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Cask ales on racks

Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised 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.

The history of cask and keg beer[link]

Cask/real ale in a dimpled pint glass

Cask means container. The word comes from the Spanish cáscara which means tree bark, in the sense that the bark surrounds and holds the tree in the way that a cask surrounds and holds the beer. The Histories of Herodotus, written in 424 BC, refers to "casks of palm-wood filled with wine" being moved by boat to Babylon, though clay vessels would also have been used. Stout wooden barrels held together with an iron hoop were developed by the north European Celts during the Iron Age for storing goods. Over the centuries other methods have been developed for preserving and storing beer but this method is still used, particularly in Britain.

Bottled beers were commonplace by the 17th century for the well off who wished to drink outside of public inns, or who wanted to take a beer with them when fishing. Such as the famous story of Alexander Nowell, the Dean of St Paul's, who, in 1568, left his bottled beer by the river bank, and upon returning a few days later discovered the bottle opened with a bang and that the contents were very tasty. But while the middle and upper classes could indulge themselves with such expensive luxuries, the ordinary folk continued to drink their beer served direct from the cask. India Pale Ale (IPA), the famous ale that was shipped to India was delivered in casks, and only transferred to the bottle for the civilian middle classes; the troops drank their beer the same way they drank it back home, from flagons filled direct from the cask. But as beer developed and became paler and lower in alcohol, so it became more difficult to keep it fresh tasting in the cask, especially in countries with warmer climates. By the late 19th century commercial refrigeration and Louis Pasteur's flash heating method of sterilisation prolonged the life of beer. In Britain's cooler climate these methods did not catch on at this time.

Not all beer in mainland Europe is pasteurised; there are plenty of examples of unfiltered, unpasteurised beers, but these will commonly be served from a chilled container under pressure: a keg.

Traditionally draught beer came from wooden barrels, also called casks. In the 1950s these began to be replaced by metal casks of stainless steel or aluminium, mainly for quality reasons as they could be sterilised and the beer was therefore less likely to spoil, but also for economic reasons. An additional benefit of the switch to metal casks was that staling from oxygen in the air could be reduced. Subsequently, in the early 1960s a form of metal cask, known as a keg, was introduced which allowed for more efficient cleaning and filling in the brewery.

The essential differences between a traditional cask and a keg are that the latter has a centrally located downtube and a valve that allows beer in and gas out when filling and vice versa when beer is dispensed. Also kegs have a simple concave bottom whilst the barrel or cask design allowed sediment to be retained in the cask. This aspect of keg design meant that all the beer in the keg was dispensed which therefore required that the beer be processed by filtration, fining or centrifuging, or some combination of these, to prevent sediment formation. Lastly, kegs have straight sides unlike the traditional barrel or cask shape. In order to get the beer out of a keg and into a customer's glass, it can be forced out with gas pressure, although if air or gas at low pressure is admitted to the top of the keg it can also be dispensed using a traditional hand pump at the bar.

By the early 1970s most beer in Britain was keg beer, filtered, pasteurised and artificially carbonated, and most British brewers used carbon dioxide for dispensing keg beers. This led to beers containing more dissolved gas in the glass than the traditional ale and to a consumer demand for a return to these ales. By contrast, in Ireland, where stout was dominant, the use of a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen for dispensing prevented the beer from becoming over-carbonated. Some of the last remaining natural beers in the world were about to disappear forever.^{[citation needed]} Though rare examples of natural beers could still be found in the farmhouse beers of Northern Europe and the maize beers of South America for example, in essence the last great stronghold of natural beer was about to be wiped out. In 1971 the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in Britain to save what they came to term "real ale".

Real ale[link]

Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".^[1][2] The heart of the definition is the maturation requirements. If the beer is unfiltered, unpasteurised and still active on the yeast, it is a real beer; it is irrelevant whether the container is a cask or a bottle.

