Franconian Beer Message Board
Homebrewed cask |
| Posted by barry on 2011-11-19 11:34:51 |
| Hi Mark, a few comments from my days as a 'kellermeister!' I assume that primary fermentation was complete before you racked off into the cask. If so, ten days before spiling seems quite a long time but is probably not critical. It was practice to use a soft spile after venting. I never recall any 'explosion' on spiling, just a bit of a rush of air sometimes. Yes, wait two to three days after spiling to let any sediment settle. I don't think that you could expect the beer to come out anything but 'flat'. In the UK, this is the way that beers are served in the south of England, i.e. either gravity from the barrel or hand pumped but with no sparkler on the tap. Southern drinkers get annoyed of they don't get a dead flat pint, with the pot filled right to the top. In the North, the ale is forced out through sparklers and this adds the head but, if you leave the pint for a few minutes, it quickly loses this. Commercial (& some home) brewers use additives to aid head retention. Stored under reasonable conditions (around 13 C), a spiled cask should last around a week. Re my own home brewing. 'Great Expectations' turned out to be an excellent first go. A dark, malty beer, around 5%, it's now about six moths old (about 8 pints left) and has matured into a really creamy ale - certainly 10 times better than the Guinness crap! The Diabolo, which was an imitation Duvel kit from a company called Brewferm, is also quite nice but not really like Duvel, lacking that hoppiness. I'm just about (tomorrow probably) to brew my first kit from Brupak. This should be interesting as it's the nearest I'll get so far to proper brewing, in that hops are supplied separately and also some grains to add to the malt extract. I'm trying a Yorkshire Bitter (you'll like this Nick), which is supposed to be around 4.5 to 5%. I'll probably brew it a little stronger at maybe 5 - 6%, as I prefer less volume and more alcohol for my late night tipples (getting old you know!). Now I'm going to seek some advice. For my next brewing, I want to try to brew a hoppy IPA but I don't see a kit that's suitable. I'm pretty restricted to buying my ingredients from an Irish company (http://www.homebrewwest.ie/index.asp), so would you guys mind taking a look at this site and, using their materials, recommend a recipe. I'd like to try something fairly hoppy like an American IPA - see how broadminded I am! |