Inn Doctor » Cask Ales

Vertical Stillaging Cask Ales

P J — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:34:12 +0000

Ale extractor and body

Ale extractor body venting

We haven’t really covered vertical extraction on here in any great detail yet. Perhaps if we go through a few pointers please feel free to add anything or if I have missed anything please add your comments below.

Basically you use the same process to stillage vertically as you would with a container lying on its side. How to look after Cask Ales You would try and vent the container within 8 hrs of delivery. This all depends on the brew you are selling; some brews are more volatile than others.

To vent a cask vertically you would get two wedges or scotches, though you can only see one in the picture and place them securely under the keystone side of the container. So they position the keystone and gas pocket at the highest point, making the cask stable. Please always use two, the amount of times I have seen them balanced with just one.

When working with cask ales, hygiene is of the up-most importance to prevent infection, so the recess in the Keystone plug must be wiped with a clean cloth and the ale extractor and body should be clean and sterile.

Ale extractor body diagram

Looking at the diagram of the ale extractor body remove the tube and the compression nut from the body and replace with the blanking plug, making sure the O ring is intact as this supplies the seal.

Using the rubber mallet the body should be knocked firmly into the keystone with one powerful blow (easier said than done). It is also a good idea that the shut off valve should be left partly open, to prevent air being driven into the cask blowing out the shive or keystone though this used to happen more frequently when they were made of wood. Venting can now be controlled by opening and closing the shut off valve.

When you are satisfied that secondary fermentation has taken place. You can now change the blank plug for the compression nut and very carefully slide the ale extractor tube through the body down to the bottom of the container, then retract about an inch. Tighten up the compression nut this will squeeze down on the rubber seal locking the tube and creating a gas tight seal. Turn off the venting shut off valve.

Vertical stillaged ale ready for sale

So you can get the most out of the container, very carefully so as not to disturb the sediment at the bottom, remove the wedges. Then slowly tilt the container in the opposite direction as shown in the picture positioning the keystone at the lowest point and now replace the wedges on the opposite side.

Now you can connect your cask line to the top of the ale extractor not forgetting to check the rubber seal or the hop strainer is in place otherwise you could suck air into the system causing erratic dispense problems. When your beer is ready for sale open up the venting shut off valve on the ale extractor body and draw through the beer engine and check the smell, taste and clarity of the ale.

You have to know your brews using vertical stillaging, unlike stillaging horizontally where you can turn on the cask tap, to see if it has cleared down and check the quality of the beer. Sometimes installers will have put a bleed valve just after the gas pump, otherwise you will have to draw it straight to the beer engine to check, but 48hrs is usually ok for the secondary fermentation to complete,unless you are unlucky. But this is something you learn to live with, if you use a local brew, the microbrewery, or your service provider will be able to give you a rough idea how long it will take.

To help prolong the life of the ale and improve the quality, the venting shut off valve should be turned off at the end of every session.

I still think the best way to stillage is horizontally, but if you haven’t the room then you haven’t any choice. A lot of people swear by stillaging vertically they say they empty the container every time and they don’t have to remember to tilt the container two thirds of the way down.

Like all good equipment the ale extractor comes apart for cleaning

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Real Ale and Micro Breweries

P J — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:34:29 +0000

Beer has been brewed in this country for hundreds of years and will go on so, even though it has been messed up by the big boys with still more imports arriving every day.

Why do we dispense beer so cold?….. To hide the bland taste. So it comes as a welcome relief when you see a local brew on the bar; one you know has been brewed just up the road adding to the local economy…by your local Micro Brewery.

I have sat up and taken notice because over the last few years two have sprung up in my immediate area and the other day I installed my first real ale bag in box set up, for one of them (I have to use the term real ale because it is not in a cask).

So how does it work? Apparently it is filtered bright in the brewery, bagged ready for use straight away. A bit of yeast is left in the bag so this keeps fermenting away, but you must start using it within a certain period otherwise the bag will expand and split. Because the beer is enclosed in a bag and not subjected to the dank cellar climate, it will last a lot longer, well over a week I am told. Can this brings the fun back into looking after beer? I can remember trying to change a split keystone (when they were wooden) in a barrel (36 gallon), without moving it or spilling any beer.

But is it Traditional? Are micro breweries pushing out the boundaries or are they bending the rules? Perhaps CAMRA will have an answer for this one, after all you can now get real ale in bottles, does that count? But the possibilities are endless Pubs that do not sell enough to warrant a 9 gallon. Guest houses, Restaurants, Beer festivals and outside bars using ice jackets.