Bright beer[link]

Cask ale has finings added which drag the yeast to the bottom; when the finings have cleared the beer it is said to have "dropped bright" and the beer will look clear rather than cloudy. However, if a beer has been filtered, or has been cleared of yeast by using finings, and then "racked"—transferred to another container—this is "bright" or re-racked beer. Bright beer is essentially unpasteurised beer that has been cleared of yeast and placed in a different container. It no longer sits on the yeast. As such, strictly speaking, it is not real ale because it cannot continue to ferment in the container in which it now finds itself. A more useful definition would recognise that, since bright racking and drinking quickly is technically no different to filling up a glass from the original cask, the important elements of real ale are the secondary fermentation, that it is free from extraneous carbon dioxide, unfiltered, not lagered, etc. Putting beer into another container before your glass for ease of quick use does not change any of this.^{[citation needed]}

Filtered beer[link]

The fundamental distinction between real and other ales is that the yeast is still present and living in the container from which the real ale is served, although it will have settled to the bottom and is usually not poured into the glass. Because the yeast is still alive, a slow process of fermentation continues in the cask or bottle on the way to the consumer, allowing the beer to retain its freshness. Another distinction is that real ale should be served without the aid of added carbon dioxide, or "top pressure" as it is commonly known. Common dispensing methods are the handpump, or "by gravity" direct from the cask. Electric pumps are occasionally seen, especially in the Midlands and Scotland.

Cask breather[link]

When a cask has been tapped, the beer starts to come into contact with oxygen—and a beer in contact with oxygen has a limited life. Stronger beers last longer, but for most ales with an ABV in the low 4% region, three days is typical^{[citation needed]}. If the pub doesn't have a high turnover, or if a beer is not popular, such as dark milds, three days will not be enough to sell all the beer in the cask. A cask breather allows a small amount of CO₂ to replace the oxygen in the cask. Not enough CO₂ to enter the beer^{[citation needed]} or push it up to the bar—that's "top pressure"—but enough "blanket pressure" to keep the beer fresh tasting for longer by replacing some or most of the oxygen that has made it into the cask with CO₂, an inert gas.

The use of cask breathers is considered "extraneous carbon dioxide", so CAMRA does not endorse this method.^[3]

Preparation for drinking[link]

Handpumps for Kelham Island and Thornbridge beers in a pub in England

Broadly speaking, cask ale brewing starts the same as that of keg beer. The same brew run could be used to make cask, keg, and bottled beer. The difference is what happens after the primary fermentation is finished and the beer has been left to condition. Typically keg and bottled beers are either sterile-filtered or pasteurised or both, but beer destined for cask is simply 'racked' (poured) into the cask in its natural state. Finings are placed in the cask to assist 'dropping' the yeast giving a clear beer. Extra hops and priming sugar may also be added. The cask is sealed and sent off to the pub. In this state it is like a bottle-conditioned beer and, like bottle-conditioned beers, the beer will continue to develop for a certain period of time. Also like bottle-conditioned beers, the length of time the beer can last in the cask will depend on the nature of the beer itself: unopened, stronger beers can last for months; light, delicate beers need to be tapped and sold quickly. Stronger beers may also need longer to settle and mature. Some pubs have been known to keep very strong beers in a sealed cask for a year or more to allow them to fully develop.

When the landlord feels the beer has settled, and he is ready to serve it, he will knock a soft spile into the shive on the side of the cask. The major difference in appearance between a keg and a cask is the shive. A keg does not have a shive on the side. The majority of casks these days are metal, and look similar to a keg, but with the rounded traditional barrel shape (kegs are often straight-sided). Even though there are still some wooden casks around, these are rare; in fact there are more plastic casks around than wooden ones. Plastic casks are increasing in popularity because they are cheaper to buy and lighter to carry, though they don't last as long, they are also less likely to be stolen as they have no melt-down value. Beer casks come in a number of sizes, but by far the most common in the pub trade are those of 9 gallons (72 pints or roughly 41 litres) which is known as a Firkin and 18 gallons (144 pints or roughly 83 litres) known as a Kilderkin. (N.B. These are imperial gallons, equal to 1.201 US gallons each.)

