81 



large vessels instead of small ones. The control of a large cask 

 requires no more attention, and often not so much as a small one. 



FILLIXC; THE VESSELS. 



A convenient method of filling- the vessels plavs a voiy important 

 part in handling the must. In many places this is accomplished by 

 power pumps, which deliver the must to the receptacles placed in 

 adjacent rooms or in another building. When the press room is over 

 the fermentation room, filling is accomplished by gravity. Hose pipes 

 are largely used for this work, but brass or copper must be used for 

 all metal fittings. The less the must comes in contact with the air 

 after it leaves the press the less liable it is to be contaminated with 

 various undesiral)le organisms. The pumps and pipes used must be 

 kept scrupulously clean. 



The height to which the cask is filled Avith must bears upon the 

 method of fermentation to be employed. In England the old i)ractice 

 of running the barrels or casks full so that they would "work them- 

 selves clean" is still in use to some extent, as it is in this country, but 

 all progressive makers in England and elsewhere have al)andoned this 

 practice. Whatever modern sj'stem one may follow, the vessel is 

 never filled so full that it will run over during the tumultuous fermen- 

 tation. In the use of open vats the English almost invaria})ly fill within 

 several inches or a foot of the top and skim the lees which rise one or 

 more times, thus exposing the nuist to the air and also causing the lees 

 to be mixed more or less through the liquid. In P^ngland no attempt 

 was made, so far as observed by the writer, to control the exit of gas 

 or entrance of air further than to prevent the entrance of insects ])v 

 some sort of temporary covering. 



The French ferment almost universally in large casks or closed 

 upright tanks, and it is rare indeed one sees an open vat. But when 

 such vats are used, they permit the top lees to rest unbroken, forming 

 a "head,'- the so-called "chapeau.'' over the liquor. In casks they 

 usually leave a space of 8 inches to 1 foot below the l)ung unfilled. 

 This permits the head to form without any overflow of lees. 



In Germany they invariably leave a space of from s to 12 inches below 

 the bung unfilled, but with an entirely difl'erentend in view from that 

 of the Frenchman. The latter makes nuich of the proper appearance 

 of the "chapeau," or top lees, and it is an article of his faith that this 

 cover shall not be broken or permitted to fall bat-k into the liquor. 

 But the Germans, on the contrary, purposely preserve these lees from 

 overflow and desire them to fall l)ack through the liquor and rest at 

 the bottom of the cask. They argue that this secures inclusive fer- 

 mentation, and utilizes all alcoholic material in the top lees which 

 would be lost by skimming or by drawing the liquor away from the 

 lees. 



17217— No. 71—03 



