Cask is naturally carbonated and pulled out of the vessel with a hand pump. Keg is typically force carbonated with a bottle of co2, and then pushed with co2.
Cask is naturally carbonated and pulled out of the vessel with a hand pump. Keg is typically force carbonated with a bottle of co2, and then pushed with co2.
But what is the hand-pull beer engine replacing into the keg when it's being pulled? Natural air?
Thats how its done the old fashioned way, which is fine if you plan on drinking the cask in a day or two. But nowadays pubs have a co2 tank connected to a breather, then to the cask. The breather replaces the space in the cask with co2 at atmospheric pressure which greatly extends the life of the beer.
Maybe. CAMRA doesn't allow a breather and a great deal of the cask beer served in the world is in the UK conforming to CAMRA guidelines.
Goliathnz said:Yeah obviously camra rules don't apply (or interest) me. Interesting tho that the uk pubs that have real ales on tap prob don't put co2 back in the cask. And they clearly won't finish a cask/keg in a few days. 2 weeks if you are lucky surely depending on the pub?
Maybe. CAMRA doesn't allow a breather and a great deal of the cask beer served in the world is in the UK conforming to CAMRA guidelines.
I thought CAMRA did actually allow for cask ale to be connected to CO2 via a low pressure reducing valve that would supply CO2 at atmoshperic pressure for pubs with low turn over.
Ya im like 90% sure they do too. I looked all over their website and couldnt really find anything about breathers. All I found was:
"Real ale is a beer brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops water and yeast), matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide."
That to me sounds like you can't use breathers, but we use breathers and are compliant to camra guidelines. There might be a gray area there.
Ya im like 90% sure they do too. I looked all over their website and couldnt really find anything about breathers. All I found was:
"Real ale is a beer brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops water and yeast), matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide."
That to me sounds like you can't use breathers, but we use breathers and are compliant to camra guidelines. There might be a gray area there.
To me that sounds like you can't pump CO2 into the beer at high pressure, but replacing it at atmospheric pressure would be fine, since that wouldn't be "extraneous" CO2.
Agreed. There's a difference in serving with pressure and replacing co2 with atmospheric pressure.
There have been long and acrimonious disccussions about cask breathers within CAMRA. They are most definitely not allowed and pubs using them are barred from entry in the GooD Beer Guide.Agreed. There's a difference in serving with pressure and replacing co2 with atmospheric pressure.
Five days is way too long. A decent pub shouldn't have a cask on for more than two days.I believe the Goal is 3-5 days on a cask. Real camra freaks claim they can tell how many days the keg's been tapped by taste, color and smell of the beer. All I have to say to that is "find a busy pub with a decent publican"
There have been long and acrimonious disccussions about cask breathers within CAMRA. They are most definitely not allowed and pubs using them are barred from entry in the GooD Beer Guide.
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