Shelf-life of a re-racked cask?

Question

A friend of mine is running the beer tent at a Rugby 7s tournament in a couple of weeks. Because obviously we don't want to look after beer in a tent beforehand, and because it's for one day only, we're doing it with re-racked beer direct from the breweries. I've been detailed to pick up one of the casks because the brewery is reasonably near where I live.

I've been quite involved in running a festival for a few years, and I've re-racked casks a couple of times, but only for immediate use. Thus I have no real idea of how long the beer will stay good after it's been racked. The CAMRA Cellarmanship Guide says 24 hours, but it's not clear whether it's referring to life only after venting and tapping or in total since re-racking.

The tournament is on the Saturday, and if absolutely necessary I could pick up the beer after work on Friday. However, for logistical reasons it would be more convenient for me to collect it on Thursday instead. The question is, if stored in my garage for Thursday night and all of Friday, would it still be in good condition during the day on Saturday? A number of discerning drinkers will be there, and we wouldn't want to let the beer down.

What do you think, and do you know of anywhere else I might ask? I'll ask the brewer, obviously, but it's a relatively new micro-brewery and I wouldn't be surprised if he has no real idea himself.

Thanks,

Pete

F9 · Accepted Answer

"Pete Verdon"  wrote in message news:   Not being a professional, I would say that it will be fine and the 24 hours starts once you 'tap' it.But I could be wrong. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell you exactly.

Steve Banfield · Answer

Much depends on the storage conditions between you getting the re-racked (or bright) beer. If you can keep it at cellar temperatures (or even below, but the brewer would need to tell you the minimum safe storage temperature for the beer), and keep it still, then up to a week is feasible.

Moving the beer will have the same effect as shaking an opened bottle of fizzy drink, it will flatten it, and the temperature if too warm will accelerate the detioration of the beer. Once tapped, 24 hrs is best, 48 is the max I would say. I have seen bright firkins moved after tapping, when only half full, and the beer has still been good 3 days later, so you can never tell. But caution is best everytime.

Abusing a bright beer is often a good test of the how well brewed the beer is, and so the brewer may have done all this already.

Steve Banfield

Pete Verdon · Answer

Excellent! As far as cooling is concerned, I was planning to keep it in my garage covered with wet towels; I think that ought to keep it pretty cool. And I have no need to store it for longer than about 36 hours.

Obviously I've got to drive it from the brewery to my house and then from my house to the Rugby, but that shouldn't cause too much trouble. I can keep it wet in the car if you think that'd be worthwhile.

It's only got to last a short day once tapped - from whenever we open the beer tent in the morning till about 6pm at the latest. Last year there was plenty of sacking and a hose (as well as a couple of cooling saddles) so it shouldn't get too hot on the stillage.

Absolutely. Fortunately it sounds like I'm going to be well within the limits with this one.

Pete

Steve Banfield · Answer

Wet towels work wonders - as long as it cold water you use, the colder the better. Sounds obvious, but...!

Not worthwhile, IMHO. Just when you get it back. It should be cold enough when you leave the brewery to stand a sometime above ideal ambient temperatures (beer does take a while to warm up). Very few, if any, breweries use temperature controlled drays.

Steve Banfield

Shelf-life of a re-racked cask?

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