b t + 
¥ ve Le a, re gh TOON J in Pe ot WW ae ce AS. <=. v (oa | > ke "4 7 47S. « Sani. 
ite Pal ek ei Anak) Mie fo 4. pb, eae eck te SF Wie oa a Cae SS peas 2 rafts F 9 Kr ape ‘ 
(te Ke Pe R eke Me eh crit Ra Riss Se 57 
it a SCR’ ~ i 5 Ss / m 4 y . 
- sot chee ">>. So) ALIVE - - é : 
Seed Seen =, jp REPORD OF THE CHEMIST. + TOF 
- bonate, setting free carbonic acid, and forming acetate of soda and 
“basic phosphate, which remain in solution. The reaction is very 
similar to that which takes place in using baking powders for cook- 
ing purposes, except that in the latter case tartrate of soda and pot- 
ash (Rochelle alin) is left instead of acetate and gaunt of soda. 
Where bitartrate of potash is added to the beer along with the soda 
the reaction is precisely the same. In these days of the almost uni+ 
versal consumption of baking powders there is doubtless enough 
alkaline salts thrown into a man’s stomach with his food without 
umping them-in with his drinksas well. At all events there can be 
Put little question of the propriety of prohibiting the use of bicar- 
bonate of soda in beer. Itis entirely unnecessary and foreign to the 
production or Sneha es of pure beer. Moreover, its use serves to 
_cover up and hide the effects of poor brewing and improper storing 
or refrigerating, and should be prohibited from this cause alone if 
there were no other. 
Of the samples examined here,: Nos. 4814 and 4816 were found to” 
have suffered an addition of bicarbonate of soda. 
SALT. 
A variable quantity of chloride of sodium is a normal constituent 
of all beers, being derived principally from the water used in‘ the 
brewing. Even a slight further addition of salt might be deemed 
admissible to properly ‘‘season” the beer to the taste, just as bread- 
stuffs are treated. Many brewers, however, are in the habit of add- 
ing a large quantity, either for the purpose of covering up some 
objectionable taste or of increasing the thirst of the consumer. The 
English Government places the limit of chloride of soda which might 
come from the normal constituents at 50 grains to the gallon, or about 
.086 per cent., and treats any excess of that amount as evidence of 
an improper addition. This standard is undoubtedly a very generous 
one. Dr. Englehardt found quite a large number of the samples ex- 
amined by him to overstep the limit of 50 grains to the gallon, one. 
sample containing as high as .338 per cent. Of the samples examined 
here none were beyond it. 
CLOUDY BEER. 
Cloudiness in beer is sometimes due to the separating out of albu- 
minous matter from changes in temperature, but usually to the 
presence of yeast, the fermentation not having been complete. This 
condition of things is best detected by means of the microscope, which 
shows the presence of quantities of yeast cells, and, in case other - 
fermentations have set in, of their characteristic bacteria. ‘‘ Yeast- 
cloudy ” (hefetriibes) beer is considered unhealthy in Germany, and 
it is considered one of the qualifications of a good beer that it shall 
be absolutely bright and clear. An extensive investigation of the un- 
healthfulness of yeast-cloudy beer, has been lately made by Dr. N. P. 
Simonowsky* in Pettenkofer’s laboratory, who found that such beer 
had a disturbing effect in both natural and artificial digestion, pro- 
ducing in persons using it obstinate catarrh of the stomach, which 
persisted for some time. BothSimonowsky and Pettenkofer conclude 
that the sale of yeast-cloudy beer should be prohibited. 
* Zeit. fir das gesammte Brauwesen?, 9 Jahrg. 1886, Nos. 7, 8, 9; abstract Bied. 
Cent., 1887, p. 70, 
