What do you UK mates think of these cask cheats?

[seymour]

tube straight from polypin tap to beer engine

No I mean the whole polypin & bag thing in general, that's not really a thing over here as far as I know.

[GAZ9053]

http://www.murphyhomebrew.com/equipment ... rod_1.html

[critch]

the other options are

http://www.baginboxonline.co.uk/beer.html

these i.m.e. are terrible, the ones gaz5093 suggests are far superior, you can get them in 25 litre variants too. we unfortunately use the latter ones due to my business partner being a stuborn ass

[seymour]

Good tips, thank you.

I found a US company selling "Cubitainers", apparently our version of a polypin. I'll probably try-out the 2.5 gallon size:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23286



Critch, I don't know if international shipping would be prohibitive, but here's the manufacturer's wholesale site: http://products.hedwin.com/viewitems/cu ... nd-cartons

[byronb]

I got some of the polypins from murphyhomebrew.com last week. Racked BIAB#6 to two of the 10L polypins with 8.5g corn sugar in each one. That should bring them up to 1.3vols CO2, if I can keep them around 12C I'm hoping most of that will stay dissolved (not sure if there's a way to calculate that).

Still a bit afraid of handling them but the plastic is a lot thicker than I was expecting. After I filled the first one to the top it weighed over 13kg so I ended up removing some so they were both just over 10kg then opened the tap and squeezed the air out before closing.

I have a beer engine waiting for me to bring home from the office which I'm planning to connect up next week to one of these.

[seymour]

...I have a beer engine waiting for me to bring home from the office which I'm planning to connect up next week to one of these.

Yum! What kinda beer you got there?

[byronb]

That's a mild, very similar to my BIAB#1 (viewtopic.php?f=24&t=67053) but with proper water treatment (mash pH was >6.2 last time), better controlled fermentation temperature (previously got up to 22/23C) and an overnight mash.

Pale Malt (Flagon) 84.3 %, Pale Crystal Malt 6.3 %, Crystal Malt 4.7 %, Pale Chocolate Malt 3.1 %, Black (Patent) Malt 1.6 %
23g East Kent Goldings (pellet) as FWH and 15g (leaf) at 5 minutes.
WLP002 yeast started at 18C rising to 19C, maintained 18-20C for two weeks.
17.4IBUs

I was aiming for 1.036 OG, 1.012 FG to give 3.0% with 70% efficiency. Ended up getting 83% efficiency, 1.044 OG, 1.012 FG and 4.2% ABV.

BIAB#1 was ok but always had an off taste that I never managed to place, still have one bottle left so I'll be comparing it to this one. From the fermenter this was quite sweet, very strong biscuit flavour and slightly earthy, presumably from the late hops. Really looking forward to getting this going through the beer engine

[seymour]

That's a mild...Really looking forward to getting this going through the beer engine

Hell yeah, I would too. Thanks for sharing!

[GAZ9053]

I really need to do another mild, last one got fusels and gave me a headache after 1 pint [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]

[Tippler]

Just one cautionary note about polypins: they aren't mouse-proof! I had a polypin half-full in the brewery outside and found it completely empty one morning, all over the floor. At first I suspected it had split, but then I found a small hole in the bottom, and in the puddle on the floor a drowned mouse. I couldn't tell if he had a smile on his face or not!

Anyway, as soon as I get time I shall have a go at putting together a wooden box to house a polypin.

[seymour]

...I found a small hole in the bottom, and in the puddle on the floor a drowned mouse. I couldn't tell if he had a smile on his face or not

He did. I guarantee he died happy.

[byronb]

I couldn't decide whether finding a close fitting plastic tub to put them in would be a good thing to do or not. If it did break then at least there'd be something to contain the spill but some of the polypin images shows them full of CO2 and I wasn't sure if restricting them in that way would make it more likely to break.

[Padalac]

I go with the one gallon "cask"..

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... IbNBTGsXng

I condition the beer in this thing by priming it and then you just pull the bung out and dispense via gravity - so it's real ale in the true sense. Its only 5ltr so if you have a few enthusiastic mates you can drain it in one sitting, that way you get it super-fresh. It's pretty close to prime cask-conditioned beer imo. Definitely a different beast than the same beer out of the bottle.

It's reusable but you have to replace the bung, which is disposable.

[rpt]

I've been using polypins for a few months and have mixed feelings about them. The problem is that the beer does eventually oxidise. I mostly use 5L ones but do have a couple of 10L. Beer seems to keep ok for 4 or 5 weeks but any longer and it becomes undrinkable. I know many people use them very successfully but they either drink their beer much quicker than I do or they use the 20L and maybe that's thicker. Since discovering that the beer doesn't last too long I now fill one or two 5L polypins and bottle the rest of a 23L batch. I make sure the polypins are drunk within the 4 or 5 week window. I'm just finishing a mild after about 5 weeks and it is still good but I think it is changing in taste - it has just peaked in flavour but I can tell it's oxidising.

I have recently acquired a number of polykegs with a sankey fitting. The first beer in these was an American style Cascade pale ale which I serve through a normal tap. At a party it was by far the most popular beer. I do intend serving beer from these kegs through my beer engine with a check valve inline. I'll set the gas to 5psi and hopefully that will work. Not proper real ale but who cares.

[clarets7]

I think I must have been lucky in life as I've always lived near good pubs that knew how to look after their beer and, no doubt because of that, had a good turnover of beer. To my mind there is no beating a well looked after draught beer, and none of those used cask breathers. I've tried the plastic kegs, bottles, both 500mL and 2L plastic ones, mini-casks with those CO2 taps, but by far the nearest to pub draught beer is from the 5L mini-casks that you vent to air and dispense by gravity. Yes, they might only last 3 days before the beer is past it's best, but for what it costs to make the pints you drink in those 3 days are worth it. You can re-use them as well, not sure how long they last but I have one on it's fourth filling at the moment. Not sure I'd pay £6 for an empty one though when I can get two casks full of Adnams Ghost Ship for £34 (or better still sign up for their email newsletter and buy four casks for £58).