How Many Pints in a 9 Gallon Cask? 72 - Here's How Many You'll Actually Sell.
The Short Answer
A 9 gallon cask, known as a firkin, holds 72 pints.
You won't sell 72.
This page lists every common cask and keg size in pints, then sets out how many you should realistically expect to sell from each one. Because the number on the container and the number that goes through your till are two different things, and the gap between them is where your margin either holds or leaks.
Cask Sizes in Pints
CASK | GALLONS | PINTS |
Pin | 4.5 | 36 |
Firkin | 9 | 72 |
Kilderkin | 18 | 144 |
Barrel | 36 | 288 |
There are 8 pints in a gallon.
So, any cask converts in the same way: Gallons × 8 pints.
Keg Sizes in Pints
METRIC VOLUME | IMPERIAL VOLUME | PINTS |
20 Litres | 4.4 gallons | just over 35 |
30 Litres | 6.6 gallons | just under 53 |
50 Litres | 11 gallons | 88 |
100 Litres | 22 gallons | 176 |
164 Litres | 36 gallons | 288 |
For metric kegs, divide the total litre content by 0.568
This will give the volume in pints.
Cask ale.
Just under 4 pints per firkin is the allowance for tapping, venting and the waste that's unavoidable at the end of the cask. Lose more than that and it's worth investigating.
Related reading:
Keg beer and lager.
A properly presented pint with a decent head can stretch an 88-pint keg to sales of around 92 pints. That surplus usually offsets the unavoidable waste from line cleaning, which is why 100% isn't an ambitious target for keg. It's what a well-run cellar would expect to generate.
Draught cider.
No head retention, so no surplus. Landing between 96 and 98% is what good control looks like.
Guinness and stouts.
These should return over 100%. A surplus of up to 4 pints on an 11 gallon keg is realistic. If you're losing money on stout, take note, because the achievable yield on these products is different to every other beer.
The full reasoning behind each target is in Why Guinness Will Show Over 100% Yield on Your Stocktake Report.
Order the Size You Can Sell
The biggest container isn't always the best value. Once a cask or keg goes on sale, the clock starts.
Cask Marque's cellar guidance gives cask beer 3 days on sale to stay in good condition, and keg beer 5 to 7 days.
The difference comes down to how each is made. Cask beer is live and unpasteurised, and it finishes conditioning in your cellar. Once it's on sale it's exposed to oxygen and spoilage, so it has the shortest life of anything on the bar. Keg beer is filtered or pasteurised at the brewery, which gives it a longer life once connected.
So every container size comes with a minimum daily sale:
CONTAINER | PINTS | DAYS ON SALE | MINIMUM PINTS PER DAY |
Pin | 36 | 3 | 12 |
Firkin | 72 | 3 | 24 |
Kilderkin | 144 | 3 | 48 |
20 Litre | just over 35 | 5 to 7 | 7 |
30 Litre | just under 53 | 5 to 7 | just over 10 |
11 gallon | 88 | 5 to 7 | just under 18 |
22 gallon | 176 | 5 to 7 | just over 35 |
36 gallon | 288 | 5 to 7 | just under 58 |
You should aim to empty kegs within 5 days. Leaving them on longer and quality drops with fobbing becoming a more then likely consequence.
If a line can't hit it's minimum pints per day, go down a size.
A firkin selling 15 pints per day is on sale for almost 5 days. That's nearly 2 days past its best, and every pint poured after that time is going to be deteriorating.
The waste from line cleaning is largely fixed, however much you sell. Obviously, then the fewer pints you sell the harder it becomes to hold yield. The best scenario is turning over multiple kegs between cleans, so the loss from cleaning is a smaller proportion of what you sell.
The same guidance applies to your cask range:
Cut the number of cask beers connected at quieter times of the week, and add more as your trade builds towards the weekend.
Keep at least one permanent, widely recognised brand or popular choice on alongside guest ales.
Hold at least 3 days' cask stock so beer has time to condition, and no more than 10 days' worth.
If a line consistently underperforms, look at the container size and the range before anything else. The Cask Beer Range Calculator will tell you how many casks your sales can support, and there's more in The Real Cost of a Cask Range Wider Than Your Sales.
Is Your Cellar Hitting Its Numbers?
I'm David Holden. I've spent 30 years working across hospitality audit and operations, helping hotels, pubs, restaurants and bars identify where profit is being lost and put practical controls in place to stop it.
If your beers are coming up short, send me your stock report and I'll show you where I'd be looking first.
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