Are there benefits of bottle or cask conditioning? Sure there are. Here's a list: It's easier than force carbonating Your beer can conceivably last longer because it is actively fermenting as it carbonates (i.e. longer shelf life) It's ALL NATURAL It's great if you intended to transport your beer from one coast to the other, or wanted to brew ahead of a scheduled event (i.e. for gifts). Many people attest that it gives you a thicker head with smaller bubbles, that lasts longer. Some beer styles require this method to "do it right" It's traditional.

Are there any drawbacks to bottle or cask conditioning? You need to make sure your priming sugar is right and the temperature is constant and cool, or your bottles may explode. You have to wait 3-4 weeks for your beer to undergo a second fermentation in the cask or bottle, before it is fully carbonated. If not done properly, it can actually damage your beer.

What can I do to make sure I bottle or cask condition my ale properly? Use Co2 to purge all the air out of your cask before leaving it to "condition" The reason for this "purging", is that yeast use only a small % of the oxygen in the headspace to carbonate your beer. The remaining oxygen can OXIDIZE your beer and make it taste stale, like carboard. Improper bottling/casking is often done by homebrewers who do not purge the headspace. It is actually better to force carbonate the beer than to improperly bottle condition beer.

What advantages are there to force carbonating with a tank of co2? There are MANY advantages. Let's name a few: Only 3-7 day wait to fully carbonate beer and for the beer to mature from it's "green" state to a drinkable beer. Using a counterpressure bottle filler allows bottled beer to be given away immediately as gifts, and can be consumed immediately. Correct counterpressure filling means you purge the bottle with co2, then cap on foam. This is common practice in professional breweries and enhances shelf life and helps maintain beer flavor because of minimal exposure to the air. Greatly reduces turnaround time on beer. Kegging and force carbonating means you can have beer on tap in as little as two weeks, versus cask conditioning (5 weeks).

Which method is better? What should I use? It's really just a matter of preference, and how long you want to wait. CO2 is CO2 no matter how you slice it, but some brewers think the longer aging and natural carbonating of cask conditioning develops a spectacular latticed head that lasts the longest. Others like to feel that their beer is bottled/kegged "alive" which adds to the character of the beer. Lastly, some people prefer the "modern technology" approach and that it is simply faster to force carbonate and there are no worries about oxygen exposure (particularly in bottling). Finally, some beers lend themselves more to a traditional cask conditioning...such as the lambic beers where fruit is added to the cask and the beer is aged for a year. We at BREWTREE will leave it for you to decide...exceptional ales/lagers can be made employing either method...and some would say it is better to save traditional time consuming methods for special batches!