Using a pub cask

[Jim]

This is worth being a sticky!

Good stuff.

[timbowden]

I use a cask but instead of hammering in the tap i use a caskwidge system, it fab! The barrel stay's upright and much easier to use with a beer engine!

[Frothy]

For Cask breathers cheaper than that contact Paul @ TheHarmonyHut on eBay. That's where I got mine from, hard to find.

[Francois]

Maiden voyage with my new pins this morning! All seems as it should be... Now just to wait a bit.

...and get a cask breather, cos at 5.4% I'm going to need more than 3 days to get through it lol

[simpleton]

Rightyho, I have all the stuff I need. Now I have one (important) question.

Once you have casked your ale and left it 2 weeks to lightly carbonate. How long can you leave it in the cask for before allowing to condition and drink? I read that breweries pretty much send it straight to pubs and the beer is better drank as soon as possible. This seems at odds with the usual bottle method where longer is meant to be better for all but a few beers.

Any tips/experience?

I have a brew ready to go as a practice run. Got a few mates lined up so we can drink the whole thing in a day.

Cheers.
Si

[Blackaddler]

Micros usually use finings in the cask, which shortens the life of the beer to about 6 weeks.

Without finings, it'll last a lot longer.

Conditioning depends on a number of things, including priming, storage temperature and if racked at FG or just above.

2 weeks is a bit short. I'd give it 3-4 weeks at least. More for a stronger beer.

It can vary from beer to beer, though.

[Full Mental Jakey]

Here's my effort...



The beer engine was an unexpected gift, so my plans for gravity dispense went out the window, and despite the beer being waaaay too green, I had to plumb it in and give it whirl...

Results are fantastic! Cheers!

[simpleton]

Let's see a pic of a pint you pulled

[Full Mental Jakey]

Well since you asked, and as I've just set it up again for a wee session

[url=http://s1322.photobucket.com/user/MacKi ... 3.jpg.html]

A nice simple cascade SMASH, brewed by my good wife. It's a bit cloudy, as I didn't bother with finings and the yeast is US05, but super tasty. Serving via the engine seems to focus the hop flavour into the head of beer, which is very pleasant.

Cheers!

[Jim]

Nice!

Today's the day to tap my cask.

This is my plan -

1. Get the cask a bit colder than serving temp by leaving it in the garage for a few hours (already in progress!)
2. Use my cask breather connector to break the seal on the shive so that any fobbing goes down a tube and into a jug.
3. Once vented as at (2) put a hard spile in (they are the dark wood ones I'm assuming)
4. Hold breath
5. Hammer tap in.

If any experienced 'tapper' can verify that the above will work (or point out where I'm about to shoot myself in the foot!), I'd be grateful.

[Blackaddler]

That all sounds good, Jim.

I would do all this outside, until it settles down. You are going to spill some, unless you're very lucky.

The hard spiles are usually longer than the soft ones. They're a smoother wood that the soft spiles, anyway.

[Jim]

Thanks BA. The deed is taking place on the bench in the garage, so spillage won't cause a problem as long as it's not the whole cask!

Just cleaning my beer lines at the moment so they'll be ready when the cask is tapped.

[Jim]

All connected up now. Classic mistake while tapping the cask though - see if you can spot it once I get the video uploaded.

I'm having a bit of bother with a gas leak though. I think its coming from where the cask breather goes into the shive. I noticed an audible leak after the hard spike went in which I'd why I put the breather on so that I could monitor the pressure. Any tips for getting it to seal?

[Jim]

The video is now up! Try not to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dq41PFn ... e=youtu.be

[Andy]

I didn't laugh too much Open taps are great fun aren't they