Do you have a Hand-pull not doing anything? Why not give the line a good clean, attach a bag in box connector and with a 10 or 20Litre B in Box, and you are away. While they still only have 2% of the market. I do hope local brews (Micro Breweries) do make a significant comeback unlike Germany who never lost theirs.

What is you view? Leave a comment below or on the forum.

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Filtering back cask beer

boz — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:10:38 +0000

For a great many years part of the tradition of cask ale husbandry has been the filtering back of beer in to the cask from which it came. Ale pulled off at the start of a new session, beer pulled off during cleaning or beer run off when a new cask had been broached has been seen as good beer not to be wasted and therefore put back in to the cask through a filter pan and papers.

Seen as a legitimate way of maximizing the yield from a cask and helping the profitability of the landlord’s business, most if not all cask ale pubs used to do this. I say used, because for sometime now most of the big brewers have not encouraged landlords to continue this traditional practice.

Having spent the best part of 40 years working as a cellar man, now known as technician by the way, I have seen plenty of reasons why I think filtering back is not a good idea.

It used to go like this…Old Fred at the Dog and Spanner used to have a bucket. The bucket used to live behind the bar. Now into this bucket Old Fred used to put all sorts of beer from all sorts of places. Beer from his drip trays was one, another was beer people had left behind in glasses and not drunk, “Nowt up with that lad.” Sometimes the bucket used to live in the cellar and once again it used to attract all sorts of beer…beer from the bottom of casks, known as cask bottoms, full of spent hops. Sometimes if a cask of mild say was beginning to get a little light in colour due to all the bitter that had been added, Old Fred would add a couple of bottles of Guinness to darken things up a little. Yes this bucket certainly got around. At the end of a typical day the bucket would be quite full and put in a safe place in the cellar, uncovered, and left until time permitted filtering back or a suitable cask became available. I remember the very traditional dirty crust that used to form on these buckets and the wildlife that was attracted to this feast of free beer. The good old days eh!

Apart from contaminating the rest of the cask that beer is being filtered back into, there is a possibility of altering the ABV of the cask. If different products have been returned into the cask or too much beer returned the alcoholic content of the beer may be raised or lowered. If a weights and measures check is done and beer found not to be at the indicated ABV then there might be a risk of prosecution.

All in all despite the tradition behind the practice of filtering back I feel it should not be apart of modern cellar management. With cask beers being the only real growth area in today’s beer market, it is hoped that people will realise that filtering back may well jeopardize this. Consistency and quality are the key market drivers of cask ale sales. Any practice that affects these factors in a negative way should not be continued.

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Cask beer aspirators, my opinion!

boz — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:00:21 +0000

Cask Breather

Wrote this before I realised it had already been covered,“Cask breather or Aspirator ” but never mind. The debate about using co2 as a top pressure on cask ale seems to polarize most drinkers. From a technical point of view and speaking as a technician of 40 years standing, I see the advantage of supplying a maximum top pressure of say 2 psi, to casks. It will prolong the life of a cask beer, keeping it in better condition than if a cask is just left open to atmosphere. Having installed many aspirated systems as they are called, I cannot think of one instance where there was a negative affect.

The affect of using a co2 top pressure is to exclude air born bacteria from the cask and not as some people may think to push the beer from the cask. Aspirators do not turn cask beer into keg beer.

However there is another valid argument used by lots of real ale buffs which runs along the lines of keeping things the traditional way and not introducing any system that is not traditional. This may from an aesthetic point of view be valid but practically speaking how many cask beer drinkers would know if a cask beer was using a co2 top pressure or not. My personal feeling is that there is no disernable change in the taste or character of cask beers using aspirators.

Using aspirators is viewed as sacrilege by some and unnecessary, but I do not agree, I think they are an integral and perfectly valid part of cask beer dispense and not just a gimmick to save the landlord money. I am unaware as to the CAMRA view on aspirators and would welcome there opinion on this contentious issue.

If after reading this article you are persuaded to give it a go, you will find the cost of installing this equipment is very reasonable and your local brewer may even pay to have it installed.

Cleaning cask ale beer lines

boz — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:02:13 +0000

The cleaning of all beer lines is of utmost importance to the beer retailer. Regular beer line cleaning keeps your beer on top form and your profits in good shape as well.

The cleaning of cask ale beer lines however requires a little more attention if you are to provide the perfect pint.

