I love my cask breather

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evanvine said:
I know and like a lot a lot of Camra members, it's when they start laying down the law re beer festivals that I really get ****** off!!!

That surely depends if they organise the beer festival? If they organise it then surely it's up to them? If it's organised by someone else then I agree...hands off!!
 
oz11 said:
evanvine said:
I know and like a lot a lot of Camra members, it's when they start laying down the law re beer festivals that I really get ****** off!!!

That surely depends if they organise the beer festival? If they organise it then surely it's up to them? If it's organised by someone else then I agree...hands off!!
Ok, fair comment!
 
CAMRA seems to be another organisation, who are busy justifying their existence by coming up with silly rules, such as the restrictions on the use of "artificial" CO2!

Guess this means that I too don't make Real Ale when I put my beer into Mini Kegs, while if I pop the very same beer into bottles, it's Real!
I think they should enter politics - they talk as much sense and the politicians!

Dennis
 
This was an interesting article:

Read

In relation to the use of a cask breather in pubs, the writer states that, "[He] would like to bet that even a seasoned CAMRA drinker wouldn’t be able to tell the difference and anyway, would probably say it tastes fresher."

I reckon that he's right, and I think we should challenge CAMRA to a blind taste test! At the end of the day, their rules unfairly disadvantages smaller, less busy establishments - you would think that CAMRA would appreciate the important role smaller businesses play in producing good quality beer!

Dennis
 
Sorry, I'm on a roll now! This is from CAMRA Eastern Region, on doing a blind taste test to determine whether the use of a Cask Breather adversely affects the taste or indeed other aspects of the beer:

Read

It took place 6th - 8th December 1999. And the conclusion? I shall quote from the website:

"The trials proved that even experienced beer-tasters could not tell the difference."

I'd say that pretty well proves it!

Dennis
 
I'll be one of the first to say that "Camra" did a good job at the time it was needed!
But now, power it seems has gone to their head.
Power corrupts!................
Camra have become an anachronism and should retire gracefully.
 
dennisdk2000 said:
CAMRA seems to be another organisation, who are busy justifying their existence by coming up with silly rules, such as the restrictions on the use of "artificial" CO2!

Crazy
Ar$e
Morrons
Ranting
Away

Guess this means that I too don't make Real Ale when I put my beer into Mini Kegs, while if I pop the very same beer into bottles, it's Real!
I think they should enter politics - they talk as much sense and the politicians!

Dennis

I didn't think it was good form on this forum to insult other members? Oh, well, crack on. That'll be moron, btw
 
I do not agree with the sweeping general rule of CAMRA and C02 but I do see where it has it's merits :shock: :lol:

One of the main arguments for allowing C02 to be kept over beer is that it extends the life of the cask in pubs with slow serving rates. If it were allowed, how many unscrupulous/hard pushed landlords would be tempted to keep their beer on gas until they had a complaint about the taste, and how many customers wouldn't complain simply chosing not to go to the pub again or worse, not try real ale again :hmm: From that perspective CAMRA are protecting Real Ale.
The only way I see around that potential issue would be to issue a 'shelf life' for a tapped cask and I can't see that being very popular so for the mo we're stuck in a 'status quo'

Personally I'd go the shelf life route, I don't know how CAMRA can justify wastage of spoiled beer/loss of profits for those landlords who buy in a cask, in a day and age when we're trying to minimise loss from an environmental pov at all costs :roll:

As for the use of C02 at beer festivals...why would you need it, the beer should sell quickly, and if you did need it why would CAMRA have an issue with it in the short term :roll:
 
The cask breather is an old favourite at the AGM and comes up regularly, and the majority of those who vote do so to keep the status quo. When more people turn up and vote for the acceptable use of cask breathers then policy can be changed. It seems to me to be an absurd oddity in this day and age but that's the way it.... for now at least :(
 
oz11 said:
dennisdk2000 said:
CAMRA seems to be another organisation, who are busy justifying their existence by coming up with silly rules, such as the restrictions on the use of "artificial" CO2!

Crazy
Ar$e
Morrons
Ranting
Away

Guess this means that I too don't make Real Ale when I put my beer into Mini Kegs, while if I pop the very same beer into bottles, it's Real!
I think they should enter politics - they talk as much sense and the politicians!

Dennis

I didn't think it was good form on this forum to insult other members? Oh, well, crack on. That'll be moron, btw

Post has been amended. I apologise if I was out of line, and I apologise for my spelling mistake as well.

However, I still stand by my opinion that CAMRAs stance on cask breathers is silly. And I also find it an insult to all the home brewers, who are passionate about good beer, but who keep their beer under CO2, and therefore are deemed to be producing something that isn't "real"!

And to Vossy - if a landlord is unscrupulous enough to leave beer kept under CO2 on sale until he receives complaints about it, I daresay he would be unscrupulous enough to leave beer kept without added CO2 until he receives complaints about it!

Dennis
 
I love CAMRA and they've done/do some great work, but it really irks me that their focus is on cask ale and not good ale.

For example, today the Glasgow CAMRA Twitter account posted about how a pub now serves Greene King Abbot. Which is pretty much the spawn of the devil.

I wish they wouldn't promote **** beer just because it fits into their rules.
 
For me CAMRA need to get back to the original intention to look at promoting and encouraging real ale and the pubs selling it. It has to move away from running other drinks down.

I left as my views were at odds of a small number of people who made it awkward for me to stay abecause I didnt agree with them. I believe that to give real life to the real ale market you had to get young people into it and to do that real ale needs to sit comfortably next to your alcopops and buds
etc but a lot of CAMRA reviwers score pubs down heavily for having too many of these.

Also heard rumours with strong evidence of some of these members trying to bully small freehold pubs

The majority of CAMRA members are good guys they either just dont have the time or enough passion for the fight, leaving the door open for some of the wrong kind of peole to drag the group off track on their own little power trip at times. But I'm proudI was a CAMRA member at the time it really picked up and got people listening.
 
I've just put together a cornie with hand pump set up. I've got at check vale near the hand pump and initially just opened the valve on the keg and pulled a great pint.

I've read this thread and bought a cask breather
hugapavy.jpg


I've connected it all up and found that the cask breather is letting co2 escape through the large disc on the top causing the co2 bottle to continually refill it using up valuable gas. I've tried various pressures but still does the same.

My understanding was that it would allow top up of the keg when I pulled a pint.

Does this sound like what should happen or is the breather faulty.

UPDATE:

On having another look I found that when I replaced the barb connectors with JG ones the metal post within the device became fixed and couldn't move a s a result of the smaller internal diameter of the JG fitting. A few minutes with a drill resolved the problem and I now have a fully working cask breather. Result!
 
Sounds like you have a dicky breather, mine doesn't let anything pass until you draw ale off (real or otherwise!!) and the slight vacuum opens the valve to let co2 in until the pressure equilibrates and it shuts off again.

I got a norgren one from Richard Llewellyn Brewery Services way back in 2001 and never regretted it. I use a fraction of the co2 I did, have the pleasure of serving on hand pump and the ale stays in good condition without having to get drunk every night to get through it all!

As for CAMRA, all I'll say is they've done an awful lot for ale in pubs and credit to them for it. What we do in our own little home pubs is up to us :-)
 
I did take it apparent to clean it when it arrived. I'm now wondering if I did something to it when I reassembled it.
 
Could be a possibility, have a google search for an exploded diagram maybe. Might be worth taking apart again and see if you've done something simple like kinked a seal.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll have a go at taking it apart and see if I can figure it out
 
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