How to Stillage a Cask Correctly

Last updated: 29 June 2026

Most pubs stillage a cask the moment it arrives in the cellar and never think about it again — which is exactly why they’re losing money every single week without knowing it. A badly positioned cask doesn’t just taste worse; it bleeds margin through poor temperature control, accelerated oxidation, and waste you’ll never spot on a stocktake. The difference between stillaging properly and guessing is the difference between knowing your stock variance and wondering where 15 pints of bitter disappeared to last Thursday.

If you’re running a pub on tight margins — and you are — proper cask stillaging is one of the easiest wins you’ll find in the cellar. It takes minutes to get right, costs nothing, and directly protects the profit margin on your biggest sales line. This guide walks you through exactly how to do it, why it matters, and what happens when you don’t.

Why Cask Stillaging Actually Matters

The most effective way to protect cask beer quality is to stillage it level, stable, and at the correct temperature — because an unstable cask loses condition twice as fast as one that sits properly. I learned this the hard way. Early on in my first pub, I was stacking casks wherever there was space, leaning them at odd angles, sometimes propped against the wall. Within two weeks, I had three bad casks — flat beer, off-tastes, and customers sending pints back. The brewery thought it was a delivery issue. It wasn’t. It was me.

Here’s what happens when a cask is stillaged badly: temperature varies inside the barrel, the pressure seal breaks down faster, sediment shifts and clouds the beer, and oxygen seeps in around loose joints. All of that translates directly to waste, unsaleable pints, and margin gone.

The numbers are quiet but brutal. A 1% stock loss on wet sales quietly costs a typical pub £3,000–£5,000 a year. Most of that loss isn’t theft — it’s waste, over-pouring, temperature damage, and measurement error. Proper cask stillaging doesn’t eliminate it, but it absolutely prevents it from getting worse. A badly stillaged cask that sits in your cellar for three weeks will cost you more in degradation than the delivery fee the brewery charges.

That’s not opinion. That’s physics and margin working against you at the same time.

The Anatomy of a Proper Stillage Setup

Before you touch a cask, you need the right foundation. A proper stillage setup has three components: the cradle, the angle, and the environment.

The Cradle

A cask cradle (or tun stand) is a wooden or metal frame designed to hold a barrel stable at the correct angle. It has two curved supports that grip the barrel horizontally, preventing it from rolling or shifting. If you’re using anything else — a shelf, some scaffolding, or stacked pallets — you’re not stillaging. You’re storing. And storage will cost you.

A proper cradle keeps the cask immobile. Movement causes sediment disturbance, pressure changes, and oxidation. The cradle should be solid, level, and bolted down if you’re in a cellar with foot traffic. A wobbling cask is a wasting cask.

The Angle

A cask should be stillaged with the tap end (where you connect the pump) slightly lower than the shive end (the bung at the top). This is called the working tilt. It’s usually a 15–30 degree angle, though most pubs work with around 20 degrees. The angle serves two purposes: it keeps the tap below the liquid level (so you get beer, not foam), and it creates the right pressure gradient inside the cask for consistent pouring.

If you stillage a cask level or upside-down, you’ll get poor flow, air in the lines, and sediment in the tap. Get the angle wrong and your first pint will be foam for three days.

The Environment

A cask needs to sit in a cool, dark, stable environment. Your cellar should be between 12–15°C (54–59°F). Higher than that and the beer deteriorates fast. Temperature swings — even a few degrees — accelerate oxidation. A cask stillaged in direct sunlight or next to a boiler is losing condition from day one, no matter how perfectly it’s angled.

A cask in a warm cellar will go off faster than a cask in a cold one, regardless of how well it’s positioned. That’s why a proper stillage setup includes location as much as cradle and angle.

Step-by-Step Stillaging Process

Step 1: Prepare the Cradle and Space

Clear the stillage area. Make sure the floor is level (not sloping). If your cellar floor is uneven, use wedges or shims to level the cradle itself. A cradle that sits on a slope will put uneven pressure on the barrel and can lead to slow leaks. Check that the cradle bolts are tight and the frame isn’t cracked or warped.

Step 2: Roll the Cask Into Position

Use a barrel trolley or roll the cask carefully on its side. Don’t drop it. A bang or fall can crack the barrel or dislodge internal staves. If you’re moving a full cask (about 150 kg), use equipment. Your back will thank you, and the barrel will arrive intact.

Step 3: Rest the Cask in the Cradle

Lower the cask gently into the curved supports of the cradle. It should rest in the lower curve, with the barrel cradled by the frame on both sides. The cask should be immobile — not loose, not tilting side to side. If it moves when you push it, it’s not settled properly. Reposition it until it sits dead still.

Step 4: Angle the Tap End Lower

Once the cask is resting in the cradle, tilt it so the tap end is lower than the shive end. The angle should be about 20 degrees (roughly the angle of a ramp you could walk down). You can use wedges or adjust the cradle height at one end to achieve this. Most stillages have adjustable feet or built-in tilt, so check your setup.

