Goon Beer...

[Fents]

Will beer drinkers embrace Chteau Cardboard?

April 21, 2010
By Editor

The phrase beer is the new wine is often heard as the craft beer trend gathers pace, but if one industrial designer has his way beer could soon become the old wine being sold in cardboard four-litre casks.

Australian industrial designer Tom Hussey has designed a four-litre cardboard keg that looks remarkably like an old school wine cask but could revolutionise beer packaging.

Beer has traditionally avoided being relegated to casks because of the difficulties of keeping carbonated drinks pressurised in their flexible, inflatable bladders as well as preventing air getting into the packaging.

Husseys kegless sustainable beer package uses a collapsible design that he says eliminates the need for the complex pressurised carbon dioxide systems that limit the success of other large volume packages. It relies on a telescoping skeleton that collapses a polyethylene bag to maintain pressure on the contents preventing the beer from going flat while a tap with check valve is designed to prevent oxygen from spoiling the beer prolonging its life.

Husseys description says that the collapsible design of Kegless eliminates the need for the complex pressurised carbon dioxide systems that limit the success of other large volume packages.

While the idea itself seems brilliant, another selling point is that the simple and basic design allows a low cost manufacturing and distribution solution, with reduced environmental impacts throughout its life cycle.

I wanted to reduce the environmental effects, but also reduce cost and provide a marketing benefit, Hussey said.

The product reportedly can keep beer fresh for up to a month and Hussey has received interest from at least one major brewer. Hussey is one of 14 finalists in the student category of the 2010 Australian Design Award and currently has a patent pending for the design.

Link here - http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2010/04/will-b...ian+Brews+News)

 

[beerbrewer76543]

That's as flash as Murray!

Emu Export in a goon bad would be the ultimate in awesomeness :beerbang:

 

[notung]

I think it's a great idea. Testing obviously needs to be done to allay fears about contamination, lack of complexity, carbonation, etc. I will gladly put up my hand for that. :chug:

The other burning question on every reader's lips is ... how can home brewers use this system in their homes? Is it refillable?!?!?!

 

[cdbrown]

Nice concept, wouldn't the box self expand as the gas comes out of solution in the bladder while it's in the fridge making the beer go flat over time?

 

[Howlingdog]

If they can get it in and out, I don't see why we can't also get it in and out. I have been re-using 5 litre tin kegs for 15 years. Unless they are something like the latest Heineken 5 litre jobs that I haven't had the inclination to pull one apart to see how they work.

HD

 

[kelbygreen]

using 5lt tin kegs thats a good idea lol do you force carbonate of just natural for the tin kegs? guess again it would go flat unless there is something to remove the headspace

 

[ajdougall]

Will beer drinkers embrace Chteau Cardboard?


Link here - http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2010/04/will-b...ian+Brews+News)

Would not make a very good pillow though and no good for hitting someone over the head. Not much use really.

 

[Bribie G]

In the good old days the Hull Brewery in Yorkshire (the home of Ringwood Yeast) used a similar system on a massive scale, the beer was filtered and then placed in giant bags inside a box which were delivered to the pubs, and the beer was dispensed in the pubs, not by gas pressure but by pulling a handpump on the bar that exerted air pressure on the bag-in-a-box and delivered, a half pint per stroke, to the tap.

Similar system for home consumers in use in the UK today. Works.

 

[Effect]

Is there a tap or do you have to push down on top for the beer to come out?

 

[michaelcocks]

I've been refilling the 1.5 Litre "Bud Naked" goon bag (the wife drinks it...)
Just give them a quick clean , sanitize, then a quick blow of CO2 before a careful filling from the primary fermenter
Only really works for English draught style ales (1-1.5 vols of CO2). But mine lasted at least 5 weeks before I was forced to sample it.. No staling at all...

 

[Swinging Beef]

Id hit it.

 

[sinkas]

check out my famous thread "gueze in goon bags"

 

[notung]

check out my famous thread "gueze in goon bags"

Sounds interesting but I can't find it. Got a link? I've tried a few spellings.

 

[Amin]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...c=15725&hl=

the link in the thread is dead for me.

 

[fraser_john]

Nice concept, wouldn't the box self expand as the gas comes out of solution in the bladder while it's in the fridge making the beer go flat over time?

Take a look at his page here looks like there is an internal frame that has a ratchet kind of setup to prevent the top part telescoping back up, this would also keep pressure up and stop CO2 coming out of solution.

Pretty ingenious, just wondering if the cost of manufacture of it is going to be worthwhile? Will it make buying 4 liters of beer cheaper compared to buying stubbies/bottles, probably not, just allow the brewers to make more profit per liter.

 

[komodo]

plus the novelty factor - everyone loves pouring beer from a "keg" rather than a stubby