BELGIUM – Global beer company, AB-InBev has launched a new, recyclable polymer keg capable of extending the freshness of beer compared to the traditional steel keg.
The keg system called PureDraught can keep the beer for times fresher once the keg has been opened and significantly reduces carbon emissions.
Launched through its Global Innovation and Technology Center (GITEC), the system is available in 6L, 12L and 18L sizes rather than the standard 30L or larger steel keg size, allowing for more flexibility and less wasted product for bar and restaurant owners.
PureDraught uses a custom-molded, double-walled, bottle-in-bottle polymer keg, allowing air or gas to be fed into the outer bottle, which keeps its shape and pushes the beer out of the inner bottle.
This innovation prevents any air or dispense gas from touching the beer, allowing the beer to remain fresh for 30 days after being tapped instead of just a week.
It can also bring significant difference in quality-preservation for customers.
“For a consumer, PureDraught means a fresh beer experience for up to four times longer, since the first-time air or gas touches the beer is when it’s poured into their glass,” said Daniel Ingram, global director of draught capabilities at AB InBev.
“For bar or restaurant owners, PureDraught means no keg deposits, less waste, right-sized products for beers with slower turnover, more efficient storage, and no reverse logistics of returning a keg – they can simply put the used kegs in their local recycling bin, reducing the carbon footprint of the process considerably.”
The kegs are blow-molded and then filled in-line through a technology that also involves oxygen scavenging and light barriers.
Though the polymer kegs are meant to be recycled, they can’t be reused as air or gas in the outer bottle causes the inner bottle to change shape as it pushes the beer into the tap line.
According to the company, this also prevents any counterfeiting or refilling of the keg.
PureDraught is in currently used in US, Mexico, Brazil, China, Italy, South Korea and debuted in Colombia and additional areas of Europe, Africa, and Japan earlier this year.
