Draught beer.

[An Ankoù]

Not a problem. There's a personal message function, but haven't used it. My email address is: Ok, You've got it now.
And thanks.
Still got the problem of re gassing once the balloon's expired, though, I think.

 

[CD]

Cheers for this I am trying to think how I could do something similar for casks.

Last year I was having problems with the propane burner under my copper blowing back, and thought I would have to buy a pin of Indiana's Bones from my friendly brewer to keep me going. Accordingly a had an adapter made to fit Noddy to a cask's spile hole. Happily I got things sorted, so you are welcome to borrow it all as would like to know how the idea works for larger quantities.

 

[CD]

Thanks Chippy, lets see if this works.

 

[simon12]

Not a problem. There's a personal message function, but haven't used it. My email address is
And thanks.
Still got the problem of re gassing once the balloon's expired, though, I think.

I recommend you delete this as bots pick up email addresses posted online and result in spam.

 

[simon12]

Last year I was having problems with the propane burner under my copper blowing back, and thought I would have to buy a pin of Indiana's Bones from my friendly brewer to keep me going. Accordingly a had an adapter made to fit Noddy to a cask's spile hole. Happily I got things sorted, so you are welcome to borrow it all as would like to know how the idea works for larger quantities.

Thanks for the offer, my thoughts for a similar system are:
I already have spiles with a tap and tube on (so I can basically make it like a hard spile as soon as I have poured each pint) this roughly seems to double the beer life compared to soft and hard spiles, so I was thinking of after venting any liquid out of the casks to tape a bin liner round the end of it and drill a small hole in the tube with an elastic band over it so it releases pressure if the bag gets full ad its to high. I would be very happy to try your version and will PM you my address.
Cheers

 

[foxy]

I use the collapsable water carriers, inflate with co2 from the ferment and use it to replace the vacuum when drawing a beer.

Pretty sure I read that CAMRA were going to endorse the use of co2 going into the cask.

 

[foxy]

CAMRA now neutral on "cask breathers"

Members decided to change CAMRA's policy on "cask breathers" - devices used in pub cellars to lengthen the life of cask beers by ensuring a blanket of carbon dioxide preserves the beer. Previously against such devices, the motion called on the Campaign to end its opposition to cask breathers.

National Director Nick Boley explained that all cask breathers do is stop air from getting into the cask and keeps the condition of the beer closer to a freshly tapped cask.

He added: "I've tried to work out the chemistry of why cask breathers were wrong: I couldn't and I'm still scratching my head. Cask breathers are a boon for small rural pubs and cafe bars. If we want to get cask beer into these outlets this is one way of doing it.

"The ban on cask breather policy has had its day and there is no reason to continue to exclude pubs using cask breathers from our guide.

John O'Donnell, from Trafford and Hulme branch said; "We've heard a popular myth that beer needs oxygen for secondary fermentation, it doesn't. Oxygen is beer's enemy. This perpetuates another myth that pubs that use cask breathers aren't good pubs. [Our current policy] results in members going into pubs and tell them they're not eligible for awards. It's a bad thing.

National Director Ben Wilkinson said: "This motion is about giving more freedom to CAMRA's branches. There are lots of pubs across the UK which cannot be placed in the Good Beer Guide (GBG) because of our policy. This will allow pubs to be included in the GBG based on the quality of the beer and the pub. There is a lot of confusion about cask breathers which is simply not true. They improve the quality of beer and that is all that they do. Let's trust branches and our local members to assess the quality of beers on their merit."

All approved policies require official ratification from CAMRA's National Executive.

 

[An Ankoù]

I recommend you delete this as bots pick up email addresses posted online and result in spam.

Thanks Simon- Had reply from Mike-C and deleted address. Now about to investigate the PM function.
Yep, got it, I think it's "start a conversation".

 

[GerritT]

I'm sure there are, else Wilko would no longer sell plastic kegs!
I had one from Boots ages ago (circa 1980?) and it was sort of OK, but kept running out of gas. A top up "soda syphon" CO2 cylinder did help.

Nothing wrong with the approach, especially if you drink slowly enough that the barrel can re-pressurise between draw-offs. Not for me, this time around, as I find PET bottles suit better. I don't mind the hassle of cleaning, sterilising and priming each one. It's an easy task that can be done listening to music.

Hear hear!

 

[CD]

I use the collapsable water carriers, inflate with co2 from the ferment and use it to replace the vacuum when drawing a beer.
Pretty sure I read that CAMRA were going to endorse the use of co2 going into the cask.

