Ai “a a ” Patt S pe . ° y fom - ss ie ee a Raia 
188 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. © ‘7 ie 
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here comes in the delicate question of the proper agents to use, whic 
will perform this duty and still introduce no objectionable constit- g. 
uents into the drink. 
The discussion of this question comes properly under the head of 
adulterations, and will be considered later on. As clarifying agents 
may be mentioned gelatine, tannin, Iceland moss, and flaxseed, and 
as mineral coagulating agents phosphate of lime and alum. 
Formerly beer was stored in casks or vats in cool cellars for a long 
- period, to allow it to age or ripen, especially in Germany, whence 
came the name of ‘‘lager” beer; but the aim of the brewer at the 
present day is to produce an article fit for the market in as short a 
time as possible and thus turn his capital often and keep step with 
the rapid pace of modern business industry, so that the name of lager 
beer is rather a misnomer. . 
COMPOSITION OF MALT LIQUORS. 
The composition of malt liquor varies greatly according to the 
materials used, the method of brewing, the season, and the use for 
which it is intended. 
Malt liquors, properly so called, should be made only of malted 
barley, hops, yeast, and water, but the use of other materials as sub- 
stitutes for the first three ingredients has extended so greatly in coun- 
tries where their use is not prohibited that it is difficult to define what 
a beer really is. 
Modern beer has been defined asa ‘‘ fermented saccharine infusion 
to which some wholesome bitter has been added.” 
Its chemical composition is very complex, the principal constituents 
being alcohol, various sugars and carbohydrates, nitrogenous mat- 
ter, carbonic, acetic, succinic, lactic, malic, and tannic acids, bitter 
and resinous extractive matter from the hops, glycerine, and various 
mineral constituents, consisting mainly of phosphates of the alkahes 
and alkali earths. 
VARIETIES. 
The names given to different kinds of malt liquors relate to various 
attributes, as the country where they were produced, as English, 
German, Bavarian beer, etc., or to the peculiarities in the method of 
brewing, etc. Thus, porter is simply a beer of high percentage of 
alcohol, and made from malt. dried at asomewhat high temperature, 
which gives its dark color; «leis a pale beer, likewise of high attenua- 
tion and made of pale malt, with more hop extract than porter. 
Stout has less alcohol and more extract and still less hops than perter. 
These terms are used chiefly with reference to English malt liquors. 
The terms used for German beers, such as Erlanger, Miinchener, etc., 
are for the most part names of places and are applied to beers made 
in imitation of the beers originally brewed in those cities. Haport 
beer is beer that is specially prepared with a view to long-keeping 
qualities. 
COMPOSITION OF AMERICAN BEER. 
But very little work has been done on American beers; they seem 
to have shared with other dietary articles the general indifference of 
the American public to the composition of theimfood and drink. — 
A very extensive series of analyses was made in the State of New 
York in 1885, under the authority of the State Board of Health, by — 
