Casks - Do they exist for sale anywhere?

Have always wanted to cask condition some home brew and do so in an actual cask with gravity feed. Although I know this is highly unlikely - has anyone ever seen casks for sale?

Or have other methods besides pushing beer with a slight CO2 "push" in a normal Corny keg?

http://www.ukbrewing.com/casks.cfm sells them.

Yes, with the increased interest in REAL ales, there are oak firkins available. The Barrel Source has 10L, charred barrels for a reasonable price. Wine barrels are also an option, but it is difficult to find any smaller than 15 gallons and most are much larger.

You can use the metal mini-kegs (5L) and gravity dispense.

For an easy handpump idea, see https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/fellow-homebrewers-meet-my-new-beer-engine-10529/

there is no CO2 push in these beers in cornies, just the hand pump. I am finishing up my build this weekend. I will be using CO2 to act as a sort of cask breather tho.

Hey Matt. The "cask" Georgetown used tonight was like the one gplutt linked to. Their 9 lb Porter definitely tasted different in the cask than in a keg.

Number_18 said:

Hey Matt. The "cask" Georgetown used tonight was like the one gplutt linked to. Their 9 lb Porter definitely tasted different in the cask than in a keg.

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Good to know, thanks Nick - I'll have to try some beer in the wood casks sometime as well - all the cask (real) ales I've had have been in SS Firkin casks - love the smooth taste of a cask beer.

david_42 said:

Yes, with the increased interest in REAL ales, there are oak firkins available. The Barrel Source has 10L, charred barrels for a reasonable price. Wine barrels are also an option, but it is difficult to find any smaller than 15 gallons and most are much larger.

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Cool source David. Question. Would you be able to age beer in those barrel from the start or would you want to mellow them with some wine or whiskey or some such? Seems as though the oak would overpower most any beer if you kept it in any longer than a few weeks.

I also am wondering because I plan to do some red wine next year and think the barrels would be a good way to age.

To address the op. I use the 5 liter mini kegs and gravity feed them. What I do is fill them from a corny keg when I have some friends coming over. There is about 1.8 volumes of co2 on them in the corny and they feed nicely from the mini. Another advantage of doing it this way for me is that my corny cooler is kept at 38 and I have a separate UK beer fridge that I keep at 55.

dontman said:

Cool source David. Question. Would you be able to age beer in those barrel from the start or would you want to mellow them with some wine or whiskey or some such? Seems as though the oak would overpower most any beer if you kept it in any longer than a few weeks..

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Good call. I think they sell old whiskey barrels. I remember my parents buying one when I was little for a planter and it still smelled of whiskey. If it still smells of whiskey, would the question then be would the whiskey overpower or add flavors to the beer? Maybe that's the point?

Yeah they definitely sell old whiskey barrels but that is much bigger than I would ever want to own. I love the sizes that this barrel source has. And the price. I could do a lambic, a barley wine, and some wines all at the same time in my basement. Would be awesome.

Would you be able to age beer in those barrel from the start or would you want to mellow them with some wine or whiskey or some such?

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Don't know, but every beer barrel project I've seen has used recycled wine or bourbon barrels. Mark at Golden Valley uses pinot barrels for his Black Panther stout. Excellent. If I was making red wines and beer, I'd would definitely age a wine first. Probably a zin, but that's just me.

david_42 said:

Don't know, but every beer barrel project I've seen has used recycled wine or bourbon barrels. Mark at Golden Valley uses pinot barrels for his Black Panther stout. Excellent. If I was making red wines and beer, I'd would definitely age a wine first. Probably a zin, but that's just me.

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Yeah, that was what I figured. I spent a lot of time looking at that site last night. It was kind of funny actually. I am a slight shopaholic when it comes to equipment for fermented beverages and I really had to restrain myself from completing the order process for a 10 liter and a 20 liter with a free 1 liter thrown in. It was in the cart, man!

I even had the contents planned out - Cab/Merlot in the 20, Zin in the 10, and some bourbon for the 1 liter.

In the end I decided to wait until next grape harvest.

mplutodh1 said:

Have always wanted to cask condition some home brew and do so in an actual cask with gravity feed. Although I know this is highly unlikely - has anyone ever seen casks for sale?

Or have other methods besides pushing beer with a slight CO2 "push" in a normal Corny keg?

Click to expand...

I've read some articles on homebrewed cask ale where they suggest that you can lay the corny horizontal and gravity dispense from the 'gas in' port.