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From an EU warehouse, not from overseas
2,300 pallet spaces in Europe, run by our sales partner Keg Exchange. Once payment is received, dispatch the next day by 12 noon is possible – with no customs clearance and no container risk.
Logistics
From an EU warehouse, not from overseas
The difference between a spear from China and a spear from Miastko is not the data, it is eight weeks.
What 2,300 pallet spaces mean in practice
A high-bay warehouse is not an end in itself. It is the difference between “we will order that for you” and “that goes out tomorrow”.
Because we concentrate consistently on one neck thread – 2″ × 14 TPI – the stock is not spread across eight secondary systems. Instead of a little of everything, there is enough of the common types. Once payment is received, dispatch the next day by 12 noon is possible.
When the spear has to be shortened
A spear only goes into a keg if the spear length matches the height dimension H3. If the tube touches the bottom, it disturbs the flow during cleaning; if it is too short, beer stays in the keg. On special designs and older kegs the standard length therefore does not always match.
We cut spears to length. Dispatch then moves out to two or three working days. That is still faster than ordering a special length from the manufacturer – and considerably better than installing a spear that does not fit.
How the length is determined
Two figures decide it. The first is the height dimension H3 of the keg, measured from the sealing edge in the neck down to the sump. The total length of the spear, from its top edge to the end of the tube, follows from it with a fixed allowance per design: H3 + 27 mm on flat (A-type) and triangular spears (G-type), H3 + 16 mm on EU Sankey (S-type) and US Sankey spears (D-type), H3 + 18 mm on the combi spear (M-type). On the 20 l slim keg, H3 varies between 501 and 508 mm depending on the manufacturer – measuring is particularly worthwhile there.
The second is the bottom clearance – the distance between the end of the down tube and the bottom of the keg. It is fixed for each valve system, and not arbitrarily: it is chosen so that the valve lifts that occur are possible at all and so that cleaning, filling and emptying run correctly.
| System | Bottom clearance |
|---|---|
| A and G – flat (A-type) and triangular (G-type) | 9 mm |
| S – EU Sankey (S-type) | 14 mm |
| M – combi (M-type) | 15 mm |
| D and U | 14 mm |
Figures from the public catalogue of a leading spear manufacturer.
The down tube therefore reaches H3 minus the bottom clearance below the sealing edge. The spear length calculator works it out for your keg.
What we need for it
The height dimension of the keg or, failing that, the design, capacity and manufacturer. If in doubt, send us an old down tube – then we measure instead of calculating. That is the safest route, and it costs you nothing but the postage.