A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

[corbe]

A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale

Saabira Chaudhuri 6 hrs ago

Millions of gallons of beer stuck in stadiums, concert halls, restaurants and bars are fast going stale, leaving the beer industry with a tricky problem: What to do with all that booze nobody will ever drink?

The coronavirus pandemic forced U.S. bars to close ahead of two of the country’s biggest drinking occasions: St Patrick’s Day and the “March Madness” basketball tournament. Beer intended for those events is now spoiling in locked establishments, and brewers are trying to get it back so kegs can be refilled before lockdowns lift. Executives say draft beer typically stays fresh for between two and six months.

“This was the absolute worst time for this to happen for draft beer,” said Craig Purser, chief executive of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a trade body. “We have never ever seen an interruption like this where everything freezes in place.”

Many industries are wrestling with similar dilemmas about what to do with their excess supply while the global economy recedes and a deadly virus rages around the world. Farmers are dumping milk. Air carriers are looking for places to park all of their idled planes. Commodity traders are looking for floating supertankers to store an overabundance of crude oil.

<..snip..>

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/beverages/a-new-problem-is-brewing-in-the-beer-industry-one-million-kegs-are-going-stale/ar-BB1390dS?ocid=spartanntp

[Cyber Liberty]

I believe this is true.  I know from my learning about my Kegerator that an untapped keg goes bad after 8-10 weeks, and it has to be kept refrigerated the whole time or it goes skunk.  Once tapped, you have about 4 weeks to drink it, and it has to be kept under pressure from a CO₂ tank.   I use 5-gallon kegs, called a "1/6 barrel slim."  A Pony Keg is a shorter and fatter 1/4 barrel, or 7.5 gallons. 

What most people call a "Full Keg" is actually a half barrel, or 15 gallons.  That's the size they use in bars.

[Sighlass]

I believe this is true.  I know from my learning about my Kegerator that an untapped keg goes bad after 8-10 weeks, and it has to be kept refrigerated the whole time or it goes skunk.  Once tapped, you have about 4 weeks to drink it, and it has to be kept under pressure from a CO₂ tank.   I use 5-gallon kegs, called a "1/6 barrel slim."  A Pony Keg is a shorter and fatter 1/4 barrel, or 7.5 gallons. 

What most people call a "Full Keg" is actually a half barrel, or 15 gallons.  That's the size they use in bars.

15 gallons, I probable ain't drank half that in my lifetime.

[libertybele]

Problem solved!

[Cyber Liberty]

Problem solved!

Tomorrow!!   

The beer that's in tapped kegs in all the bars has already gone bad, even kept refrigerated under pressure.  The accountants say "2 to 6 Months," but that's untapped.  Once you tap a keg, the clock is ticking.  Four weeks to drink up while keeping it under pressure continuously.  This is one reason I stick to smaller kegs, because 5 gallons takes me a month.  The other reason is so I can keep two kegs on hand, so I have a spare when a keg blows foam.  I recently upgraded to a Kegerator in the Castle that holds two.  If I want to I can get a 2-faucet tower so I can run 2 different beers.