Homebrew into Cask

[Mrobson]

Got an empty cask in the garage (36 pint) from a party this summer. If I get a keystone & a shive from somewhere, is the process of filling the cask and bottling the same? ie sanitise, prime with sugar, leaving to condition, chill then drink?

Cheers

 

[henteaser]

Yeah, sure, if you're confident you don't need to return the cask to the original supplier :whistle:

Your biggest hurdle will be proper cleaning due to not being able to get your hands or other tools inside.

Most breweries will do a caustic rinse but you'll be able to do a pretty good job with more common homebrew stuff e.g. hot water, PBW and a final StarSan rinse. Use a torch in the hole for the keystone then look inside where the shive would go to check for any gunk.

What style of beer are you planning?

You could probably get away with no priming at all, just fill her up 1-2 points before final gravity and store somewhere ~12Ëšc for a week.

Then tap, and enjoy. You'll need to be quick though, a typical beer engine setup will suck air in to the cask when you serve so don't expect it to keep well for more than a week.

 

[Sadfield]

Yeah, sure, if you're confident you don't need to return the cask to the original supplier :whistle:

My thoughts too.

 

[Mrobson]

Thanks for the reply.

Got family over on Boxing Day so was planning a simple blonde or session ipa that every one will like.

Was looking at brewing soon, would it best to leave it a bit closer to the day?

Also wouldn’t it be best to leave in the FV for the yeast to clean up rather than transferring to cask before FG is reached?

 

[henteaser]

Was looking at brewing soon, would it best to leave it a bit closer to the day?

Once it's in cask, kept cool you're good. 6-8 weeks is no biggie if you're confident you can keep it at cellar temperature.

It's only once you tap the cask the clock starts ticking.

Also wouldn’t it be best to leave in the FV for the yeast to clean up rather than transferring to cask before FG is reached?

That's kind of where the "cask conditioned" comes in. There's still yeast in suspension once casked which then condition and lightly carbonate the beer.

It's not really common to fill a cask with bright beer.

 

[Mrobson]

Cheers,

I'm not keen on open the FV unless I have to, typically when would the beer be 1-2 points off FG, when its stopped bubbling altogether or when its dropped right down to every minute or so?

 

[Duxuk]

I think your last question is impossible to safely answer! If I were in your shoes I'd employ the more usual method of leaving for a fortnight to ferment out and add around 80g of sugar.

 

[Alside101]

A loca micro brewery told me thay use finnings in the beer just before thay cask so the yeast drops out into the cask. Saying that thay go from grain to tap in 2-3 week wich suprised me