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British Beer Pump or Beer Engine

B

Bob Buck

Have any of you had any experience using a British beer pump or beer engine. They are used in most british pubs (also used here in the US in some pubs) to pump ales into a glass. These ales have no carbonation so they are flat. I would like to know what types of ale one would brew to use with this pump? Can anyone help me? Any information would be greatly appreciated on their use.
Buckl  :)
 
I have one. Scored two, gave one to a friend (well, traded at least.)
First off, they should be carbonated. Those of us used to "soda-style" carbonation ala Budweiser et al, may find it under carbed, but in theory it should have at least 1 vol at cellar temps, and it's usually more like 1.25. That's what you get leaving a beer unpressurized at around 45º. But usually there's priming sugar in the cask when it comes to the pub, and as it sits in the "stillage" letting the yeast and trub settle for a couple days, carbonation builds. The cellerman will vent the keg some to keep it from spewing, and then put in a porous spile while serving throughout the night. At closing time, the it's changed out with a hard spile, and no more pressure will leave the cask. Often there's still a little refermentation/conditioning happening, so for the first two or three days the carbonation level may even be above 1.5 - I don't know. Anyway, 45º and not-much-more-than-atmospheric pressure lends itself to the notion that English beers are "warm and flat." but the styles that have devloped around that serving technique do very well under those conditions, and much of them is lost when force-carbed to 2.5 vols and served at 38º.
What types of ales do well? Bitter/ESB/IPA, Porter, Stout, Old ale, Brown ale... once you develop a taste for it, many beers you previously enjoyed overcarbed and overchilled take on completely new and exciting characteristics served on the beer engine. A nice, crisp summer lager isn't quite the thing, but a Saison or dopplebock? You betcha. And actually, lagers are traditionally served quite a bit colder than ales (where the overcarbing frenzy may have come from, carried on the back of the pale lager frenzy), so there's no shame in serving that dopple from a 35º frisge. Residual carbonation at that temp would give you more like 1.5-6 vols.
Too much positive pressure can make the engine leak, since it's made to suck rather than be pushed from the back, but again, the colder it is, the higher the carbonation at 1 atmosphere of pressure.
Last thing I'll say about it is that there's a distinction you should be aware of: real ale versus not. The difference is in whether or not it is allowed to breath as the keg/cask is emptied. The oxygen that comes in through the soft spile lets in pathogens that slowly spoil the beer, which along its way to undrinkable gives a whole spectrum of wonderful tastes that are the life cycle of ale. To pastuerize and/or chill and cover in CO2 basically takes a cryogenic snapshot of the brew, forsaking the "living" quality. The CAMRA guys in the UK are pretty passionate about it, and have a list of real ales that can be found there and even here, but you don't get on the list unless you have the proper setup. To cover in CO2 and then pull the beer instead of letting the CO2 push it is really just another way to get excercise. Don't bother! Just do some push ups then go pull the tap handle!
So with that in mind, you have to brew around your ability to use up a "batch" in 3-7d, somewhat longer for stronger/hoppier beers, but I wouldn't plan on going more than 20 on the very outside. So, you brew 2.5g batches. Or sometimes I brew a 7.5g and keg the other 5, or a 5g batch and split into two little cornies, leaving one in the fridge until it's tapped. On the "in" post I have a little plastic HEPA filter like you see for aeration pumps, so that at least clean air gets in w/o dust or bugs. And instead of a "cellar" the beer stays in my kegorator between sessions - which kegorator happens to be set around 42-5º, so not too cold anyway.
I'm in the process of building a box that will house the keg and the engine on top, with ductwork going to and fro the kegorator so it can stay out. Maybe I'll temp controll it at 55º but more likely I'll just setup a tiny, inefficient fan to pump some cold air in when the freezer's compressor comes on.
Hope that helps!
T
 
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