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kegs of beer
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I am turning the spare room in my house into a bar can anyone tell me where i could get a keg of beer delivered, and also if they sell or loan the necessary stuff for tapping. I live in Scotland.
Thanks
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john this is tricky first are we talking lager or real ale.
no brewery will deliver one barrel you are better off goin to the cash and carry. However if you do decide persuade someone to deliver you one (it might be a good idea to get friendly with your locals landlord and ask him to order you an extra barrel of your favourite), equipment with which to poor your drink is even trickier. Real ale doesn't alst long once tapped and there is an art to looking after it. anyway i believe www.LEENERS.com may interest you..
(Posted in 2 parts):
Scotland's a big place, so it's hard to point you in the right direction!
You mention tapping the beer so I'll assume that you're talking about real ale. The first thing to say is that, unless you've got a very large number of friends, you don't even want to think about acquiring a 'keg' or 'barrel'. What you should be looking for is a 'pin'. This contains 36 pints and, given that it'll only keep fresh for a few days, should certainly be big enough for most people! The larger breweries can't always be bothered to supply pins but the small, local breweries will.
Goodsoulette's statement that "no brewery will deliver one barrel" is probably generally true but, if your house happens to be just down the road from a pub which they deliver to, you might persuade one of the smaller breweries to drop a pin off at your home. Otherwise you'll have to collect your pin from the brewery.
With regard to equipment, the first thing you'll need is some form of 'stillage'. This simply means somewhere to put the pin, in a position where it is slightly tilted forward and where you can hammer in a spile peg and tap without disturbing it too much (and, of course, where you can get a glass underneath the tap!). Then you need a few spile pegs and a couple of taps. (Your stillage really needs to accommodate 2 pins so that number 2 is settling while you're drinking number 1). The brewery which provides your beer, whether by delivery or collection, willl probably be happy to provide the taps and spiles. You'll also need a mallet to knock the spile pegs and taps in with. (That might seem to be a blindingly obvious statement but, the first time I ever set up a real ale bar the one thing I forgot was a mallet. I had to use a rolling pin!).
Scotland's a big place, so it's hard to point you in the right direction!
You mention tapping the beer so I'll assume that you're talking about real ale. The first thing to say is that, unless you've got a very large number of friends, you don't even want to think about acquiring a 'keg' or 'barrel'. What you should be looking for is a 'pin'. This contains 36 pints and, given that it'll only keep fresh for a few days, should certainly be big enough for most people! The larger breweries can't always be bothered to supply pins but the small, local breweries will.
Goodsoulette's statement that "no brewery will deliver one barrel" is probably generally true but, if your house happens to be just down the road from a pub which they deliver to, you might persuade one of the smaller breweries to drop a pin off at your home. Otherwise you'll have to collect your pin from the brewery.
With regard to equipment, the first thing you'll need is some form of 'stillage'. This simply means somewhere to put the pin, in a position where it is slightly tilted forward and where you can hammer in a spile peg and tap without disturbing it too much (and, of course, where you can get a glass underneath the tap!). Then you need a few spile pegs and a couple of taps. (Your stillage really needs to accommodate 2 pins so that number 2 is settling while you're drinking number 1). The brewery which provides your beer, whether by delivery or collection, willl probably be happy to provide the taps and spiles. You'll also need a mallet to knock the spile pegs and taps in with. (That might seem to be a blindingly obvious statement but, the first time I ever set up a real ale bar the one thing I forgot was a mallet. I had to use a rolling pin!).
(Second part):
There are people who'll tell you that looking after real ale is incredibly difficult. This isn't really true but you'll certainly learn through experience. If you slam a spile peg in two or three days before you want to drink the beer and insert the tap at the last possible moment you'll have a good starting point but every beer has its own characteristics. (You'll also learn to take the weather into account. If you try to put a spile peg into a pin of ale, straight from the dray, on a stormy August day the only advice I can give is 'Stand well back!').
Returning to your question: Where do you get the beer from? I suggest getting hold of a copy of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide. (You don't need to buy it. It should be in your local library. Even an old edition will do). This will list all the small breweries in your area and give you some suggestions as to the most likely sources.
A final suggestion: If all of this puts you off having a genuine real ale bar in your house, there is a 'next-best-thing' solution. Most small breweries, as well as supplying pins, will also sell you 'polypins'. These are the beer equivalent of the wine boxes which you can buy in supermarkets. i.e. you get a cardboard box with a collapsible bag inside which holds your beer. (Just like the wine boxes, they come complete with a built-in plastic tap) Because the bag collapses as you drink the beer, there is very little air in contact with the precious liquid and, therefore, the beer keeps fresh for much longer. You don't need to have a stillage or taps & spiles (or even a mallet!). The beer will be 'racked off bright' which means that it's not technically real ale (because it's not fermenting within the container in which it's supplied) but, basically, it's the same beer and still tastes great!
Hoping that this helps,
Chris
There are people who'll tell you that looking after real ale is incredibly difficult. This isn't really true but you'll certainly learn through experience. If you slam a spile peg in two or three days before you want to drink the beer and insert the tap at the last possible moment you'll have a good starting point but every beer has its own characteristics. (You'll also learn to take the weather into account. If you try to put a spile peg into a pin of ale, straight from the dray, on a stormy August day the only advice I can give is 'Stand well back!').
Returning to your question: Where do you get the beer from? I suggest getting hold of a copy of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide. (You don't need to buy it. It should be in your local library. Even an old edition will do). This will list all the small breweries in your area and give you some suggestions as to the most likely sources.
A final suggestion: If all of this puts you off having a genuine real ale bar in your house, there is a 'next-best-thing' solution. Most small breweries, as well as supplying pins, will also sell you 'polypins'. These are the beer equivalent of the wine boxes which you can buy in supermarkets. i.e. you get a cardboard box with a collapsible bag inside which holds your beer. (Just like the wine boxes, they come complete with a built-in plastic tap) Because the bag collapses as you drink the beer, there is very little air in contact with the precious liquid and, therefore, the beer keeps fresh for much longer. You don't need to have a stillage or taps & spiles (or even a mallet!). The beer will be 'racked off bright' which means that it's not technically real ale (because it's not fermenting within the container in which it's supplied) but, basically, it's the same beer and still tastes great!
Hoping that this helps,
Chris
-- answer removed --
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