Cask conditioned brew?

[DiBosco]

Splendid looking pint with nice cask style head! Cheers!

Thanks! Just noticed you're in Old Trafford. I'm just down the road in good old St. Retford

 

[clibit]

Right on each other's door step. With Chorlton for a beery playground.

 

[mrobinson]

I've often wondered if it's possible to use a hand pump with Cornelius kegs under high pressure?

I don't want my beer to go flat, I'm not fussed if CAMRA approve :), but I can't drink 4 gallons of beer in one sitting ( although I do my level best ).

 

[clibit]

Why would you need a hand pump and why would you need to drink 4 gallons in one sitting?

 

[mrobinson]

I assume it would give the same effect as proper cask-conditioned beer, without the time-limit of it going off.

I'd have to drink it in one sitting because it would go flat or off, unless pressurised.

 

[clibit]

Never tried it, sorry. I'm sure someone has experience that will help.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

Cracking looking pint !!

 

[Kyle_T]

Let's clear a couple of bits up here, cask conditioned ale is nothing related to the "fizz" it is a period of maturation using the residual yeast at the end of primary fermentation. If doing it properly there should be no priming sugar involved. Also a pressure barrel is not a cask, it is a barrel but not a real barrel as a barrel in measure is 36 gallons not 5, it would be called a pressure cask otherwise, but as cask conditioned ale isn't served under pressure it is not.

A cask is anything from a Pin to Firkin, Kilderkin etc. it has a keystone, a shive and a cask tap, usually served horizontal after being spiled for a few days to achieve perfect condition. This is an craft/art form in it's own right known as cellarmanship, you cannot IMO replicate this is anything but an actual cask. And in NO way does a Cornie under pressure with a beer engine fill in the job either, a Cornie is a keg of a different description so it would be keg beer.

*climbs off soap box*

 

[airymary]

I've often wondered if it's possible to use a hand pump with Cornelius kegs under high pressure?

High pressure? Hand pumps are used frequently with cornies, but at low 'blanket' pressures - 2 to 4 psi. As hand pumps aren't designed for use with pressurised kegs, they will drip or leak without some means of stopping them. (I use a 3/8 push-fit ball valve in the beer lines, which I close when not using the pump). The low pressure is enough to prevent the beer from oxidising, so it stays good for weeks (if it ever lasts that long!).

I don't want my beer to go flat, I'm not fussed if CAMRA approve :), but I can't drink 4 gallons of beer in one sitting ( although I do my level best ).

Exactly - it's a case of 'art of the possible', even at risk of offending (alienating?) the real ale purists!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[mrobinson]

Yeah, I meant under serving pressure, not high pressure really.

That sounds perfect, I might invest in one some time. Are the results as good as I imagine them to be?

 

[mrobinson]

I've just googled and found I can do with with a 'demand valve', which prevents the beer from passing unless there is a vacuum on the hand-pump side of valve, no need for a ball-valve.

I'm ( pathetically? ) excited by this :).

 

[airymary]

I have a check valve - similar to this:

It doesn't stop the pump leaking, though. Its role is to prevent beer going back to the cask, so it opens to let beer through when, as you say, the handpump creates a vacuum. It doesn't deal with pressure in the other direction, from the cask/keg. In my simple understanding, it's not designed to - its intended for use with unpressurised casks. So I have a ball valve as well.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Kyle_T]

I have a check valve - similar to this:

It doesn't stop the pump leaking, though. Its role is to prevent beer going back to the cask, so it opens to let beer through when, as you say, the handpump creates a vacuum. It doesn't deal with pressure in the other direction, from the cask/keg. In my simple understanding, it's not designed to - its intended for use with unpressurised casks. So I have a ball valve as well.

Cheers,
Chris

Hate to correct you but it does. If yours doesn't, it's not sealing correctly, the actual purpose of a check valve is to stop beer under pressure being forced out the beer engine spout, not stop it back flowing. Most beer engines will have an internal non-return valve for that.