The soft spile in the shive allows gas to vent off. This can be seen by the bubbles foaming around the spile. The landlord will periodically check the bubbles by wiping the spile clean and then watching to see how fast the bubbles reform. There still has to be some life in the beer otherwise it will taste flat. When the beer is judged to be ready, the landlord will replace the soft spile with a hard one (which doesn't allow air in or gas out) and let the beer settle for 24 hours. He will also knock a tap into the end of the cask. This might simply be a tap if the cask is stored behind the bar. The beer will then be served simply under gravity pressure: turn on the tap, and the beer comes out. But if the cask is in the cellar, the beer needs to travel via tubes, or beer lines, and be pumped up to the bar area, normally using a handpump also known as a 'beer engine'.

Serving cask ale[link]

Swan neck handpump with sparkler

A beer engine, also known as a handpump, is used to siphon the beer from the cellar. The beer engine is a 0.5 imp pt (0.28 l), sometimes 0.25 imp pt (0.14 l), 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.^[4]

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.^{[citation needed]}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.^{[citation needed]}

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 Marque[link]

Cask Marque is a voluntary accreditation scheme that allows publicans to display a special symbol indicating that their cask ale is of good quality, as judged by a series of surprise inspections.^[6]

See also[link]

Beer portal

• Beer engine
• Draught beer
• Filtered beer
• Microbrewery

References[link]

External links[link]

Traditional oak barrels in Chile

Beer barrels at the Munich Oktoberfest

Modern Aluminum beer barrels—also called casks or kegs—outside the Castle Rock microbrewery in Nottingham, England

A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. For example, a beer barrel had originally a capacity of 36 US gallons (140 L) while an ale barrel a capacity of 32 US gallons (120 L). Wine was shipped in barrels of 31.5 US gallons (119 L). A small barrel is called a keg.

Modern wooden barrels for wine-making are either made of French common (Quercus robur) and white oak (Quercus petraea) or from American white oak (Quercus alba) and have typically these standard sizes: "Bordeaux type" 59.4 US gallons (225 L) and "Cognac type" 79.2 US gallons (300 L). Modern barrels and casks can also be made of aluminum, stainless steel, and different types of plastic, such as HDPE.

Someone who makes barrels is called a "barrel maker" or cooper. Barrels are only one type of cooperage. Other types include, but are not limited to: buckets, tubs, butter churns, hogsheads, firkins, kegs, kilderkins, tierces, rundlets, puncheons, pipes, tuns, butts, pins, and breakers.

Barrels have a variety of uses, including storage of liquids such as water and oil, fermenting wine, arrack and sake, and maturing beverages such as wine, cognac, armagnac, sherry, port, whiskey and beer.

History[link]

The barrel was most likely invented in the Balkan area. Even though Herodotus mentions palm-wood casks used in shipping Armenian wine to Babylon in Mesopotamia, the barrel as we know it today was most likely developed by the Celts. The Celts arrived in the 23rd Century BCE in an area known today as Burgundy (France), coming from the Balkans and regions north of the Danube River.
Around 350 BCE they were already using watertight, barrel-shaped wooden recipients that were able to withstand stress and could be rolled and stacked. The name tonneau (also called barrique) comes the Latin Dolium which means rounded.

The technique of bending wood into shape through heating they most likely borrowed from boat building, where it was used to bend planks for ship’s hulls as early as the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians. The barrel, apart of serving as a recipient for wine and other liquids such as water, vinegar and oil, was also used for the storage and transport of precious metals, nails, powders, ocher and sulfur, as well as for the preservation of fish, olives, mustard and other sweet, salted or pickled foods.

In Asia and Europe, liquids like oil and wine were mostly carried in earthenware vessels. The Greeks and Romans kept their wines and other liquids in large vases called Cadus or Amphorae, sealed with pine resin.

The Romans began to use barrels in the 3rd century AD, as a result of their commercial and military contacts with the Gauls. That the Italian wines of the time were no competition for the nectar of the "Gaulois", can not be more clearly illustrated than with a quote from Diodore^{[disambiguation needed ]}, a contemporary of Julius Caesar, who wrote: "The Italian merchants exploit the Gallic passion for wine. On the boats which follow the waterways or by wagons which roll across the plain, they transport wine, from which they make fantastic profits, going as far as trading one amphora for one slave, in such manner that the buyer brings his servant to pay for the drink."

