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3rd. Another method, which also answers well and is applic- 

 able to tubs and open vats, consists in carefully washing, scrubbing, 

 and whitewashing inside with a lime wash made of two pounds of 

 quicklime to every 100 gallons capacity of the vessel, just sufficient 

 water being added to reduce it to the constituency of thin paint, 

 viz., about two gallons. The lime wash is left to stand and dry for 

 a few days, and is then washed off. A small quantity of sulphuric 

 acid added to the water will help in dissolving the lime inside the 

 casks where the brush cannot reach. 



4th. The following method, too, I have often advised, and 

 whenever it has been practised no taint has spoilt the wine through 

 bad caskage, viz. : The empty cask, if a large one, has its door 

 removed, a man gets in, and a couple of bucketsful of water are 

 thrown into it ; with a straw broom the inside is scoured all round 

 and the dirty water swept out into a tub left purposely standing 

 below the manhole to collect it. 



If there are indications that the cask is sour or mouldy, a 

 gallon or two of a solution of sulphuric acid one part, in water 

 twelve to fifteen parts, is carefully poured into the cask the acid 

 being poured into the water, and not the water on to the acid, which 

 would cause splashings and with the long-handled broom the 

 cellarman, using every precaution not to get splashed by the acid, 

 rinses every part of the inside of the cask. This acid solution, 

 although dirty looking after once using, may still be utilised for 

 washing more casks, and for that purpose it is carefully syphoned 

 out into a small keg or a wooden bucket. This syphoning must 

 only be done by one who knows how to do it without getting any of 

 the liquid into his mouth, as this would result in severe burning and 

 much harm being done to the teeth. For this reason I would caution 

 any raw hand at that kind of work against using the acid at all, 

 and applying instead some simpler, if not as efficacious, method of 

 disinfecting the casks. This is followed by a couple of bucketsful 

 of hot water in which a few handfuls of washing soda (one pound 

 per gallon of water) are thrown, for a 500-gallon cask, or a little 

 more for a 1,000-gallon vessel. With the aid of a hard brush some 

 very serviceable hard brushes for scrubbing casks, made of steel 

 wires and coarse fibres, will be found useful both heads, as well as 

 the interior of the casks all round, are thoroughly scrubbed. By 

 the time the scrubbing is done the water looks very dirty and of a 

 washy coffee colour, especially if the cask has previously contained 

 red wine. This dark wash is, in its turn, swept out of the cask, 

 and two fresh bucketsful of hot water and soda are thrown in, 

 the operation of scrubbing being repeated. This wash having been 

 swept out, the cask is well rinsed with clean water, then allowed to 

 drain and dry. The next day a piece of sulphur rag is burnt in it, 

 the door replaced and screwed well home, and the plug driven in. 

 Care should be taken to save the hands] from contact with the 

 caustic soda or acid washes recommended. 



