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Compatibility: spear, coupler, brewery
The full matrix is a tool of its own on keg-exchange.com: 1,024 entries from thirteen countries, with search, filters and a grade on every line saying how well it is documented.
Tool
Keg coupler finder
Type the brewery – accents and Czech or Polish special characters do not have to match – then filter by country, spear type and evidence grade. Every line opens a note: where the entry comes from and what speaks against it. No sign-up, no form.
Why a list alone is not enough
The spear type does not depend on the brewery alone. Four things decide with it, and none of the freely available lists maps even one of them:
- Pack size. Several brands run on flat (A-type) in the 20 litre keg and on EU Sankey (S-type) in the 50 litre keg – same brand, two couplers.
- Year of manufacture. A Dutch producer changed over in August 2023: newer kegs flat, older ones combi. For a spare-parts order this is the trickiest case of all.
- Market. Grolsch runs on flat in the Netherlands and on three-lobe in the United Kingdom.
- Beer style. A Franconian brewery runs bottom-fermented on flat (A-type) and wheat beer on EU Sankey (S-type).
On top of that, the common lists are almost all copies of one another: identical order, identical typing errors, sometimes brands that are not even traded in the country concerned. Eight hits from the same template are one record, not eight. That is why every line in the coupler finder states what it rests on – and where the sources disagree, we show the contradiction instead of picking a side.
The route that needs no list
The keg itself is faster than any table. A body diameter of 74.5 millimetres means a flat spear (A-type); if there is no body above the neck bush at all, it is a EU Sankey spear (S-type). A calliper is enough.
Two exceptions belong to the rule, or it becomes dangerous: the 68 millimetre version of the flat spear (A-type) always has a left-hand thread, and the triangular spear (G-type) measures the same as the flat spear (A-type) – you recognise it by the three-lobed rather than round body. With the combi spear (M-type) the measurement does not help; there the coupler decides. All five types with their dimensions.
And the point that saves a lot of trouble: what fits into a keg is decided by the neck bush, not by the spear. Where the standard thread sits there, the common types can be exchanged without touching the keg. The nine neck bush systems at a glance.
What we supply for it
Spears in all common types, seals, springs, retaining rings and valves – from the European warehouse we built for exactly this purpose. To the spare parts, to the spear types.
If you know an entry in the finder to be wrong, write to us. Every keg that passes through the workshop is a data point anyway – and a correction from practice is worth more than any list. Get in touch