390 CASKS TO SWEETEN. 



peg, as if wine-bibbers ; and either their or some 

 other suction drew the peg, and set the wine afloat. 



CASKS. The larger the cask, the longer and 

 better will the beer keep ; thence, the butt stands 

 first, and should be set upright. Considerable fa- 

 milies seldom use casks below the hogshead for 

 their keeping beer. The wood of new casks, as has 

 been before remarked, will impart its flavour (that 

 of bark and wood) to the beer, during several brew- 

 ings. Wash first in cold, then in boiling water. 

 Scald with salt and water boiled. Some use lime or 

 brimstone. Or after well washing, keep in them 

 beer grounds, or stale beer. The coopers season 

 the staves, before they are worked into casks, by 

 boiling them in a copper. 



To sweeten FOXED, or tainted casks. The radical 

 method is that of the cooper. Unhead the cask, 

 and put in a chafing-dish of coals, on which cast 

 pitch or brimstone, the head being put in loose dur- 

 ing the fumigation ; or use the scrubbing-brush with 

 a strong ley of hard wood or pearl ashes ; or pour 

 that ley into the bung-hole, boiling hot, letting it 

 remain some time ; or malt-dust, boiled in water ; or 

 bay-salt. The following was formerly reckoned 

 effectual for a musty cask : fill the cask with boil- 

 ing water, not quite to the brim, put in some pieces 

 of unslacked stone-lime, which will immediately 

 cause an effervescence, like the boiling of a copper; 

 but this must not be continued more than half an 

 hour, or the lime may prove as bad as the must. 

 The effervescence over, bung down, but wash out 

 before the liquor be quite cold. All utensils must 