Towards the end of the era of Augustus, the Allobroges of the Rhone valley had selected a vine species that was acclimatized to their region. This "Allobrogic" variety bore frost resistant grapes, thus pushing back the northern limits of vine cultivation by several hundreds of kilometers. At the same time, in the plains of Aquitaine, in the Gaillac region, another vine variety - "Biturica" - made the Bordeaux prosper.

The wines from the Gallic province were highly appreciated in Rome, and the progression of the vine worried the Romans to such an extent that, in 92 A.D., the emperor Domitien decided to destroy the Gallic vineyards. Around the same time, Pliny the Elder noted - in the regions near the Alps - the appearance of an exceptional recipient specially conceived to hold and mature wine: the wooden barrel, which became inseparably associated with wine, from its fermentation to its transport. Archaeological research has found cooper’s tools and wooden seals dating from as early as 100 B.C.

For nearly 2,000 years barrels were the most convenient form of shipping or storage container for those who could afford the superior price. All kinds of bulk goods, from nails to gold coins, were stored in them. Bags and most crates were cheaper, but they were not as sturdy and they were more difficult to manhandle for the same weight. Barrels for the transportation for bulk goods slowly lost their importance in the 20th century, with the introduction of pallet-based logistics and containerization, however, they are still of great importance in the elaboration of wines and spirits.

Starting in the late 19th century, barrels were largely superseded by corrugated fiberboard boxes for storage and transport of dry goods, and in the mid 20th century, steel drums began to be used for the storage and transport of fluids such as water, oils and hazardous waste.

The current standard volume for barrels for chemicals and food is 55 US gallons (46 imp gal; 208 L).

Uses[link]

Beverage maturing[link]

Wine barrels in Napa Valley, California.

White oak barrels filled with new Bourbon whiskey and resting in a rack house for a period of 4 to 9 years, giving Bourbon its iconic copper color.

Sherry aging produces fungus on the walls

Sherry barrel with glassed-side to see interior

The Angels' Share fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis on bark with an unaffected branch for comparison.

An "aging barrel" is used to age wine; distilled spirits such as whiskey, brandy, or rum; Tabasco sauce; or (in smaller sizes) traditional balsamic vinegar. When a wine or spirit ages in a barrel, small amounts of oxygen are introduced as the barrel lets some air in (compare to microoxygenation where oxygen is deliberately added). Oxygen enters a barrel when water or alcohol is lost due to evaporation, a portion known as the "angels' share". In an environment with 100% relative humidity, very little water evaporates and so most of the loss is alcohol, a useful trick if one has a wine with very high proof. Most beverages are topped up from other barrels to prevent significant oxidation, although others such as vin jaune are not.

Beverages aged in wooden barrels takes on some of the compounds in the barrel, such as vanillin and wood tannins. The presence of these compounds is dependent on many factors, including the place of origin, how the staves were cut and dried, and degree of "toast" applied during manufacture. After roughly three years, most of a barrel's flavor compounds have been leached out and it is well on its way to becoming "neutral." Barrels used for aging are typically made of French or American oak, but chestnut and redwood are also used. Some Asian traditions (e.g. Japanese sake) have been known to use Japanese cedar, which imparts an unusual, minty/piney flavor. In Peru and Chile, a grape distillate named "Pisco" is either aged on oak or in earthenware, in which case the minerals from the fired clay leach into the liquor, giving it a unique flavor.

Beers are sometimes aged in barrels which were previously used for maturing wines or spirits.

Wine[link]

Some wines are fermented "on barrel," as opposed to in a neutral container such as a steel or wine-grade HDPE (High density polyethylene). Wine can also be fermented in large wooden tanks, which - when open to the atmosphere - are called "open-tops". Other wooden cooperage for storing wine or spirits range from smaller barriques to huge casks, with either elliptical or round heads.

The tastes yielded by French and American species of oak are slightly different, with French oak being subtler, while American oak gives stronger aromas.^[1] To retain the desired measure of oak influence, a winery will replace a certain percentage of its barrels every year, although this can vary from 5 to 100%. Some winemakers use 200% new oak, where the wine is put into new oak barrels twice during the aging process. Bulk wines are sometimes flavored by soaking oak chips in them instead of barrel aging.

