Brewery switches to plastic kegs to supply new mail order ale
By: JimOldfield
May 20th, 2012
Shropshire’s Ironbridge Brewery has swapped its metal kegs for plastic ones – after teaming up with specialist plastics packaging technology Petainer.
The Telford-based microbrewery will supply a new high-quality English lager in the lightweight, recyclable PET kegs as it targets the mail order keg beer market.
It is a move which may impact on micro-brewers in a more widespread way – the plastic containers are more environmentally-friendly, lighter and less expensive than metal casks and kegs.
What’s more, they do not need to be returned to the brewery when empty, but can simply be crushed and put into the normal plastics recycling system.
Petainer Kegs are made from PolyEthylene Terephthalate and are currently available in four sizes – 15, 20, 30 and 40 litres.
They are designed for one-way use and have low-cost Micro Matic-compatible fittings which allow the containers to be connected to existing standard tapping systems.
Ironbridge uses traditional brewing methods to produce beers and lagers in casks, bottles, mini casks and polypins. The Telford micro-brewer is now selling its new high-quality 4.3 per cent continental-style lager, Ironbridge Craft Gold, in 20-litre Petainer PET kegs.
Owner David Goldingay said: “This is a first for a start-up keg beer operation in the UK. The Petainer Keg provides us with a low-cost container to compete against national producers.
“The Petainer Keg is a more cost-effective and sustainable package for start-up production of draught products.
“They are considerably less expensive than metal containers, and no internal cleaning is required so hygiene standards are always assured. Disposal of the empty kegs into the recycling stream also saves on administration and logistics.”
The Kegs can be supplied either as complete, ready-to-fill containers or as uninflated containers which are then blown to size at the brewery before being filled!
Hand-Pumped links:
http://ironbridgebrewery.co.uk/blog
www.petainer.com
