Beer engine/pump

[Will_D]

Ah Ha! Every day you learn a little more!

According to the product description these pumps would usually be run on compressed air (much cheaper than CO2) You would just use CO2 as a top blanket.

Reminds me of the 70s   when Scottish and Newcastle were supplying beer to pubs with 2 or 300 gallon "bag in a steel tank" that was forced out by compressed air!

[sub82]

Great stuff! Thanks for all the links Will, John and Eoin.

[Fal]

Do I understand correctly that at a basic level the hand pump setup is a hand pump connected by tube to a sealed container of beer and Ideally a valve in line between container and hand pump?

[Will_D]

The most basic cask beer set up is:

A cask thats been vented and a soft spile fitted (this allows the cask to breath - as the beer is removed air flows in shortening the life of the beer.

How to get the beer out:
Simplest is a wooden or metal tap knocked into the cask!

Next up is the hand pump. This has to be above the cask or you will get a syphoning effect. This sucks the beer out of the cask and up an into the beer faucet on your bar top.

If the cask is above the tap then you need one of the check valves mentioned above.

If you don't like the idea of air in your cask, or you don' use a traditional cask but a Cornie then one of these valves allows you to keep a slight over pressure blanket on the beer 9 say 1 or 2 psi at most)

HTH

BTW: Welcome to the site and ask away

[delzep]

Reminds me of the 70s   when Scottish and Newcastle were supplying beer to pubs with 2 or 300 gallon "bag in a steel tank" that was forced out by compressed air!

Pretty sure this is what Pilsner Urquell do in their Tankovna pubs in Czech Republic

[sub82]

Just resurrecting this old thread for some advice.

I've had this up and running for a year using a filled polypin to feed it. I found that the Flojet gas driven pump was necessary for the beer engine to work. The beer engine wouldn't suck the beer out of the polypin on its own and doesn't appear to cause a vacuum at all unless it is used with the Flojet gas pump.

Has anyone ever heard of this type of set up?

I'm asking because I'm thinking of using it with a corny keg and replacing the Flojet pump with positive CO2 pressure in the keg. Does this sound possible?

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Will do you mean a cask breather?

[sub82]

Ah! Makes sense!

Is it an easy fix?

[CARA]

Easy enough if you remember where every screw and part goes back to. Seal kits are about 30/40 ish sterling quids.

[sub82]

Am actually just off the phone with a Brewery Services company.

I think what I have isn't a beer engine and is actually a 'glorified lager tap'.

There's a damper under mine and no pump cylinder. Operating the hand pump opens a valve which allows the flojet pump to feed beer to the tap.

On the plus side I should be able to use it with a pressurised corny keg!

[CARA]

Ah, a gas pressure pump. Usually made by Taunton.

[Will_D]

Never heard of these! Any chance of picrures please?

[sub82]

Yep - there are pictures of the "beer engine" and Flojet gas pump up on the first page of the thread.

[CARA]

I'll take some pics of the gas pressure pump tomorrow evening. Alot of the cider breweries installed them for their keg conditioned loveliness.

[auralabuse]

I'll take some pics of the gas pressure pump tomorrow evening. Alot of the cider breweries installed them for their keg conditioned loveliness.

Your like the Albert Einstein of beer