Collegiate Times

A party just isn?t a party without one. Standing out on a freezing balcony with 25 other thirsty party-goers and two or three smokers is an experience not to be missed ? well maybe it is. The keg is something familiar to many college students, but they usually don?t know just what it is that makes it tick.

Being of German heritage, I am proud to inform you that the invention of the metal keg took place in Germany in 1965. The metal keg took the place of wooden casks and was easier to clean and tap. Leave it to the Germans to come up with a genius way to dispense large quantities of beer.

A keg is made up of a hollow aluminum body with a single two-way valve in the center that is used for filling, cleaning and dispensing with the liquid inside put under pressure.

A keg is actually a unit of measurement, 31 gallons. However, what we know as a keg is actually a half-keg; you are getting 15 and one-half gallons of beer when you purchase a keg in the U.S. Knowing this information, I can now answer the one question that always baffles me: how do you know how much beer to buy?

Well we all know that 99.9 percent of beer at parties is served in red Solo cups ? just take a look at the bus stops on Sunday morning. The cups come in 9oz and 18oz sizes. If you buy the 18oz cups and there are 198 ounces in a gallon ? carry the two ? that gives you 170.5 cups per keg. Armed with this information, you should be able to better gauge how much beer to buy for any gathering.

But perhaps your party only turns out to be a small gathering of close friends ? and a few random neighbors. How long will the rest of the beer in the keg last? Unfortunately, once tapped, the beer will stay fresh for only eight to 12 hours if you are using the standard manually operated pump, according to micromatic.com, an excellent website with lots of ?beer education? articles and items for sale. If, however, you are able to afford a carbon dioxide dispensing system, your beer will last about 90 days if kept cold.

There is, as always, the question of foam when starting a keg. While it cannot be entirely avoided, there are some common sense things you can do to limit the amount of foam produced. First, be gentle with the keg. Shaking and rolling a keg is no different than shaking a can of soda and then popping it open. With this in mind, it?s also good to let the keg settle for two hours or so to let any foam created during transport settle.

According to kegworks.com, an online retailer that sells draft beer systems, foamy beer can also be caused by dirty, twisted or kinked beer lines and by warm spots in the keg or beer line. So keep your keg cold, calm and clean, and you can minimize foam.

If, however, you?re in a bar and wondering whether to order a bottle or a mug, it turns out there are differences in taste when beer is served from a keg.

According to Dr. J. Zimmerman, a New Jersey Chiropractor and amateur beer brewer, higher alcohol beers taste better in the bottle. This is because they age well, and aging typically doesn?t happen in a keg. Also, ales taste smoother when taken from the tap as opposed to drinking them from the bottle. As for lagers and pilsners, Zimmerman says that they taste great both from a keg and a freshly poured bottle. However, he says that American light beers should be drunk out of the bottle to keep them as cold as possible.