Specific cask conditioning question

I am brewing a special beer for a wedding in September. I am using this specific kit.

It is a bourbon barrel old ale. In addition to letting the ale age in the secondary for the next 6 months, I'd also like to serve the beer cask conditioned/real ale style. I haven't completely figured out how I'm going to do that yet, but I'll probably rig up a beer engine like this one.

My plan is to do the usual move to a secondary carboy after about 7-10 days in the primary and add the bourbon soaked oak chips at that time. I will then let the carboy age in the cellar all summer. My thought is to then move it to the corny keg and prime like a bottle about 2 to 3 weeks before the event.

I would then tap it on event day with my fingers crossed.

So for you guys who have played around with cask conditioning...
Would you guys do anything different? Should I just use the corny as my secondary fermenter too? Do I add the full amount of priming sugar? Thanks!

I've never done this at home but we did casks at the brewery where I worked.

Everything you're doing sounds fine. I would NOT use the corny as the secondary with all that wood sitting in there. Your initial plan sounds excellent.

I think your amount for priming should be fine. Our ratio at the brewery for a firkin (~40L) was 100ml of priming sugar plus boiling water to bring it to 250ml. I'll leave you to do the math from there.

I hope it works well for you, cask ale is the BEST!

pcollins said:

I would NOT use the corny as the secondary with all that wood sitting in there.

Click to expand...

I had the same thought. Thanks for the feedback!