Whiskey[link]

Laws in several jurisdictions require that whiskey be aged in wooden barrels.

The law in the United States requires that "straight whiskey" (with the exception of corn whiskey) must be stored for at least 2 years in new, charred white oak containers.^[2] Other forms of whiskey aged in used barrels cannot be called "straight".^[2]

International laws require any whisky bearing the label "Scotch" to be distilled in Scotland and matured for a minimum of three years and one day in oak casks.^[3]

By Canadian law,^[4] Canadian whiskies must "be aged in small wood for not less than 3 years".

Sherry[link]

Sherry is stored in 600-litre casks that are made of North American oak, which is slightly more porous than French or Spanish oak. The casks, or butts, are filled five-sixths full, leaving "the space of two fists" empty at the top to allow flor to develop on top of the wine.

Brandy[link]

Maturing is very important for a good brandy, which is typically aged in oak casks. The used wood for those barrels is selected because of its ability to transfer certain aromas to the spirit. Cognac only ages in oak casks made from wood from the Tronçais and more often from the Limousin forests.^[5]

Balsamic vinegar[link]

Traditional balsamic vinegar is aged in a series of wooden barrels.

Tabasco sauce[link]

Since its invention in 1868, the pepper mash used to make Tabasco sauce is aged for three years in previously used oak whiskey barrels.

Angels' share[link]

"Angels' share" is a term for the portion (share) of a wine or distilled spirit's volume that is lost to evaporation during aging in oak barrels. The barrels are typically French or American oak. In low humidity conditions, the loss to evaporation may be primarily water. However, in higher humidities, more alcohol than water will evaporate, therefore reducing the alcoholic strength of the product. In humid climates, this loss of ethanol is associated with the growth of a darkly colored fungus, the Angels' Share fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis, on the exterior surfaces of buildings, trees and other vegetation, and anything else that happens to be nearby.^[6]

Water storage[link]

Water barrels are often used to collect the rainwater from dwellings (so that it may be used for irrigation or other purposes). This usage, known as rainwater harvesting, requires (besides a large rainwater barrel or water butt), adequate (water-proof) roof-covering and an adequate rain pipe.

Standard Oil Company blue 55-US gallon (46 imp. gal, 208 L) barrel (drum)

Oil storage[link]

The standard barrel of crude oil or other petroleum product (abbreviated bbl) is 42 US gallons (34.9723 imp gal; 158.9873 L). This measurement originated in the early Pennsylvania oil fields, and permitted both British and American merchants to refer to the same unit, based on the old English wine measure, the tierce.

Earlier, another size of whiskey barrel was the most common size; this was the 40 US gallons (33.3 imp gal; 151.4 L) barrel for proof spirits, which was of the same volume as 5 US bushels. However, by 1866 the oil barrel was standardized at 42 US gallons.

Oil has not actually been shipped in barrels^[7] since the introduction of oil tankers, but the 42-US-gallon size is still used as a unit for measurement, pricing, and in tax and regulatory codes. Each barrel is refined into about 19.74 US gallons (16.44 imp gal; 74.7 L) of gasoline,^[8] the rest becoming other products such as jet fuel and heating oil, using fractional distillation.^[9]

Other uses[link]

Due to the traditional barrel's distinctive shape and construction method, the term has been used to describe a variety of other related or similar objects, such as the gun barrel (with the term growing out of the fact that early cannon were built from staves of metal hooped together, similar to a barrel)^[10] and barrel organ.

The English idiom over a barrel means to be in a predicament or helpless in a situation where others are in control: "I have no choice in the matter — my creditors have me over a barrel." The phrase is said to originate from two 19th century practices: rolling drowning victims over a barrel to clear their lungs of water, or flogging someone who is bent over a barrel.

Some kinds of food, such as pork, were stored in barrels in larders before the era of refrigerators. This practice generated a political term, pork barrel, in which earmarks for particular people or locations were labeled "pork-barrel" spending.

A chair can also be made out of a barrel.