The very nature of real ale as a “live”product means there is a lot more yeast contained within in it.

Cleaning cask ale lines is much the same as cleaning keg beer lines.

To begin with, some brewers but not all have special cask cleaning sockets fitted to their beer line cleaning ring mains. If you have these fitted then it is just a matter of connecting your cask lines on to these sockets and then carrying out a normal line clean. Don’t forget to wear goggles and gloves.

In the case where no such sockets have been fitted then it is a case of finding a nice clean bucket or other container and placing your cask lines for cleaning into it, and performing the same tasks of rinse, detergent and then rinse.

On a daily basis, Inn Doctor recommends that as a matter of good housekeeping that if a cask line has become empty, regardless of how recently it has been cleaned, then fresh water should be rinsed through it, before connecting to a new cask.

Cask tap ready for cleaning

An important factor in ensuring your cask ale stays in top condition is to make sure all cask taps are thoroughly cleaned. Use dilute cleaning fluid and a small brush to clean these, then allow to dry and store somewhere clean until ready for use. If you decide to take the cask taps to pieces always remember not to mix the parts up, not all cask taps are the same and you could end up with leaking or stiff taps. Equally if you are using vertical extractors make sure you have a suitably long brush to clean out the down tube and once again do not mix up tap components.

Remove all sparklers from swan necks and clean these with fresh water. Clean the swan neck and exterior of the beer engine as well. Nothing worst than a grotty looking beer engine.

One of the keys to keeping consistently good cask ale is hygiene. Plain and simple, keep things clean.

When reconnecting after a clean, two things, don’t forget to clean and refit the hop strainer and also remember to turn the cask tap back on slowly so as not to disturb the cask. All that is left to do is pull the fresh beer through and taste.

Here are our recommended beer line cleaning products and links to purchase these items online.

Prosan Plus A good all round cleaner for use with lightly soiled systems. Product uses special tracer dye that indicates the presence of yeast.

Protinate A very good product designed for use with heavily yeast contaminated systems.

If you are an on-line distributor and stock all of the above products and would like to sponsor this page i.e links to your site for the above products, then please contact us with the details.

Cask beer…I wish I had the space (Vertical Stillage)

boz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:55:42 +0000

Ale Extractor

Vertical Stillage

On a recent call-out, one of our contributing Technicians was chatting to a landlord over a bacon butty when the subject of cask beer came up. The landlord said that he would love to sell cask beer but that he didn’t have the space in his cellar for all the stillages. However all was not lost.

A quick look around the pub cellar and our Technician could see what the landlord was on about. However all was not lost.

The landlord was unfamiliar with vertical stillaging, an alternative method of stillaging cask beer and how little space was required to have it in the cellar. After some discussion and the technician had reassured him that the quality of cask beer being dispensed this way was just as good as traditional horizontal stillaging methods, the landlord decided to give it a go.

Since calling back at this account our technician has found that using vertical stillaging has been a success. The Rose and Crown now has cask beer back on the bar and it is selling quite well.

Vertical stillaging is some times over looked as an efficient method of stillaging where space is at a premium. If you would like to sell cask beer but think you dont have enough room, ask your local Technician for some free advice….it will only cost you a bacon butty!

Cask Beer back on the bar

D M — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:30:20 +0000

With cask beer continuing to out perform the beer market and on trade market sales up, it would seem a good time to consider selling it on your bar if you are not already doing so. However there are one or two things to consider before you start tapping and venting.

Tapping a cask ale

No doubt the increased sales of cask beer indicate a shift in what the punters want and we as Landlords need to take that on board. The smart movers and shakers of the Pub Industry have seen this and have already made their moves. Cask beer can be seen on sale in all the major high street pub chains, with Cask Marque signs being displayed outside.

So what about you? Could cask beer help you improve your business and attract new customers?

Well lets see. You haven’t sold cask beer on your bar since you had T bars fitted and you had the beer engine taken out because you needed the space. You can’t be bothered with all that messing around tapping venting etc. You think you know your customers best and they wouldn’t drink warm Cask beer now that everything is extra cold. Well maybe it is time to rethink your attitude to selling cask beer for know other reason other than you might make lots more money.

Nothing could be easier than having cask beer installed back on your bar. Clamp-on modern beer engines mean no cutting of the bar.Your pub probably has a python system fitted with suitably less chilled lines under the bar. Traditional stillages and more modern self tilting stillages are available and probably in some cases might be loaned by your cask beer supplier. With so many small micro breweries sprouting up everywhere sourcing a local brew would be quite easy and a good marketing tool as well.

