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  • Disposable kegs? Anyone?

    Wow. I searced the forum for this topic, and considering the unbelievable used keg shortage and ever-rising cost of new kegs, I was surprised that I didn't see anything on it. Anyone out there using the disposable or "single-use" kegs or any other alternative?

  • #2
    Eco Keg do a PET one way keg size is about 30liters.

    EcoKeg PTY LTD
    PO BOX 66
    Burwood. Victoria
    Australia 3125

    Email: info@ecokeg.com

    Cheers

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    • #3
      Where is disposable keg technology now?

      Has disposable keg technology progressed over the last 3 years? Any brewery success stories out there? What are the costs and savings that can be documented? Are there handling or production losses or gains that have been realized?

      Thanks for checking in on this topic!

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      • #4
        There's a French company ecofass that does a reusable plastic keg w/ plastic bag insert, so there is some progress being made. I'd love to use them but they only seem to have type S and A, and the us sankey is type D I believe. Hopefully soon this will become a different situation soon for recyclability/reusability. One of the few disadvantages to non stainless, I hear, though is the cooldown takes longer.
        ~Phil

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        • #5
          We are currently using Pubkegs http://pubkeg.com/
          Either one-way, or returnable and reuseable by replacing the inner bottle.
          The most important feature...Sanki fitting!

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          • #6
            pubkeg - captain bob

            Capt Bob, thanks for the pointer to pubkeg. What is the cost of the replaceable bottle? How easy has this been to work with? What are the costs?

            I think I saw some of your brew at a local craft beer shop in the Boston area - for being small, you are already in New England!

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            • #7
              Cost depends on volume. $23-$25 each. Inner bottles are $10-$13.
              They fill just like a standard Sanki keg. Another advantage is how light they are. Less than 4 lb empty. And ya, thanks for the sighting...we get around...

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              • #8
                Factoring in Costs of One-Way Kegs

                Bob (or anyone else who uses one-way kegs),
                How do you justify the cost? Do you just pass-thru the cost of the kegs to your customers? At $20+ per sixtel, that's a hefty price increase for the customer and what benefit do they see? Is it worth it to them?
                Or... is that cutting into your margins? I have no idea how you could make money if that is the case...
                Sorry if I'm missing something obvious - i'd love to avoid investing in expensive steel kegs, but i need to understand where and how to account for the cost.
                Thanks!
                ~Sten

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Capt. Bob
                  Cost depends on volume. $23-$25 each. Inner bottles are $10-$13.
                  They fill just like a standard Sanki keg. Another advantage is how light they are. Less than 4 lb empty. And ya, thanks for the sighting...we get around...
                  So have you found any actual long term savings with these? A quick calc using the prices you provided show that after approx 4 uses, you'll have paid as much for the pubkeg as you would have for a PKA keg (obviously dependent on volume).

                  Of course, this doesn't take into account cost of cleaning equipment, cleaning supplies, and the water and electricity required to run said equipment. It's based strictly on the product cost.

                  So, it's quite possible these would be cheaper in the long run and I'm very intrigued by them. Any long term costing info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

                  Thanks!

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                  • #10
                    hi guys , check out Keykegs.com - well worth investigating, but more importantly from a cost saving is the quality of beer is protected as no air or gas comes in contact with our special product!!

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                    • #11
                      Any craft brewers out there packaging into the Hienekin-style "mini-keg" you see in grocery stores? You know, the one w/the little plastic disposable tap? I've never had good experiences w/ "party pigs". A brewer in our area tried to introduce product that way and pulled it quickly. The Hienie keg or even those small gravity tap kegs the German imports come in would present an attractive option, but what kind of equipment is needed? I confess these packages are a slight mystery to me.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by wlg
                        Any craft brewers out there packaging into the Hienekin-style "mini-keg" you see in grocery stores? You know, the one w/the little plastic disposable tap? I've never had good experiences w/ "party pigs". A brewer in our area tried to introduce product that way and pulled it quickly. The Hienie keg or even those small gravity tap kegs the German imports come in would present an attractive option, but what kind of equipment is needed? I confess these packages are a slight mystery to me.
                        I am very interested in these as well, would love to hear real world info

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                        • #13
                          I have filled the 2 liter growler, the 5 liter can from Germany, 2 liter PET bottle, the 10 liter keg, the 20 liter (1/6 bbl) keg, the 1/4 bbl golden gate, the 30 liter squat and tall, the fifty liter keg, the 58.6 liter (1/2 bbl) keg in Sankey and Golden Gate and a massive variety of glass bottles and the model offered to me by the pubkeg makes a lot of sense.

                          I had a couple of samples sent to me and they both worked fine and created some buzz.

                          Not having the cost or footprint of a keg washer entered my mind. Not having the question of keg cleanliness or scale buildup that I can only marginally check entered my mind. The amount of hot water and chemical we use and effluent entered my mind. The light weight of the keg and the related weight shipping cost entered my mind ( Yes, distribution is one of our largest input costs). The stacking design entered my mind. The recycle and reline potential entered my mind. The fact that we put out premium priced products and could build the package cost into the package which would only get better with volume entered my mind.

                          But.....a 20 liter keg only isn't going to cut it for us. With a 20 & 30 liter option, we could probably adjust our pricing and eliminate the 50 liter keg altogether and make more money and sell more beer but the 20 liter keg only is on the underside of the tipping point. For us to do it at under 5000 bbl is not an option. It is all or nothing.

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                          • #14
                            I am starting to see KeyKegs here in Beijing. So far its only available with Rogue Dead Guy in the 30L size. Bar owners seem to like them, they are getting about 10% more product out of the keg. The disposable part is pretty convenient. And bars do not typically refrigerate their kegs, instead opting for inline chilling, so keeping the O2 out when room temp is 85 helps.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by TinTurtle
                              I am starting to see KeyKegs here in Beijing. So far its only available with Rogue Dead Guy in the 30L size. Bar owners seem to like them, they are getting about 10% more product out of the keg. The disposable part is pretty convenient. And bars do not typically refrigerate their kegs, instead opting for inline chilling, so keeping the O2 out when room temp is 85 helps.
                              Kegkegs seems like a great idea. I am opening a brewery in the tropics where no bar is outfitted with a cold room and I am struggling with the keg dispensing decision. Initially I was considering inline chillers but now I am leaning more towards kegerators. In either case there are real problems...with the inline chillers, product quality and longevity...with the kegerators the problem is space at the bars and the fact that only a few 1/6BBL kegs can be chilled at a time in the single kegerators. I am struggling with how to make sure the bars don't run out of beer and it seems the solution I am coming to is to have a late night emergency delivery service (labor is cheap and my distribution area is well inside of 10 miles, probably well inside of 5mi actually).

                              If the keykegs were economically feasible they would be a great solution as I could probably dispense through inline chillers like you mention and not worry about product quality quite as much but it seems they cost about 10euros each plus shipping which is substantial since only 900 fit in a container, and since I don't see any economic feasibility pitch from the company I have to assume that even after factoring in all secondary costs associated with kegging, these are simply more expensive.

                              It seems like they could come up with a similar solution where all you replace is the inner beer bag which could then become economically feasible if not even cheaper than SS kegging. Why isn't anyone doing this? You could ship thousands of bags in a container and I am sure the price could be kept under 5 bucks per bag. What am I missing here, it seems just too simple of a solution to something that could completely revolutionize kegging forever. Has no one really thought about this?
                              Last edited by dfalken; 02-18-2012, 10:21 AM.

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