The Session #36: Cask-Conditioned Homebrew?

This month’s Session topic comes to us from Tom over at ‘Yours For Good Fermentables‘.  Tom asks that everyone write about anything they want as long as it’s about cask-conditioned ale.

Around here, cask ales are something of a special event.  Pubs don’t feature them regularly and when they do word gets around quick.  Usually you show up for a “cask event” at the prescribed time, stand in line with 300 other people and get one or (if you’re lucky) two pints.

Which kind of sucks.

But if you can homebrew then you can make your own cask ale.  In fact, if you’ve ever bottle conditioned your homebrew, then you’ve made about 48 12oz casks.  And if you keg your homebrew, then you likely already have all of the equipment you’ll need to put on your own cask event.

The Cask Party

The easiest way to serve your own cask ale at home is to throw a party with 15 or so of your best beer geek friends.  If you drink the whole keg in one or two nights then oxidation doesn’t become a problem and you don’t really need any special equipment.  Here’s how I would do it.

1. Brew a cask-appropriate beer as normal.  I like a good English Special Bitter, but you can do whatever you prefer.  IPA, Porter, Stout or Mild are probably the most common.
2. Assemble a corny keg, but swap the Beer and Gas posts.  You want the beer QD on the “short” dip tube and and the Gas QD on the long dip tube.
3. When fermentation is complete, keg as normal and add a priming solution of about 75 grams Corn Sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water.  You’re shooting for ~1.5-1.9 volumes of co2. It’s just like bottle conditioning except you have 1 large “bottle” instead of 48 small ones.
4. Leave 3 or so inches of headspace when you fill the keg.  This will help in getting co2 into solution.
5. (Optional)  Add gelatin or isinglass finings to the keg.
6. Seal the keg and put it aside in a room around 70ºF for 2 weeks or so.
7. While you’re waiting for the beer to carbonate, construct a simple wooden cask stand that will hold your corny keg on it’s side with the rear slightly elevated.
8. You’ll also need a way to get the beer out of the keg.  You could use a simple picnic faucet attached to a beer QD with a short (~1″) piece of tubing.  Or get one of these fancy-pants adapters that lets you thread a standard beer faucet directly onto a beer-side QD.  I like my stuff to be fancy-pants so that’s what I would do.
9. You’ll also want to rig up a gas QD with a length of tubing.  Eventually you’ll need to let some air into the keg or the beer will stop flowing.
10. Party time.
11. One day before your “cask event”  Chill the beer to around 40ºF (Yes, this is too cold for proper serving).
12. The morning of, get the keg out.  Vent the excess pressure then put it on your horizontal stand.  Make sure the post with the short tube is oriented at the bottom so beer can come out.
13. You’ll need to allow time for the trub to settle.  One of these keg parkas will keep the beer from getting too warm too quickly.
14. You may need to do some trial runs, but with luck the beer will be approaching the correct temperature (~55ºF) as your guests begin to arrive.
15. Attach your faucet and start pouring.  If you did it right, the beer will flow via gravity.  Just like a cask.  The first pint will probably be a bit hazy.
16. Once the flow starts to slow, try attaching your makeshift breather tube.  The level of the beer in the keg needs to be below the opening of the dip tube at the “back” of the keg or you’re in for a beer shower.  You could probably cut and bend the long dip tube so that it rests at the side of the keg instead of the center,  if you didn’t mind mangling a dip tube.  They’re not terribly expensive.
17. Enjoy all of the cask-conditioned ale you can drink with no lines!

Show You’re A Real Beer Geek

Be sure to have the correct glassware on hand.  A proper Imperial (20 oz. It’s the law.) nonic or a tulip glass.  With the official stamp.  Seriously.  Put those tumblers in the recycle bin.

Hold out on your friends and save 2 or 3 pints in the keg for 2 or 3 more days.  Drink one each day and notice how a bit of oxidation changes the beer.  Don’t cry about it being “warm”.

Add a beer engine to your kegerator.  Everyone has a nitro faucet.  Man up and get a hand pump.  You will be the envy of your town.  You can find the odd used beer engine on ebay. UK Brewing sells them in the US, but they’re a bit pricey.  When I find a reliable source for gently used pumps I’ll be sure to pass it along.

If you’re going to add a beer engine to your kegerator, also use a fermwrap and a second temperature controller to keep the beer at the proper 55ºF.

Its Not Rocket Science

You learned all of the relevant skills in your first couple of homebrew batches.  As a homebrewer you’re used to drinking “living” beer.  Show ‘em want “real” beer is all about and put on your own cask events!

Tagged as: cask-conditioned, homebrew, real ale, The Session