Many of the details related to proper handling and management of cask ale are covered in training for Certified Cicerone®. However, there are some basic tasks that anyone serving draught cask ale should be aware of. The beer cellar is a temperature-controlled environment that typically operates between 11–13 °C. Cask ales are generally dispensed at cellar temperature while keg draught beer is cooled to serving temperature by a flash chiller in the cellar. The cellar must be regularly cleaned and maintained to prevent development of off flavours in cask beer.

To prevent additional loss of carbonation as well as excessive oxygen exposure, in-service casks are often sealed with a hard spile (or peg) overnight. However, if the hard spile is left in during service, a vacuum can form as beer is drawn from the cask, making it exceedingly difficult to pull a pint. Hard spiles should be removed from all in-service casks at the beginning of service and replaced at the end of the night.

Instead of using a hard spile, in some modern cask ale service systems, a vent valve may be opened at the start of service and closed at the end of service. Some pubs will leave a soft spile loosely placed in the shive during service, but this can contribute to difficulty in pulling beer through the engine.

Properly handled cask beer should always pour bright, or brilliantly clear. Various things can cause cloudy cask beer, such as not stillaging the cask for long enough prior to service or physically disturbing the cask while in service. If a cask begins to pour cloudy and is not nearly empty, it should be removed from service until the issue can be assessed and dealt with.

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