Carbonation Levels in a Firkin

[nicksonic]

Hi, this may be a daft question but is it possible to serve a relatively carbonated beer (say an IPA) from a traditional cask or is there a limit to the carbonation you can have in a cask to avoid a frothy mess?

I'm looking to get a firkin or two and was wondering whether they'll suit all beer styles or just the traditional bitters, porters, stouts etc.

[asd]

The limiting factors will be the keystone, tap and shive - if you overdo it pressure wise, one or more will fly out. If its the keystone or tap, that will be game over

Also, you'd want to set up some sort of gas-in via a spile peg to prevent the beer going flat once it was tapped, unless you drink the whole 9 gallons in one session.

Why not get a keg instead?

[nicksonic]

Thanks for the reply. I already have kegs but was wondering what sort of pressure a trad cask could take if I ended up supplying the odd one or two to a local.

Any idea what sort of volumes of CO2 a cask can take or is that question too broad?

[asd]

Thanks for the reply. I already have kegs but was wondering what sort of pressure a trad cask could take if I ended up supplying the odd one or two to a local.

Any idea what sort of volumes of CO2 a cask can take or is that question too broad?

FWIW, I like to get some of my lighter cask conditioned beers to be a little bit more "fizzy", and a few degrees colder than the one volume of CO2 at 12C that is supposed to be the perfect CAMRA serving suggestion. I don't know how many volumes of CO2 are in the beer, though. Maybe 1.5?

Would you be conditioning in the cask, or decanting already conditioned brews from another, pressurised, vessel?

How do you plan to dispense it?

Its an experiment waiting to happen! It'd be very temperature dependent too.

[nicksonic]

I'd be conditioning in the cask but not totally sure on the dispense method... I've read that above 1.6 vols of CO2 things start to get dodgy and gush a bit.

[Hanglow]

Your dispense method could limit your amount of carb, I know Moor have a rather lively carbonation and recommend not using a sparkler at all otherwise all you'll get is foam, preferably no handpull at all
http://moorbeer.co.uk/beer-care/

You could fire them an email/tweet them and ask them what level would be good, I imagine they would be happy to tell you

[nicksonic]

Thanks Hanglow, that's extremely helpful

[asd]

Your dispense method could limit your amount of carb, I know Moor have a rather lively carbonation and recommend not using a sparkler at all otherwise all you'll get is foam, preferably no handpull at all
http://moorbeer.co.uk/beer-care/

You could fire them an email/tweet them and ask them what level would be good, I imagine they would be happy to tell you

That Moorbeer article is very interesting. Thanks for the link. One thing though, he suggests knocking the tap in when open, and putting in the spile after the tap. I wonder why he does that? Maybe he's got a good sense of humour.

[DeGarre]

Nicksonic, why would you even venture into the top range of carbonation so the gushing and frothing would become a problem? Avoiding maximum carbonation does not mean your beer won't be lively and sparkling and still behave well. Having a stronger IPA in a cask instead of a keg makes it different and changes the mouthfeel.

So yes, you can serve relatively carbonated IPA from a cask and it suits it well AND you can avoid the frothy mess.

[nicksonic]

So yes, you can serve relatively carbonated IPA from a cask and it suits it well AND you can avoid the frothy mess.

Excellent, that's what I wanted to know and to hear it from someone with more on knowledge on the subject than myself, i.e. close to nil!

[cosy101]

You could always fill the cask and seal. Vent the cask after two days. If excessive co2 place a soft peg in. Once foaming bubbles cease replace with hard peg.
Foaming can be reduced by cooling cask but cold sle is not great.

[nicksonic]

I'll be trying this technique