Faulkner thought that the temperature pub beer was stored at in the brewery was really important. One clarification: why does he talk about cask beer specifically for the pub trade? Because a lot of casks were sold to private customers, to be served in their homes.
"In coming to the actual treatment of beer in store we have to consider for what purposes it is intended: if for stock it is naturally lowered into the basement, while if mild and for public-house use it remains either in racking-room or in store on ground level, since as the cellars of the publican are not, as a rule, of the best, with temperature restricted by their natural position, it is useless paying particular attention to such beers if at the end of a few hours they are to be moved away to the consumer. It has always seemed to me a point of extreme importance that such beers as are brewed expressly for public-house use should, during the colder months of the year, be kept at a moderately low temperature on the premises of the brewer, so as to escape those constant chills which frequently result in the cellars of the smaller publicans, which are mostly exposed to atmospheric influences. During the warmer months of the year we have to keep such beers as cool as possible so as to ward off a secondary fermentation, which is common to all beers alike, and which comes on sooner or later according to their exact quality, degree of fermentative capacity at the time of racking, and the variation of heat that may take place directly after racking."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, pages 250-251.
It wasn't advised to store casks at too cool a temperature, because the pub cellars were likely to not be that cool. Except in the winter. I guess the idea was to store the casks in the brewery at as close a temperature to pub cellars as possible.
And what about in the summer?
"All beer, as I have said, contains carbonic acid, and in the case of such qualities as necessarily have to undergo fining it is important to prevent the collection of free carbonic acid in cask prior to the fining being carried out. For instance, if we happen to rack beer on a warm day, and the temperature of the racking-room facilitates rise of heat, a certain amount of carbonic acid is set free from the beer in cask, and if the bung or shive be out it readily passes off, while if the cask be tightly bunged or shived, the gas set free by the rise of heat accumulates, creates pressure and a variety of motion that acts very energetically in bringing on secondary change; and it is for this reason that beers of fermentative capacity require carefully venting immediately the casks are filled, when the temperature of the store naturally causes an increase in heat. If this is neglected it will be found that in many cases a determined secondary fermentation will set in at the end of a very few hours."
"The Theory and Practice of Modern Brewing" by Frank Faulkner, 1888, pages 251-252.
When it was warm and CO2 was coming out of solution, then you needed to vent the casks immediately after filling. Whichh makes sense.
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It's interesting he doesn't mention specific temperatures. I had thought by the late 1800s thermometers were cheap and plentiful and I'd think they'd be an easy thing for pubs to have to keep track of cellar temperatures - at least the busier pubs would.
Just shows that idea of draught beer in private homes is not a new one.
Oscar
Hey Ron! You mentioned that casks were often served in people’s homes. Do you know how it was typically served? Was it usually gravity poured? How large were these types of casks and how many days would they be drunk from after tapping them? I just read a biography on CS Lewis which mentioned how he always kept a barrel of beer in his rooms at Oxford, presumably in the ‘30s and ‘40s. I’m intrigued what that experience would’ve been like, and how the beer would have tasted if it was exposed to oxygen for a few days after tapping. Thanks as always for the great article!
Anonymous,
adverts list usually list firkins, kilderkins and barrels (9, 18 and 36 gallons). Sometimes they also list pins (4.5 gallons).
They would have been gravity served. A couple of years ago, I did publish an article giving advice to those serving beer at home.
As beer was a good bit stronger before WW I, it would have been more robust and have taken longer to spoil.
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