Cask ale using fermzilla and polypin

[Irish kiwi]

Hi all,

long time lurker and general absorber of knowledge here.
I am underway with a diy project to put real cask ale on a hand pull tap in my home bar.
My current plan is to ferment in a fermzilla with a sounding valve set to achieve 1.4 volumes of carbonation then closed low pressure transfer to a polypin.
I will then attach a diy beer engine to the polypin and hopefully serve real cask ale.
Does anyone see any issues with this plan, I can’t find any info on transferring carbonated beer to a polypin but I think this should leave me with bright beer in the polypin without the sediment and yeast issues caused by conditioning in the polypin.
Thoughts?

 

[Franktalk]

Have you seen The Craft Beer Channel show about brewing and serving cask ale. It is worth a look as they show that whole process.

 

[sibelman]

This, in case you haven't already seen it: Make Cask Ale at Home with Polypins | Homebrew Academy

Best of luck with your project.

 

[Irish kiwi]

Thanks guys I haven’t seen this before

 

[Irish kiwi]

Had a look at those but they are still priming and conditioning in the polypin.
I am trying to carry out the conditioning in the fermzilla and then transfer finished beer to the polypin. My major concern is that I will knock out too much CO2 during transfer causing the polypin to swell with released CO2 and leaving the beer flat and lifeless

 

[DuncB]

Polypins not that good at keeping oxygen out in the long term.

I have been thinking / working on the pressure ferment and beer engine issue for a little while.

Won't be true cask condition unless secondary occurs in the second vessel, but Dave Line used to do that in his book ( from many years ago) .

I'm considering water containers for small casks and just bleeding in a bit of CO2 to maintain the pressure or just opening it to the air and drinking it over a few days.

Something like these SCA Water Carry Can 10 Litre Blue
and they are available in 5 litre sizes as well. Could secondary ferment in these and then use the bottom exit to the beer engine. Propped correctly the sediment would be below the out/ tap port.
They should be able to withstand low vols of pressure as the same basically as the petrol ones and I've seen those swell a lot with fuel in them if they get warm.

I'm hoping with a couple of these containers I could transfer into the " secondary " prime and fine so that a 25 litre batch could be prepared in 5 litre amounts for each weekend.

I've tried from fermentasaurus into 5 litre metal keg but it's not quite the right effect.

 

[DuncB]

The polypin will swell but can resist a fair bit of pressure. In the uk some breweries dispense to the public in polypins in boxes, but it's durability is short, less than a week. Technically you could just serve from the fermentasaurus / pressure fermenter if you have a demand valve between the beer vessel and the engine.
This does work but again won't get the true cask effect because one of the things that makes cask ale so great is it's development as it oxidises.

 

[Irish kiwi]

The polypin will swell but can resist a fair bit of pressure. In the uk some breweries dispense to the public in polypins in boxes, but it's durability is short, less than a week. Technically you could just serve from the fermentasaurus / pressure fermenter if you have a demand valve between the beer vessel and the engine.
This does work but again won't get the true cask effect because one of the things that makes cask ale so great is it's development as it oxidises.

I would use the fermzilla but I only have 1 so what usually do is transfer to keg and have the next brew fermenting while emptying the keg

I am thinking about the containers you linked in your previous post if I set one up with a spunding valve on the large screw on opening and tilted it slightly so the sediments go to the rear it might work fairly well. I will try that if the polypin plan doesn’t give me a satisfactory outcome

 

[DuncB]

@Irish kiwi
Should be easier for you to get one than the Americans. We'll both be working on the same plan, I assume you'd put a bulkhead keg post on there? They do one that takes gas or liquid which does open up the possibility of purging and closed transfer to the water container as well.
Seems much harder producing small " casks of ale " than large ones.
Another option to consider is on this thread
Page 68 uses water container and polypin
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/thread...f-dedicated-thread.93045/page-68#post-1568572

 

[Witherby]

I have had good luck with fermenting in a bucket then priming and dry hopping in a keg for keg conditioned real ale served through the standard rocket pump diy hand pump. Using a floating dip tube really helps you serve clear beer quickly.