Filling a firkin

[willc76]

Hi all

had my first firkin delivered yesterday - when i ask the vendor about priming the beer, he said they don't they just fill the firkin and whack in the shive.

Should I just follow my usual brewing process, and prime as per pressure barrel? I've got 9 gallons that have probably just finished their fermentation ready to load up.

Also how are you supposed to clean them without a cask washers? Just swill around i suppose.

Thanks in advance

Will

[Martin G]

You want to be really careful about over pressurising, there is no valve for the gas to go through, so it removes your shive or key stone and sprays half your beer around the room! This has happend to me and at least one other on here.

I think the correct way is to chill your beer down when 2 points before FG and then put it in the cask. Personally I've struggled to judge when that is though. My beer seems to tick along slowly so I don't prime and try and keep the cask as close to 12C as possible. I have had problems crash chilling, getting a couple of very flat brews, but have just tried chilling for a day and a half a little earlier on my current brew before putting in the cask to see if I can crack it (on reflection I think I was being over cautious after the explosion). I also now leave the cask on end with the keystone pushed in as hard as possible by hand, or a light tap, I'd rather it came out than the shive as then I'd loose half the brew. I tap the keystone in properly before moving.

edit . I swill out with hot or boiling water, then swill/ soak with oxy for half an hour before rinsing with hot or boiling water. If you shine light in one hole you can look through the other and get a sense of how clean it is. My dad has an old pressure washer he said I could have, that may be a better way.

[jmc]

Hi all

had my first firkin delivered yesterday - when i ask the vendor about priming the beer, he said they don't they just fill the firkin and whack in the shive.

Should I just follow my usual brewing process, and prime as per pressure barrel? I've got 9 gallons that have probably just finished their fermentation ready to load up.

Also how are you supposed to clean them without a cask washers? Just swill around i suppose.

Thanks in advance

Will

I'm not speaking from experience, but if its a stainless firkin you might want to use purple line cleaner to clean it out. I use it on my cornys. It needs a good rinse afterwards.

Its much stronger than oxy. Its a mixture of caustic & bleach that remains purple when its effective.
Be careful and use gloves, eye protection etc.

see topic Beer Line Cleaner

I wouldn't recommend it with a plastic firkin as caustic chemicals likely to degrade the plastic.

[willc76]

Thanks guys. Fermenting nearly complete now so I'll try and work out how much sugar I need to get .002 gravity points.
I like the idea of lightly tapping one of the seals in just in case it blows.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Will

[Blackaddler]

After fermenting to FG, I chill it for 24-48 hours, and rack to a firkin. I used to prime with up to 50gms of sugar, but have gradually reduced this to just 5gms. It's just to help create some pressure and condition, but I don't think it's really necessary.

The only time I've had a problem with a shive popping out was in the summer, when it got too warm.

Now, I often put a pallet strap around the cask to stop the shive popping.

[dcq1974]

Critch maybe able to shed some light but he (and many other commercial brewers) cask with around 5% fermentables still available for conditioning.
The usual would be primary for 4 to 6 days (dependant on OG) then crash cool and chill for 48 hours (likely with auxillary silicate finings to remove chill haze) before casking with isinglass and then holding the finished beer at cellar temp (10 - 15 degrees C) for final conditioning and serving.

I use this approach and never have over or under primed beer problems.

Of course many of us home brewers will probably let beer sit on yeast for up to 2 weeks primary - in which case it will need to be primed and doesn't really replicate true cask ale (maybe we don't want to or want such a quick turnaround of beer as we all know that beer tastes better with careful conditioning for a number of weeks).

[Blackaddler]

I should add that I don't use finings any more... even with pale beers. I don't mind a slight haze, [should there be any].

In the past, I have had beer that's started to go off when stored for a couple of months with finings added.

Also, I usually keep the cask at room temperature for a week before "cellaring".

[Martin G]

Now, I often put a pallet strap around the cask to stop the shive popping.

Just put a luggage strap around the cask I have conditioning and bashed in the keystone all the way. Thanks for the tip, gives peace of mind, if it does blow then at least it is through the top.

[Blackaddler]

Now, I often put a pallet strap around the cask to stop the shive popping.

Just put a luggage strap around the cask I have conditioning and bashed in the keystone all the way. Thanks for the tip, gives peace of mind, if it does blow then at least it is through the top.

That's how I feel about it. I've never had a keystone pop, though. I think that they're a much tighter fit than the shives.

[Martin G]

Just to throw in another approach I just found;

http://www.craftbrewing.org.uk/index.ph ... nditioning

Have never vented a cask after a few days as suggested in this article? Only ever vented a couple of days before tapping.

[boingy]

Critch maybe able to shed some light but he (and many other commercial brewers) cask with around 5% fermentables still available for conditioning.

Pretty sure Critch has explained his approach on here before but I just failed to find it using the search. Basically the beer goes in to the cask at a set amount (a point or two iirc) before the final gravity. And the way he knows the final gravity is that every time he brews he forces a fast fermentation (just warmer I think) on a small sample to know the exact end point of each batch.

[Martin G]

Critch maybe able to shed some light but he (and many other commercial brewers) cask with around 5% fermentables still available for conditioning.

Pretty sure Critch has explained his approach on here before but I just failed to find it using the search. Basically the beer goes in to the cask at a set amount (a point or two iirc) before the final gravity. And the way he knows the final gravity is that every time he brews he forces a fast fermentation (just warmer I think) on a small sample to know the exact end point of each batch.

That was really interesting.

BTW - think I found the thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45579&hilit=cask+critch&start=15

[greenxpaddy]

Just a word on shives....

I bought some really reliable shives from Barley Bottom. They have a sequence of moulded integral ridges to create a tight seal, e en on a half driven shive, which I tend to do because I only fine when the things go out...

Since bought a shed load of crap news from Leek Supplies. They are truly crap. They have a rubberised sheath on the plastic intended to stuff into the gap between steel and plastic. Dreadful. Leaking at low pressure. Shame I got so bloody many!

[barney]

I think one type of shive, the solid one, are for steel casks. The one with the soft rubber seal are for plastic casks so they do not split the cask when you hammer them home.

[Martin G]

+1 Barley Bottom

They are great, also like the way they sell small batches of shives etc. when most other places are for commercial so sell in batches of 50 or more.