Oak pins / casks from Theakstons

[Fuggledog]

Its been a while since i contributed so thought i'd flag up that Theakstons currently have a stash of pins for sale (presumably from the Old Peculier in a cask thing they do at Christmas).

I was quite interested in these because they were going for £60 each,which whilst a lot is actually 1/2 the price of wood beer pins i've seen elsewhere (the proper jobs for beer, not the wine casks on e-bay). When i went to pick up mine they had a stack at the side of the visitor centre and i was left to just pick and choose. to be honest they were all in a similar condition so i just went for two with shives/tuts and corked keystones in place. gave the hoops a bit of a clean with a wire brush as the rust was a bit chunky, and scrubbed some of the sooty ink from the heads to bring them up a bit. both were still full of hops and the lees of the peculier so i gave them a good wash until visibly clean then steamed them, bringing the interior of the cask up to 110C for 8-10 minutes. filled with boiling salt water until next brew. i noticed the insides appear to be charred which was unexpected. i thought this was done in the wine industry to increase oak character? the pins both look (and smell) like they were made from the same stock as my firkin (a spirit bottling plant in Scotland), but my firkin from Wadsworth wasn't charred on the inside. will let you know how i get on with these (the firkin is brilliant, but we'll see about these pins).

cheers,
Ben

[crafty john]

I like them mate, they look fantastic, the real deal

[Fuggledog]

thanks crafty john! i must admit they are great fun to use but some work to maintain.

I'll post some pics once i've got some beer in them. They have quite a few left if anyone wanted one.

[Martin G]

Damn it, fancy one of them. Head says no and heart says do it!!

Think the charring is to seal it.

[Fuggledog]

i say go for it Martin!

not sure that the charring seals them as my firkin doesn't have any charring and the staves are pretty thick (there's still gaps between the staves which are water tight), so its not like a pitch-lined cask with a 'lining'. having said that maybe its to reduce the contant between the beer and the wood (i.e. with the greater surface area in a pin?). the only thing that confuses me is that i thought charring brought out more flavour not less? hmmm.. very interesting subject.

[Matt12398]

I thought the charring was to kill off any brettanomyces. I could be completely wrong though.

[barney]

ooohhh they are nice, very nice.

[gnutz2]

They look great fuggledog

Where abouts are you from? Just curious as i work at the end of the road from the theakstons brewery, at the mill (I'Ansons).

If anyone fancies one, i could pick it up and store it at mine until you get to this neck of the woods.

[Fuggledog]

Hi gnutz

i'm up in Hexham, Northumberland. Family and i went down for the day (about 90 mins each way). had a look around the town (very pretty) then a great pub lunch at the bay horse (brilliant pub!). we did plan to do a walk too but after the fish and chips and beer none of us could be bothered so we just headed home with the pins.

thanks for the offer of collecting pins for folk. they had quite a lot last time i was there. i don't know what they do with them throught the year though as presumably they'd be too much of a pain to use in trade?

cheers,

b

[crafty john]

I would like one or two of these, do I just have to turn up at the brewery/ or can I reserve them for collection?

[Fuggledog]

I expect you could just turn up, but really don't know what there plans are for the pins, and if they will keep them around or not. If you e-mail Lynne at the visitors centre (info@theakstons.co.uk) or give them a ring they can reserve some for you. They were quite happy holding on to two for several weeks before i got down there. The visitors centre where you can pick them up is open 7 days a week. Just turn up at The Black Bull in Paradise and ask to speak to Lynne as she seems to be the person who knows about 'buying casks'. The other person i spoke to didn't seem too sure about them selling them so worth asking to speak to Lynne. you can have a good hunt through the stock they have there to find the one you like best. i did need to give mine a good clean, but came up good!

the other option if you are down south is 'barrels r us' - the cooperage at Wadsworth. Alistair Simms is a top bloke and i think they sell remade firkins and pins all year around (not sure that they do at Theakstons though as i couldn't get a firkin there).

looking forward to hearing how you get on with beer from the wood!

cheers,

b

[SamT]

Oooh, tempted.

My old man lives just down the road from Masham (in Knayton), so I might be able to sweet talk him into popping over and bagging one for me ...

[crafty john]

I spoke to Theakstons on the phone today and I was informed that they are selling retired pins for £20.00 each, although you will need to sort out some bushings

[Fuggledog]

ah interesting ... a lot cheaper than i paid for mine then, although i've got the bushes etc. in mine. still if they are sound £20 sounds great! did they still have the 'ready to go' pins C.J. or have they removed all the bushes now?

[crafty john]

From what I understood all the pins need bushes, like you say £20.00 is a good price.