A spile is a small wooden peg used to control the flow of carbon dioxide out of a cask of ale. Wood is hard fibrous lignified structural tissue produced as secondary Xylem in the stems of Woody plants notably trees but also shrubs Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container traditionally made of Wood Staves and bound with Iron Hoops The Ale is a type of Beer brewed from Malted Barley using a top-fermenting Brewers' yeast.
Cask ale is served without externally-supplied carbon dioxide or nitrogen. Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised Beer which is conditioned (including Secondary fermentation The idea that it is served "flat" with no bubbles at all, though, is a misconception; properly conditioned cask ale contains bubbles of carbon dioxide generated by the natural action of the yeast living in the beer while it is transported and stored1[›]. Yeasts are a growth form of eukaryotic Microorganisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with about 1500 Species currently described In fact, the yeast will actually produce more carbon dioxide than is required, and it is for this reason that the cask is vented through the spile hole in the shive. A shive is a Wooden or Plastic fitting used in ale casks. It is found on the curved side of the cask arranged so that when the cask
Two kinds of spile are available. Initially, "soft" or porous spiles are used, made of open-grained softwood, bamboo, or harder wood with cuts in. Softwood is a generic term used in Woodworking and the Lumber industries for Wood from Conifers (needle-bearing trees from the order Pinales Bamboo is a group of Woody perennial Evergreen Plants in the True grass family Poaceae, subfamily These allow the excess gas to escape. Once the cellarman judges this process to be complete, a hard spile is inserted which does not allow any more gas out of the cask. These are made of harder wood (usually still technically "softwood", but denser and more solid than soft spiles). Plastic pegs intended for sealing shives are occasionally used as hard spiles.
During service, the spile must be removed to allow air in to replace the beer drawn off. Once the spile is reinserted enough gas will come out of solution to replace what was lost, but the amount of carbon dioxide available in the system - free or dissolved - is limited, so it is important that the spile is kept in as much as possible. This is one of several reasons for real ale's short shelf-life once a cask is opened - if too much carbon dioxide is lost, the beer will be flat. Typically, the beer will be good only for two to four days2[›]; this short life is why it is important that a pub serving real ale have sufficient turnover for casks to be emptied while still at their best.
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Footnotes
^ 1: Properly served, there should be no significant quantities of this yeast present in the beer as it is drunk. During the conditioning process, finings help to gather the yeast into clumps ("flocculation") which sink into the belly of the cask below the tap. Finings are substances that are usually added at or near the completion of the processing of Wine, Beer and various nonalcoholic juice beverages Flocculation is a process where a Solute comes out of Solution in the form of floc or flakes Only if the cask is shaken, tilted too far, or served too early will the yeast find its way into the glass.
^ 2: Stronger beers will last longer, mostly because the increased alcohol content serves as a preservative. In Chemistry, an alcohol is any Organic compound in which a Hydroxyl group ( - O[[hydrogen H]]) is bound to a Carbon A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods pharmaceuticals paints biological samples wood etc Nevertheless, they may be a little flat by the end of their life. This is not catastrophic, as most strong beers are somewhat dark, heavy and sweet and thus rely less on carbonation compared to light, hoppy "golden ales".
Other Uses
Like many such older terms, the word spile has other local meanings. For example:
- The iron spigot driven into a sugar maple to produce maple syrup. Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of Maple trees In Canada and the United States it is most often eaten with waffles and pancakes [1]
- At Indian Harbor in Nova Scotia, the shores that hold up fish processing "stores" were once called spiles.
References
- Cellarmanship - Caring for Real Ale, 2nd Edition, 1992. Published by CAMRA. ISBN 1-85249-063-2
- ^ "Flap Jack Do It Again Transcript". Good Eats Fan Page (May 21, 2006).
See also
A keystone is a small Wooden or Plastic fitting used in ale casks.Dictionary
spile
-noun
- A spigot or plug.
- A spout inserted in a tree to draw off sap.
- A bollard. Spile is the word most frequently used on the Great Lakes to indicate a bollard.
- A term used in the Cornish tin mining industry referring to a metal bar or girder driven through broken rock to hold it in place while mining operations continue underneath the spiles. Typically a series of spiles are driven into the rock pile, and spiles are often used to close off a discontinued stope. The action of inserting spiles is referred to as "spiling" or "spiling-off".
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