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Bauchfass/Tub/Gravity Barrel Question

Posted by Nick B. on 2016-09-01 00:06:52

I guess I should've explained that I "know" wood barrels here (Franconia) are real wood, pitched, not steel-lined. (How would you line a wooden barrel with steel?) I've seen them being made on TV. The Bamberger Bierfilm of a few years ago featured a cooper making them, in fact. "Bauchfass" is the slang-ish term for "belly(-shaped) barrel", which I suppose can cover both metal and wooden barrels. But not kegs, which are straight & cylindrical. So the barrels used for bayerischen Anstich are called "Bauchfass/Bauchfässer (pl.)" Metal Bauchfässer (i.e. not including real wooden ones) almost always seem to appear "wooden-looking", because of the plastic coating on them, designed to make them look like wooden barrels. I suppose a secondary purpose (or maybe the primary one!) of this coating or casing is to provide insulation, as these barrels are typically stood on a bar or stand out in ambient air conditions, not in a cellar. I apologise for inadvertently having driven British cask experts to distraction! Ein Foto: I thought we had a schematic cut-away diagram of a Bauchfass, showing the lining and metal parts, but I can't find one online. (Speaking of which, Fred, looking at the archive (2013), the posts are all empty -- subject lines only.)

Followups:

Bauchfass/Tub/Gravity Barrel Question by Andy H on  2016-09-01 00:47:46

Bauchfass/Tub/Gravity Barrel Question by Nick B. on  2016-09-01 07:35:17