Beer Engine`

I have a very nice Beer Engine being sent to me from my father inlaw in England. Does anybody know if you can hook these up to a corny keg? I would love to have some cask conditioned home brew.

Well hopefully you get an answer...... pal.....

I'm not sure any specific attachment to hook it up to a corny exists. I'm sure it would be easy enough to get some tubing running from the engine with a corny liquid out QD.

As far as serving, you have a few options. For a true certified cask ale, you have to prime the keg with sugar and serve via the engine at cellar temp. If you don't plan on drinking the beer quickly, this can pose some problems since you will be pulling oxygen into the keg. If you aren't concerned with the requirements set forth by CAMRA, you could always hook it up to CO2 at a very low pressure. That way, when you pull beer, the headspace will be replaced by CO2 rather than oxygen. I'm not a member of CAMRA nor do I have a lot of experience with cask ales, but for a home setup which might not get drunk within 3 days of tapping, the latter option is a perfectly acceptable option.

I bought two 1/2-pint beer engines from UK 'bay (have since traded them). Both just had a hose barb connection that a regular 3/8" hose would have fit. So you would simply need to get the correct-sized fitting to attach the hose to your normal corny disconnect.

I would go ahead and buy a cask breather from UK Brewing in PA (~$80), as I've heard that normal CO2 regulators are pretty unreliable at low blanket pressures. Beer engines don't have any pressure valves that I'm aware of, so if the keg pressure is too high, you run the risk of beer simply pouring out of the faucet unchecked.

Another idea is to check with some of your local pubs to see if any of them are using beer engines and ask them how theirs is set up.