Cask Conditioning

[Heycock]

I had my first real ale a few days ago and thought it might be fun to try cask conditioning myself. But, it would obviously not be very feasible for me to buy a firkin, and a beer engine because this is expensive and the "large" amount of beer needs to be drank relatively quickly.

So, my question is, does anyone have any ideas how to make a small 'cask' that I could drink over a few days? Obviously, I'm not thinking of making an oak cask from scratch, but I got the idea when I read on here of someone making a cask from a Tide bottle. He said it tasted like soap but still a neat idea.

Also any recommended books on casking ale if this is do-able?

Thanks

[toneyc]

You can get smaller barrels, down to one gallon capacity, here:

http://www.leeners.com/barrels.html

A gallon of beer is nothing between 2-3 people. And you really wouldn't need a beer engine, just a straight wooden spigot, found on that same page. I'm certain Richard English could give you a more complete description of what you'd need.

:)
Toney.

[gallowd7]

That was me with the Tide bottle. I'd do it again if I could get something that hadn't been filled with soap. Anyway, I asked the guy at my LHBS about it and the Party Pig was what he recommended. There are many pros and cons to this, just do a search, but I got it and it works quite well for the "beginner cask" idea. You treat it like a big bottle (conditioning wise) and they have a "bag" that expands inside to "push" the beer out of the spigot, so no new gas is introduced.

Once you get the amount of priming sugar and the temperature right (also a post of mine to search) it is a very good way to make your own "real" ale.

I'm still searching for the best way and will probably end up getting a barrel someday.

[Richard English]

You can readily buy small casks at Boots and other home-brewing suppliers here. They are usually of five (Imperial) gallons capacity and have a pressure relief valve in the top so as to allow the carbon-dioxide to vent.

Unlike traditional casks they are stored upright but the tap is about an inch from the bottom, thus allowing the yeast to settle below the take-off point. You don't need a beer engine unless you intend to store the cask in a cellar and don't want to run down to it every time you want a refill. English pubs use beer engines only to save that hassle, not to make the beer taste any better. Some older pubs still serve their beer straight from the cask.

5 gallons is about right for a modest party to my mind. Even on your own it's only going to be about ten days drinking.

A single gallon's only any good if you're talking wine.

[ray m]

The Party Pig is a good device, or you might also consider the Tap-a-Draft, which I have and love. You need small 8 oz. CO2 cartridges for this, but it is easy to use.

More info on it can be found at morebeer.com.

[kevin]

With cask conditioning are you priming with corn sugar or dme and basically pour directly from the barrel to the glass?

Wouldn't a larger cask 5 gallon or more go flat?

[Acataleptic]

Here's two printed resources:

"Pale Ale" Terry Foster 1990, Information about cask beer, cellaring, equipment, and serving techniques.

"Cellarmanship" CAMRA 1981 reprinted 1992, Information about cellaring, equipment, serving techniques, and troubleshooting. This essential booklet is out-of-print, but CAMRA plans on updating and reprinting soon.

For a general overview on cask ale and cellaring read the "Beer from the Stainless: Producing Traditional British Cask Beers in America" article from Brewing Techniques, http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.4/cantwell.html

Good luck!

Listening to: Sonny Boy Williamson Chess 50th Anniversary

[Richard English]

Quote "...Wouldn't a larger cask 5 gallon or more go flat..."

Cask=condioned beer is fermenting all the time until its sugar has all gone or until it has all been sold. Hopefully the two times coincide.

It's a complex and time-sensitive process which is why few countries now use the system in spite of the far better beer thus produced.

[stronk]

You can readily buy small casks at Boots and other home-brewing suppliers here
Richard, do Boots really still do homebrewing supplies? I thought they had given up years ago when the market for homebrewing slumped. Or are you talking about a different Boots to Boots the chemist with the blue logo?

[Richard English]

Well, our little Boots in Reigate have stopped but I assumed that some of the larger branches still sold home-brewing items.

But if not the fermenting casks are still sold at specialist suppliers - I use th man in North Cheam.

[stronk]

I didn't know you homebrewed! Somehow you didn't strike me as the kind of person who would go through all the hassle when there's a good pub with ready-made beer a few hundred metres away.

[Richard English]

I don't brew beer these days but I still make wine. Just sometimes I use my old Boots cask to make cider if I get a load of windfall apples.

Another reason why I no longer bother is that I, like you, now have a choice of over 500 bottle-conditioned beers in the UK. When I started drinking there were only five.

So these days I can get a decent drink even if I don't want to go to the pub.

[Acataleptic]

The reason I started homebrewing was to offset the cost of Mendocino and North Coast's beers in magnum bottles. I've always had an aversion to Macro beers, so my new found love of real beer was an expensive hobby. There weren't a plethora of micro brew six-packs to choose from in those days, but I was lucky enough to live in Northern California where we had access to many outstanding local breweries and their offerings. Our local liquor shop stocked the new "micro" brews, but all to often the beer from out of the area were bland or the bottles were infected. Forced people to drink local and plenty of it! ;)

My first trip to the UK in 1989 really put a fire under my heals to get serious about brewing more varied styles besides different shades of stout. For the trip I brought the CAMRA guide, but was still dumbfounded by the complexities of cask ale when I drank my first sip. I sampled my first cask beers; Bass and Worthington Best Bitter, in a small pub on the coast of Wales. I was a kid in a candy store, I couldn't get enough of that flavorful brew. As we traveled the UK I sampled the local ales sometimes with the help of the CAMRA guide sometimes without, but always enjoying almost every pint.

When I returned home I studied Dave Line's books and started brewing Bitter for the first time. There was no turning back. I haven't seriously lapsed brewing activities except when we moved to a very small apartment in San Francisco, but even then I'd struggled out a few tasty batches every year or so. Even with the large number of breweries in town offering cask ales I find myself wanting anything with less hops and more malt character. An aromatic Bitter or a malty Mild to sooth my sweet tooth. Having just resumed brewing again I'm happy to say "I can brew that!"

Of course if I lived in Britain you'd most likely find me down at the local reading a novel and enjoying a pint. Maybe wondering how long this island can continue to produce such fine ales? Let's hope a very long time.

Drink local, drink Real Ale!

Listening to: Emerson, Lake, & Palmer 1971 Tarkus