Shape[link]

Barrels often have a convex shape, bulging at the middle. This constant bulge makes it easier to roll a well-built wooden barrel on its side, changing directions with little friction. It also helps to distribute stress evenly in the material by making the container more spherical^{[citation needed]}.

Casks used for ale or beer have shives and keystones in their openings. Before serving the beer a spile is hammered into the shive and a tap into the keystone.

The rings holding a wooden barrel together are called "hoops" and are generally made of galvanized iron, though historically were made from flexible bits of wood called withies. While wooden hoops could require barrels to be "fully hooped", with hoops stacked tightly together along the entire top and bottom third of a barrel, iron-hooped barrels only require a few hoops on each end. The "head hoop" or "chime hoop" is the hoop nearest the extremes of a barrel, the chime being the beveled edge and the head being the flat circular top or bottom of the barrel. The "bilge hoops" are those nearest the bilge, or bulging center, while the "quarter hoop" is located between the two. The stopper used to seal the (bung)hole in a barrel is called the bung and mostly made of silicone.

Sizes[link]

A barrel is one of several units of volume, with dry barrels, fluid barrels (UK beer barrel, U.S. beer barrel), oil barrel, etc. The volume of some barrel units is double others, with various volumes in the range of about 100–200 litres (22–44 imp gal; 26–53 US gal).

English wine casks

Pre-1824 definitions continued to be used in the US, the wine gallon of 231 cubic inches being the standard gallon for liquids (the corn gallon of 268.8 cubic inches for solids). In Britain the wine gallon was replaced by the Imperial gallon. The tierce later became the petrol barrel. The tun was originally 256 gallons, which explains where the quarter, 8 bushels or 64 (wine) gallons, comes from.

Brewery casks

Although it is common to refer to draught beer containers of any size as barrels, in the UK this is strictly correct only if the container holds 36 imperial gallons. The terms "keg" and "cask" refer to containers of any size, the distinction being that kegs are used for beers intended to be served using external gas cylinders. Cask ales undergo part of their fermentation process in their containers, called casks.

Casks are available in several sizes, and it is common to refer to "a firkin" or "a kil" (kilderkin) instead of a cask.

The modern US beer barrel is 31 US gallons (116.34777 litres), half a gallon less than the traditional wine barrel. (26 U.S.C. §5051 [2])

Dry Goods

Barrels are also used as a unit of measurement for dry goods, such as flour or produce. Traditionally, a barrel is 196 lbs of flour (wheat or rye), with other substances such as pork subject to more local variation. In modern times, produce barrels for all dry goods, excepting cranberries, contain 7,056 cubic inches, about 115.627 L^[13].

See also[link]

Weighting a Sherry barrel

• Barrel (unit)
• 55 gallon drum
• Drum (container)
• Kegs
• Cask ale
• gun barrel
• Wine barrels
• Drunkard's cloak

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Barrels

Look up barrel or cask in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Origin of "over a barrel"
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barrel". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm-fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast.^[1][2] The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste. Most ales contain hops, which help preserve the beer and impart a bitter herbal flavour that balances the sweetness of the malt.

History of ale[link]

The former Anchor Brewhouse in Bermondsey, South London, bought by John Courage in 1787.

The term "ale" was initially used to describe a drink brewed without hops, unlike "beer."^[3] It has often now come to mean a bitter-tasting barley beverage fermented at room temperature. In some British usage, however, in homage to the original distinction, it is not now used except in compounds (such as "pale ale" (see below)) or as "real ale", a term adopted in opposition to the pressurised beers developed by industrial brewers in the 1960s, and used of a warm-fermented unpasteurised beer served from the cask (though not stout or porter).

Ale typically has bittering agent(s) to balance the sweetness of the malt and to act as a preservative. Ale was originally bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs (sometimes spices) which was boiled in the wort prior to fermentation. Later, hops replaced the gruit blend in common usage as the sole bittering agent.

