Kegging homebrew beer for a pub?

[MerlotMark]

Hi all,

I shared a few bottles of my latest all grain pale ale with some pub going mates, which included the landlord of our local pub. Much to my smug appreciation, they were suitable impressed with my brew! The landlord said that if I could keg it he would definitely sell it at my local. Obviously, I would need to apply for a brewing licence from HMRC and have my premises checked out by the local authorities, etc. - a whole different thread there! - but I wondered if it would even be possible to provide a pub with a keg / cask of beer that could be served using their standard taps. I've never used kegs or casks with my beers as I've always just gone straight to bottles so, as an absolute newbie to the world of bulk storage has anyone any experience or knowledge about kegging for pubs?

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Druncan]

Hi Mark, I brew for my restaurant have HMRC and am currently learning to use Ecokegs with sankey s (uk) fittings. https://ecokeg.com/ as a new development to extend the volume of my beer storage.
It seems that these are fairly standard now in most pubs. I am also going to experiment with the ecofass http://www.draughtbeeronline.com/ecofass-kegs/ and compare the systems.
FYI I draw the beers bright after secondary conditioning in my 25l cornelius kegs. I use a 7.6kg CO2 bottle to move the beer to the ecokegs and it seems to work fine.
I reccomend that you try a CO2 setup. You will never go back to bottles!!!

 

[Drunkula]

You could get the landlord to lend you a keg and possibly the sankey connector. Lie the keg on its side to depressurise it - then you can send cleaner in through the spear in the middle and drain either drain it through the gas in, or pump it back up through the spear. I use a bike pump for it then co2 on the final water rinse if I'm force carbing.

When you've filled it up either prime with sugar or force carbonate. The landlord could do that for you if he knows how - you'll have to ask.

 

[terrym]

Find out what your landlord will pay for your beer, and how much he will commit to buying, then decide if it is going to be worth it. Without that you may go to all the trouble of getting an HMRC licence and then find that you only shift one batch, and you are out of pocket, and the only thing that you will have gained is the learning experience.
There's a point at which brewing starts to become commercial not just solely for fun.

 

[simon12]

You will also need to register for AWRS to sell it to a pub see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-alcohol-wholesaler-registration-scheme-awrs also note once you register with HMRC you need to pay duty on all the beer you make even for your own consumption. You could consider making it at the pub and getting them to register for everything as a bonus they can make a load of cider duty free.