This is the best link I've found so far brewery sundries.
The following practices described below are simply to keep air away from beer. Air causes oxidation and will affect the quality of the product.
Like everything that's alive in life, 'real' ale is no exception and needs looking after from the moment you set it up on your ' stillage ' after delivery and to service into the glass.
It is likely that you will receive it in firkins (9 galls) and that you will probably have ordered enough for a week's consumption. Let's say for starters, three firkins.(27 galls or 216 pints)
- Patience is required because one should allow 24 hours to elapse so that the beer has time to drop clear and be in the correct position before 'venting' 'tapping' and serving.
- Before bashing in a tap (into the keystone), you must first 'vent' the barrel by tapping in the coloured button 'the tut' - best to use a sanitized 'hard spile'. There may be some fizzing and a small amount of leakage which should be mopped up before it wets the floor. Let the fizzing completely stop in order to release the remaining pressure from this secondary fermentation.
- Now put in the hard spile into the 'shive' firmly by hand.
- Bash in the tap firmly and safely (into the keystone) and replace the hard spile with the 'soft spile' (sometimes called 'the bamboo'). This is designed to allow beer to be drawn off from the barrel and through the system whilst protecting the beer from air-borne infection. The beer will remain fresh for at least three days with the soft spile in place throughout service but replaced with the hard spile each night.
Your firkin is ready to be used and must not be moved.. Test it in a clean glass for clarity and smell.
At close of evening session, always replace the soft spile with the hard spile to seal what's left in the firkin. Turn the tap off for the night. It might well be a good idea to prepare the next firkin, ready for the next service, by venting and putting a soft spile in to allow it to complete its secondary fermentation and to make it less hazardous when tapping it the following morning.
Never leave empty pipe lines. Not a good idea. If pipes are cleaned properly each week, they will keep the beer perfectly wholesome for next service as long as no air is allowed to get to it and that the tap has been turned off at night. A full line is perfectly healthy as long as there is proper temperature control in the cellar (from 11 to 14 degrees C) and in the surrounding pipes going to the bar.
As a general rule, pipes should be kept full, either with fresh beer or with cleaning fluid solution or even plain water. Either way, keep air away from the pipes in order to prevent unwanted yeast deposits.
It is probably good practice, depending on policy, to draw off half a pint of beer from the pump, before serving the first pint of the session. 'Wasted' beer can be used for menu items - ie 'steak and ale pie'....etc