Beer Help

[kizz81]

hello,
anyone here have a home brew kit?, or a beer pump
i am looking to have my own beer pump from a keg anyone have any idea of what i will need and how much it will cost,

cheers kieran

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

The best thing to look for is the local free ads paper. In theory all you need is a decent sized 25ltr plastic drum, with a hole in the top for a vapour lock. That'll do for the fermentation bit.
You can then either bottle the result, or go for a pressure barrel.
Have a look on here:
www.4u2brew.co.uk
I can recommend the Woodfordes Norfolk Ales home brew kits, especially the Headcracker
http://www.woodfordes.co.uk/

[Pete]

 Try your local home brew specialist shop.  One in Wakefield sells the complete set up for hand pump.
 I used to have one that would lift from the celler with no problem. 
 Another thought. With the number of pubs shutting down, it might be possible to buy a hand pump set up reasonably from
someone in the trade.
 Pete

[winchman]

We are lucky as we have this
http://www.georgewrightbrewing.co.uk/
He hires out the pump for about £15 + the cost of a barrel of beer, and his beers are fab.
Have a look for small independant brewers near to you.

[dazzawhipple]

I brew my own beer and keg it, you can use sodastream gas with and adaptor or go to you local gas supply and get CO2 from them
Trust me to get the gassing right it will take a few go's

I also do my own spirits (may not be legal in the Uk)

[Lucy1978]

There's a homebrew shop in Mansfield, on Ratcliffe Gate, nip in and have a chat.

[karlo]

I think I have a fermenting bin and pressure keg in the shed.  ;)

[Bishops Finger]

Numerous micro breweries will sell you a barrel of beer or a specialist home serve barrel with beer dispensing unit...

[strapping young lad]

all i can remember is dad's tom caxton during harvest


you got drunk walking past it during fermentation!

[kizz81]

once a keg is open how long does it last for?

cheers for the advice so far, sorry i havnt replied yet ive been camping up int the lake dstrict

cheers kieran

[Terranosaurus]

Commercial kegged beer will last a good few weeks to a few months but thats cos its pasturised stuff like lager, John Smiths smooth etc.


Cask ales will last around a week in favourable conditions, perhaps as much as 12 days if you're lucky. As you're asking about a hand pump I assume you are after a real ale.

Is this for next years Mac? If so can I have the overnight pitch next to yours? Though more seriously, of course real ales need settling for 12-24hrs before serving. Once got one fresh from brewery (picked it up in a taxi myself) and had it on and serving inside 30mins but that had a massive dose of finings in it to do that and it was xmas eve in the middle of Leeds and everyone was some what merry already.

[kizz81]

 :lol: :lol: :lol: the vehicle in question will be on the mac with a fitted pump  :lol: :lol: saves the walk to the pub that way
in all seriousness it needs to last a good few weeks to close on a month because the idea of it is for camping out in wild places  ( not to get drunk and drive, but to have a sociable drink round a camp fire that works of cheaper than cans for everyone,
yes you can have the pitch next to us  :lol: it'll be a camper van 4x4 so we wont need set up a tent again  :twisted:

so its looking like john smiths or a simular drink and not real ales then? would black sheep last as long as john smiths ( it being the best out of al the beers )

cheers kieran

[Bishops Finger]

Black Sheep does not keep well..

[kizz81]

  but it tastes nice
i may just bulk buy their bottles :lol:

[Henry Webster]

Though more seriously, of course real ales need settling for 12-24hrs before serving. Once got one fresh from brewery (picked it up in a taxi myself) and had it on and serving inside 30mins but that had a massive dose of finings in it to do that and it was xmas eve in the middle of Leeds and everyone was some what merry already.

I believe you can buy it 'bright', i.e. without the finings.  I don't know whether you can drink this instantly after a day in the back of a leaf sprung Land Rover, but it certainly reduces the amount of time needed it to settle.

Alternatively use the rural pubs, or get a take out, they need our support at the moment!

[Terranosaurus]

Try Old Mill Brewery Snaith - http://www.oldmillbrewery.co.uk/

My brother in law has had casks from them complete with a "loaner" hand pump. Had it on a trip to the lakes. Cask stayed in the tent and the pump click up to his defenders tow bar for use at night.

If they can sort you something for Mac and you want it bringing along - I'm only down the road  :D :D :D :D.

[kizz81]

cheers for that i will look into that,
at the moment everythings up in the air, ambulance hasnt yet been brought, the 90 in my display picture is requiring a rebuild of its internals and moneys just gone tight as has time  :|

cheers kieran

[CaptainColourful]

Cask ? Keg ?
It all sounds the same but there are lots of differences

Here are the facts.

 Cask means "cask conditioned" or "real ale" ...i.e the beer is left to "settle" in order for secondary fermentation to take place. On delivery you need to tap the barrel (cask) then remove the spile in the top bung. The spile should be replaced by a soft peg order to let it  breathe.  During the secondary fermentation you will get a froth escape through the soft peg as CO2 is given off.. After 24 (ish) hours, check the beer by opening the tap and looking/tasting it. The initial half a glass or so will be waste with sediment that has settled in the tap area.... run it off till clear and bright.... then taste it !
If it's OK, & to save the beer for later, replace the soft peg with a hard peg to seal the cask.
To serve, loosen the peg cos you need to replace the volume of beer you serve with air ( otherwise you get a partial vacuum and the sediment will be disturbed again). After every session re-fit the hard peg. As you can already guess, any movement of the cask/barrel is out of the question (apart from tilting it slowly and wedging it firmly) as the level drops.
Because the beer is still "live" and not pasturised or filtered the best before date is usually 3-4 days to be 100% taste wise. The problem is that as the beer is removed it's surface area increases (halfway down the barrel being the greatest) , therefore allowing airborne contaminants a greater area to settle on and grow nasty bugs..... hence ruining the beer.
The head is formed as the beer is forced through a sparkler (restrictor) on the bar tap... or maybe it's not if you're darn sarf.

Keg, or "bright" beers & lagers are already fully fermented in the brewery, is pasturised & filtered and then put into a sealed container. The coupling to it has a gas line (CO2 or nitrogen/CO2 mix depending on the particular brew) which keeps a top pressure on the liquid to keep it saturated with bubbles & also serves to replace the volume of beer removed (i.e. stop any vacuum forming as per the cask above)

Having said all that, "bright beer" is available in casks too. This is merely the same as found in a keg so therefore doesn't need a secondary fermentation. It is usually used by breweries as an emergency when an extra dose of finings hasn't worked on a cask already in the cellar.... It simply replaces the "real ale" until the brewery can get some decent stuff to you.

Therefore it would be possible to buy a cask of bright beer for your outing without the need for any gas bottles etc etc.
You could even forget using a pump, just open the tap and fill your glass, as long as you don't mind flat beer like they sell darn sarf !!

 Sorry this has been a long answer, but I hope it has helped clear up some misconceptions about casks/kegs/real ale and bright beers.

In my opinion, a lot of tosh is talked about real ales ... a keg beer is sent out to the exact standard the brewery brews it to and the only thing that can change the taste is the way it is kept and served. Clean pipes and a cool cellar is all that's required.  Real ale depends totally on the competance of the licencee/cellarman for it's secondary fermentation and is therefore more likely to end up not quite right.

End of lecture  :lol:
 

 


     

[kizz81]

 :( there was no pictures in your lecture :(

cheers for the advice  :clap: