Franconian Beer Message Board
Cask Ales in Ireland |
| Posted by Mark Andersen on 2013-03-05 07:09:41 |
| I think the main disconnect you and I are having in this discussion is that our definition of "different products" are not quite the same. I think your definition is a little tighter. I don't look at a the kegged beer vs. cask vs. bottled beer as three different products. I look at it as the same beer conditioned and dispensed three different ways. But I do see your point that this does indeed make the end result different and why you would refer to them as different products. It's not something I feel the need to dig my heels in about so I'm happy to adopt you definition going forward. Regarding secondary maturation. I know in my case as a homebrewer all the secondary maturation occurs in the secondary fermenting vessel (i.e. carboy). This is where the beer matures and after a couple of weeks (usually - longer in the case of higher gravity beers and lagers of course) it goes straight into the keg where I force CO2 in and it's ready to server almost right away. Bear in mind that one can control the amount of CO2 that goes into so as to not have a negative impact on the beer. Many of the kegged homebrewed ales that I create taste very similar to how they would taste coming from a cask. I've had homebrews that I've put in the keg without force carbonating at all. I just use the CO2 to push it throught the tap line into the glass. You might differ but I find the end result very much like a cask ale. My personal experience with my cask is from a very small sampling. I've only done 3 batches into the cask in the 2 years since I bought the cask and I don't think I did a very good job of it. This is something I need to practice more. The carbonation in my three cask attempts has been completely non-existant. Totally flat and I don't think that's right. I suspect I didn't make the bung and keystone air tight enough probably from using a rubber mallet when I should use a wooden one. I'll be making another attempt soon. Perhaps deterioration started a bit before I tapped it? I find kegging beer much easier at any rate but still I think the extra effort to cask is worth it. The big problem is making sure help will be around to consume a 5 gallon cask within a few days. |
| Followups: |
 Cask Ales in Ireland by barryriley on 2013-03-05 08:14:57 |
| Cask Ales in Ireland by Mark Andersen on 2013-03-05 12:15:39 |
| Cask Ales in Ireland by Nick B. on 2013-03-06 01:24:44 |