Questions about kegs

Kegs need to be refrigerated

View Quoted Comment Do they not come refrigerated at all if we get it delivered?

Kegs need to be refrigerated or kept in a tub of ice in order for the beer to be served cold. But I wouldn't worry about figuring out the details yourself. I would talk to your venue and the vendor where you are buying the beer to see how they recommend it be stored, handled, and served. They are the experts, no need to reinvent any wheels.

How many people are you having?

View Quoted Comment Before I even order the kegs Im trying to decide if its even worth it. FH does not want canned beer. Our 2 options: get a keg and serve beer in a cup or get beer bottles and pour into a cup.


So if a keg has to be kept in the walk in fridge in the back of the building before its used, it might be way easier to use beer bottles & pour into cups.
Our bartenders will use a big cooler on wheels to transport any bottles/drinks from the walk in fridge to the bar.

View Quoted Comment As of right now our capacity maximum due to covid restrictions is 90ppl. Im hoping that number will go up by October

View Quoted Comment Either way the kegs need to be refrigerated or put on ice. 2 kegs is a lot of beer for 90 people. One full keg has 165 12 oz bottles. We debated on a keg or buying cases- we opted for cases as we could get a variety.

View Quoted Comment Our original guestscount pre covid was 200+ which is why my brain said 2 kegs because thats what I wrote down. Do kegs get delivered already refrigerated? Because if not, we will do cases of beer to be poured into cups & done deal. That would be much easier to keep chilled and transport using rollable cooler.

We had a kegerator with the draft spout. We had one for 110 people and had a lot leftover but enjoyed it over the weekend to ourselves haha

View Quoted Comment Exactly girl! Depends on where you get them- then you have to worry about returning them. Another reason why we didn’t want that. Big selling point was the variety we can provide our guests. We bought cases of Kiltlifter, Modelo, Bud light & Corona. Also bought Malibu, Jack Daniels & vodka for our mixed drink drinkers. Only one bottle of wine. Spent $194 at Sam’s Club. Our venue provides the mixers, sodas, water & tea.

Kegs need to be refrigerated and they have lots of waste because they aren't designed to be completely emptied. Bottles are much more economical and do not have to be poured into cups. If you purchase from a liquor warehouse or Costco, you can save money buying in bulk.

View Quoted Comment Your $194 was able to provide servings for how many people?

View Quoted Comment 105 guests. We have a mixture of beer & mix drink drinkers. We went through our list & figured out who drinks what. Googled the alcohol calculator & gave us how much to buy. Sam’s club has the big gigantic bottles of hard alcohol so we’re probably gonna have left overs of that.

View Quoted Comment Unfortunately our venue wont allow guests to walk around the venue with glass bottles which is why for us they have to be poured into cups at the bar. I think we will go with getting cases of beer. FH is against canned beer, he said it tastes different.

View Quoted Comment Oh wait that $194 included hard liquor too? I didnt pay attention when I read it. So I should be able to get beer for all the beer drinkers with at least $100

View Quoted Comment Yup! And you’ll be able to give your guests a variety.

View Quoted Comment Okay. Thank you. Sometimes I need to talk out loud with someone to figure out my thoughts. 9mo of wedding planning in 2019 then covid hit and I went 1 year without touching my wedding planning binder. We just found our bartenders so Im creating a contract and including all expectations and I completely forgot we are also serving beer. Like Duh!! So I was trying to figure out kegs vs bottles.

View Quoted Comment No problem! I love these forums! Gives me ideas plus angles I haven’t thought of!

Kegs must be kept cold. They will either need to be in a refrigerator, a kegerator, or in a tub of ice. If they don't stay cold, it will cause your beer to become hot and foamy which will cause for a lot of beer waste.

Honestly, it is easier and cheaper to just have bottles or cans. It is less expensive, they are easier to store and serve, and there is a lot less waste!

View Quoted Comment Thank you! I was super ignorant to this. Everytime i see a keg its in a movie and they dont show it on ice in the movies lol!