black_labb
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I've finally gotten ahold of my xmas present I gave myself, an Angram hand pump.
Within 5 minutes of getting the box open I had it set up pulling 20L of napisan solution through the lines followed by plenty of water for a good rinse. Yesterday I bottled and "bagged" some beer.
A bit of an explanation of cask ale is probably required for some people, skip over the next 2 paragraphs if you understand the principles and results. Simply put cask ale is ale that is served without adding C02 (or any other gas by artificial means) .This means that you cannot force carbonate beer, and it cannot be served under pressure from a bottle. This means that when the beer is poured/pulled you are sucking from the cask (think keg). You cannot keep pulling from a keg without something taking the place of the beer you have drawn from the keg. In a typical kegging setup this space is filled by the co2 delivered at a specific pressure from the regulator. With cask ale you suck beer from the cask using a diaphragm pump or simply gravity, which is a part of the "tap", as opposed to pushing the beer out with pressurised co2.
The difference between cask ale and kegging is not simply about how the beer gets from the keg/cask to the glass.Relative to pressurised keg systems cask ale tends to be served at warmer temperatures (about 10-13*c), it is less carbonated and is "alive", meaning the yeast is still active. This makes for quite a different drinking experience. Firstly the low carbonation levels make the beer smoother and less bitey. The Warmer temperatures bring out the malty flavours in the beer and generally make your taste buds more perceptive. The fact that the beer is "alive" doesn't really mean much for home brewers, but compared to macro brews it means the beer isn't filtered or pasturised leaving all the goodness.
The issue with Cask ale is that you need to allow air into the cask as you pull the beer. This leads to oxidation and beer generally going bad. Cask ale generally has a shelf life of about 3-5 days once you have tapped the cask because you start to let in nasties and oxygen. There are ways around this like using a sterile air filter where the cask takes in air, or using an aspirator which isn't really approved of to use co2 instead of air. The other option that has become more apparent recently is using collapsible casks, which are made from flexible plastics. This means that instead of sucking in air when the beer is pulled the container holding the beer collapses on itself. This means longer shelf life, but I'm not sure how long. I bought 18x 4L "beer bags". My main issue with keggins systems is that 19L kegs are the only economical choice. I value beer range over beer volume in a big way which is why I never decided to go for a "normal" kegging setup. With this setup I can bottle some beer and "cask/bag" some beer. Using 4L casks I can have a pretty quick turnover for the "regular drinker" and have bottles for when I want something different without having to take up a big fridge/keezer for corny's.
So my decision was to organise a hand pump and a number of 4L "polypins" or "cubitainers". as the storage vessel. I finally got all the parts together tonight and got everything put together and was pulling beer together a couple of hours later..
This story will continue tomorrow. The system works too well and after getting excited about pulling your own ales I can't continue to write a helpful and objective article. until then just know that it works.
[sharedmedia=gallery:albums:932]
Within 5 minutes of getting the box open I had it set up pulling 20L of napisan solution through the lines followed by plenty of water for a good rinse. Yesterday I bottled and "bagged" some beer.
A bit of an explanation of cask ale is probably required for some people, skip over the next 2 paragraphs if you understand the principles and results. Simply put cask ale is ale that is served without adding C02 (or any other gas by artificial means) .This means that you cannot force carbonate beer, and it cannot be served under pressure from a bottle. This means that when the beer is poured/pulled you are sucking from the cask (think keg). You cannot keep pulling from a keg without something taking the place of the beer you have drawn from the keg. In a typical kegging setup this space is filled by the co2 delivered at a specific pressure from the regulator. With cask ale you suck beer from the cask using a diaphragm pump or simply gravity, which is a part of the "tap", as opposed to pushing the beer out with pressurised co2.
The difference between cask ale and kegging is not simply about how the beer gets from the keg/cask to the glass.Relative to pressurised keg systems cask ale tends to be served at warmer temperatures (about 10-13*c), it is less carbonated and is "alive", meaning the yeast is still active. This makes for quite a different drinking experience. Firstly the low carbonation levels make the beer smoother and less bitey. The Warmer temperatures bring out the malty flavours in the beer and generally make your taste buds more perceptive. The fact that the beer is "alive" doesn't really mean much for home brewers, but compared to macro brews it means the beer isn't filtered or pasturised leaving all the goodness.
The issue with Cask ale is that you need to allow air into the cask as you pull the beer. This leads to oxidation and beer generally going bad. Cask ale generally has a shelf life of about 3-5 days once you have tapped the cask because you start to let in nasties and oxygen. There are ways around this like using a sterile air filter where the cask takes in air, or using an aspirator which isn't really approved of to use co2 instead of air. The other option that has become more apparent recently is using collapsible casks, which are made from flexible plastics. This means that instead of sucking in air when the beer is pulled the container holding the beer collapses on itself. This means longer shelf life, but I'm not sure how long. I bought 18x 4L "beer bags". My main issue with keggins systems is that 19L kegs are the only economical choice. I value beer range over beer volume in a big way which is why I never decided to go for a "normal" kegging setup. With this setup I can bottle some beer and "cask/bag" some beer. Using 4L casks I can have a pretty quick turnover for the "regular drinker" and have bottles for when I want something different without having to take up a big fridge/keezer for corny's.
So my decision was to organise a hand pump and a number of 4L "polypins" or "cubitainers". as the storage vessel. I finally got all the parts together tonight and got everything put together and was pulling beer together a couple of hours later..
This story will continue tomorrow. The system works too well and after getting excited about pulling your own ales I can't continue to write a helpful and objective article. until then just know that it works.
[sharedmedia=gallery:albums:932]
I was thinking if using a 5l aluminium party keg but would need to modify it so air could replaced the extracted beer. Had a 4.5 gallon upright cask made for myself in England for parties complete with yr brewery name embossed on the side, can send the details if you are interested - tho postage to Oz would prob cost more than the cask!
