Beverage Brewing, Distilling & Fermentation worked example

Keg Fleet Turns with average daily keg shipments of 210 kegs / day: a worked example

Push average daily keg shipments up to 210 kegs / day and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. a beverage producer or distributor needs to decide whether the keg fleet can support draft sales without shortages or emergency rentals

The inputs for this scenario

  • Average daily keg shipments: 210 kegs / day (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 85)
  • Return, wash, and refill lead time: 24 days (unchanged)
  • Clean keg safety stock: 300 kegs (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Kegs tied up in return cycle = average daily keg shipments × return, wash, and refill lead time) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 0.03 kegs required for protected days of supply, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 8.75 days for unprotected days.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 210 pieces for inventory.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 24 pieces / day for daily usage.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where average daily keg shipments sits at 85 kegs / day and the headline result is 0.01 kegs required, this scenario comes in 147% above the baseline at 0.03 kegs required.
  • It computes the total number of kegs you must own by adding the kegs locked in the return-wash-refill cycle to your clean keg safety stock. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Protected days of supply: 0.03 kegs required (headline result)
  • Unprotected days: 8.75 days
  • Inventory: 210 pieces
  • Daily usage: 24 pieces / day

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Keg Fleet Turns calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.