The Wine Press and the Cellar: A Manual for the Wine-Maker and the Cellar-Man

by Emmet H. Rixford

Rinsing Chain.

Fig. 12.

Visitor.

Old Casks, or those which have been in use, should be well washed as soon as emptied, and the washings should be repeated with clean water until it runs out perfectly clear. Oftentimes the cask will have more or less lees adhering to its inner walls, which cannot be removed by an ordinary washing, but it will be necessary to make use of the rinsing chain. This chain is about six feet long, consisting of links made of square iron whose corners will more readily detach the lees. One end is attached to a long conical bung to keep it from falling into the cask, and the other is armed with a square block of iron of a size to easily go into the bung-hole ([fig. 11]). After pouring in two or three gallons of boiling water, leave the cask for a while so that the lees may become softened, then introduce the chain by the bung-hole, and close it with the bung at the other end of the instrument. Thoroughly roll and agitate the cask until the chain and its iron block have removed the lees so that they will run out with the water. Repeat the operation with clean water as often as necessary, and rinse till the water runs out limpid, and let the cask drain.

To Examine the Inside of a Cask, an instrument called a visitor is used. This is simply a piece of heavy wire bent into a loop or handle at the upper end, with the lower end turned up and bent around into the form of a small ring into which a candle can be inserted ([fig. 12]). Put a piece of a candle into this candlestick or socket, light it, and lower it into the cask through the bung, and the interior can be inspected.

Empty Casks should not be allowed to remain long without Washing; as soon as the lees are removed, they should be rinsed as already mentioned, and they should not be put to drain in the sun, for the heat will transform the alcohol remaining into vinegar in a few hours.

Sulphuring Casks.—If the cask is to be kept empty for some time, after it has been washed and then drained for a few minutes, it should be sulphured by burning in it a piece of sulphur match about an inch square, and it should then be left to drain dry. After twenty-four hours, burn in it three or four inches of the match, and bung it up with the gas in it. Store it in a suitable place as described for new casks, and sulphur it every three months. (See [Sulphuring].)

Condition to be Examined.—In using an old cask, as well as a new one, the first thing to ascertain is if it leaks. If the hoops are loose, they should be driven; then pour in two or three pails of water, and stand the cask alternately on each end, and if it is found to leak, soak it till it is tight. If the leaks cannot be stopped by driving the hoops and by soaking, it must be repaired.

The next thing to ascertain is, if the cask has become sour, mouldy, or has been otherwise injuriously affected, as it is liable to be if put away without being carefully washed and cared for. This can be ascertained by examining with the visitor, or by smelling. If, when the candle or a piece of lighted sulphur match is lowered into the cask, it ceases to burn, the cask probably contains a noxious gas, which must be expelled. This may be done by blowing in the bung-hole with a hand-bellows till the air is changed, or by standing the cask on its lower end with the hole in the upper head open, and the open bung turned towards the wind. If, however, it is in the condition which the French call eventé, which corresponds with that diseased condition of wine called by the same name and which we call flatness, the gas being carbonic acid, and heavier than air, will run out of its own accord if the open bung is turned down and the cask left for a while in that position.