Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/159

Rh regular and sound process of fermentation, and has had time to throw off its yeast, and get quiet, which will always happen in a few days; any further exposure to the atmosphere is not only useless, but injurious.

It should, if sufficiently cool, (say about 52° F., which all stock beer must be on the third day after cleansing, when brewed in proper season,) be pumped into the vat; the bottoms which are pumped over along with it, will soon fall down, proving rather a preservative than otherwise. The vats, when full, should be covered, and sand thrown on the cover, more effectually to exclude the atmosphere. A loaded self-acting vent-peg fixed in the top, would, however, be very desirable, so as to permit any elastic gas which may be produced to escape.

If the storehouse can now be kept at a regular temperature, no other precaution is necessary; but when liable to be affected by summer heats, the sand on the top of the vats should be sprinkled with common salt, which retains the moisture, and also be kept damp with water. This by evaporation will tend to keep the beer cool. When the beer, instead of being vatted, has to be stowed in casks proper for sending out, they should be conveyed to the storehouse, and placed upon wooden bearers; then, instead of the bung-holes being left open, which is the common practice, bungs should be