But I don’t know how to look after cask beer! Well no problem there. Check out the internet, this site, ask your supplier or even your local technical services for help and advice. Keeping cask beer is not rocket science. It is easy, provided you have the correct training and a bit of passion in wanting to sell a perfect pint.

So why not give it a try, it might just be worth while.

Common problems with Cask beer dispense

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:11:51 +0000

My Cask beer is flat and tastes off?

Your beer might be too cold. Check cellar temperature it should be around 52-53 degrees Fahrenheit 13 degrees centigrade.
How long has your beer been on service, it might be past its best?
Was your cask vented properly?

My Cask beer tastes of vinegar and has off tastes?

Your beer has been on service too long and has gone off. Probably infected

My Cask Ale is very lively?

Have you vented and conditioned the cask properly?
Is your beer serving at the correct temperature? Check cellar temperature.
Have you cleaned your lines? At least once a week minimum.
Check the sparkler has not been over tightened.
Don’t try to pull your beer engine too quickly.
Check a hop filter is fitted and cask tap nut is tight.

My Real Ale is flat but tastes great?

Are you serving it correctly? Swan neck to the bottom of the glass, correct sparkler and a steady even pull.
Your beer might be too cold.

My Beer Engine is stiff?

Is the cask tap open and gas pump if fitted turned on?
Check your hop filter is clean.
Is the hard peg still in the barrel?
The beer engine might be faulty, call Technical Services
The back check valve may be faulty, call Technical Services.

Cask breather or Aspirator

P J — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:17:09 +0000

Cask Breather

With beer volumes down over the winter months and the fact you must sell your lower alcohol (3.8%) real ale within three days, two days is better, this can become a struggle with Pubs who are quiet during the week. If you haven’t got one, why not consider using a cask breather or aspirator as they are sometimes called.

If you haven’t heard of them, they have been out for many years and have been tried and tested by the brewers.

What do they do?…….. Answer, they keep your beer fresher for a bit longer (usually a day).

And how do they do that?……..Instead of stale cellar air entering your container as the ale is drawn out, carbon dioxide (Co2) via a spigot in the shive, is replacing the liquid. This also works with upright stillaging using a pipe attached to the vent valve on the body of an ale extractor.

Spigot

How do you get one?…….Ask for one, most of the major Brewers supply them as part of their commitment to provide you with quality cask ale.

(revision : I have been told by one of the Pub Co’s that the 4 major brewers no longer supply such equipment and that only certain regional’s now supply)

However if you wish to remain in CAMRA’s good beer guide this avenue isn’t open to you.

Why ever not?………The argument is that carbon dioxide (fizzyness) is being added to the beer, which shouldn’t be a problem, if set right at a few pounds, normal blanket pressure (secondary fermentation occurs whilst in the cellar, this process makes its own carbon dioxide as it rises through the liquid, Co2 is heavier than air so it forms a blanket over the liquid and this helps to keep it fresh).

As any brewery technician will tell you the gas pressure has to be a lot higher to get absorbed into the beer and over longer period of time. I would like to bet that even a seasoned CAMRA drinker wouldn’t be able to tell the difference and anyway, would probably say it tastes fresher. They have been using one in my local for years and they don’t really need to, but they do, because of that very fact.

CAMRA’s answer would be to sell the beer quicker, but as we know in the real world things aren’t quite so simple.

How to look after Cask Ales (Real Ales)

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:49:28 +0000

Looking after Cask Ales. The condition of Cask Conditioned beer (Real Ale),when dispensed will depend on the way it has been looked after in your cellar. When the beer is delivered it still has to go through its’ final fermentation and clarification by means of finnings, which have already been added in the brewery . While every brewery has it own procedures, if the beer is to be presented to your customer in consistently good condition, the following must be adhered to at all times, unless in special circumstances your Brewery advises otherwise.

While this is in no way a complete exercise as far as cask ale is concerned it should be enough for most licensees. If you feel we have missed something out or you would like something added please post on the forum it should also be made clear that we will not be able to offer advice on a personal level. Any questions must addressed via the forum.

As with all cellar procedures the cask equipment must be kept spotlessly clean at all times, to minimise the risk of infection it is recommended lines should be cleaned every seven days. Follow the manufacturers instructions depending on which cleaning fluid you use. Please click on the link below to take you on to the next page.