Serving from a wooden cask

[welly2]

Was thinking of picking one of these - http://www.barrelsandkegs.com.au/ - or these - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Made-Order-10-Litre-American-Oak-Port-Rum-Bourbon-Spirit-Barrel-Hand-Crafted-/262291144672?hash=item3d11c53fe0 - the ebay one being bigger, so will more likely go for that one.

Does anyone see any problems serving beer from it? I'll be using it with my beer engine. Not sure if this particular cask is suitable or not. Any thoughts?

 

[Blind Dog]

Unless you're going to drink its contents within 2 to 3 days, I wouldn't bother unless you can get a CO2 blanket in the barrel somehow

 

[S.E]

Wadworth in Devizes Wiltshire UK http://www.wadworth.co.uk/about-us/ still employ a cooper to maintain their wooden beer barrels and use shire horses deliver them. If you drop them an email I bet they could tell you everything you ever wanted to know about wooden beer barrels.

If you do get a reply don’t forget to post it on here.

 

[S.E]

[SIZE=11pt]Actually I would be interested to hear if Wadworth can give us any info and insight on how they use and look after their wooden casks. Think Ill email them myself and see if they can help and get back to you if I get a reply. [/SIZE]

 

[TimT]

I've got one of those little 9/10 L barrels that I use for ageing various brews. Started with a cider, then moved to a spruce/fir ale, now I'm ageing a honey-rye-malt-juniper braggot in it.

It'd probably be a bit shithouse for serving directly out of, really, because the brass taps are tiny and pathetic. What I do when I want to bottle the brews is I unscrew the tap off and then turn the barrel directly over a large pot and let all the brew gush out, where I can add some bulk priming solution if I want the brew to carb, which I have done once, successfully, with my spruce/fir ale.

When you do this of course you've got to have another brew ready to run directly into it as the wooden boards will warp and go out of shape and become useless if they don't have any liquid in them for some time. Which is the reason I think Blind Dog says you shouldn't bother serving brews directly out of the barrels unless you're going to drink it all pretty much straightaway: having a 10 or 20 L barrel sitting around for two weeks with only two litres brew in it would end up ruining the barrel.

For what they are though they're fun to use and they impart a definite richness to the brew. In my cider especially an oakey vanilla taste was evident.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I wouldn't bother with those barrels, if its just for looks and as you are going to use your hand pump, use a cube inside an old barrel and prime it with SE's method of priming with co2

 

[TimT]

Yeah they're really designed for less sophisticated tasks like storing and improving 10 L of cheap port. That said I find them useful enough for my ciders and meads.

 

[welly2]

I wouldn't bother with those barrels, if its just for looks and as you are going to use your hand pump, use a cube inside an old barrel and prime it with SE's method of priming with co2

I think you're probably right. Going to pick up a couple of those collapsible water containers from super cheap auto and be done with it. And far cheaper.

Cheers all!

 

[Bribie G]

Looking at the prices of those barrels, you could probably get a small SS real ale cask for far less, they are imported nowadays, I saw some last time I was at Ross / Craftbrewer / Bacchus.
Give them an email on their contact page, they may sell you one.

 

[welly2]

Looking at the prices of those barrels, you could probably get a small SS real ale cask for far less, they are imported nowadays, I saw some last time I was at Ross / Craftbrewer / Bacchus.
Give them an email on their contact page, they may sell you one.

Cheers Bribie! I've got onto him about it.

 

[Tahoose]

I think you're probably right. Going to pick up a couple of those collapsible water containers from super cheap auto and be done with it. And far cheaper.

Cheers all!

I haven't used a colapsble container previously, however I used a slightly modified cube.

I have one of these installed into the lid.

http://kegking.com.au/keg-couplers-and-keg-disconnects/19l-9l-kegs-keg-parts/ball-lock-post-with-1-4-inch-bulkhead-assembly-gas.html

Basically just pull a few pints through the hand pump and then replace the headspace with co2. This is a low cost option and you can use a variety of different sized cubes and really only need the one lid. A keg charger is enough to achieve this.

I think this has some advantages to the colapsble option being that if the beer is too lively you can vent it off with more control. The beer should drop bright easier. Topping up the headspace like this will allow for the beer to keep between sessions.

My thoughts, just started reading "Cellarmanship" so will look into this a bit further if possible.

 

[adryargument]

Just contact yalumba and get 4x100l barrels delivered and call it a day.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Mine is a similar setup to Tahoose but cheaper, if you do over prime your cask/cube you could use the excess gas to inflate a collapsible container.That way you can prime your cask with that same gas as you empty the contents.
Drill a 6 mm hole in the cap (of both collapsible container and cask) using a length of 6mm tube force a rawl plug up the tube, that will make a seal between the cap and the tube and it will not leak just make sure you have a hole in the end of the rawl plug.

 

[Batz]

Just contact yalumba and get 4x100l barrels delivered and call it a day.

You have a name and number for a contact ? :beer:

 

[adryargument]

I think last time I just called them directly and they gave me an email / contact number.
Fairly easy process.

I believe they have both French and American in 100l / depends on availability.. Barrels come cleaned, corked, and branding shaved off.

$80 bucks a pop. + $120ish to have a pallet shipped from yalumba to Sydney. Brisbane will maybe be a bit more.

 

[welly2]

Stuck with a polypin or, more accurately, a Supercheap Auto collapsible water carrier. Got a pair of 10L ones for 7 or 8 bucks. Filled one of them and the rest I ended up bottling. I'm seeing a nice array of bubbles at the top of the polypin so it's naturally carbonating nicely. Looking forward to next weekend to pulling my first handpull pint! If anyone wants to join me next weekend before the Inner Sydney Brewers comp, feel free!