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Typical cost to clean a keg

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  • Typical cost to clean a keg

    Hi all,

    I am a business student at San Diego State University, and our group project has us exploring the challenges that craft brewers face.

    We are curious how expensive and time-consuming keg cleaning is. What does it typically cost (in materials and labor) to clean a keg, and how long does it take?

    I know there is keg cleaning equipment out there, so I'd also be interested to know how much time and cost is associated with those cleaning them manually, with equipment, etc., as well as the initial cost of the keg cleaning equipment.

    Replies are sincerely appreciated!

  • #2
    It can be pretty variable, mostly depends on the cost of chemicals and how long kegs sit before being cleaned. Sometimes it might take 10 minutes per keg if its a completely manual setup or kegs sit for a long time after being emptied. For us, its about 3 minutes per cycle, 2 kegs at a time. Have done a lot of testing, this is the quickest that ensures a clean, sanitized and purged keg. Chemical cost are maybe only $10 for up to 100 kegs.

    Like I say though, costs can go up substantially based on chemicals, equipment and quantites of kegs.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by fastfreddie View Post
      Hi all,

      I am a business student at San Diego State University, and our group project has us exploring the challenges that craft brewers face.

      We are curious how expensive and time-consuming keg cleaning is. What does it typically cost (in materials and labor) to clean a keg, and how long does it take?

      I know there is keg cleaning equipment out there, so I'd also be interested to know how much time and cost is associated with those cleaning them manually, with equipment, etc., as well as the initial cost of the keg cleaning equipment.

      Replies are sincerely appreciated!
      I suggest you find a local brewery to check out their keg wash setup...you also have a good keg wash manufacturer in Premier Stainless nearby.

      We're washing 70 ish kegs today on a 3 head semi automatic wash from Premier Stainless...I think we paid around 15k for the thing many years ago.

      Cost wise (this is in GBP), we will roughly spend:

      * 10 in chemicals (Hardwater additive, Caustic and PAA)
      * 40 in CO2
      * 60 labour

      The other cost is going to be electricity used to run an air compressor, heated CO2 regulator, pumps and heating elements in the keg washer. Oh, and also the water used.

      Cheers,
      Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
      Chairman of the Beer
      Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
      Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
      W: www.lovibonds.com
      F: LovibondsBrewery
      T: @Lovibonds

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