Ale, along with bread, was an important source of nutrition in the medieval world, particularly small beer, also known as table beer or mild beer, which was highly nutritious, contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative, and provided hydration without intoxicating effects. Small beer would have been consumed daily by almost everyone in the medieval world, with higher-alcohol ales served for recreational purposes. The lower cost for proprietors combined with the lower taxes levied on small beer led to the selling of beer labeled "strong beer" that had actually been diluted with small beer.^[4]

The word 'ale' is native English, in Old English alu or ealu, but aloth, ealoth in the genitive and dative. It is believed to stem from Proto-Indo-European root *alu-, through Proto-Germanic *aluth-.^[5] This is a cognate of Old Saxon alo, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Old Norse öl/øl, Old Bulgarian olu cider, Slovenian ol, Old Prussian alu, Lithuanian alus, Latvian alus (whence, Finnish olut).^[6]

Modern ale[link]

Ale is typically fermented at temperatures between 15 and 24 °C (60 and 75°F). At temperatures above 24 °C (75 °F) the yeast can produce significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products, and the result is often a beer with slightly "fruity" compounds resembling but not limited to apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum, cherry, or prune.

Varieties of ale[link]

Cask ale handpumps

Brown ale[link]

Brown ales tend to be lightly hopped, and fairly mildly flavoured, often with a nutty taste. In the south of England they are dark brown, around 3-3.5% alcohol and quite sweet; in the north they are red-brown, 4.5-5% and drier. English brown ales first appeared in the early 1900s, with Manns Brown Ale and Newcastle Brown Ale as the best-known examples. The style became popular with homebrewers in North America in the early 1980s; Pete's Wicked Ale is an example, similar to the English original but substantially hoppier.

Pale ale[link]

Pale ale was a term used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke had been first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it wasn't until around 1703 that the term pale ale was first used. By 1784 advertisements were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for "light and excellent" pale ale. By 1830 onward the expressions bitter and pale ale were synonymous. Breweries would tend to designate beers as pale ale, though customers would commonly refer to the same beers as bitter. It is thought that customers used the term bitter to differentiate these pale ales from other less noticeably hopped beers such as porter and mild. By the mid to late 20th century, while brewers were still labelling bottled beers as pale ale, they had begun identifying cask beers as bitter, except those from Burton on Trent, which tend to be referred to as pale ales regardless of the method of dispatch.

Scotch ales[link]

While the full range of ales are produced in Scotland, the term "Scotch Ale" is used internationally to denote a malty, strong dark ale. The malt may be slightly caramelised to impart toffee notes; generally, Scottish beers tend to be rather sweeter than English ones.

Mild ale[link]

Mild ale originally meant unaged ale, the opposite of old ale. It can be any strength or colour, although most are dark brown and low in strength, typically between 3-3.5%. An example of a lighter coloured mild is Banks's Mild.

Burton Ale[link]

Burton Ale was a strong, dark, somewhat sweet ale brewed to good strength and vatted at the brewery for a year or more. Sometimes used as a 'stock ale' for blending into younger beers, these comparatively strong ales were also enjoyed on their own. Bass No.1 was a classic example of Burton Ale, and in modern times Fullers 1845 Celebration Ale is often considered by some to be a rare modern example of a Burton Ale.^[7]

Old ale[link]

In England, old ale was strong beer traditionally kept for about a year, gaining sharp, acetic flavours as it did so. The term is now applied to medium-strong dark beers, some of which are treated to resemble the traditional old ales. In Australia, the term is used even less discriminately, and is a general name for any dark beer.

Belgian ales[link]

Belgium produces a wide variety of speciality ales that elude easy classification. Virtually all Trappist beers and Abbey beers are high in alcoholic content but light in body due to the addition of large amounts of sucrose, which provides an alcohol boost with an essentially neutral flavour.

Trappist beers are brewed under direct control of the monks themselves. Of the 171 Trappist monasteries throughout the world, only seven brew beer, of which there are six in Belgium. The seventh is in the Netherlands. Abbey beer is brewed by commercial breweries in the style of a trappist beer, sometimes using the name of a monastery, often one that no longer exists or in some cases one that has licensed its name to a brewery.

See also[link]

Beer portal

• Stout
• Cask ale
• Beer style
• Lager
• Wheat beer

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Ale.