Cask Conditioned Real Ale Recipe?

I was listening to Dr. Charlie Bamforth talking about Real Ale (among other things) on the Sunday Session and decided my next beer was going to be an attempt at a Real Ale. I can figure out a general recipe for an Ordinary or Best Bitter but I still have some specific questions.

Dr. Bamforth said Real Ale was moved out of the primary very young and transfered into the cask along with dry hops, priming sugar and isinglass. Then delivered to the pub where the publican holds on to it for two or three weeks in his celler till he taps it.

My questions are:

1. How much priming sugar? I'm shooting for 1.5 Volumes of CO2.
2. Thinking of using Danstar Nottingham, would that be a suitable yeast?
3. How much hops for Dry hopping? Planning on using EKG's for the kettle and Fuggles for the dry hop.
4. I don't have isinglass can I sub gelitin?
5. Will two or three weeks in the corny keg be sufficient?

I have searched the forum but all Real Ale threads seem to talk mostly about Beer Engines, re-breathers and consuming it within 3 days. I understand all that I just want to focus on the recipe right now. I will be pushing it with CO2, although as little head pressure as possible. (CAMRA be damned).

Thanks

Rudeboy

1. Not much. Use a priming calculator (google it) to figure out the amount you will need given your volume of beer, temperature, type of sugar, etc... a local brewpub that specializes in real ale (Oliver’s in Baltimore) doesn't even prime their kegs, he transfers early and the yeast (Ringwood) is kicked back into gear by the small amount of oxygen absorbed. Since you are kegging you can always adjust the carbonation once it is on tap.

2. It would be, although it certainly isn't my favorite strain (I like 1968, accentuates the malty character and is not too fruity.)

3. It depends what you are making. For a bitter I wouldn't go over 1 oz, but .5 oz is probably more like it. If you are doing a mild or something like that you would probably skip the dry hops all together. I really like EKG, I’d probably use it for kettle and dry hop.

4. I've never used isinglass, but I believe gelatin has a similar impact. Depending on the strain you use you may not even need it. Low flocculating strains need some help, but many English strains have been selected for quick flocculation (for example 1968 can be done with fermentation and dropped bright in <7 days).

5. Yep, 2-3 weeks should be plenty of time for it to carbonate. I often keg condition my regular beers when there isn&#8217;t a free spot in the kegerator, that way when one beer kicks the next is carbonate and ready to go (after 24 hours to cool down.)

Good luck.

Oldsock is right on.

The carbing amount is not particularly important. Just prime with what a calculator says plus a little bit. Then, cellar the cask (keg) with an airlock or tin-foil over an open post. The carbonation level should be determined by the temperature of the cellar and the beer allowed to condition at that temp to achieve the desired carb level. 52ºF is pretty typical and will get you to around 1.3 volumes.

For serving, crank your psi and push it fast (~20psi is a good starting spot, then tinker). When you are done pulling your pint, disconnect the gas and bleed the keg back to atmospheric pressure. This way, you will get a good pour, and keep the real ale texture and condition.

2. I just used Nottingham on an old-style mild and would use a different strain next time. Nottingham is pretty clean and for a beer that is known more for its nuances, a more flavorful yeast will help towards that end.

Part of this batch I naturally carbed in a polypin/cubitainer for gravity dispense and was disappointed. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I think the beer went "tea" on me. The low-carbed version in the keg is much better. Oxidation or something else? Got to get me a true standard for comparison!

Isn't one of the main things about real ale is that you don't use priming sugar? I thought the reason for putting it into a cask before it's done fermenting is so the co2 produced from the primary fermentation is what actually carbonates the beer.

steinsato said:

Isn't one of the main things about real ale is that you don't use priming sugar? I thought the reason for putting it into a cask before it's done fermenting is so the co2 produced from the primary fermentation is what actually carbonates the beer.

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That is one way to do it. So called "real ale" is really just about natural carbonation, primed or not. Priming is usually done to account for transport and storage before cellaring. Then the cask is primed and allowed to condition.