CASKUSA

Micromatic Beer Equipment Store

caskusa — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:44:18 +0000

Micromatic Beer Equipment Store

Kegerator Kits

Great supply of kegging equipment for Bars and home bars.

Kegerators

caskusa — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:19:45 +0000

Keg Capacities

caskusa — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:02:33 +0000

AKA	Corny Keg		Pony Keg		Full Size Keg
Gallons	5.00	5.16	7.75	7.75	15.50
Ounces	640	661	992	992	1984
# of 12oz. beers	53	55	82	82	165
Weight (Full)	49 Pounds	58 Pounds	87 Pounds	87 Pounds	161 Pounds
These dimensions and weights may vary slightly as result of differences between keg manufacturers.

Keg Capacity

The Quarter Keg (Pony Keg) is also used in two variations that are the same capacity but have the slightly larger 17″ diameter.

These are the rubber sided version (used by Miller Brewing Company) and the bulged non-straight wall version (used by Coors Brewing Company).

Availability of each size of keg will vary by brand of beer and location. You should inquire with your beer supplier to find out which brands of draft beer are available in your area for immediate pick-up, which ones need to be special ordered, and in which size keg those particular brands are available.

When inquiring with your local draft beer supplier, keep in mind that they usually only stock the most popular brands of beer and keg sizes. But local draft beer suppliers usually get deliveries from the beer distributors or breweries once per week. If the brand or keg size you are interested in is available, and if given a few days notice, they are usually happy to add it to their next delivery.As there are literally tens of thousands of breweries and brands of keg draft beer available, it’s simply not possible for Micro Matic to maintain a listing of the sizes of keg, or area in which, each brand of draft beer is available.

It is very important not to kink the beer hose as it leaves the coupler, this will restrict flow and cause foaming.

Cask Ale Engine

caskusa — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:07:24 +0000

A beer engine, also known as a handpump, is used to pump the beer from the cooler. The beer engine is a , airtight piston chamber; pulling down on the handle raises the piston which drags up a half pint of beer. When a cask is first tapped into the beer engine, or after the lines have been washed through, the pump needs to be pulled several times to clear the lines of air or water. The line will continue to hold beer, which will tend to go stale overnight, so the first beer pulled through will be bad beer, and this will be simply thrown away. Most pubs will pull through at least a pint of beer on each beer engine before they open, while others will wait for the first order of beer on that pump before pulling through. Experienced bar staff will serve a pint with long, smooth, slow pulls of the pump handle, plus a short final pull just to make sure the glass is full.

A small flip tap and a short spout is the standard neck for dispensing cask ale. An alternative is a long spout with a tight 180° turn, called a “swan-neck”, which is designed to force the beer into the glass, agitating it so that a fuller head is created. Some drinkers disapprove of swan-necks, believing that flavour is reduced.

In some pubs a small device or cap is fitted to the end of the spout rather like a sprinkler at the end of a hose pipe. The device is known as a “sparkler”. Like the sprinkler at the end of a hose, this can be twisted to regulate the flow of the beer. When the sparkler is tight, the beer is severely agitated resulting in a large head but a significant loss of flavour and mouthfeel.^]This is most common in the north of England and Wales. Many drinkers in the north prefer their beer this way; it is softer and creamier with less bitterness. Drinkers in the South tend to prefer their beer with a touch more bitterness, and a slightly harder mouthfeel.

Some pubs disguise keg beer by having an imitation pump handle on the bar. If the bar staff have merely turned on a tap, or are just resting their hand on a very small handle with no pump action, then this is a keg beer. Exceptions are some pubs (in the north and occasionally elsewhere) which use electric pumps or the pubs in Scotland that use traditional air-pressure founts^[5] on cask ale.

It is considered perfectly acceptable to dispense beer directly from the cask, as in pubs which have a tap room rather than a cellar. Gravity dispense is often used in beer festivals as well.

Cask Ale

caskusa — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:39:43 +0000

Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer

is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurized beer which is conditioned (including secondary fermentation) and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. Cask ale may also be referred to as real ale, a term coined by the Campaign for Real Ale, often now extended to cover bottle-conditioned beer as well.