GRADING AND MARKETING HOPS. 239 



12.3 per cent, of hard resins and 29 per cent, of soft, 

 but after having been stored. a year in a brewery under 

 ordinary conditions, the soft resins had fallen to 8.3 

 per cent, and the hard rose to 7.3 per cent. The chem- 

 ist's theory that the brewing value of hops is gauged 

 only by the soft resins, which is apparently borne out by 

 practical experience in brewing, indicates a loss of one- 

 third in the actual brewing strength of these hops dur- 

 ing the year. If as new hops they were worth 24 cents 

 per pound, then, as old hops, 16 cents would be a full 

 price for them. This depreciation explains the im- 

 portance of proper care of old hops. Hermetically 

 sealed up in galvanized iron cases, hops have been kept 

 for two years or more without appreciable loss in 

 brewing power. 



EXTRACTING THE LUPULIN 



And bottling it has long been successfully practiced. 

 One concern in central New York has made the fifth 

 addition to its hop extract works, and has worked up 

 more than 15,000,000 pounds of hops since its incep- 

 tion 25 years ago. 



The process of preserving consists simply in re- 

 moving the sacking from the bales, breaking the hops 

 apart, putting them into large tanks, closing up the 

 tanks, pumping in an easily evaporated solvent, which 

 makes a solution of the lupulin, drawing off this solu- 

 tion into evaporators, where the solvent is evaporated 

 and the pure extract of the hops left behind in the 

 evaporator, whence it is drawn off and soldered up in 

 cans, thus made air-tight, so that the extract will keep 

 fresh for a good many years. This operation, waste, 

 car freight, etc., cost five cents per pound of hops han- 

 dled; 12 pounds of good hops yield one pound of ex- 

 tract, which is equal in the brewery to 12 pounds of 

 hops. Brewers patronize this factory quite largely, 

 especially when hops are dear. 



