Fining cask conditioned ales

[reno-jazz]

When should the beer in a firkin be fined and how much isinglass should one use for a firkin? Should you cool down the beer after the finings have been added or just leave it at cellar temperature?

Jazz

[brewteach]

Cool the beer down to cellar temperature prior to fining it. Mix up the finings exactly according to the suppliers directions. In general a pint of finings per firkin is close to the right amount. I would recomend doing some fining trials. Add various amounts 1ml, 2ml, 3ml, 4ml etc to pints of unfined beer. Choose the best in terms of clarity and volume of sediment then scale up the amount.

[Fred]

Fining cask conditioned ales

I personnaly don't like to use finnings in cask conditioned ales. That has several reasons, but one in particular is the increase of SO2 through the finnings.
But if you HAVE to use it, I would add the stuff when you fill your cask, the temperature should be ~ 50*F at filling. Leave the cask for two weeks (minimum) at 65*F, follwed by one week (minimum) at 50*F.
Hope this helps.
Fred

[dick murton]

Sounds like you are fermenting the stuff again. Cask beer should only have one or two degrees of fermentable sugars left in the beer at rack, with a yeast count of 250k to 1000k cells / ml. If you leave it for two weeks, especially at this temperature, it will be as flat and stale as a two week old pancake. Cask beer is meant to be fresh beer, ideally the cask should be broached before a week is out, and drunk within a couple more days. Depending on yeast count and general fining ability, the cask will need putting on a stillage for 24 to 36 hours before serving. cellar temperature 10 to 15 degrees C depending upon seving preference.

[Fred]

Before the casks are filled they receive ~ 3/4 cup of cornsugar (and whole leaf hops) for a second fermentation to get a "bit" CO2 in the ale.
I don't think that a second fermentation starts to change anything prior to a finished primary fermentation. Also, 3/4 cup of sugar is not increasing more than 1*Plato. The yeast count is most times below 250K/ml.
We serve our casks daily (volume in the cask : ~ 40 pints), and if the cask is not empty after the day, we DON'T serve it the next day as the sphile on top gets air in the cask and will be absorbed by the ale. We use the leftover (if at all) for our pizza crust.
A cask ale not drunken the same day does nor taste good the other day.
Thanks,
Fred

[mic_mac]

UK cask breweries used to cellar their beers for a week or two before delivery to pubs, but few do now AFAIK.

as to storing at 65F, I've not heard of that one.

UK cask usually gets drunk(en) within 3 days of being tapped (after soft-spiling, hard-spiling & it's dropped bright)

(I'm curious Dick, are you with Sam's, or one of the bigger boys in Tadcaster?)
cheers

Mike

[reno-jazz]

The reason I want to fine the beer because I don't have the luxury of having the cask sit in one place to drop out the beer and then serving it. Every Tuesday night we drag a cask out to the bar, tap it, and serve it until it runs out, generally the next day. We keep ice blankets on it so it is somewhere around cellar temp. Any suggestions as to what to do in a scenario like this?

Jazz

[Fred]

We serve 3 days a week a cask (40 pints) and twice a week a wooden cask of ~15 pints. We almost run out daily, which we are very happy about. We have the daily cellarman drawing starting at 4 P.M. for Happy Hour, and usually at 8 or 9 PM are out of the cask. We start serving at ~ 50*F and the cask only increases about 3 - 4 *F before it is empty. If not empty, we don't serve the cask the next day, as through the soft sphile strange sourounding flavors are getting into the cask and the ale absorbs the flavors. So, we use the left over (if at all) for the next day in the pizza dough.
Fred M. Scheer


:)