Keg Beer
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Draught beer, also spelt draft, is
beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
served from a
cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
or
keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...
rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as


Name

Until Joseph Bramah patented the
beer engine A beer engine is a device for pumping beer from a cask, usually located in a pub's cellar. The beer engine was invented by John Lofting, a Dutch inventor, merchant and manufacturer who moved from Amsterdam to London in about 1688 and patented ...
in 1785, beer was served directly from the barrel and carried to the customer. The
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
' ("carry; pull") developed into a series of related words including ''drag'', ''draw'', and ''draught''. By the time Bramah's beer pumps became popular, the use of the term ''draught'' to refer to the acts of serving or drinking beer was well established and transferred easily to beer served via the hand pumps. In time, the word came to be restricted to only such beer. The usual spelling is now "draught" in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, Australia, and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and more commonly "draft" in North America, although it can be spelt either way. Regardless of spelling, the word is pronounced or depending on the region the speaker is from. Canned draught is beer served from a pressurised container featuring a widget. Smooth flow (also known as cream flow, nitrokeg, or smooth) is the name brewers give to draught beers pressurised with a partial nitrogen gas blend.


History

In 1691, an article in the '' London Gazette'' mentioned
John Lofting John Lofting (1659 – 15 June 1742, London), originally Jan Loftingh, was an engineer and entrepreneur from the Netherlands. Biography His parents were Herman and Johanna. He moved to London, England, before 1686. He patented two inventions: th ...
, who held a patent for a
fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an ...
: "The said patentee has also projected a very useful engine for starting of beer, and other liquors which will draw from 20 to 30 barrels an hour, which are completely fixed with brass joints and screws at reasonable rates". In the early 20th century, draught beer started to be served from pressurised containers. Artificial
carbonation Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic ch ...
was introduced in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
in 1936, with Watney's experimental
pasteurised Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...
beer Red Barrel. Though this method of serving beer did not take hold in the UK until the late 1950s, it did become the favored method in the rest of Europe, where it is known by such terms as ''en pression''. The carbonation method of serving beer subsequently spread to the rest of the world; by the early 1970s the term "draught beer" almost exclusively referred to beer served under pressure as opposed to the traditional cask or barrel beer. In Britain, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971 to protect traditional—unpressurised—beer and brewing methods. The group devised the term ''
real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
'' to differentiate between beer served from the cask and beer served under pressure. The term ''real ale'' has since been expanded to include bottle-conditioned beer.


Keg beer

Keg beer is often
filtered Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter m ...
and/or
pasteurised Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...
, both of which are processes that render the
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...
inactive. In brewing parlance, a keg is different from a
cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
. A cask has a tap hole near the edge of the top, and a spile hole on the side used for conditioning the unfiltered and unpasteurised beer. A keg has a single opening in the centre of the top to which a flow pipe is attached. Kegs are artificially pressurised after fermentation with
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
or a mixture of carbon dioxide and
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
gas or especially in
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
solely compressed air. ''Keg'' has become a term of contempt used by some, particularly in the UK, since the 1960s when pasteurised draught beers started replacing traditional cask beers. Keg beer was replacing traditional cask ale in all parts of the UK, primarily because it requires less care to handle. Since 1971, CAMRA has conducted a consumer campaign on behalf of those who prefer traditional cask beer. CAMRA has lobbied the
British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
to ensure support for cask ale and
microbreweries Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
have sprung up to serve those consumers who prefer traditional cask beer. Pressurised CO2 in the keg's headspace maintains carbonation in the beer. The CO2 pressure varies depending on the amount of CO2 already in the beer and the keg storage temperature. Occasionally the CO2 gas is blended with nitrogen gas. CO2 / nitrogen blends are used to allow a higher operating pressure in complex dispensing systems. Nitrogen is used under high pressure when dispensing dry stouts (such as Guinness) and other creamy beers because it displaces CO2 to (artificially) form a rich tight head and a less carbonated taste. This makes the beer feel smooth on the palate and gives a foamy appearance. Premixed bottled gas for creamy beers is usually 75% nitrogen and 25% CO2. This premixed gas which only works well with creamy beers is often referred to as Guinness Gas, Beer Gas, or Aligal (an Air Liquide brand name). Using "Beer Gas" with other
beer style Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin. The modern concept of beer styles is largely based on the work of writer Michael Jackson in his 1977 book ...
s can cause the last 5% to 10% of the beer in each keg to taste very flat and lifeless. In the UK, the term ''keg beer'' would imply the beer is pasteurised, in contrast to unpasteurised cask ale. Some of the newer microbreweries may offer a nitro keg stout which is filtered but not pasteurised.


Storage and serving temperature

Cask beer should be stored and served at a cellar temperature of . Once a cask is opened, it should be consumed within three days. Keg beer is given additional cooling just prior to being served either by flash coolers or a remote cooler in the cellar. This chills the beer to temperatures between .


Canned and bottled "draught"

The words "draft" and "draught" have been used as marketing terms to describe canned or
bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stop ...
d beers, implying that they taste and appear like beers from a cask or keg. Commercial brewers use this as a marketing tool although it is incorrect to call any beer not drawn from a cask or keg "draught". Two examples are
Miller Genuine Draft The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the M ...
, a
pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to- golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brew ...
which is produced using a cold filtering system, and Guinness stout in patented "Draught-flow" cans and bottles. Guinness is an example of beers that use a nitrogen widget to create a smooth beer with a dense head. Guinness has recently replaced the widget system from their bottled "draught" beer with a coating of cellulose fibres on the inside of the bottle. Statements indicate a new development in bottling technology that enables the mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide to be present in the beer without using a widget, making it according to Guinness "more drinkable" from the bottle. In
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...
n countries, such as China and Japan, the term "draft beer" () applied to canned or bottled beer indicates that the beer is not pasteurised (though it may be filtered), giving it a fresher taste but shorter shelf-life than conventional packaged beers.


See also

* Cask ale *
Beer tap A beer tap is a valve, specifically a tap, for controlling the release of beer. While other kinds of tap may be called ''faucet'', ''valve'' or ''spigot'', the use of ''tap'' for beer is almost universal. The word was originally coined for the w ...
* Cask breather *
Growler (jug) A growler (US) () is a glass, ceramic, or stainless steel bottle (or jug) used to transport draft beer. They are commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs as a means to sell take-out craft beer. Rarely, beers are bottled in growlers for retail sa ...


References


External links


Draught Beer Information
Much information regarding draught beer storage and equipment.
Irish Specification
PDF version of The Irish Draught Beer Specification

- Information about how to use properly a draught beer dispensing device {{DEFAULTSORT:Draught Beer Types of beer