A beautiful pint of perfectly conditioned cask beer is one of life’s great joys. But just how do we prepare the perfect pint? Paul Davies, founder of the award-winning AleHunters, and formerly part of the quality team at Fuller’s, is on hand to explain all.

Enjoying a pint of perfectly conditioned cask, at the correct temperature and in a clean glass is a pleasure that never leaves me. In fact the first pint that I purchased with my own (pool’s round) money was a delicious Brains Dark Mild. I had just turned sixteen and it was the first week of Sixth Form.

Like a good Welshman I still remember the occasion clearly, both because of the fear of not being served and also that it tasted wonderful. I had another. The thrill of supping good cask has never left me. Its freshness, subtle characteristics, rich mouthfeel and natural carbonation provides an amazing flavour experience unlike mainstream packaging formats.

Anthony Gladman waxed lyrically about cask in The Glass in December. “It made me think of cask ale — that glorious, valuable, unique drink to which we in its homeland fail to pay proper heed. It is subtle, delicious, delicate, and increasingly ignored. I am in my 50s now and count myself among its confirmed lifelong fans”.

Unlike keg/bright beer cask beer is live and unpasteurised and unlike the former formats it still contains live yeast and some fermentable sugar. Keg/bright beers have these removed and are usually pasteurised or sterile filtered. Barring brewing and packaging faults, a cask should leave the brewery at its best.

But it is not yet the finished product so what the publican/cellarman does next is paramount to producing a perfect pour. As important as the brewing itself. Conditioning. Three things to consider are temperature, hygiene and time. When the cask reaches the pub the first thing after checking in the delivery is to get the container into a temperature-controlled cellar.

Cellar coolers are set up to maintain a constant temperature of 11-13°C. This is the optimum temperature for conditioning cask in the cellar. It will usually take between 24 and 48 hours to bring the cask down or up to the correct temperature.

After that the cask can be stored upright within the cellar until it is needed to be racked prior to service. If you have enough room on your stillage you can also store it there to reach temperature before conditioning.

In the EU cask beer is classified as a food as it contains live yeast. Good hygiene standards are very important and a cask cellar should be cleaned on a regular basis. Deep cleaning should take place at least once per week, usually when empties and being removed and just before a delivery of fresh beer.

All cellar equipment must be kept clean and kept in a clean and safe place – a cellar tidy is ideal for this. Taps should be cleaned immediately after use and left disassembled so they can air dry. They should never be left to soak in water. Spillages need to be cleaned immediately otherwise the wild yeasts in the cellar will start to ferment the sugars in the spilled beer and this can lead to contamination of your beer.

Before placing the cask on the stillage, roll it around the floor and spin it to redistribute the finings, yeast, sugar and hops if the beer is dry-hopped.

Take a brush and clean water and clean the shive and keystone. Casks tend to be rolled around the brewery floor and can pick up dirt. The two shive method is the most popular and involves knocking a hard spile through the shive to release carbon dioxide.

Some beers will start to foam out of the shive and can sometimes be very lively. Replace the hard spile finger tight with a soft version which is more porous. Take a clean cask tap and knock it through the keystone with a cellar mallet. Make sure the tap is closed before you do this to avoid a deluge over the cellar floor. Record the date of racking on the cask with chalk. Any spillages need to be cleaned up immediately.

During conditioning there will be a steady foaming out of the shive. Keep changing the soft spile for a clean one and wipe the shive clean. During conditioning a CAT test (clarity, aroma, taste) can be carried out.

Be aware that when you first take a sample, you will release a yeast plug of sediment that has gathered around the tap. Discard this and take a fresh sample. Keep doing this until the beer has stopped conditioning and passes the CAT test.

Different beer brands condition for different periods and you will soon get to know which ones condition quickly and which ones take around five days. You can then replace the soft spile with a clean hard spile, finger tight to keep the condition in the beer. 

At Fuller’s we used to only use a hard spile throughout the conditioning process as they are still fairly porous. This also yielded positive results. Once the conditioned beer is ready to be dispensed, replace the hard spile for a soft one, attach a hop filter to the end of the tap, take a clean cask line and connect it to the tap. Record the date of dispense on the cask with chalk.

The beer can now be pulled through to the bar. At the end of service replace the soft spile with a clean hard spile to keep the condition in the beer. At Fuller’s the hard spile is removed during service and replaced at the end.

