1. Two-Second Drafts.
- Author
-
Goodman, Brenda
- Subjects
- *
BEER , *BREWING industry , *FLUIDS , *CARBON dioxide , *PRESSURE - Abstract
The article looks at inventions which allow draft beer to be pumped more quickly. The average draft pint takes at least 25 seconds to pull. Any slower, and the beer comes out flat; any faster, and a frothy lager latte results. In the past two years, with profits shrinking, brewers have become keen to serve more customers without sacrificing quality, and they have sought technology to help. Most dispensing systems rely on carbon dioxide gas pumped down into the keg to push beer up to a tap. U.K. brewer Carlsberg-Tetley has been successful. With the University of Birmingham, which had been offering degrees in brewing science since 1903, it devised a "hydrocyclone" system. This past spring Shurflo in Cypress, Calif., and Anheuser-Busch launched their version of a faster tap, called the Ultimate Draft System. They borrowed a trick bottlers use to control foam: fill from the bottom up. A flexible tube at the end of a spigot extends to the base of the beer glass, allowing for subsurface pumping that can fill a 20-ounce glass in a blistering two seconds.
- Published
- 2003
- Full Text
- View/download PDF