WORK OF 1901-2. 21 



best results could not be anticipated; yet the experiment was, all 

 things considered, a success. Several other experiments were under- 

 taken in the autumn of 1901, but only two are reported, because the 

 other tests were made in large casks purchased from an old wine cellar 

 which were in such bad condition that they could not be properly 

 cleansed, and the experiments failed. The two experiments here 

 reported were carried on in the 50-gallon casks above mentioned. 

 Bulletin No. 71, Bureau of Chemistry, treats of the general and theo- 

 retical considerations in cider making; hence these phases of the ques- 

 tion are not discussed again in this report. 



CASK EXPERIMENTS NOS. 2 AND 3. 



The plan of the experiment was very simple. The must or juice 

 was taken from the same vat and came from one bulk of fruit; it was 

 divided among several casks, and sown with different yeast races at the 

 same time. Thus the results produced by these yeasts could be com- 

 pared, as the same must was handled under identical conditions, the 

 only variant being the yeasts. 



The experiment was begun on September 24, 1901, on which date 

 casks Nos. 2 and 3 were filled with juice freshly expressed. This 

 juice tested on the h} T drometer 1.050, which would indicate a sugar 

 content of 10.15 per cent. A full analysis was not made. At 3 o'clock 

 p. m. of the same day these barrels were sown as follows: No. 2 with a 

 pure culture of about 1 pint of sterilized cider, which had been inocu- 

 lated with Sauterne yeast, known in the station laboratory as No. 73. 

 Cask No. 3 was inoculated with about 1 pint of a pure culture made 

 from Vallee d'Auge yeast, known as No. 74. Both cultures were 

 sown when in full vigor and grew promptly, dominating the entire 

 fermentation. The Sauterne yeast, No. 73,' was isolated from French 

 Sauterne wines, and No. 74 from cider from the famous Vallee 

 d'Auge cider country in Normandy, France. After inoculation both 

 barrels were stoppered with vents which permitted the escape of the 

 gas formed in the barrels and yet prevented the entrance of extraneous 

 organisms from the air. rt 



The casks were sown with this considerable quantity of an active 

 yeast culture in order to secure the prompt growth of a pure yeast in 

 each cask before the ordinary " wild " organisms present in the juice 

 could grow and take possession of the fermentation. A microscopic 

 examination of small samples of liquor removed from the casks, made 

 each day from September 25 to 28, showed an abundant growth of 

 pure yeast with apparently no occurrence of deleterious organisms. 



By the afternoon of September 26 both casks were in full fermenta- 



A discussion of this device is given in Bulletin No. 71, Bureau of Chemistry, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, pp. 82 to 86. 



