A cold beer at any time of the day can be an excellent choice for someone who likes it. They often store their drinks in a keg insulator. A keg is generally usually made of stainless steel. However, aluminum can also be used with an interior plastic coating. Beer is frequently transported, served, and stored in it. A keg can also hold additional alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages that are carbonated or not. It is common practice to maintain the pressure of carbonated drinks to keep the carbon dioxide in solution and prevent the liquid from going flat.
How Long Does a Keg Keep Beer Fresh?
A keg insulator will keep beer colder when suitably cooled for at least 8 hours. This should include a day spent outside, a night of partying, an afternoon spent watching sports, etc. To keep the beer cooler for an extended time, it is better to store it in a keg blanket, keg barrel cooler, or even inside a mini-refrigerator.
What are the various types of Keg insulators?
You can use one of three types of kegs. Sankey, Ball Lock, and Pin Lock kegs are available. Although ball and pin locks are similar, their minor variances help distinguish them. Although commercial breweries typically use Sankey kegs, homebrewers can also use them.
Corny kegs
They come in both Ball Lock and Pin Lock varieties. The most popular kegs accessible to homebrewers are ball lock kegs. The gas and liquid lines are joined together using a “ball lock,” hence the name. Ensure that the disconnects you purchase for these kegs are the appropriate disconnects. Pin lock kegs were shorter and broader than ball lock kegs.
Keg locks
Ball-lock kegs and pin-lock kegs are incredibly similar. Occasionally, the lids of pin lock kegs lack a manual pressure release valve (PRV), although replacement lids for homebrewers typically do. Pin locks use a distinct design to secure gas and liquid disconnects. This feature makes it impossible to confuse which end was for a drink and which was for gas.
Mini Kegs
A 5-liter keg called a “small keg” is made for retail use. Some manufacturers have a spout and use gravity to pour from the bottom, while others might employ an inexpensive pressurized tap. Mini kegs are usually not returned to the maker for cleaning and refilling. The throwaway barrels may be recycled because they are made of aluminum.
Sankey Kegs
Sankey is the outlier among the group. They only have one port, located in the middle of the keg, and it serves as both a gas inlet and a liquid outlet (called a coupler). They require more effort to disassemble, but because there are fewer moving parts, they are less likely to leak gas. Additionally, larger sizes like half barrels are available (large batch brewers rejoice).
Commercial breweries are the primary users of Sankey Kegs. However, homebrewers are beginning to use them more frequently. Let’s discuss the requirements for each kind of kegging setup. There will be two sections to this. The Cornelius kegs (pin and ball lock) should come first, then the Sankey kegs.
