Changing Barrels!

piggynose | 21:45 Sat 06th Apr 2024 | Food & Drink

13 Answers

How long should it take to change a beer barrel in a pub?

I ask cuz I recently had to wait about 1/2 hour!!

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-SharonA-

Gasping were you!!??!!

retrocop

They usually,if they have a decent cellar man, flush the lines through before a change of barrels.

Maydup

Small enough not to have room for a second barrel online in the cellar, but good enough to flush their lines through.

237SJ

Less than 10 mins when I used to do it when I worked in a pub as a teenager (more like 5 mins)

Ken4155

Retrocop, no they don't. They clean the pumps once a week. If it's a cask barrel that needs changing, it could take several minutes - certainly not a half hour. If it's a measured pump, a couple of minutes max.

Piggy, are you sure you were waiting for the barman/woman to change the barrel and not clean the pumps. A half hour sounds bout right for the pump cleaning.

By the by, i ran two bars for a total period of just over 3 years and both were electric meaures.

Ken4155

The bar staff will have a weekly allowance of wastage which will include pump cleaning. If the lines were flushed through every time a barrel was changed, they would be well over this allowance and there would be quite a deficit on their monthly stock-check.

Buenchico

I've worked in, and managed, plenty of bars.

Assuming that the 'spare' keg is already positioned alongside the empty one, changing a 'top pressure' beer should take less than 10 seconds (plus, of course, the time to get to and from the cellar area).

If a real ale has already been tapped (as it should have been), removing the spile peg and switching the line over should only take a minute or so.

Then, in either case, some beer will need to be drawn through the line before what's coming out of the pump is fit to be served to a customer. (For a keg product, that simply means clearing a bit of froth out of the line. For a real ale, the beer needs to be pulling 'clear' before it can be served).

You could have a longer wait though, Piggy. I once worked in a pub where a couple ordered two cheese sandwiches at 12.45pm. After a really long wait, I was despatched in my car to go and buy some cheese. After another long wait, I was then sent out again to buy some butter. After a third period of waiting, I was sent out on a further journey, this time to buy some bread. Yet another wait then ensued, with the customers finally getting their sandwiches at 4.15pm!