frothy_ head will rise upon the liquor; and it will keep rising, more
or less slowly, for about forty-eight hours. But, the _length of time_
required for the working depends on various circumstances; so that no
precise time can be fixed. The best way is, to take off the froth (which
is indeed _yeast_) at the end of about twenty-four hours, with a common
skimmer, and put it into a pan or vessel of some sort; then, in twelve
hours' time, take it off again in the same way; and so on till the liquor
has _done working_, and sends up no more yeast. Then it is _beer_; and
when it is _quite cold_ (for _ale_ or _strong beer_) put it into the
_cask_ by means of a _funnel_. It must be cold before you do this, or it
will be what the country-people call _foxed_; that is to say, have a rank
and disagreeable taste. Now, as to the _cask_, it must be _sound_ and
_sweet_. I thought, when writing the former edition of this work, that the
_bell-shaped_ were the best casks. I am now convinced that that was an
error. The bell-shaped, by contracting the width of the top of the beer,
as that top descends, in consequence of the draft for use, certainly
prevents the _head_ (which always gathers on beer as soon as you begin to
draw it off) from breaking and mixing in amongst the beer. This is an
advantage in the bell-shape; but then the bell-shape, which places the
widest end of the cask uppermost, exposes the cask to the admission of
_external air_ much more than the other shape. This danger approaches from
the _ends_ of the cask; and, in the bell-shape, you have the _broadest_
end wholly exposed the moment you have drawn out the first gallon of beer,
which is not the case with the casks of the common shape. Directions are
given, in the case of the bell-casks, to put _damp sand_ on the top to
keep out the air. But, it is very difficult to make this effectual; and
yet, if you do not keep out the air, your beer will be _flat_; and when
flat, it really is good for nothing but the pigs. It is very difficult to
_fill_ the bell-cask, which you will easily see if you consider its shape.
It must be placed on the _level_ with the greatest possible _truth_, or
there will be a space left; and to place it with such truth is, perhaps,
as difficult a thing as a mason or bricklayer ever had to perform. And
yet, if this be not done, there will be an _empty space_ in the cask,
though it may, at the same time, run over. With the common casks there are
none of these