1891 Drinks à La Mode by Mrs de Salis

APPENDIX

The Management of the Beer Cellar. The principal point in the management of the beer cellar is to ensure the beer being bright. It should always be kept in a cool place. A cask of beer should always be ordered in a fortnight before it is required, to give the beer time to settle, and it is a good plan to have always two casks in at a time so as to have one cask under the other. The vent- peg should always be kept in, as if not the beer is apt to get flat and dead. The beer should never be drawn off till the last drop runs level before tilting the cask, as it is liable to cloud the remainder ; the tilting beer- stands should always be used, as the beer does not get so shaken. Bottled beer should be laid on its side if had in in any quantity until a week before it is required ; then it should be kept upright a short time before it is opened. If bottled ale is kept too warm it is too frothy and seldom bright. If too cold^ it is sure to be thick and muddled. In bottling beer the bottles should be very dry and clean, and the corks should be especially dry ;