Stepping into Management Knowledge

CONDITIONING CASK ALE – AUTO TILTS Stillage casks as soon as possible If a cask has been left to stand due to lack of stillage space, roll it to redistribute sediment Align keystone and shive with centre of the autotilt

Allow cask to reach cellar temperature – 11-13 o c This will take about 24 hours

Clean the shive and the keystone with sanitiser and a bottle brush

Vent through the shive with a hard peg and mallet. Replace immediately with a soft peg – soft pegs are porous and allow the beer to breathe

Immediately after, tap the cask through the keystone with a clean tap. Make sure the tap is closed!

Leave the cask to condition – this may take 1-3 days. Check a sample of the beer for Clarity, Aroma & Taste (CAT test)

When the beer is ready – clear, smells & tastes correct, hard spile the cask until ready for sale – this not affect beer shelf life

When cask is needed for sale, attach a clean beer line, remove the hard spile and open the tap

At the end of the trading session, hard spile the cask overnight

A cask beer should only be on sale for three days once the beer line has been connected – beer life starts once connected to line. Make sure you communicate the date it should be taken off – either on the cask or on a board in the cellar