Reddit reviews Cellarmanship: The Definitive Guide to Storing, Serving and Caring for Cask Ale

I've brewed a fair amount of cask. The comments here are pretty spot on. The life of cask ale is very short. I'd put it closer to 3-5 days if it's kept well. This can be extended to weeks with a cask aspirator/breather which will slowly dispense CO2.

Other issues not mentioned in the thread:

1. Cooling the cask through venting, settling and service. Ideally, the process for serving cask is like this: A) vent the cask to blow off excess CO2. It's important that you vent the cask at cellar temps to allow in excess CO2 to settle out at roughly 1 volume. Usually takes about 12 hours. You can seal the cask with a hard spile after venting. B) Drive the tap into the keystone C) allow the cask to settle for a day or two in the serving position to allow it to settle for clarity's sake D) serve the beer.
   
   Keeping the beer cooled during this whole process and through service can be an issue. You'll have a hard time fitting a pin with a tap horizontally in a keg fridge. You can use a cask widge to serve a cask (even a firkin) vertically in most keg fridges. Cask Widges are great for home brewed cask beer for a number of reasons.
   
   When we do cask events, we use stainless tubing that saddles the pin and pump ice water through them. With enough insulation (we are in Arizona, so it's always a challenge) you can keep a cask at cellar temps for a few days.
   
   Or you can use a ton of ice.
   
   
2. Service. Everyone loves an engine. They are very expensive. I've bought about a half a dozen heavily discounted engines on ebay (from the UK) over the last years with success. Angram is the industry standard. I strongly recommend one with a cooling coil built in.
   
   If you don't want to drop a shit ton of cash on an engine, there's a very popular DIY engine.
   
   When using an engine, buy some sparklers and decide if you think they are worthwhile. I think they are.
   
   I used to not be a fan of gravity pours but while hiking this summer for 3 months in the UK (331 pints of real ale and 177 pubs!) I stumbled into what turned out to be my favorite pub of the trip and they only poured with gravity. If done correctly, a gravity poured cask will give you huge mushroom shaped head. I am now a fan.
   
   
   For equipment purchases, I check ebay first and the ukbrewing.com. If you want to get serious, I strongly recommend CAMRA's Guide to Cellarmanship

Cellarmanship by Parick O'neill is great resource on cask beer.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Cellarmanship-Patrick-ONeill/1852493313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499350961&sr=8-1&keywords=cellarmanship

To start your education, read the Draught Quality Manual.

Probably about 3 times. The PDF is free.

Since you're in UK, perhaps also Cellarmanship.