Cask Conditioned Beer

Containing live yeast and small amounts of fermentable sugars allowing it to undergo a second fermentation, Real Ale is a live product and requires special handling to maintain its drinking quality. The second fermentation provides the beer with its final condition. Once fully conditioned the yeast settles to the bottom of the cask aided by the addition of finings. The beer is to be consumed within 4-5 days of purchase and at 12°C.

When settling real beer, the cask should be placed somewhere cool and out of the sun in its serving position and left for 24 hours. After this period you can move onto the tapping and venting. You must then leave your beer for another 24 hour period to further settle.

After the full 48hr period the beer can be checked at the cask, the first pint or so will be cloudy or hazy,  but after this you should get a nice clear beer coming out of the cask. Once the yeast has settled out, care should be taken not to move the cask as this will result in the yeast  stirring up and resuspending itself and an extra 24hr period will be required to allow settlement to happen again.

Another issue is temperature, If the yeast gets too warm it starts performing vigorously & the beer in the cask will struggle to clear properly, this can result in extra condition or fizziness and a hazely complexion to the beer. We therefore suggest that unless you are very experienced and/or have cooling equipment, real beer is best ordered through the Autumn til early Spring period when the ambient temperature tends to be significantly lower.

Bright Beer

To be consurmed within 2-3 daysof purchase at 12°C. Bright beer is allowed to condition within the brewery and once the yeast has settled it is packaged, this process takes approximately 4 days so preordering of large quantities is essential. There is no further fermentation of the beer once packaged and this product needs no settlement period before drinking.

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