Steve Titterington, who handles marketing at the business, says traditionally the key demand over the past few years has been its standard cask washers aimed at the small to medium sized cask breweries. One such example being Lacons Brewery in Great Yarmouth. (pictured)
“However over the past two years we have seen a significant increase in enquires for our dual wash machines which can do both casks and kegs. This led to us launching our K-series machines and due to further demand we are now developing a keg washer filler for breweries that are now fully embracing the ‘craft beer’ movement,” he says.
Despite the advent of its keg machines, Titterington is keen to point out that it is not demand isn’t swinging one way, but adds that it is seeing a growing level of enquiry for our keg washing equipment against the standard cask washers.
He explains: “I would say traditional cask breweries are certainly experimenting with keg and a good proportion of them are having success with it. I think its an extension of the movement towards the diversification and specialisation of the beer industry.
“In terms of washing, casks due to the way they are filled and emptied, means they are much easier to clean and sterilise. However we have developed an effective cleaning process for the kegs which involves purging with compressed air to speed up the cycle, still maintaining a steam sterilisation and CO2 filling at the conclusion of the wash programme. They just take a little longer to clean compared to casks.”
Elsewhere, Kirsty Midgley from automation and controls systems manufacturer Brewology suggests demand for its products, which include cask, and keg, washers has been split.
She adds: “We see a lot of cask brewers have started to produce keg beer and are spending money developing their offering.
“The market for both cask and keg ale sales seems to be growing and developing and as the market grows brewers are investing in machinery to help save them time and money and ensure they have a quality product that can compete not only locally but internationally.
“Although there are a lot of enquiries for kegging equipment at the moment from traditional cask producers, we see the majority of breweries sales and profits are still generated from their cask ales.
“While we don’t expect keg sales will replace the cask sales for the majority of craft breweries any time soon it certainly does open up another market for them in terms of growth. Also as the international market develops we see a lot of brewers turning to export sales and kegs are perfect to aid this growth.”
