There is an old saying that any old woman can brew beer and draw it, but you will see from the foregoing that it wants a considerable amount of care if you want to have it good, and customers in these days hold all glasses up to the light and are very much more particular as to the appearance of the beer than they used to be some few years ago, when it was mostly sold in earthenware or pewter.

And now let me say that where you can draw direct from the wood, you are far more certain of your beers being good.

Engines and their pipes are sometimes absolutely necessary where there are many to serve, but should be avoided if possible, and where used great care is required to keep them clean.

They should be frequently filled with strong soda, salt and water, and do not let your cellarman forget to thoroughly rinse them out with a lot of clean water afterwards, or you may be sure of having nasty-tasting and flat beer. When they require cleaning, I should advise that they are disconnected at night after the trade is all done, and that they are immediately filled with a hot and very strong solution of common washing soda and salt, which should be left in all night.

The usual custom of soaking pipes for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour is simply ridiculous, while, if properly done, you will be utterly astonished at the amount of dirt and deposit which you will get from even what you may believe to be the cleanest pipes.

After soaking all night they should be allowed to drain, and then have a good quantity of boiling water poured in, and it should be allowed to stand in them for a few minutes, after which pour some more boiling water through them, and finally, as much cold as is required, which may be known by the water running out at the lower end quite bright, then leave them to drain for another ten minutes, and connect to engine, pumping a little beer through before attempting to sell any. The little beer which is drawn up should go to the waste-tub, and well repays its cost to the publican in the improved condition of that which is afterwards drawn.

The cellarman should be very particular about leaving the gas a-light, especially in the summer time, as from the fact of all the burnt and heated air rising to the ceiling, and also that in many cellars it is the custom to carry the pipes close under the ceiling- should the gas be left on, both the pipes and the beer in them get hot, flat, and nasty, losing all the freshness and life which a hot and thirsty customer prizes so much.

Pipes, being in some cases a necessary evil, should be carefully attended to, and should also be as short as possible, and where there are two bars using the same cellar, it is very advisable to have a two-way tap, especially if there is at all a slow draught in either bar, which may happen anywhere, as one bar may have plenty of custom at one particular time of the day, while the other is comparatively idle, and when once tapped, the sooner the cask is emptied the better for the beer, as well as the publican.

I suppose it is unnecessary to say, " Mind how you stoop your casks, and be sure they are well chucked up on each side at the front end or they may swing round." Some of the patent self-tilting machines are very useful, as they tilt so very much more steadily than can possibly be done by hand, that the few shillings they cost are amply repaid in a very short time by the improved condition of the beers ; and they are especially useful when drawing bitter or stock ales which have not had any finings work out through the bung-hole, and consequently have some sediment still in them.

Avoid putting spile-pegs into casks containing stout until the beer ceases to run.

You may sometimes find a stout cask which sounds as if it were not full, but this is generally caused by the gas compressing the air and the beer into a smaller compass (though it can only do so to a very limited extent), or there being such a gas pressure inside that it has caused the cask to leak, but of course you will be able to see where that has happened.

I have met with a case where a man, who was extremely particular that his stouts should be very lively, took a shive out to see if the cask was full. He found it was, although it rattled, but, as you may imagine, spoilt his beer.

A custom has arisen of having stout in the same condition in cask as one expects in bottle, and the result is that frequently nearly a gallon of stout and head has to be drawn to get only a pint of stout.

This, of course, is bad, as a beer which is brewed for such high condition will not stand so long a draught, nor keep in such a really good condition, as one that is not so lively, besides which there is in the former case much more waste which I need hardly tell anyone, more especially an old publican, does not pay, and, therefore, the very high-conditioned stouts should be discouraged as much as possible.

I do not mean from this that they should be flat, as they will in that case decidedly taste nasty, but there should be sufficient life to give from half to three quarters of an inch or really close head, which will hang round the glass as it is emptied.

Some publicans let the tap drippings return into the stout cask, but I feel it is almost needless for me to say that if you want your stout to be " well up," or in " first-class condition," you must certainly do nothing of the sort.

Nothing tends so much to the reputation of a house as having the beers clean, glass bright, and brisk, and, in the summer time, nice and cool.

Beer should be a pleasant and refreshing drink, especially in hot weather, and one of the great reasons why foreigners drink so large a quantity is that their beer is always in a lovely condition, and beautifully cool.

Our English beer does not require keeping in ice to make it pleasant, but I must say it is vastly improved by being cool in the warm weather.

You should not forget that the cocks ought to be kept as clean as the pipes, which is not such a difficult matter, and they only want the same treatment.

Those which are made in London cost a little more than the north-country ones, but are worth the extra money, as they are better cast, and, as a rule, much smoother inside, and consequently do not get " mothery " and dirty so soon, besides being so much easier to clean.

Bottled beers should be kept in a cool place, standing upright, but not in a passage, as is frequently done, that is if you want to have them in good condition, as being in glass and in such small quantities they are easily influenced by any change of temperature.

They are also, and for the same reason, much easier to manage than beer in cask, as if they should by chance get a chill, standing them in a warm place for a few days will bring them into condition again, whereas a cask of beer which has been chilled gets cloudy, and frequently keeps so for a considerable time.

All bottled beers, as i said before, should be kept upright, and, as in all there is a certain amount of sediment, great care should be used in drawing them.

The stoppered bottles now so generally used are preferable for that reason, there being no drawing of corks and consequent shaking up of the sediment.

This does not, however, hold good for beers which have to be kept in bottle for any great length of time, or for shipment, the old-fashioned corks being best for these purposes.