Once the cask has emptied, any remaining sediment can be poured away and the cask sealed with cork bung. This stops any rodents getting into the cask while it is waiting for collection. The used tap must then be dismantled and cleaned immediately. Leave the parts to air dry before reassembling.

Vertical Extraction

Another method of conditioning and dispensing cask is via vertical dispense. Traditionally this was done with the use of a siphon rod, a long metal spear that is lowered through the keystone into the cask and then secured in place with its end approximately one inch from the bottom of the cask.

These are less common today and have mainly been replaced by siphon widgets which derive an excellent yield from the cask. As with horizontal dispense, redistribute the ingredients in the cask by rolling it around the cellar floor and let it get to cellar temperature.

Clean the keystone (you will not be using the shive) and knock a clean tapping shank into the keystone with a cellar mallet – make sure that the valve is turned off. Record the date of conditioning on the cask with chalk.

To vent off the carbon dioxide gently turn the vent valve to the ‘on’ position. Some beer may foam out and should be cleaned immediately. As above you can take a sample during conditioning after the first 24 hours. Remove the tapping cap and lower a clean sample tube gently into the beer and take a sample.

Carry out a CAT test and if the beer is still conditioning keep the vent valve open and sample again in another 24 hours. Once the beer has finished conditioning and has passed the CAT test close the vent valve to keep the condition in the beer.

Once you are ready to dispense the beer, remove the tapping cap and lower a clean flexible extractor tube into the beer. The tube sits on top of the beer and as beer is dispensed it chases the beer down to the bottom of the cask.

Insert a clean hop filter to the end of a clean cask line and attach this to the thread on the extractor tube. Turn the vent valve to the ‘on’ position and pull the beer through to the bar. Record the dispense date on the cask with chalk. At the end of service turn the vent valve to the ‘off’ position to keep the condition in the beer.

Once the cask has been emptied deal with it as above. Take the extractor shank, tap and tube and dismantle, clean and sanitise. Leave to air dry.

There are pros and cons to both methods. Horizontal stillages use less equipment which is far easier to clean and sampling the beer is very quick and easy. But this method takes up more space and involves manual handling when getting the cask onto the stillage.

Vertical extraction takes up far less space, about half per cask and has less manual handling. However, sampling is a little more complicated and there is more equipment to clean. Additionally, the sediment gathers on the bottom of the cask and not in the bilge as with horizontal. This increases the risk of it being drawn into the beer line.

Dispense

Another factor that is equally important in the presentation of a pint of cask is dispense. Hygiene is once again key in this area. The bar area must be kept clean during the day and cleaned thoroughly at the end of service. The glasswasher must be stripped and cleaned each day and left with the door open to air dry.

A schedule of weekly deep cleaning should be used:

• Clean glass shelves and shelf matting

• Schedule to renovate glasses if an incorated cleaning/renovate solution is not used in the glasswasher

• Regenerate the water softener if in a hard water area

• Schedule a weekly line cleaning
  
• At the end of service all nozzles and sparklers (if used) should be cleaned with a nozzle brush and water and allowed to air dry. Do not soak in water overnight

When pouring the beer make sure that the glass is held at the bottom 1/3 of the glass. Unless using a swan neck spout keep the spout out of the beer while pouring. A foam head should not take up more that 5% of the glass.

The recommended limit on the sale of a cask is three days so you should carry out a CAT test to check that the beer is in good condition for sale. I would recommend tasting the beers prior to service each day anyway. Just a taste, not a pint… The life of your beer can be extended by a few days through the use of aspirators or breathers.

Another tip is to pull through a small amount of beer until you get a break of foam in the line. This is the beer that has been sat in the beer engine overnight with can sometimes warm up if there are electrical cables running underneath the bar counter.

The beer that follows will have been sat in the beer python overnight so will have been kept at a cool temperature.

So what’s next? Personally I’d just love to enjoy a freshly poured, perfectly conditioned pint of cask. And maybe have another……

Photos credits: Cask Marque, Paul Davies

Paul Davies is the Founder of the award-winning AleHunters, delivering beer events in the UK and overseas. Formerly part of the Quality team at Fuller’s he delivered certified training for the BIIAB Level 2 Award in Beer and Cellar Quality (cask and keg). He has since continued to deliver this training on behalf of Cask Marque.

If you are interested in ABCQ training for your team please contact Paul at hello@alehunters.co.uk. The training and exam take place on the same day and successful candidates will receive their certificates shortly after.