That Hand Pump Mouthfeel

[bcp]

Stuck in Heathrow because someone stuffed up my visa to Senegal. Have to wait to see if they can pull a rabbit out of a hat at the Senegal end. Nothing to do here but wait with some bangers and mash on the way and a pint of fuller's London Pride. F me dead. It's a fine drop.

I can't seem to replicate the mouthfeel of these handpumps. I think I get the carbonation level is right but it feels more flat than creamy when I do that.

Has anyone had success? Obviously there are other factors apart from the carb level. Maybe I haven't got that right either. If anyone nails this on a regular basis, I'd love to see your recipe and carb level. I bottle condition, so that might be another relevant factor.

 

[fcmcg]

Stuck in Heathrow because someone stuffed up my visa to Senegal. Have to wait to see if they can pull a rabbit out of a hat at the Senegal end. Nothing to do here but wait with some bangers and mash on the way and a pint of fuller's London Pride. F me dead. It's a fine drop.

I can't seem to replicate the mouthfeel of these handpumps. I think I get the carbonation level is right but it feels more flat than creamy when I do that.

Has anyone had success? Obviously there are other factors apart from the carb level. Maybe I haven't got that right either. If anyone nails this on a regular basis, I'd love to see your recipe and carb level. I bottle condition, so that might be another relevant factor.

Here is my next project......
Reckon it will make some of the English beer I make taste closer...
http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-eq...d-a-beer-engine
I think serving it right , is half the battle....
Cheers
Ferg on the iPhone

 

[probablynathan]

Here is my next project......
Reckon it will make some of the English beer I make taste closer...
http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-eq...d-a-beer-engine
I think serving it right , is half the battle....
Cheers
Ferg on the iPhone

Might have to make one of those myself. Anyone made one? how does it go?

 

[goldstar]

There's this later article also that's worth a read, using a slightly different pump.

http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-eq...engine-projects

 

[Bribie G]

Is it served with a head or not? Last time I had real ale in London was over 25 years ago, and in those days Londoners drank their ale dead flat on the surface, although a nice sparkle on the tongue. If they have joined the rest of the country and gone to creamy-head serve then a handpump plus a sparkler would be your best bet. The sparkler forces air into the beer to give almost a Guinness-like "churn" which settles down to a creamy head and lightly carbed beer.

Another way of getting almost the same effect would be to go to Nitro Mix - no doubt whilst hanging around there you would be able to find some nitro "smooth pour" brand that you could try - Tetleys or John Smith Smooth maybe?

Edit: those little pumps resemble "stirrup pumps" that you can still - rarely - see in UK pubs - I saw them in Cornwall, they put the dip tube of the pump through the spile hole of a cask on a rack behind the bar, and pump the beer out that way.

 

[goldstar]

Nothing has changed Bribie, the loon's daaan sarf would get their pitchforks out if you happened to mention fitting a sparkler. I still work with a lot of Southerners, those that homebrew don't even prime the bottles. They rather drink them flat. Sure there's some carbonation from residual sugaz, but not a lot. Still, better 'discussing' all things beer with the southern fairies rather than engage with that other funny breed at work. Them that came from the wrong side of the pennines and don't favour white roses. Sicko's!

 

[mwd]

Has anyone had success? Obviously there are other factors apart from the carb level. Maybe I haven't got that right either. If anyone nails this on a regular basis, I'd love to see your recipe and carb level. I bottle condition, so that might be another relevant factor.

Bottle conditioning is going to be the main problem getting that mouthfeel.

Can you get 'widgets' for bottles thinking about cans here Boddingtons and Guinness Draft.

Doubt you will ever get the feeling with bottled beer.

 

[Innes]

Might have to make one of those myself. Anyone made one? how does it go?

I have one of the pumps in the second article. You can get them on amazon fairly cheap.

It works well and in a side by side test with my beer engine, the only real differences was the beer engine could pump with more force if required and obviously the goose neck allows the glass to be filled from the bottom up. The major benefit of the small water pump over the beer engine is I have the water pump setup inside my fridge (modified shelf) whereas the beer engine needs to be mounted on a bench top and you have the problems with the beer going warm when not in use and keeping the lines cool. Having the pump mounted inside the fridge means that the beer and the pump are at the same temperature and you don't have to flush the pump at the end of each session.

I also use a cask aspirator so I don't have to drink the whole keg over a 2-3 day period.

 

[bigfridge]

Is it served with a head or not? Last time I had real ale in London was over 25 years ago, and in those days Londoners drank their ale dead flat on the surface, although a nice sparkle on the tongue. If they have joined the rest of the country and gone to creamy-head serve then a handpump plus a sparkler would be your best bet. The sparkler forces air into the beer to give almost a Guinness-like "churn" which settles down to a creamy head and lightly carbed beer.

