Fig. 30.
Reservoir for filling Bottles.
Fig. 31.
Bung Screw.
Filling the Bottles.—If the faucet has not previously been placed in the cask, it must now be done with great care, so as not to disturb any lees that may have remained at the last racking. The faucet should be put into the cask open, as for racking, and with very light blows of the hammer. A shallow dish or bucket is placed under the faucet in which the bottle stands. An ordinary brass faucet may be used, or the bottles may be filled much more rapidly by drawing the wine from the cask into a reservoir provided with as many faucets or tubes as bottles which it is desired to fill at the same time ([fig. 30]). The cask must be vented either by making a gimlet hole or two near the bung, or the bung must be removed. The latter, however, must not be done by blows with the bung-starter, but by using the bung screw ([fig. 31]), or the lees will be stirred up. The bottle should not be placed upright so that the wine will fall directly to the bottom, but should be slightly inclined so as to permit the wine to trickle down the inside, or a foam will be formed, and it will be difficult to fill the bottle. The workman having his empty bottles within reach, allows a little of the first wine to run into the dish, or into a bottle, which is put aside, as there may be some impurities in the faucet. The workman is seated in front of the cask, and the empty bottles are placed one at a time under the faucet as described. As soon as one bottle is filled, it is removed and another put in its place, without closing the faucet, and without loss of wine. The sediment would be disturbed by the shocks caused by opening and shutting the faucet.
If the needle is used in corking the bottles, they should be filled within a little more than an inch of the top, and if corked in the ordinary manner, only to within about two inches of the opening, leaving an inch of vacancy below the cork; always, however, depending somewhat upon the length of the corks used. This is continued, placing the full bottles in a convenient place, until the wine ceases to run at the faucet. The cask must then be slightly inclined forward, as described in the case of racking. At this stage, great care must be taken not to trouble the wine; and if a few bottles at the end contain that which is not clear, they should be put aside, to be decanted after settling. In drawing from the upper tiers of casks in piles, the basin must be elevated sufficiently to bring the bottle placed in it up to the faucet, or the latter may be connected with it by a hose.
Corks.—Only good corks should be used. They are supple and uniform in texture. Poor corks are sold in the market, in which is found a good deal of the dark, hard portion of the bark, which are not only liable to break the bottles by the great amount of pressure required to insert them, but also to discolor the wine, affect its flavor, and to permit it to leak out. Straight corks are used now-a-days, somewhat larger than the neck of the bottle, and are forced in by means of
Fig. 32.