There is nothing worse than looking forward to a well-deserved pint of ale, after a day’s work, only to be presented with something that would be more suited to being poured over fish and chips !
There are many reasons for beer not being at its best, for example :
1) Too many ales on sale resulting in some of the barrels not being shifted quickly enough. From the time that a fresh barrel goes on sale it should be sold within 3 days.
2) Lack of or poor cellar cooling. Real ale is a highly perishable product and should be kept at about 11.5C or 53F in the cellar and right through to the handpump.
3) Inadequate line-cleaning and poor cellar hygiene. All beer lines in a pub must be cleaned once a week to avoid build-up of yeast in the lines. Beer must be wasted when the lines are cleaned, but this is a small price to pay.
4) Beer in poor ‘condition’. Many so-called real ales have no apparent secondary fermentation when spiled in the pub cellar. This is not an acceptable scenario as flat beer will soon develop off-tastes. One of a cellarperson’s main tasks is to ensure that when an ale is put on sale that is has a reasonable amount of condition and is neither too lively nor too flat. It is not advisable to stock ales that come in with no condition – and they are technically not ‘real’ as there must be slow secondary fermentation in the pub cellar for a beer to be so defined. And when on sale, barrels must be hard spiled overnight to ensure that they do not go flat. A good example of a true real ale is Caledonian IPA, a beer with lots of condition and a high yeast count. It was no accident that this beer was a recent CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain.
5) Beer lines too long. As real ale is now often dispensed through small bore plastic lines with the assistance of a ‘flowjet’ system, this is not the problem that is was in the days of large diameter pipes. Ideally however, there should be the minimum of ale between the barrel and the handpump.
I find it invaluable to keep a daily dipping chart, onto which the beer levels and sales are recorded at the end of a day. e.g. 8/18 gallons left in a barrel and 9 gallons sold in the day. This chart enables the operator of see at a glance how long a barrel has been on sale and the weekly volume sold – for reordering purposes. It is helpful also at the start of a day to be able to glance at the dipping chart, as a beer low in the barrel and on two beer lines will need a line put onto the next barrel and a barrel half full or less should have been tilted.
The temperature of the real ale should be regularly monitored as cellar cooling equipment can fail. The only way to check beer temperature is with a probe thermometer dipped into a full barrel of ale. Air temperature in the cellar is most misleading as this can rise by several degrees before the cellar cooling cuts in again via the thermostat ….. but the actual temperature of the beer remains constant. If the ale is at the wrong temperature, the thermostat may need adjusting. (I found it difficult recently to purchase a probe thermometer, but can recommend buying online via thermometersdirect.co.uk, from about £15 upwards) Cellar cooling is air conditioning and the usual setup is to have a condenser situated near the cellar on an outside wall and an evaporator (which blows cold air) on the cellar wall.
Another useful device is a system that delivers cool water to the outer wall of special handpump pistons at the bar, ensuring that the beer within the pistons does not warm up.
Although my own pub does not lend itself to to the following, it is my opinion that real ale is best served straight from the barrel with no lines nor handpumps, as long as it is in good condition and at the right temperature. This is the most hygienic system and one that does not knock condition out of the beer delivered to the glass. The downside of this is lack of tight head created by a handpump creamer, but I prefer my beer straight from the ‘wood’. However, this could mean an awful lot of exercise for the bar staff !
Hugh Price
Tynemouth Lodge Hotel