We have a little article here that explains that the beer needs to be designed with the dispense method in mind.

 

[mxd]

Might have to make one of those myself. Anyone made one? how does it go?

I think you'll find Dan (thirstyboy) has made a similar type with a caravan hand pump, I tried one of the beers off it at AHBC in 2010 but I don't remember much of that night

 

[Bribie G]

Nothing has changed Bribie, the loon's daaan sarf would get their pitchforks out if you happened to mention fitting a sparkler. I still work with a lot of Southerners, those that homebrew don't even prime the bottles. They rather drink them flat. Sure there's some carbonation from residual sugaz, but not a lot. Still, better 'discussing' all things beer with the southern fairies rather than engage with that other funny breed at work. Them that came from the wrong side of the pennines and don't favour white roses. Sicko's!

I might look at getting one myself to live inside my tall fridge, low carb it in the kegerator then transfer to the big fridge for serving.

Goldstar, never been to Hull but spent a few happy holidays at Bridlington and Skeggy over the border. (Born in Pontefract). I really liked the old Hull beer although it was filtered and delivered to the pub in huge polypin things, quite advanced for the era and even so it was far better than those dreadful keg brews like Tankard and Tavern etc. :icon_vomit:

 

[bcp]

It came with a head. I have no traditional connections with Britain (ok, apart from ALL my ancestry) so without shame I confess the head added to the creaminess of the whole experience.

 

[bcp]

We have a little article here that explains that the beer needs to be designed with the dispense method in mind.

Quite a helpful little tip. Taste is a complex thing.

 

[Bribie G]

Sounds spot on. As I have posted in the past, when Real Ale became the trendy "cause" in the 1970s I was living in Cardiff, where the local SA Brain beers are hand pumped through a sparkler. Our local pub which was on the way home for office workers and professionals, as opposed to the blue collar set, put on a weekly cask of the flagship SA, behind the bar, and just served straight into the glass for those who wanted an alternative to the creamy version.

It was like a completely different beer in its "native" state - slight sparkle and definitely much more bitter to the taste.

 

[super_simian]

I also use a cask aspirator so I don't have to drink the whole keg over a 2-3 day period.

Please, elaborate...

 

[CosmicBertie]

I read somewhere that the low carbonation of the cask ale is irrelevant as the act of drawing beer through the beer engine removes all the dissolved gas from it. The sparkler certainly adds some extra mouthfeel/body to the beer too. I'm thinking of doing one of the RecipeDBs Guinness clones and putting it through the engine.

When I make English ales I put them into a 20l plastic water carrier (BCF $10), and then I attach it to the beer engine with a piece of normal siphon tubing. The water carrier collapses as the beer is drawn out of it, keeping it from being exposed to air, in essence, like a polypin.

IMO the beer which is nitrogen pulled, the Smoothflow stuff, is disgusting. Theres a significant flavour difference to hand pulled John Smiths/Tetley's and their Smoothflow variant, with the latter taking on an over silky, sweet taste.

 

[Nodrog]

I read somewhere that the low carbonation of the cask ale is irrelevant as the act of drawing beer through the beer engine removes all the dissolved gas from it. The sparkler certainly adds some extra mouthfeel/body to the beer too. I'm thinking of doing one of the RecipeDBs Guinness clones and putting it through the engine.

When I make English ales I put them into a 20l plastic water carrier (BCF $10), and then I attach it to the beer engine with a piece of normal siphon tubing. The water carrier collapses as the beer is drawn out of it, keeping it from being exposed to air, in essence, like

That souns really interesting, cask ale with no oxidising problems,

Do you,rack direct from primary,to the polyp in or via secondary?

I guess there,s o priming sugar involved?

 

[Bribie G]

That souns really interesting, cask ale with no oxidising problems,

Do you,rack direct from primary,to the polyp in or via secondary?

I guess there,s o priming sugar involved?

Collapsible plastic container: Nodrog you are obviously familiar with the Polypin word, they are widely available in NZ and the UK but for some reason have not made it to these far deserted shores. The BCF ones sound excellent although a bit expensive per brew. I wonder if they are cleanable, which would make them reusable. I'd guess a good method might to be to lightly carb in a cornie in a kegerator, then run into the Polypin for serving and keep it at a low temperature for longer life.

 

[eamonnfoley]

I just came home from Germany with a 10L keg with coupler fitting and a bavarian style bunghole. Also bought the "zapfhahn" tap and a wooden hammer. I'm more interested in german beer, but it could be used for pseudo-cask ale.

 

[Kai]

Please, elaborate...

The cask aspirator is a little valve that allows the atmosphere in the cask / keg to be replaced with atmospheric pressure CO2 (from a gas bottle) as you draw beer out of said vessel. Hence keeping the beer fresher by minimising oxidation by keeping air out of the headspace of the aforementioned vessel.