Keg Storage and Handling: Temperature, Settling, Rotation and Safety

Keg Storageand Handling

Store kegs cold all the time, ideally between 36°F and 38°F, and make sure every keg is at or below 38°F when it is served. Warm kegs foam, foam is waste, and beer that bounces between warm and cold ages faster than beer that stays put.

Plenty of draft problems blamed on the lines start in the walk-in.

Carbonation depends on temperature and pressure staying matched. Beer holds less CO2 as it warms, so a keg that sits a few degrees above 38°F starts releasing gas the moment it hits the faucet. The Brewers Association warns that even a few degrees over 38°F can cause pouring problems. Turning up the gas to compensate only overcarbonates the beer over time.

Cold also slows aging. Draft beer is perishable, and the Brewers Association's manual notes that room temperature storage speeds up beer aging. Treat a keg like any other cold food product: it arrives cold, it stays cold, it gets served cold.

If a keg arrives warm or sat on a dock, it is not ready to tap. These are the Brewers Association's chill times to reach 38°F in a cooler:

• From 50°F: about 25 hours
• From 48°F: about 23.5 hours
• From 46°F: about 21 hours
• From 44°F: about 18 hours, so plan on overnight
• From 40°F: about 7 hours

Keep enough cold stock that you never tap a keg straight off the truck.

Moving a keg shakes it up and usually warms it a little. Micro Matic, a draft equipment maker, recommends letting a keg settle and acclimate in the cooler for 2 to 4 hours before dispensing to prevent foamy pours. Stack deliveries gently, avoid rolling or dropping kegs, and tap from the back of the line of cold, rested stock.

These are general industry sizes and full weights from the Brewers Association's Draught Beer Quality Manual:

• Half barrel: 15.5 gallons, about 161 pounds full. The standard full size keg.
• Quarter barrel or pony: 7.75 gallons, about 87 pounds full.
• Sixth barrel (often called a sixtel): 5.16 gallons, about 58 pounds full.
• Euro keg: 13.2 gallons, about 137 pounds full.

Ask each supplier which formats a given beer comes in. Sizes vary by brand and by beer.

Most US breweries use the Sankey "D" coupler, and most breweries worldwide use one of seven variations of the Sankey style system. Others you may run into include S (European Sankey), A and M (German slider types) and G (Grundy type). A few US breweries still use the older twin probe Hoff-Stevens system. Keep a spare of every coupler your lineup needs, and hand clean couplers at every two week line cleaning, with full disassembly every six months (see draft line cleaning).

Rotate so the oldest cold keg gets tapped first. Date each keg when it arrives and keep newer stock behind older stock. Read the brewer's date code and know the freshness window for each beer. The Brewers Association notes that windows are brand specific and can vary by weeks or months, so ask your supplier instead of guessing.

If you run kegs in series (one keg feeding the next), the Brewers Association says every keg in the chain should be emptied completely each week, and the last keg of an old chain should never be moved to the front of a new one. For packaged beer, see retail beer storage and rotation and how to store beer.

Kegs are pressurized vessels and can be dangerous when mishandled. The basics from the Brewers Association:

• Lift smart. A full half barrel weighs about 161 pounds. Use a hand truck or a second person.
• Never remove a keg valve in the field. Only trained personnel should service kegs.
• Never pressurize a keg with compressed air. Compressed air should never touch beer.
• Treat CO2 with respect. It is colorless and odorless, and breathing high concentrations can kill in less than 15 minutes. CO2 alarms are recommended for enclosed areas like walk-ins and basements.
• Store gas cylinders properly. Do not keep CO2 tanks inside the walk-in or refrigerator, never lift a cylinder by its valve, keep cylinders below 125°F and keep them closed until use.
• Single use kegs should be depressurized and disposed of correctly, never refilled.

1. Walk-in holds 36°F to 38°F; check it with a thermometer, not the dial.
2. New deliveries go in cold and rest at least 2 to 4 hours before tapping (overnight if they arrived warm).
3. Every keg is dated on arrival and rotated first in, first out.
4. Freshness windows for each beer are known and posted.
5. CO2 cylinders are outside the cooler, secured upright and away from heat.
6. A hand truck is on hand for full kegs.

For questions about carrying our beer on draft, talk to our trade team.