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  • PubKeg information

    Hello All,

    I've been doing some research and I'm trying to find more information on plastic 1/6 kegs (www.pubkeg.com). I'm aware of the fact that a couple of kegs from a different manufacturer once exploded while on the brewery's cleaning equipment. However, these kegs claim to come sanitized and purged with oxygen, and as they are not reusable, this shouldn't be an issue.

    I was wondering if you guys had some info on the following:

    1. Do you know of any specific known breweries that use these kegs for supplying their beer to bars as their main distribution means for draft beer?

    2. Do these kegs use standard sanke style connections meaning, can they be supplied as-is to a bar and not expect them to have to make any adjustments?

    3. Going back to the "exploding" kegs, what is their pressure rating? Can beer be forced carbed in these kegs with CO2? This is assuming use by homebrewers that might not have carbonation vessels (i.e. brite tanks) and wish to carbonate their beer without relying on yeast. Where I live, the craft beer scene is just starting to boom, and many small breweries wanting to turn pro rely on slowly acquiring corny or sanke kegs to carbonate in and distribute. The lack of kegs and the hassle of getting them back is an osbtacle to some.

    4. Are they a viable alternative? I'm asking because I find it strange that most online homebrew shops show these plastic kegs as discontinued.

    Thanks guys!

  • #2
    I got one of these as a demo unit. For what they are, they are put together very nicely. However in the long run, they would not be cost effective at all.

    1. They are single use recyclable keg (yes it can be taken apart and sanatized and used again, but the parts, washer, oring does become very brittle and parts arent easy to find.)
    2. They cannot be force carbed in safely.
    3. They cannot be cleaned on a keg washer
    4. They do not want these going to home brewers

    I would use these for sending to festivals/pourings and the likes, but never as my sole keg style.

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    • #3
      I was at Cigar City yesterday getting an "in-depth" tour and we were in brewhouse #1 there. They built a cage around the washer they used to prep PUBKegs in because they had one explode and nearly kill a guy. There's actually a spot above the washer in the ceiling (15+ feet high) where a piece of the plastic either stuck in or puncture the roof. You can still see the repair mark.

      It's not that they're inherently unsafe, its that there are manufacturing defects on occasion that lead to weak points, and it could kill someone. They sound like a great idea, but what's worth more? Your life or saving a couple grand initially?

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      • #4
        I think your thinking of PKA kegs Polaris. Pubkegs are 5gal PET plastic bottles in a outer layer and cannot be used on a keg washer.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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        • #5
          Originally posted by kef300 View Post
          Hello All,

          I've been doing some research and I'm trying to find more information on plastic 1/6 kegs (www.pubkeg.com). I'm aware of the fact that a couple of kegs from a different manufacturer once exploded while on the brewery's cleaning equipment. However, these kegs claim to come sanitized and purged with oxygen, and as they are not reusable, this shouldn't be an issue.

          I was wondering if you guys had some info on the following:

          1. Do you know of any specific known breweries that use these kegs for supplying their beer to bars as their main distribution means for draft beer?

          2. Do these kegs use standard sanke style connections meaning, can they be supplied as-is to a bar and not expect them to have to make any adjustments?

          3. Going back to the "exploding" kegs, what is their pressure rating? Can beer be forced carbed in these kegs with CO2? This is assuming use by homebrewers that might not have carbonation vessels (i.e. brite tanks) and wish to carbonate their beer without relying on yeast. Where I live, the craft beer scene is just starting to boom, and many small breweries wanting to turn pro rely on slowly acquiring corny or sanke kegs to carbonate in and distribute. The lack of kegs and the hassle of getting them back is an osbtacle to some.

          4. Are they a viable alternative? I'm asking because I find it strange that most online homebrew shops show these plastic kegs as discontinued.

          Thanks guys!

          When we started, we were using Pubkegs. But as another poster pointed out, the more you use them, the less cost effective it becomes. Occasionally we would run them through our normal cleaning cycle and reuse them but they do become brittle over time. We have since completely switched over to stainless kegs.

          1) We did for the first 10 months or so of our operation. Occasionally we would have issues with some Pubkegs where the spear would become unattached from the coupler causing the keg not to dispense properly. You could invert these kegs and serve the beer, but it was annoying nonetheless. This happened on new PET liners that hadn't been run through our cleaning cycle yet so it seemed to be a manufacturing defect.

          2) Yes, standard sanke couplers tap these kegs.

          3) The pressure rating is 60psi, so I can't see why you couldn't force carbonate in one of these.

          4) They're alright. Our plan was to swap the PET bottles after a couple of uses, keeping the shells on hand. But after the 2nd time that Rehrig raised the price on getting the PET bottles without swapping the shell, it finally became obvious that it wasn't a viable alternative. I believe the PET bottles at this point are somewhere around $16 each after shipping (two pallets at a time).

          On a related note, if anyone out there is still using Pubkegs and wants 100ish empty shells, drop me a PM

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