When dispensing patterns shift
Sales move from 50 to 30 litres. The reasons vary – smaller outlets, more varieties per tap, on-tap times that a 50-litre keg can no longer meet. The result is always the same: part of the fleet no longer matches the market.
A business is then left with the choice of building a second fleet or mothballing the existing one. The capacity change is the third route. It keeps existing containers in use instead of parking them.
A keg standing in the warehouse because it has the wrong capacity costs the same as one that is broken.Only nobody notices, because it is still on the inventory list as an asset.
How it works
Within a given design, kegs differ only in the height of the cylinder, not in diameter. A 50-litre keg can therefore be shortened and re-welded – to 30 or to 20 litres.
Incoming inspection
Only kegs that would pass a reconditioning run anyway are candidates. Converting a keg with frost damage or a warped chime is money lost.
Shortening and welding
The shell is shortened to the target dimension and closed again. The weld seam is the critical point afterwards and is inspected accordingly.
Replacing the capacity marking
The embossed nominal fill quantity is no longer correct after the conversion. It is replaced – otherwise the keg is unusable for filling and, in case of doubt, open to challenge under weights and measures law.
Pressure test
Every converted keg is pressurised and tested for leaks. None goes back without passing that test.
Not every change is possible on every design, and the work does not pay off at every quantity. We say openly when a conversion is cheaper than buying in used kegs in the target capacity – and when it is not. At small quantities, buying in is almost always the better route.
To clarify in advance
- Current design and capacity
- Target capacity
- Quantity
- Condition of the kegs
Let us work it through
The current design, the target capacity and the quantity are enough. If buying in is cheaper, we say so – then we would rather sell you kegs than a conversion.