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A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 396. 



NEW YORK, September 5, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 $3.50 Pee Year, in Advance. 



BEVERAGES. 



All beverages contain water as their chief constituent. 

 and they may be divided into two classes, alcoholic and non- 

 alcoholic. 



Alcoholic Beverages. 



Alcohol is the product of the alcoholic fermentation of 

 any saccharine material, and these materials may be ar- 

 ranged in three groups: first, grapes and other sweet fruits 

 which contain fermentable sugar or glucose, the expressed 

 juice of which at once enters into fermentation on exposure 

 to air; second, substances which contain common or cane 

 sugar, the first step in the process of fermentation being the 

 formation of glucose by taking up the elements of water; 

 and, third, the various Ijinds of grains, potatoes, and other 

 substances containing starch, which by the action of a pe- 

 culiar ferment, diastase, naturally, or by the action of dilute 

 mineral acids artificially, is converted into glucose. 



Fermentation. — In the manufacture of both malt and 

 distilled liquors the object is to convert the starch of the 

 grain employed, by suitable fermentation, into alcohol. In 

 the one case a low percentage of alcohol is striven for, and 

 in the other the maximum amount that is capable of being 

 produced. 



Chemically speaking, fermentation takes place wherever 

 an organic compound undergoes changes of composition un- 

 der the influence of a nitrogenous substance called a fer- 

 ment, which acts in small quantities and yields nothing 

 appreciable to the fermented substance. These ferments are 

 living minute vegetable cells, and different varieties are 

 found in the various fermentations with which we are fa- 

 miliar, viz., alcoholic, acetic, lactic, butyric, etc. 



In normal alcoholic or spirituous fermentation we find 

 the minute vegetable cells commonly called "yeast" grow- 

 ing and multiplying, assimilating the sugar or glucose found 

 in the infusion or solution (whether the glucose is derived 

 from the starch of the grain, by the action of another fer- 

 ment called dirstase, or artificially prepared), and excreting 

 a large proportion in the form of carbonic acid and alcohol. 



Tbeoretically 105.3 parts of glucose, corresponding to 100 

 parts of cane sugar, would produce about SI parts of alcohol 

 and 49 parts of carbonic acid, but as a matter of fact Pas- 

 teur and other investigators have found that there were 

 small quantities of other products present, so that the theo- 

 retical yield is not obtained. 



Under the general name of ferment or yeast a large num- 

 ber of varieties and species are included, which resemble each 

 other in form, but differ greatly in their properties and char- 



acters. The germs of these yeasts are everywhere floating 

 in the air, especially in the hot summer months, and when 

 they encounter a favorable soil for their development they 

 grow and multiply like other plants under similar condi- 

 tions; for instance, when they attach themselves to the 

 stems and skins of fruit, they give rise to the "spontaneous" 

 fermentation of grapes, apples, pears, etc. 



In addition to the yeast germs, the air of any locality 

 contains numerous living organisms, the mould, bacteria, 

 and other micro fungi, for the most part injurious to the 

 making of the wort or wine, and forming the true ferments 

 of disease. 



Among all these ferments several species will set up alco- 

 holic fermentation in the wort or grape juice, and trans- 

 form it into alcohol and carbonic acid, but all of them will 

 not give a good pi'oduet. On the contrary, the great ma- 

 jority of these spontaneous yeasts would have disastrous ef- 

 fects, for the brewer especially, decomposing the beer to such 

 an extent as to render it unsalable. 



The species called Saccharoviyces cerevisice constitutes the 

 large class of beer-yeast proper, and the one the best known 

 and studied. Two varieties of Saccharomyces cerevisice are 

 extensively cultivated, the high or upper {obergdhrung, fer- 

 mentation haute), and the inferior or lower {untergdhrung, 

 fermentation basse). Tlie former is used with a high, 15° 

 to 18" C. (59° to 65° Fahr.), temperature, the yeast and im- 

 purities rising to the top of the vat, whence they are re- 

 moved by skimming; and the latter at a low temperature, 

 between 4° and 10° C. (39° to 50° Fahr.), where the fer- 

 mentation takes place slowly and the yeast settles at the 

 bottom in a compact mass. Each variety will produce its 

 own peculiar and characteristic fermentation. A mixture of 

 either of these varieties with one or several other species of 

 Saccharomyces, as S. ellipsoidens, mycodernia, etc., results 

 in disaster to the wort. 



The wort and grape juice naturally present a proper soil 

 for these harmful as well as for the proper or true ferments, 

 and it is not surprising that the germs of the noxious flour- 

 ish and develop to the detriment of the true yeast plant. 



These yeast plants and germs are so minute as to require 

 the use of a microscope with high-power objectives to dis- 

 cern and differentiate them. Like all other fungi, they 

 are capable of distinct cultivation; and with the exercise of 

 iome care, and the assistance of a trained observer, a brewer, 

 distiller, or wine manufacturer, after some experiments, 

 could maintain a crop of such particular yeast plant as yields 

 the best results and gives a uniform product. 



This method of "pure" cultivation has been extensively 



