Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-07-12
BEER KEGS ARE BUILT STRONG
Because They Have to Undergo the
Roughest of Handling

Chicago Tribune: 1t takes a long
while for beer key to wear out. 1t
mas tough constitution and is pro-
effected from internal decay by a coat
OF pure and hard pitch. The pitch
used on the modern keg is much Su-
perl0r to that formerly used. 1t is
clear, taSteleSs and tough. AN empty
beer keg will stand great many
hard knocks before the pitch scales
off. The kegs wear out, when they do
wear, externally. They are wet and
dry alternately and this promotes de-
cay. Then they get great deal of
unnecessary banging around between
the time they leave the brewery and
are brought back again. Everybody,
from the driver and railroad and
steamboat hands down to the uarkeep-
erS, seems to think the kegs are indie
Structlble. A whole carload of empty
kegs is frequently thrown from the
car down to the ground. A single
empty keg is often thrown fifteen feet.
1t really isn't necessary to make the
kegs as heavy, so far as the keeping
Of the beer is concerned. They began
by being made heavy in the old days.
The brewers then deemed it absolutely
requisite to make them that way to
withstand the pressure of the beer.
The very fact that they were made
heavy and clumsy subjected them to
rough handling. Now they have to be
made heavy and extra material has
to be put into the heads and slaves
simply because Of this handling and
not from any danger or account of
the internal pressure of the beer. 1t
is not the breakage or decay Of the
keg that bothers the brewers. 1T Is the
frequent and entirely unnecessary loss
Of the kegs. You would be surprised
to hear the number of kegs and half
barrels a big brewery will lose in a
year. 1t runs into the thousands at
times No ordinary precautions can
check this loss. Charging for the key
and giving a rebate for the return
would accomplish something in that
competition in the business for any
one to dare such an experiment.
Il don't think that there are many
brewers in this country who would
stoop low enough to erase brands and
use another brewers kegs" said a
brewer, 'tbut it has been done, even to
the extent Of putting new heads in the
stolen kegs. A quarter-barrel is worth
$3.50, and it doesn't look to me that
it would paw a man to steal a petty
thing as that. What becomes of the
beer kegs then? Just try to think and
tell me if you have ever been at a
boating or yachting resort in this
country where you did not see one or
two, or perhaps a score Of beer kegs
bObbing on the waves as buOyS to
mark a course or as moOrings for
boats. That means thousands Of beer
kegs, only a few of which have been
bought from the brewer. They bob
upon the waves for year or two
and then become watter-logged and
sink, to be replaced by fresh kegs.
I've got a suspicion that the Italians
are to blame for the disappearance
of many of our kegs. Then occa-
sionaIly in the summer we hear of
lager beer kegs being used for max
ing home brewS with root beer eX-
tracts. This is an illegitimate use for
the kegs, and I'm puzzled to under
stand how anybody that would make
or drink root beer could ever get hold
of 2 beer key except by swiping it
from a saloon alley at night"