Cask conditioned/ beer engine

[TAPMAN]

I have a question for the brewers/beer connoisseurs out there. Couldn't you just push a cask beer with straight nitrogen as opposed to using a beer engine? Since nitrogen is an inert gas, wouldn't the effect be the same? I have an account that has 2 engines, and my feelings are that it is just a novelty/tradition. Am I wrong in this assumption?

[Mirko_S]

One of the reasons I dont like cask beers is because they loose too much carbonation when they are "pulled" from the engine. I dont know if it's improper technique or if it's supposed to be that way but I would have to guess that if you poured with Nitro that the beer would not loose as much carbonation and taste different.

[marzsit]

it's a british thing. cask ale is supposed to lose carbonation as the cask is consumed, preferably within 2-3 days.

[TAPMAN]

Wouldn't straight Nitrogen do the same thing, as it is filling in the head space with a non carbonic gas?

[cubby_swans]

Wouldn't straight Nitrogen do the same thing, as it is filling in the head space with a non carbonic gas?

Yeah, I would think so. However, I don't know if anyone makes a coupler for a cask that would allow you to supply gas. I've only seen casks tapped and set up for gravity draw straight from the cask, or beer engine. I'm not saying that there is no such coupler at all. I honestly simply don't know if something like that exists. Basically with a cask, they just pull the bung hole, and then there is a faucet where the beer gravity feeds (or is pulled out via beer engine). You would have to find something or make something that goes into that bung hole to push nitrogen into the keg.

If you want warm flat beer, just pour a pint off a keg, stir vigorously with a spoon, and let sit until it's warm. Viola'! Cask beer without the cask.

[marzsit]

there are fittings for cask breathers that fit into the tapered hole in the shive, but i don't know how much pressure they could withstand... a cask breather is a special type of co2 regulator and hose system that is designed to maintain a blanket of co2 inside the cask, rather than allowing air to be sucked in as the beer is drawn out. but, the breather supplies co2 at atmospheric pressure, almost no pressure at all. even so, cask breathers are also frowned upon by cask ale fanatics..... the breather is supposed to keep the beer drinkable for up to a week, versus 2-3 days for a cask exposed to air, a money saver for a pub that doesn't have enough customers to empty a pin or firkin in 2-3 days...

cask ale purists insist that the beer be served by gravity or hand pump. the idea of pressurized delivery will upset them...

[morepour]

I have seen them on ebay Uk called cask aspirator valves

there are fittings for cask breathers that fit into the tapered hole in the shive, but i don't know how much pressure they could withstand... a cask breather is a special type of co2 regulator and hose system that is designed to maintain a blanket of co2 inside the cask, rather than allowing air to be sucked in as the beer is drawn out. but, the breather supplies co2 at atmospheric pressure, almost no pressure at all. even so, cask breathers are also frowned upon by cask ale fanatics..... the breather is supposed to keep the beer drinkable for up to a week, versus 2-3 days for a cask exposed to air, a money saver for a pub that doesn't have enough customers to empty a pin or firkin in 2-3 days...

cask ale purists insist that the beer be served by gravity or hand pump. the idea of pressurized delivery will upset them...

[happytappy]

micro matic sells cask breathers for use with cask ale, they put a co2 blanket over the beer to slow oxidation. Maximum pressure is about 5 psi, you can use nitrogen but that is not accepted among cask ale purists (nor is co2 for that matter). It is a tradition.

[atko6737]

Can anyone help me on this please: I serve cask ales via beer pump. I have one line with a short run to tap and one with a long run. These give different pressure drops so each beer pump needs to be set to a different pressure to achieve the same pressure at the taps when the taps are open. For ease of setting up, would it be possible to set all beer pumps at a standard higher pressure and have pressure compensated flow control regulators at each tap, thereby always ensuring the pressure at the tap is constant no matter what the delivery pressure is as long as it is sufficiently high in the first place to achieve the desired pressure at the tap? Do such pressure compensated flow control valves exist in the brewing world?