# kegs & beer
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kegs-beer/197462
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 25, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kegs-beer/197462 "2003-08-25T04:57:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bliebet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bliebet)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kegs-beer/197462/1 "2003-08-25T04:57:13Z")
straightforward question:
how many beers (12 oz. servings) are in a standard keg of draft beer?
is a pony keg exactly 1/2 that number?
cheers.
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kegs-beer/197462/2 "2003-08-25T05:14:57Z")
[Here](http://www.hospitalityguild.com/GuidePro/Beer/Beer_Sizes.htm) is a nifty chart listing how big all the various varieties of beer containers are. I had no idea that people still used firkins.
Anyway, the standard American kegs are the 1/4 barrel and 1/2 barrel sizes. A half barrel has 1984 US fl. oz, meaning it contains a little over 165 12 fl. oz servings of beer. A pony (1/4 barrel) keg is, indeed, exactly one half of a half barrel keg.
---
### Author:  [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kegs-beer/197462/3 "2003-08-25T17:07:30Z")
And as an added bonus, some archaic standards:
1347: 31.5 gallons (ale)
1454: 32 gallons (ale), 36 gallons (beer)
At that time “ale” meant “no hops”; “beer” meant “has hops”.
1688: 34 gallons (ale and beer)
By this time “ale” and “beer” referred to strength.
1803: 36 gallons (ale and beer)
Note that “gallon” may not mean what one thinks it might mean. There were several different types of “gallons” around. My own research leads me to believe that, by 1454 to 1803, the “gallon” was a 282 cubic inch “gallon”, rather than the 231 cubic inch “wine gallon” or the Imperial gallon.
---
### Author:  [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kegs-beer/197462/4 "2003-08-25T17:57:52Z")
…and learn many other important things you should know before going off to college, courtesty of SDMB-GQ!
Have fun at school, kids! 🙂