Very good. It just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat. Looks a nifty beer engine, what sort is it? Thanks for the details of Camra’s reasoning over their long overdue change of heart on cask breathers. Precious little about it in ‘What’s Boring’ (as my friendly brewer calls it) as you might expect.

 

[CD]

Sorry about the multiple images of Noddy. Just goes to show how inept I am in certain respects!

The photo is actually of my prototype set up using a larger bore connecting tube pushed into a drilled-out injector, and with no facility to add CO2 if needed. The inverted tap and pressure gauge on the other PB to see how much pressure is in it, might be of interest.

 

[foxy]

Very good. It just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat. Looks a nifty beer engine, what sort is it? Thanks for the details of Camra’s reasoning over their long overdue change of heart on cask breathers. Precious little about it in ‘What’s Boring’ (as my friendly brewer calls it) as you might expect.

That's an Angram half pint pull but you can make one from one of these, more transportable too.

Valterra rocket hand pump from Amazon

 

[CD]

That's an Angram half pint pull but you can make one from one of these, more transportable too.

Thanks for the information. Don’t you find you waste a lot of beer with a full-size half pint a pull hand pump, or do you have lots of friends helping you drink it each evening.

I know I did with just a quarter pint a pull one, due to having to ditch the beer left in the system between sessions. Do you know what the capacity of the Valterra Rocket pump is?

 

[CD]

No, no no. Foxy wrote the first line, I did the rest!

 

[foxy]

The Valterra is about 15 pumps per half pint, I put a hose on the outlet to get the effect of a swan neck with a tap aerator as a sparkler, works just as well as the Angram. Doesn't matter how much you drink, the vacuum is replaced by co2 from the collapsible water carrier, no oxygen going in.

 

[foxy]

 

[CD]

Looks good, both the pump and your pint. I think I might just get one.

 

[An Ankoù]

Received a Noddy from CD some six weeks ago and still haven't given it a good run for its money. Found that the then intended barrel still contains a gallon of sound but flat ale which I'm krausening with some fresh beer and attaching the balloon. Found the three holes easier to line up by holding everything in position with a wooden toothpick and Bob's your uncle. Will post photo's when the balloon's inflated and a report on the beer when the old and the new have had enough time to get to know each other.
Hopeful that this will be the way forward as my last two Hambleton Bard cylinders have discharged themselves overnight.
Yeah, I know Corny Kegs are good for dispensing pils and highly carbonated beers, but fizzy Summer Lightning doesn't do it for me.

 

[CD]

I thought I’d better add something to this thread, in case anyone got the idea that I’d got careless and fallen into one.

Still drinking beer daily and brewing it every 12 to 14 weeks. Cheers!

 

[CD]

Quite a lot has happened since I last made a post on this thread. I’ve succeeded in drinking the entire contents of a firkin of my own beer, one of Princetown Brewery’s Jail Ale, and 5 of the 9 gallons (so far) of one of Summerskills Brewery’s Devon Due, all at the leisurely pace of a couple of pints a night. Oh, and Mrs CD and I celebrated our Diamond Wedding Anniversary, in a pub of course, just 9 days before they all closed!

This shows the empty Firkin borrowed from my FB (friendly brewer), with a Whale Flipper mini hand pump mounted on a bracket which clamps on the rim of either a firkin or pin, plumbed into a double exit tap which allows for either gravity or hand pump dispense. I knocked this up in the hope that I could persuade my FB to fit it to one of his casks at the SIBA Maltings Beer Festival in April, which of course never took place.

I brewed on January 24th and raked into casks a week later when the gravity was 43%ABV. This was taken after another week when I had just knocked a venting spile into the chive. There was 7½ psi of pressure inside which I slowly vented into a Noddy foil balloon via a polythene bag to hopefully catch any beer fobbing over, but there was none.

Half an hour later, with the original chive replaced by one fitted with a Hambleton Bard injector and foil balloon adapter. Time 6.30pm.

14 hours later, and balloon bulging. Removed and replaced by Noddy 2. The photo below was taken two days later, and shows the second balloon half full, and in fact this was sufficient to replace the beer as it was drawn off, so no extra carbon dioxide was required.

Photo sent to my FB to tempt him over to verify my claim that it was still in good nick 3 weeks after starting.

Norman and Chris try the beer. Firkin half full. And finally (below) a fortnight later. Norman pulls up one of the last 5 pints, and proclaims it 'Perfect'! And two Happy Brewers.