Something doesn’t sound right here. Are you sure you aren’t talking about “bag in a box” where they put
soda syrup and then mix it with CO2 and water at the dispenser?
If the beer is carbed, the bag would be pressurized, unless it’s VERY cold.
I had never heard of it either, so I tried a simple google search.
It looks like the beer version is a PET sphere with the bag inside. It’s still something plastic under pressure. And I’m not a fan of the disposable concept. Once again, it’s the throwaway plastic single use, rather than reusable, refillable stainless. Ok, mini enviro-rant over 
You could just recycle it with the rest of your plastics.
It’s “bag in ball” so you have pressure on the PET squeezing the bag and pushing the beer out. Still seems a whole lot safer than regular kegs.
Re environment, here at least they have a recycling program for this stuff. You just include it with your other plastic recycling. Don’t forget that while those steel kegs are multiple use, transportation costs (i.e., fuel consumption) are much higher just because there’s more weight.
Re beer going flat, nearly all the bars I patronize use KeyKeg, and it’s what Mikkeller, BrewDog and Nogne 0 use, so I don’t think that’s an issue.
Less weight on packaging makes sense.
More product gets delivered for the same weight.
Plastics are recycleable, and better plastics are being made all the time (e.g., PLA) from non-petroleum sources. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylactic_acid
It looks a lot like the old Miller Party Ball. That didn’t sell very well to the public after the novelty wore off.
It looks like a very convenient system for the brewery and would eliminate one of the drudgery jobs in the brew house. That being cleaning kegs.
My main question would be cost efficiency over the long hall compared to stainless? I’ll admit that I do not know how many SS kegs get stolen or damaged beyond repair any given month or how much SS kegs cost in bulk. Maybe the costs are a wash or even lower if you eliminate 2 way transport and cleaning. Definitely something to look at if going pro ever becomes something more than a day dream for me.
Paul
I did a quick scan of the classifieds at probrewer and it looks like 50L kegs cost about $75-85 each. I don’t know how freight works for shipping beer, but usually less weight means less money. I’ve read of people setting up basic keg washer for $5k, but I think they usually cost a lot more than that. If you add in return transport and labor for washing, I think it’d take a very long timeline for stainless kegs to be more cost-effective.
That’s about right for the automated units, but a “basic” keg washer can be put together for about $200-300. All you need is a coupler, a pump, some tubing, and a jerry-rigged stand.
Yes, but do you want to clean 60 or so kegs with a non-automated system?
No, but a brewery that has to clean 60 kegs a day isn’t in the target market for something like that.
That makes much more sense than a bag in cardboard.
Something like this:
And an air compressor and/or Co2. I use air for clean side and co2 for santi.
Surprised still that there was a safety failure at a commercial brewery. Other than the failure to use one or blockage, how else could the pressure rise so high inside a keg that a bleeder valve or pressure relief valve didn’t prevent an explosion? Condolences to the family and co-workers, but it warrants understanding the how and why so it doesn’t happen again.
Every keg coupler has a safety pressure valve that is set to 60 psi.
This valve is not on keg fillers.
Ditto!
Wow…a sad day for his family. AFAIAC…This is a very rare occurrence. The PRV should’ve vented the overpressure…unless there was foul play. :-\
It could be that the keg was damaged resulting in a weak area that exploded under the PRV limit. However, I’m betting on human error. I’d like to see a picture of this exploded keg, but I doubt that will ever be made public.
You can take a 16 ounce PET bottle well beyond 100 psi.
I don’t understand how the air line wouldn’t fail. We don’t usually think of it as a safety feature but vinyl tubing between 2 steel containers in a pressurized system should be the first thing to fail