To use " pins" do you need this angeam beer engine ?..... sounds like a reasonable way to get beer....is it just bitters or can ypu fet them in IPA's ?
Paul
The pin is a stainless real ale cask (sometimes plastic) which holds half a firkin, 4.5 gallons. You could just hammer in a barrel tap and pour straight into the glass but it will be flat, the beer engine I have was factory reconditioned by Angram and clamps onto your worktop in exactly the same way it would in a pub. This pulls a pint properly and in my opinion is worth every penny, even if you brew the beer yourself it will be far better if conditioned in a barrel and served through a pump than it will bottle conditioned.
I have built a cooling system whereby I have a large container of glycol coolant piped into a spare freezer and a thermostatically controlled pump to circulate around an insulated jacket that fits a pin, this keeps it at exactly the right temperature for whichever style of beer I have. In the winter I swap the cooling system for a brew belt to keep it up to temperature as the pins are in an outbuilding on the other side of the pantry wall.
I have also added a cask aspirator which is fed from a bottle of drinks grade CO2 and keeps a blanket of gas over the beer without carbonating it, this will extend the usable life from a week to about 5 weeks, although most of them get drunk within about 10 days if I’m at home, far less if my son is back from Uni.
I have two local craft breweries, one is less than two miles from my house, and they have a constantly changing range of beers alongside their core brews, at the moment I’m on their traditional oatmeal stout.
When I was brewing, albeit from kits, I found the best means of bottling it was using the swing top bottles, no messing about with crown caps and a lot more reliable.
As others have said, cleanliness is absolutely essential, but so too is temperature control, yeasts like to be at their specified temperature and do not like wild fluctuations, it stresses the yeast and this produces off flavours, it can also stop your fermentation and make it difficult to get it going again.
I wouldn’t go down the Pinter route for numerous reasons, the biggest that it is a very expensive way of producing meh beer.
The kits are a great way of starting out and learning the basics without investing heavily, but for quality beer the all grain route will give the best results.
Good luck.
