JOHANN CARL LEUCHS ON WINE-MAKING. 213 



main. The filling from one bottle into anothei: is simply done 

 by leaving the sediment back. 



Filling uj) and Wasting of Wines. 



Even in tlic best-made casks an evaporation of the spirit and 

 watery parts of the wine takes place, escaping through the seams, 

 forming, consequently, by the diminution of it, a vacuum above 

 it. This is called "the wasting" of the wine. No remedies 

 against it have proved effective ; the only thing to be done is the 

 timely filling up of the casks, for the air, coming into contact with 

 the wine, would otherwise spoil it. A younger wine, though 

 similar in quality or taste, is generally taken for this purpose. 

 Before it is done, the air must be blown out of the cork by a pair 

 of bellows, or the empty space be sulphurized. If wine has been 

 freshly drawn off, it must be filled up within the first twenty -four 

 hours, especially if the casks are new, for these draw a great deal 

 of fluids in ; again in about eight or fourteen days ; later, in three 

 or four weeks, and so on. 



In case the wine should be mouldy, it must be filled up by 

 means of a pipe laid under its surface, so as not to drive the mould 

 under it. When the cask is full, this must be taken off with a 

 spoon. If the mould should be mixed already with the wine, 

 this must be drawn off through a faucet whose mouth is covered 

 by a piece of gauze. 



In case there should not wine enough be left to fill a cask suffi- 

 ciently up, the empty space in it must at least be sulphurized 

 every four to five days, and fresh air blown into it. The bung- 

 cloths must at every filling up be well washed or renewed, as 

 they easily tend to make it sour. 



Of late it has been recommended to put glass bells upon the 

 bung, thereby greatly facilitating the filling-up process. These 

 are fixed by cork stoppers, by boring a conical hole, of the thick- 

 ness of the lower part of the tube of the glass bell, through a piece 

 of cork. The tighter this is let into the bung-hole, the more se- 

 cure will be the result. It will be well, however, before letting 

 it in, to dip the cork into hot water for several minutes. After 

 all this is done, the glass bell is turned into the hole of the stopper 

 to about two thirds of the tube, so that it is felt sticking tightly. 

 It is then filled with the same kind of wine as that in the cork, 

 and the upper mouth of it closed by an ordinary stopper. A few 

 days after it is filled up again, until the wine has settled, and it 

 will then be seen that it remains in the bell. The farther filling 

 up may be repeated every two or three weeks. These bells must 

 be from three to six or eight inches wide, and the six to ten-inch 

 long tubes have an upper mouth one and a half inches wide. 



The advantages presented by this method are : 1. That no mould 

 can be formed ; 2. It results in much less sediment or yeast ; 3, 

 The wines, if once clear, need less drawing off. 