The exact angle isn’t as important as consistency. Once you’ve set it, don’t change it. Moving a cask around or re-angling it mid-sale disturbs the sediment and ruins the beer.

Step 5: Secure the Shive and Tap

Make sure the shive (wooden bung at the top) is secure and hasn’t been damaged. The shive is where oxygen enters; a loose or cracked shive will let air in and destroy the beer in days. Check the tap is tight and not leaking. Even a slow drip will waste pints over a week and leave a sticky mess in your cellar.

Step 6: Check Temperature and Airflow

Make sure the cask is in a cool spot with no drafts or heat sources nearby. Position it away from pipes, boilers, radiators, or direct light. If your cellar has hot spots, mark them and never stillage casks there. Once positioned, leave the cask undisturbed for at least 6–8 hours before connecting the pump. This lets sediment settle and pressure equalise inside the barrel.

Common Stillaging Mistakes That Cost You Money

Leaning the Cask Against a Wall

This happens in 90% of underfunded cellars. A cask propped against a wall at an angle is not stillaged — it’s just sitting there. It will shift over time, pressure will build unevenly, and the tap will eventually point upward, forcing air into the lines. I’ve seen pubs do this and then complain about flat, foamy beer. The cask isn’t bad. The setup is.

Mixing Cask Heights on the Same Stillage

If you’re running multiple casks on one frame (stacked or side-by-side), keep them at the same height and angle. A cask that’s higher or lower than its neighbours will have different pressure and temperature, meaning different rates of deterioration. You’ll end up with one cask pulling perfectly and another pouring foam three days later.

Stillaging in an Uncontrolled Environment

A cask in a warm cellar, or one exposed to direct sunlight through a window, will age faster than one in a dark, cool space. I once had a cask stillaged near a sunny windowsill in summer — by mid-afternoon it was noticeably warmer than the others. The beer tasted slightly off within a week. Temperature control is stillaging. Where you put the cask matters as much as how you position it.

Never Checking the Cask Once It’s In Place

Too many pubs stillage a cask on day one and forget about it for three weeks. A proper weekly line check includes physically checking each cask: Is it still level? Is the tap tight? Is there any seepage? Is the surrounding area clean? A cask that’s been sitting quietly might have a micro-leak you haven’t noticed, or it might have shifted on the cradle. Weekly checks catch these before they become problems.

Monitoring Casks After Stillaging

Stillaging is not a one-time job. Once a cask is in position, you need to monitor it. Here’s what to check weekly:

• Temperature: Use a thermometer to check the cellar temperature near the cask. It should stay between 12–15°C. If it’s creeping above 15°C, you’ve got an environment problem, not a cask problem.
• Cask Stability: Push gently on the cask. It should not move. If it rocks or shifts, it’s settled wrong. Stop using it and re-stillage it properly.
• Tap and Shive: Check both seals are tight. Look for any weeping or dripping. A slow leak will waste litres over a week.
• Sediment and Clarity: The first pint should be clear within a few pours. If it stays cloudy or thick for days, the cask isn’t settled or the stillage angle is wrong.

The number that actually matters is wet GP by line, not a single headline stock figure. That means every cask’s performance matters. A cask that looks fine but is still losing 2–3% of its volume to evaporation or micro-leaks will silently wreck your GP on that line. Weekly checks catch this.

Making Stillaging Part of Your Weekly Count

This is where most pubs fall apart. They stillage correctly once and then never check again. Then they wonder why their stock variance is a mystery.

A proper weekly count includes a cellar walk-through where you dip every cask (measure the ullage — the empty space at the top), check the temperature, and reconcile against what the till says you sold. When I moved from a tangle of spreadsheets to a simple count routine around a dipstick and a set of scales, my weekly variance went from guesswork to a number I could trust within a fortnight. Before that, I was losing track of partial kegs and spirit measures because I wasn’t counting consistently.

The StockTap pub stock app handles this bit for you — it records cask dips, temperatures, and waste notes in one place, synced to till data. But whether you use an app or a clipboard, the discipline is what matters. Dip the cask, note the temperature, check the tap, move to the next one. Five minutes per cask. Once a week. That’s stillaging properly.

Spirits hide losses in over-pouring (a free-poured 25ml is often 32–35ml), draught hides it in poor cellar temperature and bad line cleaning waste, and most stock ‘theft’ is actually measurement error and forgotten wastage. Weigh open spirit bottles, dip every cask and partial keg, and reconcile against till data the same day. That’s how you know if your stillaging is actually protecting your stock or just delaying problems.

If you’re doing this already, you’re ahead of 80% of the pubs in your area. If you’re not, you’ve just found a £3,000–£5,000-a-year leak in your operation.

For more information, visit SmartPubTools.