Advice on cask ales

[WakeyOz]

In my attempt to become the go to guy for cask ales in my homebrew club i am starting on the quest of knowledge and craft of creating cask ales. I've spent some time searching and reading up on information available online but now i come to you all to help me along my quest.
Do you know of or have any valuable advice you can share with me and the homebrewing community for that matter on the brewing process and cask care/handling?

I'm looking at starting with English bitter's until i can refine them to the point of happiness. They will be poured at my club through an Angram Beer engine so if you can give valuable advice on sparkler use that would be also appreciated.

Many thanks in advance
Cheers!

 

[dyqik]

As a southern Brit, my advice on sparkler use is: Don't ever use a sparkler. Sparklers are a complete no-no on English cask ale, and no CAMRA beer festival in the UK will use them.

Otherwise, naturally carb at 55F. Try to get the cask in place for serving at least 12 hours before serving, preferably 24 so that any yeast from carbing settles.

 

[Billybob7]

As a northern Brit I insist you use a sparkler. In southern England pubs don't use sparklers. This is why most people think all British beer is flat, they go to London and have a pint poured without a sparkler and assume all beer in Britain is the same. In the north, where we use sparklers, the beer is less flat and has a more satisfying head, though it's still nowhere near as fizzy as American beers.

I always thought the reason CAMRA don't use sparklers at festivals is because the venues are not used to serving beer and don't have enough sparklers and pumps, plus the pour is powered by gravity and a sparkler wouldn't work properly anyway.

Northerners and southerners will argue forever about this, as shown by the fact that I have stopped lurking and posted for the first time in years. Sparklers are not necessary, but I like them, and as a Yorkshireman I could not let them go undefended.

Dyqik is dead right on the rest though. Finings are acceptable in cask ale too.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I like 1.4 volumes in my polypins. I feed by gravity, not beer engine though.

Fining with isinglass is helpful since it resettles if you have to move the cask from conditioning location to serving location. And then i try and kill them quickly once tapped. 3 days, max. Usually 2. It's why i go with 1 gallon polypins instead of firkins or proper pins. Now if you've got a lot of folks drinking it then that may be a different story.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Also sparklers are a matter of preference in my book. I prefer without but i think CAMRA puritanism can be as bad as Reinheitsgebot puritanism in some respects.

 

[WakeyOz]

That's great advice guys thank you all for your contributions.

I'm also a Yorkshireman and prefer my beer with a head so i'll certainly work towards perfecting the sparkler adjustment.

At what stage do you add the Spile into the shive? when the beer is racked into the pin/firkin?

Any thoughts on using the wyeast cask ale strain or is there a better choice?
1469 for example?