Draft Beer Inventor found dead in Stadium Beer Cooler

RIP Mr. Keeling.

 

Wow, that is very sad to hear. Such a strange story, I wonder if he had a heart condition or something else. Thoughts and prays to his family.

 

Sounds like a cool product he had, saves the customer time and the vendor as well. Lines move quicker and people get to see more of the game.

 

It’s not mentioned in the article, but I’d bet the ranch that he passed from asphyxiation. The reporter mentions the temperature of the cooler, which was most likely a non-factor.

Tight walk-in coolers and CO2 leaks are incredibly dangerous. All brewery employees are taught the dangers of confined spaces and CO2. Those of us who install draught systems are aware of the dangers of carbon dioxide...it’s colorless, odorless and heavier than air, and stadium and arena coolers are especially small.

That said, now that I’ve stuck out my neck, we will learn he had a heart attack...

@billandsuz

 

Anytime a worker dies OTJ is just a real damn shame. Nobody, and I mean not one of us, no matter how much we like our job would envision going out while earning a dime. For Chrise sake. It's just not why we are here.

Dude got up and went to work like any other tax payer. And didn't get to come home.
How's that for luck?

 

I don't know about this one design in particular, but in general the tap is designed to reduce turbulence. The faucet has an extended spout that reaches to the bottom of the glass or Solo cup and the beer fills from the bottom up (aka Tremie fill). The magic is at the end of the spout. The beer must flow with almost no disturbance as it hits the bottom of the cup. Then it rises up quickly to fill the cup. (Note that an industry standard pint fill is right around 8 seconds, so 14 seconds is absurd, but 4 seconds really is revolutionary when the staff can turn over thousands of fills in 3 hours). When the cup is lowered the spout is not immersed and the beer level drops correspondingly. So the cup can be filled to near overflowing and then handed off just right. In theory.

The keg can be charged with high pressure. Maybe 30 psi (guessing) and since these kegs turn over in minutes the beer is not over carbonated. Not enough time for CO2 absorption. The high pressure increases the flow rate, but also the turbulence... hence the turbulence reducing faucet.

The plus side is filling each serving in a few seconds can dramatically improve sales. Move the beverage really quickly, reduce the line so people don't walk by, get them back in the seats to see the game. This is crazy money folks. $12 ball game beers filled with literally $1.00 in product. Times hundreds of kegs. In three hours.

The down side is the serving can be quite sloppy. Staff and management care about two things, speed and profit. Take your beer and step aside.

The biggest down side is that the faucet is immersed in each fill. These faucets are verboten by Health Code. If even one glass is reused, well, you are drinking out of the same glass as that dude who got a fill before you. His Mono or Hepatitis. You are sharing vessels. But at a stadium with disposable cups it's not so much of an issue.

Basically the speed fill is the answer to a question only stadiums have asked.
Cheers.

 

I know of a couple breweries (Day Block Brewing, and Modist Brewing) here in Minneapolis that have his system installed. They are both located within blocks of U.S. Bank Stadium, and Target Field respectively so stadium crowds are the reason they have the systems.

 

I'm going to be at Miller Park twice next week. I will pour some out for our fellow beer lover.