Priming Casks, not kegs???

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timbowden

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i have a couple of cypherco casks which i used for the first time a few months ago. One filled with a Boddington clone the other with an Adnams best clone. I primed both of these casks with 2oz household sugar. The boddingtons was fab nicely conditioned with great mouthfeel. The adnams - decided to pop out the keystone and i was left with 38 pints of beer in my cellar :(
So my question is....is it worth priming casks (not pressure kegs) or not? Is it best for the beer to build up its own carbonation on its own? I'm trying to avoid the swimminng pool in the cellar issue again!!
I'm making a royal wedding beer and want to get it into the kegs!!
tim
 
Are you sure that the Adnams had fully fermented out? The usual suspect for exploding keystones is that the beer was casked too early. Or did you accidentally add priming sugar twice?

Or... did you leave the keystones in steriliser for an absurdly long time - I've worked out that being stuck in peracetic for a week weakens them.

Usual practice in micros is to crash chill the beer to pause fermentation 2 degrees before FG and then cask. Don't add priming sugar and the remaining sugar will slowly ferment in the cask to bring the beer into position.

Some customers insist on primed casks. I have no idea why.
 
they are not designed to hold pressure at all just enough to give the beer some life, Iv been told the correct method is to cask the beer 2 points below finish gravity. but you would have to really know the beer well to be confident where its going to finish. atm I am fermenting right out to finish and priming with about 120 g sugar for a 9 gallon cask



edit. sorry james didn't see your post,
James knows what hes talking about.

I have had 1 successes with the 2 points below F G method, but it was thanks to the minus 20 temps we had. I had a pretty good educated practiced guess at where 2 points below was then split into 2 x 4.5 gallon and put into the garden shed over night where it turned into a pale ale slush puppy then into the cask, and back in doors, taped one week later and was not far off perfect. was enjoyed by many.
 
Last time I used my firkin I didn't bother priming it, I just transferred it into the cask after 7 days in the primary fermenter and shoved it into the fridge for 4 weeks and it conditioned perfectly. How are you dispensing it? I dispense my casked beers through my beer engine so I'm not looking for any fizz in my beers just a bit of conditioning

:thumb: :cheers:
 
james - i'm pretty sure the adnams was fermented out ok :wha:
maybe i'll double check next time :pray:
But is it still worth priming?

tim
 
Tim, what was the recipe, OG and PG? Hard to tell from over here, but I suspect if you rack it without priming then given time it will condition. As long as you don' leave any headspace.
 
I'm resurrecting this post (rather than starting a new one) as I too am in the situation of using cypherco pins for the first time and I don't want flat beer or beer all over my conditioning fridge.

My question - I have 9 gallons that started off at 1047 and finished after two days at 1006 - I used re-hydrated Danstar Nottingham yeast. I have now crash cooled in the fermenter to 10C. Will this come to condition at this low gravity in the casks with no priming or headspace?
 
That Adnams must have been very carbonated, I use the Cypherco pin a lot and at the worst level of carbonation it nearly killed a barmaid when the spile went in and shot out like a bullet. The cask, shive and keystone (if fully hammered in) should withstand any pressure that a real ale is likely to come under.
 
i always prime the casks and use a race cask vent in the shive as you can always bring the carbonation down to 1/1, hard to do it the other way if under carbonated. i use stepped plastic keystone hammered right in, they will not pop out. you can usually test the swell of the keystone under pressure with your finger if you ever want to check. hope that's more helpful
 
Excellent, yes. How much priming sugar do you use for a pin?
I plan to use a cask breather when serving, and I will plumb
in two lines so I can add a couple of psi when not drinking
to help keep condition if needed.
 

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