My first pearoast
And oddly enough a pearoast of my first ever post here 5 and a half long years ago. Anyhow..

I used to work as a barman in an Irish pub in North London that also ran quite a well-known rock/indie/metal club next door (I may well name it if anyone's curious). When working in the main pub area, we were always told to empty the lager drip-trays into a big bucket under the bar. I never gave much thought as to why; just naively assuming it was to save us the trouble of having to walk over to the sink to empty them every time they filled up or something. It was only after working there for a number of months that I found out the management would secretly empty this bucket into a vacant barrel at the end of every week and then serve it back up to the goths next door on a Friday and Saturday night.
That’s a second-hand mixture of three different lagers, kept at room temperature for a week and then served back up for £2.50 a pint (this was around 2002 when you’d expect to pay no more than about £1.80 for a legitimate pint in a decent pub).

I really should have reported them, especially after they gave me the sack for helping myself to a free drink after work one night, the cheeky cunts.
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 15:50, 23 replies)

Bollocks
Lager kegs are sealed and gas is added on the premises. If you tamper with a barrel to get it open the breweries don't take them back and refill them. Also, lager left to it's own devices starts to seperate, especially if kept warm, after a few days, and will taste horrendous, even goths aren't that stupid. You could put it in to an ale barrel, but again, you can't tamper with them or the brewery won't take them, You could technically get it in via funnel, but i doubt anyone is that desperate to fleece goths.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:13, closed)

Oh yes, of course
I'm obviously making this all up.
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:16, closed)

How did the nice manager get the beer back in the barrell?
and re-gas it after breaking a seal?
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:18, closed)

But
they didn't need to send it back to the brewery to refill, they were refilling it themselves. As for repressurising it, you can certainly get barrels that you can apply CO2 to yourself, to help drive the beer to the tap, because our local hall uses them.
(richardm, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:26, closed)

This is true
As is said, you could do it with ale barrels, but then you have to sell it off Handpumps rather than lager taps as the gas used and pressure ratios are different, you won't get it properly fizzy like lager. All lager arrives not fizzy and you add CO2 on the premises. And it'll still be seperated and taste like piss.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:32, closed)

Given that goths are wont to drink
snakebite'n'black, I'm inclined to believe this story.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:12, closed)

It can be done....
as I used to do it every day myself.
1) Disconnect lager pipe from barrel
2) Use 'dummy' connector to sloooooowly release gas pressure from barrel
3)Use pipe-wrench to unscrew feed pipe from barrel
4)Use cask ale filter set-up to filter second-hand lager into barrel
5)When done, re-install feed pipe, tighten and gas up barrel

Easy! This method can be used with most crappy lagers like Carlsberg etc, but not with 'premiums' like Wifebeater, as it ruins the taste.
(Mao's stepson is doing his bit for East/West relation's, Sat 9 Jul 2011, 5:34, closed)

£1.80 for a pint in 2002?
Pull the other one.
(McChinaman banned, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:13, closed)

John's smiths it is then
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:55, closed)

This
I remember being in the Shakespeare's Head on Carnaby Street in the mid 80's, they had a special night on, cheap beer, and it was £1.50 a pint. I'm from oop North and it was still way more expensive than my local charged on a normal night. Robbing Southern shandy supping cunts.
( His Popiness the Hole Invaded Poland on, Sat 9 Jul 2011, 16:07, closed)

In what way?
From at least 2003 - 2007 in Dundee it was still £1 a pint in a good few places around town. I believe it still is in some of the cheap crap studenty bits.

Dundee FTW!
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Sun 10 Jul 2011, 12:46, closed)

Always drink bottled beer in clubs.
This was one of many things I picked up as a student (though I didn't always follow it -- for 50p a pint I didn't care).
Nowadays I only tend to drink from the tap is it's hand-pulled and I'm always wary on the first pint -- I've had quite a few pints where you can taste the pipe-cleaning fluid.
Pubs with good beer are getting harder to find.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 18:01, closed)

"I've had quite a few pints where you can taste the pipe-cleaning fluid"
Every pint from every Wetherspoons, ever.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:10, closed)

Most modern pubs and chains are as bad.
I like a pub to be clean, but the modern way of doing things, cleaning too much and not sacrificing any beer, means it's tough to get a good pint.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:13, closed)

I like a pub to be covered in sawdust.
Actually, I don't think I've ever been in a pub with sawdust on the floor. I wonder if they still exist?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:17, closed)

They do indeed...
...in little west yorkshire villages not far from Huddersfield/Halifax, sawdust on the floor, low benches and the stink of dog. It's can be very Slaughtered Lamb.
(lingmops, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:56, closed)

You...
Made me miss.
(McChinaman banned, Fri 8 Jul 2011, 2:43, closed)

Sorry, I meant clean as in hygenic.
I don't want a glass with lipstick on it or in a largely unwashed state. I do love a proper Yorkshire pub -- but the good ones tend to be in villages and hard to get to.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Fri 8 Jul 2011, 17:22, closed)

It's not the getting to that's ever the problem...
... it's the getting home again afterwards
( notmyrealname, Sat 9 Jul 2011, 18:07, closed)

beer yes not sure about lager
It certainly happens with beer, collect drip trays (if not scummy) and pour into a bucket and filter back into barrel. No barrel tampering required, the filter funnel fits through the spile hole. I didn't personally do it but did see it done.
Line cleaning is a simple process though you really shouldn't be getting line cleaner flavoured beer! I guess if you are busy you could possibly forget to pull through water before beer.....
(cmouse is pondering about life in other jobs, Fri 8 Jul 2011, 10:31, closed)

It depends
If they're running around like coked up spaniels due to under-staffing (as the staff at the local 'spoons always seem to be) then management might (particularly if not real ale drinkers like the guy who tried to argue that the malt vinegar taste in my mate's pint was "normal for a real ale, they tend to be punchy") be inclined to skip, or not be as through as they should be with, that part.

That said caustic soda probably would do you sufficiently bad damage to be a worry from a litigation stand point...
(Rounded Rycroft Thought of something witty but posted this instead, Sat 9 Jul 2011, 16:48, closed)

It was definitely done with lager
Fosters, Carlsberg and Kronenberg, all thrown into the same barrel and served up as 'Fosters'. I'm not saying there weren't complaints made by customers; the policy was no refunds, exchange only. If they moaned they could have it swapped for a pint of strongbow (which wasn't tampered with).
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Sat 9 Jul 2011, 19:31, closed)

Boston Arms??
Tufnell Park.

Am i right???
(jonnyninetails, Mon 11 Jul 2011, 13:00, closed)