A standard U.S. keg (the typical “full-size” or half-barrel you see at parties and bars) holds 15.5 gallons of beer.

Quick Scoop

If you just needed the fast answer to “how many gallons in a keg,” most people mean that standard half-barrel keg. That one is 15.5 gallons, which works out to 1,984 ounces, about 124 pints (16 oz), or roughly 165 standard 12 oz beers.

But there are several common keg sizes, and each holds a different number of gallons.

Common Keg Sizes (U.S.)

Below is an HTML table of popular keg sizes and their capacity in gallons.

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Keg type</th>
      <th>Also called</th>
      <th>Capacity (gallons)</th>
      <th>Approx. 16 oz pints</th>
      <th>Approx. 12 oz beers</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Half barrel keg</td>
      <td>Full-size keg, 1/2 bbl</td>
      <td>15.5 gallons[web:1][web:3][web:7]</td>
      <td>≈124 pints[web:1][web:3][web:7]</td>
      <td>≈165 beers[web:3][web:7][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Quarter barrel keg</td>
      <td>Pony keg, 1/4 bbl</td>
      <td>7.75 gallons[web:3][web:5]</td>
      <td>≈62 pints[web:3]</td>
      <td>≈82–90 beers[web:3][web:5][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Sixth barrel keg</td>
      <td>Sixtel, 1/6 bbl</td>
      <td>5.16 gallons[web:5][web:3]</td>
      <td>≈40–44 pints[web:3][web:6]</td>
      <td>≈55–60 beers[web:3][web:5][web:6]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Cornelius keg</td>
      <td>Corny keg (homebrew)</td>
      <td>5 gallons[web:3][web:6]</td>
      <td>≈40 pints[web:3][web:6]</td>
      <td>≈53 beers[web:3]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Mini keg</td>
      <td>5 L party keg</td>
      <td>≈1.32 gallons[web:3][web:9]</td>
      <td>≈10 pints[web:3]</td>
      <td>≈14 beers[web:3][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>50 L keg</td>
      <td>Standard EU keg</td>
      <td>≈13.2 gallons[web:3][web:5]</td>
      <td>≈105 pints[web:3]</td>
      <td>≈140–151 beers[web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Little Story To Remember It

If you imagine a classic college house party keg, that’s the half barrel at 15.5 gallons. Picture someone bringing a smaller “pony keg” to a backyard barbecue—that’s half the beer, 7.75 gallons. And the tiny chrome mini keg on a table at a small get-together? That’s only about 1.3 gallons. So when someone asks “how many gallons in a keg” and doesn’t specify, they almost always mean 15.5 gallons in a standard U.S. keg.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.