Some thoughts on the future of kegging

[BS]

I was thinking about new ideas and new technology after listening to the initial "beer information" part of the BNA Awards edition of the Sunday Session. In particular, I was thinking about the fact that no one makes corny kegs anymore, and that Scotties are a pretty popular size keg that are impossible to get. Why do we as homebrewers keg in cornies? Because homebrewers have been doing it for 20-30 years. Why did homebrewers start doing that? Because corny kegs were cheap and plentiful, and about 5 gallons in size. Why was the 5 gallon size important? Because the fermenters the early homebrewers used were the plastic buckets and carboys that held 5 gallons with some room to spare in the headspace for fermentation.

My point is that there's nothing special about cornies; they came into favor due to a variety of factors that were present in 1985 or 1990, but aren't present now - most notably in the cheap and plentiful abundance of corny kegs that is no more. A consequence of the use of corny kegs is the complicated kegerator system that a homebrewer has to assemble to get the beer to come out right. Jamil had to devote an entire BrewStrong to the perfect pour, and he barely scratched the surface. A kegerator is essentially a complex system that it takes a wonk to figure out, assemble, and operate, and thereby limits the customer base and therefore the overall demand for such a thing. A kegerator also requires significant floor real estate in a house or apartment, and is thus impractical for those of us in space-challenged living quarters.

There was a lot of excitement when the Heineken Beertender was released, in terms of speculation of its adaptability to homebrew kegging. Alas, for a number of reasons the Beertender itself is not suitable for homebrew kegging. But, it provides a roadmap for some features that would be desirable in a homebrew dispensing system. It's small and self-contained, such that it can be placed on a kitchen counter and not take up too much counter space. It's simple; it doesn't require line balancing or CO2 adjustment or any of the other things that make kegerator operation so problematic at times. It keeps the beer cool in a small container that is energy-efficient and quiet. And the keg size is large enough to enable a number of pours. On the downside, it uses air for dispensing, and the kegs can't be refilled.

But some smart person should be able to figure out how to build a Beertender-like system with reusable kegs that would be ideal for homebrewers. Imagine using little CO2 cartridges in a Beertender-like system (a Homebrewtender, if you will), to keep the air off the beer. The keg size could be 1.5 to 2 gallons, so you would only need 3-4 of those kegs for a 5 gallon batch, without making the kegs so huge that they defeat the purpose of the compact form factor. The whole thing could be easily transported to a party for sharing your beer with friends, without having to haul a full 5 gallon keg and jockey box and everything else around. And the kegs could even be some form of oxygen-barrier material that is food-grade and not stainless steel.

Some smart engineering type person at MoreBeer or Northern Brewer or Blichman or somewhere else should get on this. I'd buy one of these in a minute if I could.

[Henning1966]

Already have it except for the cooling. Build a box to fit a party pig or tap a draft put a peltier cooler in it and there you go.

[TheMadHopper]

I had a Beertender style kegging system, but not the one made specifically for Heineken. Avanti makes it, I think. I was able to find brand new mini-kegs at a homebrew shop for about $10. It took CO2 cartridges for a BB gun, which I found rather convenient. It had "thermo-electric" cooling. Which I found out meant no cooling at all, so what started out as a small appliance on the counter ended up as a huge nusance in the fridge. The plumbing on the thing is tiny and propietary, so not only was there not a good serving pressure to avoid foam (glass full with no liquid at all), but you couldn't change it out to anything usable. I thought I had found the perfect homebrew keg system, but it ended up being tons of money wasted.

[11amas]

Also, some folks like the ability to reach into a system, mess with it, open a lid and say "look, 30 gallons of beer and 4 taps, anyone want a drink?". There is a definite geek factor that is a value to geeks and a deterrant to newbies. I am still fighting leaks here and there due to used cornies leaking. You can buy them new though (I think they are made in Italy). Buy the new market is probably going to be sluggish until the used market dries up more than it is now.
Just look at the scotties now. You can buy one used (if you are lucky enough to find one) but you pay 40 dollars less than a new one. A used, pressure tested 5g corny used is 90 dollars less than a new one. Supply:demand

Homebrewers can make a unit out of stuff they find on Craigslist used for the most part. I bet any new system someone comes up with will be much more costly than what someone can slap together with the current equipment. Once you integrate a regulator (what, just one pressure?), a tap (just one?), and cooling (for a single gallon of beer?) you have made a neat item for those who want one beer at a time, don't force carb other kegs at the same time, and don't need to cellar the other beer they have onhand, not tapped.

I think what you describe would turn folks like me off for sake of inflexibility just as you are turned off on my complexity.

I think the new corny market will improve once the used dries up further. Sankeys are kind of dangerous for those who are not careful so I don't see them being widely adopted by homebrewers. Plus, they are far harder to clean. Whatever may replace the corny should have a hole you can see into and get a carboy brush into.

[Bruck]

Sorry.....but I'm not kegging less than 5 gallons. You might as well bottle at that point.

[Sent From My iPhone]

[ajdelange]

The reasons for the popularity of the stainless soda keg are plain - lots of them available cheap and they were designed to hold carbonated beverages under pressure. If the supply is really drying up that's going to hurt homebrewers a lot. I pretty sure they are still made as new ones are available http://www.kegkits.com/Merchant2/mercha ... ore_Code=W but, with the price of stainless being what it is, they are pretty dear ($125).

Given that you might have to shell out for a new Corny why not just buy a new 1/4 bbl Sankey in the slim configuration? Or, as these become more popular, refurbed at a price you might even be able to stomach. Sankeys are great in the sense that you don't ever have to worry about which of the multiple forms of ball lock the particular kegs you have take or, given that you crack a pin lock gas connecter suffer the consequences of having every conceivable kind of connector except a pin lock gas connector in you spares box. And you can buy all the stuff you need to set them up from any bar supply store. They are about the same size as a Corny (a little taller, obviously) but they clearly fit into most kegerators (could you get 2 - 4? - that I don't know).

The problems are clearly cost and cleaning. You don't just take the lid off and reach in with a carboy brush but it's not that difficult to set something up with a stand (to set the keg on upside down) and a pump.

I expect soda kegs will be around for a while. The beverage industry is not the only industry that uses them and if there is a continued demand for them I expect the manufacturers will keep cranking them out. The days of super cheap ones may well be over though.

[11amas]

The only downside to a slim pony keg is the 7.7 gallon size; unless you are brewing 15 gallons, fermenting in a conical or three carboys, and then splitting back to 2 tall ponys. The 5 gal size is nice in my mind because it is close to the size, shape, and volume of a corny keg. Plus the more you put in a single container the more you are lifting. Unless you have a hoist I suppose.