How to tap a cask: stillage, vent, tap and spile step by step, and how to size the cask so none of it goes down the sink

How to tap a cask: put it on the stillage with the shive at the top, let it settle and cool to cellar temperature (11 to 13°C), clean the shive and keystone, vent it by knocking a spile through the middle of the shive, then drive a clean, closed tap into the keystone with one firm hit. Leave a soft spile in while it conditions, swap to a hard spile when it stops working, and once it's on sale, sell it within three days.

That's the short version. The long version matters because cask is the one product in the cellar where a mistake doesn't just cost you a pint, it costs you the cask. And the brewers don't all agree on the details, so where they differ I've said so. Follow your brewer's own guidance if it's different from what's here. The rest of the cellar, temperature, lines and gas, is in pub cellar management basics.

What you need

• A mallet (rubber or wooden).
• A clean, dry tap. Timothy Taylor’s says clean it with hot water and detergent and rinse it well in hot water first.
• A fresh set of spiles for every cask, soft (porous) and hard (non-porous). Adnams says use a clean set each time.
• A brush and warm water for the shive and keystone, a hop filter, and a sample glass.

Step by step

Tapping a cask, from delivery to on sale (from the Timothy Taylor’s, Adnams and Cask Marque guidance in the sources)

Step	When	What to do
1. Stillage it	On delivery	Shive at the top, keystone at the front. Once it's settling, don't move it, or you stir the sediment back up (Adnams).
2. Let it settle and cool	At least 5 hours, no more than 24, before venting	Timothy Taylor’s window. Opening before 5 hours loses too much gas. Straight off a lorry it takes about an hour per gallon to cool, so a 9 gallon firkin wants about 9 hours.
3. Clean the shive and keystone	Just before venting	Brush and warm water (Timothy Taylor’s), or food-grade detergent (Adnams).
4. Vent it	Once settled and cool	Knock a spile through the thin centre of the shive to let the excess gas out. Timothy Taylor’s uses a hard peg and wiggles it out slowly to control the release. Cask Marque's guide says make sure a soft spile is in the shive. If it's very lively, Adnams says tap it quickly and draw some beer off to give the gas room.
5. Tap it	Timothy Taylor’s taps at the same time as venting. Adnams says 24 to 36 hours before you want to serve.	Tap closed, clean and dry. One solid hit, then a second to make sure it's tight (Timothy Taylor’s).
6. Condition it	Up to about 3 days	Soft spile in. Check every 6 hours. If it's still hissing or frothing, give it longer. When it stops, it's conditioned: hard spile it (Timothy Taylor’s). Cask Marque says most cask ales take up to 3 days.
7. Test it	Before connecting	Pull a sample from the cask tap and look, smell, taste. Then connect through a hop filter (Timothy Taylor’s, Adnams).
8. Serve it	Every session	Soft spile in while you're serving, so air can replace the beer. At the end of the session, hard spile back in finger tight and turn the cask tap off (Adnams).
9. Sell it	Within 3 days of the first pint	Adnams' rule: air drawn in through the soft spile oxidises the beer. Check it every day until it comes off.

Two timings people mix up. Once a cask is conditioned and hard spiled, Timothy Taylor’s says it can sit sealed for up to 10 days before it goes on sale. Adnams puts general shelf life at around 8 weeks from filling. But once you've pulled the first pint, the clock is three days, and that's the one that costs money.

Soft spile, hard spile, and the one mistake that stops the pump

A soft spile lets air through, so the cask can breathe while you serve and spare gas can escape while it conditions. A hard spile seals it, after venting and at the end of every session. The mistake is leaving the hard spile in during service. Adnams says never do it, because it puts a vacuum on the line and the pump stops pulling. If a handpull goes stiff and empty with beer still in the cask, check the spile before you ring anyone. Tap the spiles in firmly, but not so hard you can't get them out again.

The three-day clock is a buying decision, not a cellar job

Here's what nobody tells you when you put a cask line on. If it has to be sold in three days, the cask size decides how many pints a day that line has to sell:

Pints a day needed to finish a cask in three days (a firkin is 72 pints; a pin is half a firkin; a kilderkin is two)

Cask	Gallons	Pints	Pints a day to sell it in 3 days
Pin	4.5	36	12
Firkin	9	72	24
Kilderkin	18	144	48

So a line doing 100 pints a week, about 14 a day, takes five days to empty a firkin. Days four and five are the pints that come back across the bar or get poured away. On that line you want pins, or one fewer cask beer. I've done the fuller sums on line count in how many draught lines a pub needs, and the breather option, and the argument it starts, in cask breathers and cellar yield.

What the last day costs: the average cask pint was £4.91 in The Morning Advertiser's 2026 survey. Ten pints down the sink is £49.10 of sales you didn't make, or about £18 of beer at cost if you run a 55% GP. Do that once a week and it's nearly £1,000 a year at cost, on one line.

The idea: chalk the cask, then count it

Write four things on every cask in chalk or on a day dot: the date it came in, when it was vented, when it was tapped, and when the first pint went over the bar. Anyone going in the cellar can see where every cask is on the clock without asking, and nobody connects a cask that's only had a day.

Then use it on stocktake day. You know a firkin holds 72 pints. Your till knows how many pints of that beer you sold. Line cleaning and the sediment at the bottom take a few, so it'll never be 72, but write down what each cask actually gave you. After a month you'll know your real yield per cask for each beer, and a cask that gave you 55 when the others give you 66 is a conversation with the brewer, or with whoever changed it. My guides on how many pints are in a keg or cask and what draught waste is normal give you the yardsticks.

When a cask won't drop bright or won't stop working

Don't serve it, and don't pour it away. Hard spile it, ring the brewer and ask for a credit or a collection. Full casks sent back are the cleanest claim, and how ullage and returns work is in ullage and wastage claims. If you keep getting slow-clearing casks, check the cellar temperature first, every day, and write it down. My free cellar temperature log has a sheet for it. The keg side of the cellar is in how to change a keg.

Common questions

How long after tapping a cask can you serve it?

It depends on the beer. Adnams says tap 24 to 36 hours before you want to serve so the sediment resettles, and Cask Marque says most cask ales take up to three days to condition. Serve when the soft spile has stopped hissing and frothing and a sample from the cask tap is bright and tastes right.

How long does a cask last once tapped?

Once the first pint is pulled, Adnams says sell it within three days, because air coming in through the soft spile oxidises the beer.

What is the difference between a soft and hard spile?

A soft spile is porous and lets the cask breathe while it conditions and while you serve. A hard spile seals it after venting and at the end of every session. Never leave a hard spile in during service, it puts a vacuum on the line.

What temperature should the cellar be for cask ale?

11 to 13°C, the figure given by Cask Marque and Adnams.

Do you vent or tap a cask first?

Vent first, through the shive, then tap the keystone. Timothy Taylor’s taps straight after venting; Adnams taps 24 to 36 hours before serving. Follow your brewer.

How many pints are in a firkin?

72 pints, which is 9 gallons. A pin is 36 pints and a kilderkin is 144.