Beer Matters: Finishing what the brewer started
Cask beer is a fresh, natural, living product that needs to be treated with care and attention.
"Only 80 per cent of the job is completed at the brewery during the brewing process. After that it is up to the licensee to nurture the ale until it is ready to drink - essentially he or she becomes the brewer," says Richard Maisonpierre, Greene King quality manager.
So, are you up to the job?
Don't risk losing trade
"Just one bad pint could put someone off cask beer - and maybe even your pub - for life," says Richard Maisonpierre, Greene King's quality manager.
"If you take shortcuts and condition for fewer than three days, you risk producing and serving substandard beer.
"The beer may look bright enough, but it will not have the same rich flavours, carbonation and character that a correctly conditioned pint has. It's simply not worth taking the risk."
Quality pays
You will have heard it before, but it's worth saying again. If the correct process is always followed it will result in a perfect pint of cask ale every time, which in turn builds your reputation, increases your sales and will lead to greater profits.
John Paul, licensee of the Rushbrooke Arms in Suffolk, knows how important it is to take care of his cask ales. "Out of a group of friends, the cask ale drinker is usually the one who chooses what pub to go to - based on quality of the beer," says John. "If you produce the perfect pint week in, week out, customers will return again and again. Consistency and reliability really matter!"
So how can you ensure consistently great beer?
Doing the right thing at the right time
There is a big difference between cask beer and keg beer (lager and smooth ale) and everyone working in a pub needs to understand it.
Cask is a fresh product containing live yeast, and is unfinished when it reaches the pub. Once in the cellar, naturally-produced carbon dioxide from secondary fermentation builds up in the cask; fabulous flavours and aromas develop and the yeast drops to the bottom of the cask, leaving a crystal clear liquid.
Keg beer, on the other hand, is conditioned, filtered and pasteurised at the brewery, and having had the natural 'fizz' taken out in the process, gas is then added to give it back some life.
If you are a retailer of cask ale, you are also part-producer or 'final brewer'. You have control over the conditioning process in the cellar and must make sure that the right thing is done at the right time. It is your part of the final brewing process which gives cask ale that fresh, tingle-on-the-tongue that characterises this fantastic drink.
Conditioning takes at least three full days, allowing time for all the flavours and aromas to develop and mature to their full, flavoursome potential.
The end result is a delicious, correctly conditioned, perfect pint of real ale.
Real ale checklist
Keep control in your cellar:
If you sell cask ale you need to ensure:
• The cellar temperature is kept at 11-13 degrees C at all times (vital to produce real ale at its best)
• The cellar is clean - including floors, stillages, taps and lines
• There is enough space to stillage for three days before serving.
Stillaging:
Beware: incorrect stillaging will waste good beer! Your casks should be stillaged upon delivery - if you don't have enough space, remember to vigorously roll the cask before stillaging to redistribute the finings.
The cask must have the shive and keystone vertically aligned, so that carbon dioxide can be released from the top of the cask. This also reduces any spillages. Also, the cask needs to be stable on the stillage, so that sediment isn't disturbed making the beer hazy and unattractive.
Conditioning:
Upon delivery, a cask of beer contains live yeast and natural sugars, which ferment to create alcohol and carbon dioxide. Some CO2 escapes from the top of the cask, but the remaining gas gives the beer its natural liveliness, or 'condition'.
Simultaneously, finings cause the yeast to settle at the bottom of the cask, leaving bright and flavoursome beer your customers will savour.
The spile must be eased three times a day to release excess CO2, and conditioning is complete when no more gas escapes. A clean semi-porous or hard spile should then be inserted tightly to seal the cask.
Tapping:
Tapping should never happen at the same time as venting. Casks should be tapped 24 hours before dispense with a clean tap, after the keystone has been washed with clean, cold water.
Venting:
Two to four hours after stillaging, the shive should be cleaned with fresh water and the cask should be vented with a semi-porous or soft spile.
Be warned, if you vent in less than two hours you may end up wearing the beer! But don't leave for more than four hours or the cask will need to be rolled and re-stillaged so that the finings and yeast are redistributed.
Quality:
Just before connecting the beer lines flush them with clean, cold water, check the beer directly from the cask for Clarity, Aroma, Taste and Temperature (CATT). You can then be sure it is perfect before drawing it through the lines to the bar. At the bar, repeat the checks before serving that perfect pint to customers.
