Hello,
Seeing as there are a few members on here who are into their ale, I thought it might be a good idea to show those who don't know exactly what goes on in the cellar, to enable you to get great beer at the pump
Note to readers: If you're interested in this subject, please feel free to post with any suggestions, comments or questions. However, if you're not interested and you're just going to post crap, please avert your eyes from the subject matter and instead, point them to the top left of your screen, where you'll find the back button. Thanks!
The Cask Ale I'll be demonstrating with is Young's Special - 4.5% ABV.
Ok, so first things first. When the cask ale is delivered to the pub, it's in a suspended state. All the oxygen is sucked out, and it needs to be conditioned further in order to make it ready to serve.
Step One: Rest, or Sit the cask - exactly what it says. Leave the cask to rest for around 24 hours before doing anything else. In our pub, I use Autotilts. They are sprung, and tilt the cask as it's served, to get the maximum yield. They're not cheap, at around £60 each, however they're a fantastic bit of kit and I'd never want to be without them.
The cask sitting on the autotilt:
All ale casks have 2 main features.
The Shive:
And the Keystone:
After the cask has rested for 24 hours or so, the first thing to do is Vent. This releases the initial pressure in the cask, and allows the fermentation process to continue.
To do this, I use a Spile. There are 2 types, hard spiles and soft spiles. Hard spiles are non-porous, and soft spiles are, yep, you guessed it, porous.
So, first of all, the hard spile goes into the shive:
Note: not driven all the way in, all we're looking to do is release the pressure. Just a short, sharp tap will do, then gently knock it in so it seals, in preparation for the next part, which is:
Tapping - Driving the tap into the keystone. The tap is where (logically) the ale is dispensed from.
Note: When tapping the cask, don't mess about. Hit it. Hard. Expect to lose a little bit of beer from the keystone, but not a lot. Make sure the tap is closed! Make sure it's secure, then move onto the final step:
Quite simply, pull out the hard spile, and pop in a soft one. This will now enable the beer to breathe and fully ferment/condition.
Soft spile in:
Once it's ready to serve, check the beer directly from the cask, then at the pump, making sure that the line is clean.
End result:
Note: This particular method is one that I use, and have been for years. Different landlords may have different techniques, but the end result is the same.
Hope you found this insight into my job interesting
Seeing as there are a few members on here who are into their ale, I thought it might be a good idea to show those who don't know exactly what goes on in the cellar, to enable you to get great beer at the pump

Note to readers: If you're interested in this subject, please feel free to post with any suggestions, comments or questions. However, if you're not interested and you're just going to post crap, please avert your eyes from the subject matter and instead, point them to the top left of your screen, where you'll find the back button. Thanks!
The Cask Ale I'll be demonstrating with is Young's Special - 4.5% ABV.
Ok, so first things first. When the cask ale is delivered to the pub, it's in a suspended state. All the oxygen is sucked out, and it needs to be conditioned further in order to make it ready to serve.
Step One: Rest, or Sit the cask - exactly what it says. Leave the cask to rest for around 24 hours before doing anything else. In our pub, I use Autotilts. They are sprung, and tilt the cask as it's served, to get the maximum yield. They're not cheap, at around £60 each, however they're a fantastic bit of kit and I'd never want to be without them.
The cask sitting on the autotilt:

All ale casks have 2 main features.
The Shive:

And the Keystone:

After the cask has rested for 24 hours or so, the first thing to do is Vent. This releases the initial pressure in the cask, and allows the fermentation process to continue.
To do this, I use a Spile. There are 2 types, hard spiles and soft spiles. Hard spiles are non-porous, and soft spiles are, yep, you guessed it, porous.
So, first of all, the hard spile goes into the shive:

Note: not driven all the way in, all we're looking to do is release the pressure. Just a short, sharp tap will do, then gently knock it in so it seals, in preparation for the next part, which is:
Tapping - Driving the tap into the keystone. The tap is where (logically) the ale is dispensed from.

Note: When tapping the cask, don't mess about. Hit it. Hard. Expect to lose a little bit of beer from the keystone, but not a lot. Make sure the tap is closed! Make sure it's secure, then move onto the final step:
Quite simply, pull out the hard spile, and pop in a soft one. This will now enable the beer to breathe and fully ferment/condition.
Soft spile in:

Once it's ready to serve, check the beer directly from the cask, then at the pump, making sure that the line is clean.
End result:

Note: This particular method is one that I use, and have been for years. Different landlords may have different techniques, but the end result is the same.
Hope you found this insight into my job interesting

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