which I hope is a conservative estimate).
Joe
Tank + keg dispense pros:
-Less time spent on cleaning.
-Less time spent on transferring/filling.
-No additional brite tank required.
-Easier to rotate filled keg inventory.
-Less work for bartenders.
-Less required space, both in the cold room and brewery.
Keg-only dispense pros:
-Lower up-front cost.
-Don't have to clean serving vessels in the cold room.
-Don't have to fill kegs in the cold room.
-Ability to serve at higher pressures (no A$ME tanks for me).
-Less confusion for bartenders.
-Kegs would be pre-filled for direct sales, distribution & off-site events.
At a brewpub I used to work at, the cold room floor drain and water supply - aka the kitchen prep sink with a hose on its faucet - were located outside of the cold room itself. Cleaning the tank was only a fraction of the battle. We cleaned our kegs manually with a modified keg coupler and a lot of shaking. Hassle-wise, I'd rather have cleaned 20 1/2-bbl kegs than one 10-bbl serving tank. Time-wise, the tanks required a lot less work. If I were to have a dedicated cold room drain and water supply, as well as a keg cleaner/filler, which dispense method would you prefer? For what it's worth, I'm hoping to have a small neighborhood pub (50-75 seats) with a 7-bbl brewhouse and expect to brew about 250 barrels a year (which I hope is a conservative estimate).
Joe
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