Cask Conditioning at Home with a Pressure Relief Valve

[Jasonf101]

I would like to use a stainless steal Pin cask to condition and serve via a gravity tap at home.
I would like to be able to keep the ale over a few weeks, rather than days. Without the full set up of a breather.

My proposal is to modify a stainless steel Pin cask with:

1. - A hambleton bard s30 inlet valve. (So I can carpet cover the beer with c02 to prolong the life of the beer.)

2. - A pressure relief valve. (So I will not blow the keystone or shive and flood the kitchen when I make a mistake!

The easiest solution would be to fit a s30 combination inlet and pressure relief valve in the shive in place of the spile.
But I believe these are usually set to around 10/12 psi which I believe may be to high a pressure. I read somewhere that keystones blow at about 7 psi?
Also at 10 psi the pressure would be a little to much to serve the ale, through a gravity tap.
So an alternative may be to mount an s30 inlet either on the shive or on the cask body, as well as a separate 5 psi relief valve on the shive or cask body?

I am hoping to use a cask in a similar way to a pressure barrel, but with the extra benefits of being ever lasting, better looking on display and easier to keep cool.

So my real questions are. - At what psi would a keystone blow in a filled pin. And what pressure would a cask need to be retained in order to achieve natural conditioning. So can I get a pressure relief valve at a high enough psi for conditioning to take place but still to release pressure in order to stop a kestone blow out.

Any thought on this are welcome.
Thanks
Jason

Any thoughts

[mojonojo]

The easiest and best method would be to use a Cask Breather/Aspirator, allows a blanket of co2 to be delivered on demand to your keg - Some cunning and thrifty types use a LPG regulator to do the same thing - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kpwilliams ... eather.htm

[Jasonf101]

Thanks mojonojo for your reply.

"Some cunning and thrifty types use a LPG regulator to do the same thing"

That's a pretty cool way to save money on a breather, I had never heard of that and will pass it on.
Not to good for my needs though, I should have mentioned I have 2 young kids in the house so I don't want gas bottles under pressure and lines laying around.

So what I am after is a self contained cask, with an s30 inlet valve (or soda stream) a bit like a pressure barrel/king keg.
To inject C02 to blanket protect and help pour when the vacuum in the cask becomes greater than the pressure produced through conditioning. -
And a blow off valve at the correct pressure for a keystone, so I don't flood the kitchen, because I will at some point!

Does anyone know how much pressure in PSI a keystone in a full PIN cask will blow at?

[PhilB]

Hi Jason

So what I am after is a self contained cask, with an s30 inlet valve (or soda stream) a bit like a pressure barrel/king keg.

... is there any particular reason not to use a pressure barrel/king keg? Because those are the things most like what you are describing

Cheers, PhilB

[Jasonf101]

PhilB wrote:
"... is there any particular reason not to use a pressure barrel/king keg? Because those are the things most like what you are describing "

Yeah, Hi Phil, Thanks for pointing that out , a bit ashamed but vanity really. I kind of like shiny things! Being on display most of the time in the kitchen, my is more likely to get the hump with a plastic barrel sooner, I showed her pictures of both.

From my first post -
"I am hoping to use a cask in a similar way to a pressure barrel, but with the extra benefits of being ever lasting, better looking on display and easier to keep cool."

Cheers Phill

[PhilB]

Hi Jason

Fair enough, if the other-half is getting involved

But ... one last go, honest ... does it really need to be out on display even? ... once you're connecting it up with beer line to some sort of tap, whether a beer engine as Jim shows over there (link) or a tap/font like the guys who build themselves kegerators use, then it can be as near or far away as you want to put it. Have you seen some of the beautiful pieces of furniture that some people build around (and to disguise) their kegerators (e.g. there (link) ... WARNING: That's a long thread and browsing through all of it WILL give you kegerator envy ) ... and if you're not looking to temperature control then you can house the PB/KK in anything you feel happy to put in your kitchen. If you've got your heart set on shiny then get a shiny recepticle to put a PG/KK in, a stainless steel pedal bin springs to mind

Cheers, PhilB

[asd]

The easiest and best method would be to use a Cask Breather/Aspirator, allows a blanket of co2 to be delivered on demand to your keg - Some cunning and thrifty types use a LPG regulator to do the same thing - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kpwilliams ... eather.htm

I'm not really sure what he is doing with that LPG regulator - does it give CO2 at atmospheric pressure on demand? Or is it just like a normal regulator set to a very low pressure?

I would have liked to have seen his picture of it, but it's still a work in progress, I see.

[Fil]

thinkin and sampling here hence this idea..

i think its the ecofas or similar named kegs which hold the beer in a bag allowing any gas \like compressed air to be pumped into the void between keg n bag to serve the beer. so how about adopting that concept and introduce a sterile bladder or ballon you can inflate/pressurise that way you can pump in air from a hand or foot pump to push out the beer under the pressure you want without any expensive gas?? fit a tyre valve into the shive, and bang it in pinching the baloon/bladder neck in the hole as your cask looses pressure pump some air into the bladder to compensate. tho finding a suitable neutral foodsafe and pressure safe bladder may pose more probs..

I will get me coat now otherwise i will start banging on about using water to lift brewpots to different levels using polystyrene floats and 200l blu barrels...