As a former Inn Keeper, I prided myself in keeping a quality Best Bitter. As I was brough up in Fullers country, I was weaned on London Pride and ESB on celebration days.
But I moved on and now down in Kent and even pre-Covid I noticed the insipid servings of what should have been a classic pumped Best Bitter. IMHO clearly adulterated by Accountants and so many Publicans who, doubtless stressed out, never had time or knowledge to care for a cask of Real ALE. Its painfully obvious when its badly served and you dont like to cause a fuss, just dont stay long - quietly walk away from his till.
When I had my small village Inn, I devised a method of keeping the beer lines to the minimum (always troublesome and as bad as a dirty dinner plate to serve from)
I got hold of a used Under counter larder fridge (no frost box). Now this was wide enough for a cask but not deep enough. So I developed the STRETCH FRIDGE. Yes I cut the fridge half way along and vertically so I could add a fillet ca 6" wide to give greater depth. I filled the gap with slabs of PU insulation foam, mad a hole in the top and installed a Spear - this a a vertical draw off dip tube and valve which connected to the beer engine directly above on the counter. It fitted well and the remarkable thing is that it worked fantastically well. It kept the cask at the optimum 55F and it was very stable. The cask needed installation overnight and the spear height could be adjusted so you drew off the clearest best first, and lowered it as needed.
The result of this ruse was a very well behaved brew that maintained its condition for a whole week (this was unheard of). The trick is to keep the optimum temp constant and no movement stirring up yeasts into ferment. The Fullers Area Manager came specially when I told them of my success and he was so impress that I was put on the list for all the special freebies that came with the turf. It was the finest quaff outside of their tap room he said
Sadly you will have noticed that I only did 1 cask a week cos real ale was not favoured by most of my regulars cos they were Army Officer WO types and Real ALe tended to give impolite whiffs on parade next morning (so it was Carling BL for them). But those few who knew came in specially for a sesh. - thats another story
In pursuit of the perfect pint I felt that Fuller LP is not the same quality it used to be - or is it my imagination - anyone else find this with a classic Best Bitter today?
But I moved on and now down in Kent and even pre-Covid I noticed the insipid servings of what should have been a classic pumped Best Bitter. IMHO clearly adulterated by Accountants and so many Publicans who, doubtless stressed out, never had time or knowledge to care for a cask of Real ALE. Its painfully obvious when its badly served and you dont like to cause a fuss, just dont stay long - quietly walk away from his till.
When I had my small village Inn, I devised a method of keeping the beer lines to the minimum (always troublesome and as bad as a dirty dinner plate to serve from)
I got hold of a used Under counter larder fridge (no frost box). Now this was wide enough for a cask but not deep enough. So I developed the STRETCH FRIDGE. Yes I cut the fridge half way along and vertically so I could add a fillet ca 6" wide to give greater depth. I filled the gap with slabs of PU insulation foam, mad a hole in the top and installed a Spear - this a a vertical draw off dip tube and valve which connected to the beer engine directly above on the counter. It fitted well and the remarkable thing is that it worked fantastically well. It kept the cask at the optimum 55F and it was very stable. The cask needed installation overnight and the spear height could be adjusted so you drew off the clearest best first, and lowered it as needed.
The result of this ruse was a very well behaved brew that maintained its condition for a whole week (this was unheard of). The trick is to keep the optimum temp constant and no movement stirring up yeasts into ferment. The Fullers Area Manager came specially when I told them of my success and he was so impress that I was put on the list for all the special freebies that came with the turf. It was the finest quaff outside of their tap room he said
Sadly you will have noticed that I only did 1 cask a week cos real ale was not favoured by most of my regulars cos they were Army Officer WO types and Real ALe tended to give impolite whiffs on parade next morning (so it was Carling BL for them). But those few who knew came in specially for a sesh. - thats another story
In pursuit of the perfect pint I felt that Fuller LP is not the same quality it used to be - or is it my imagination - anyone else find this with a classic Best Bitter today?
