Beer Dispensers Hold A Whole Party Full Of Brew
Beer-Brews.com


Defined Tag: Beer Dispensers.

When most people hear the phrase beer dispensers, they often think of the keg. That's the traditional method for dispensing beer, but not the only one. Beer cans and bottles come to mind next, but they are not really dispensers. Cans and bottles of beer do not dispense ales, lagers and pilsners so much as they store small quantities of them. These portable containers are emptied manually by pouring or drinking. A beer dispensing unit must be capable of filling a beer mug on its own. Beer kegs can do that, but it has not always been that way.

Today's beer keg dispenser began life as a wooden barrel. These barrels formerly carried nails and were created by a coppersmith. Metal bands strengthened this future beer dispensing container. Although they dispensed nails instead of beer, these early kegs became associated with a unit of weight equal to 100 pounds of nails (about 45 kg). These small casks or barrels were difficult to move around when full, but did an excellent job of keeping 100 pounds of nails from being dispensed all at once.

Some alcoholic beverages are still aged in wooden barrels, but beer isn't one of them. Wooden kegs for brewing and dispensing beer have been replaced by stainless steel tanks. These steel tanks are easy to clean and sanitize, and add no unwanted tastes to the beer to be dispensed later. It is no surprise then that today's beer dispensing keg has followed suit. Modern kegs use modern materials and technology to conveniently dispense awesome ales and perfect pilsners.

The word keg refers to the beer container as well as to the volume of beer it contains. A full keg contains 15.5 US gallons. A beer dispenser of this volume is also called a half barrel. Beer is also dispensed from containers half this size, called half kegs. These smaller beer kegs are also called pony kegs and hold 7.75 gallons of beer. A full keg dispenses beer in these equivalent units: 120 pints (US), 58.7 liters, or 12.5 UK Imperial gallons (100 Imperial pints).

If those measurements are too abstract, a full keg dispenses beer equal to about 165 drinks of 12 ounces each. That's a measurement that that will excite college students wanting to purchase keg beer dispensers.