310 FOOD AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



BICARBONATE OF SODA. 



This salt is added to beer for the purpose either of correcting an undue 

 acidity of the beer, resulting from improper brewing, or of imparting to 

 it an increased " head," or content of carbonic-acid gas, or for both pur- 

 poses. The salt is decomposed by the free acid of the beer and the gas 

 liberated, lactate and acetate of soda being left dissolved in thebeer. This 

 seems to be purely an American practice; at least I have failed to find 

 any mention of it in European authorities. Some of them mention the 

 use of marble dust or magnesia for the correction of acidity, but very 

 little consideration is given to the subject. In this country, however, it 

 seems to be very widespread. The following extracts are taken from a 

 paper read by Otto Grothe, Ph. D., before the American Society of Pub- 

 lic Analysts: 1 



The Health Department of the city of Brooklyn has for some time carried on inves- 

 tigations with reference to the brewing of lager beer as practiced in that city. The 

 peculiar cathartic effect of some of the Brooklyn beers seemed to indicate the presence 

 of some substitutes, principally for hops. The analysis of such suspicious beer failed, 

 however, to reveal anything of importance, either on account of the absence of such 

 substitutes or because the quantities of beer used were too small. Before goi ug to the ex- 

 pense of purchasing a keg or two from each brewery for the chemical laboratory, Dr-. 

 Bartley thought it to be the best to have the breweries, in the first place, inspected. 

 These inspections resulted principally in the discovery of a variety of substances used 

 by beer brewers as clearing and improving agents, the latter being considered the most 

 objectionable. They were sodium bicarbonate, tartaric acid, cream of tartar, isin- 

 glass, or gelatine, glucose, grape sugar, juniper berries, and salicylic acid. 



Sodium bicarbonate is a substance more regularly used by brewers. * * * The 

 opinion of the brewers about the necessity of this addition is very much divided ; 

 while some believe it to be utterly necessary, others say they would rather do with- 

 out it, as it causes them a heavy expense. They all say, however, they cannot avoid 

 it, because the public wants a perfectly neutral beverage. There is beer in the mar- 

 ket which has no addition of bicarbonate. * * The quantity of soda added 

 varies very much, and we may say in proportion to the quantity of acid contained iu 

 the beer. This quantity of acid in the beer depends upon the knowledge and the at- 

 tention of the brewer. Thus we find that breweries which have clean, well-venti- 

 lated, and Hushed cellars, in which refrigerating machines are in use, and Avhich 

 are conducted in a scientific way by an expert foreman, can afford to sell their pro- 

 duct with less than one-third of the quantity of sodic bicarbonate used by smaller 

 concerns which are not so well conducted and which have not the facilities of their 

 larger competitors. 



The largest quantity of bicarbonate used is about 2^ ounces to the keg, or quarter of 

 a barrel. The size of a barrel varies from 31^ to 33 gallons, according to the age, tho 

 older kegs becoming smaller by the contraction of the wood. A keg, therefore, con- 

 tains 8 gallons of beer, or 04 pints, which is considered equal to about a hundred glasses 

 as sold in the beer saloons over the counter. A glass of beer, then tore, contains in 

 some cases three-fourths of a gram of bicarbonate of soda; and as a moderate beer 

 drinker will, under certain circumstances, for instance in hot weather, drink about 

 twenty glasses of beer a day, ho takes about 15 grams, or 252 grains of bicarbonate c f 

 soda with it. A heavy lieor drinker say, alaborer who works outdoors and who buys 

 the beer by the pint may consume as many as forty glasses a day, and he takes an 

 ounce of bicarbonate of soda with it. The smallest quantity of bicarbonate of 



'Ann. Rep. Dent, <>f Health. City of Brooklyn, I.'., p. '.'->. 



