49. We now come to the _last stage_; the _cask_ or _barrel_. But I must first speak of the place for the tun-tub to stand in. The place should be such as to avoid too much warmth or cold. The air should, if possible, be at about 55 degrees. Any cool place in summer and any _warmish_ place in winter. If the weather be _very cold_, some cloths or sacks should be put round the tun-tub while the beer is working. In about six or eight hours, a _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 difficulties. A common eye will see when it is well placed;