Pints per keg: yield, waste, and what a dead keg actually costs you
By Jack Hawkins · Updated
UK kegs come in several sizes. An 11-imperial-gallon container holds exactly 88 imperial pints; a 50-litre keg holds about 87.99 pints; a 20-litre mini-keg about 35; the number that decides whether draught makes money is how many of those pints you actually sell before the keg is dead. Every pint lost to a flat keg, a blown line or a Tuesday nobody drank is margin at the venue's highest-volume price point, and draught waste is the most quietly expensive habit in British pubs.
Start with the arithmetic, because operators genuinely disagree about it at pub quizzes. One imperial gallon is exactly 4.54609 litres and contains eight imperial pints. Eleven gallons is 50.00699 litres; 50 litres is very slightly smaller, and both are commonly rounded to 88 nominal pints; an illustrative 85–88 saleable-pint range can be tested against a nominal 88-pint package, and the honest number for your cellar is a thing you can measure in a fortnight.
The five ways kegs die before they're empty
The fade. Connected, slowed, forgotten. Cask and keg beer have different dispense and holding requirements. Use the producer's instructions for the actual product and package, record when it was connected and do not transfer a cask holding rule to a sealed keg. Line length and gas pressure are the fixable halves; rotation discipline is the rest.
The line blow. One Saturday, one long line, one apprentice, one gallon of foam at the worst possible hour. Draught training is cheaper than the invoice it prevents.
The slow rot of the unused line. That guest lager nobody drinks, still on gas, still cycling. Every line is a commitment; the dead-list audit applies to handles with more money behind it than it does to cocktails.
Temperature and hygiene misses. A warm cellar kills a keg outright; a dirty line kills the brand's reputation through your venue. Cask Marque-style standards exist for reasons cellar teams already know.
The over-buy on a limited. The seasonal that needed eight kegs and got fifteen. Rate of sale on a new handle is measurable in week one; the second order should be data, not enthusiasm.
The maths, in pence per pint
Take an illustrative 50-litre keg at £65 trade, 88 nominal pints = 74p per pint at perfect yield. Sell every pint and at a £4.80 menu price (net £4.00) that's an 81% margin, the best number in the building, which is why yield is worth protecting before price.
Now use eight wasted pints a week in the illustrative £65/88-pint model. At the unrounded cost of £0.738636 per pint, they represent £5.91 of product per week and £307.27 across 52 repeated weeks. At £4 net selling revenue, eight additional sold pints would earn £26.09 ingredient contribution; across 416 annual pints that is £1,356.73. That potential contribution assumes customer demand existed. Do not add the stock write-off, potential revenue and foregone contribution together as though they were separate losses.
Run it on your top five handles with the profit calculator and the number stops being theoretical, in both senses.
The yield conversation with your supplier
Keg yields are nominal; your cellar's yields are measured. Venues that log connected-date, pulled-pints and disposal reason for six weeks arrive at distributor meetings with something no supplier argument survives: a per-line yield figure and a pattern (the 3-day fade on the pale ale, the oversized packages that should be replaced by smaller suitable formats). Suppliers adjust range, sizing and rotation terms for venues with numbers in ways they never do for venues with vibes, and the cask-versus-keg decision on your slow lines stops being a philosophy argument.
Draught combines high throughput with meaningful cellar and dispense requirements; its margin depends on purchase price, selling price and saleable yield. The skill is mostly cellar discipline and honest measurement; the margin is mostly already priced in, sitting in kegs that are dying quietly.
Price three different waste comparisons
At £65 for 88 nominal pints, exact cost is £0.7386 per pint. Eight pints written off cost £5.91; at £4 net selling price they represent £32 of potential revenue and £26.09 of potential ingredient contribution. These are different comparisons. Do not add all three and call the result a loss. Potential revenue also assumes demand existed for the wasted beer. If waste falls while sales are unchanged, the benefit may be lower purchasing rather than additional takings. Use the keg-size conversion to establish nominal volume, then use recorded sales and disposal to establish your own saleable yield.
FAQ
How many pints are in a UK keg? An 11-imperial-gallon container holds exactly 88 pints; a 50-litre keg holds approximately 87.99; a 20-litre mini-keg about 35. Saleable yield runs slightly under nominal: head loss, line clearance, and a venue-specific result to measure rather than assume.
How much does a keg cost a UK pub? Purchase price varies substantially by beer, package, supplier and tie. The £65 in this worked example is an illustrative input, not a current quotation or a representative market price. Per-pint cost matters more than keg price: £65 ÷ 88 pints is 74p, and yield is the denominator you control.
What is keg waste and how do I measure it? Pints lost after a keg is connected: fade, foam, hygiene write-offs and disposal. Log connected date, pints pulled, and disposal reason per keg for six weeks; the pattern appears by week three.
Are KeyKegs better for slow lines? KeyKeg is a bag-in-keg system, available in 10, 20 and 30 litres, that separates beverage from dispense gas. Its manufacturer describes tapped beer life of at least four weeks under suitable conditions; actual beer, filling, storage and line hygiene still matter. Compare the specific product's holding guidance and expected weekly sales, rather than assuming the package is larger or cheaper per litre.
Method and assumptions
Keg-to-pint conversions are exact unit arithmetic (1 imperial gallon = exactly 4.54609 litres); yield ranges and trade prices are 2026 trade estimates labelled indicative, not supplier quotes. Worked figures illustrative, ex-VAT. Standards: data standards.
Last reviewed 19 October 2026.