PRESERVATION AND STORAGE. 273 



protective covering and exposed to the influence of the 

 atmosphere. In any case the circumstance that sulphured 

 hops form a bad nutrient medium for the development of 

 mould fungi must be placed to the credit of the process. 



From Behrens' experiments on the relative hygro- 

 scopicity of sulphured and unsulphured hops it would 

 appear that the difference in this respect is very slight 

 indeed, a weighed sample of each kirid being found to 

 have absorbed nearly the same quantity of moisture after 

 fourteen days' exposure to the air : — 



Sulphured Sample without 



At commencement of experiment 

 After 14 days 



This shows that, under otherwise identical conditions, 

 the unsulphured sample absorbed 18'5 per cent., and the 

 sulphured hops 19'9 per cent, of water ; values which, for 

 practical purposes, may be taken as equal. 



Finally, as regards the influence of sulphuring on the 

 colour of hops, this is undoubtedly beneflcial,^ though 

 whether this is always an advantage is another question. 

 When the grower himself sulphurs fresh hops that are 

 of inferior colour, with a view to improving their appear- 

 ance and making them more saleable, there can be no 

 objection to the treatment, since it is at least performed on 

 fresh hops, whose character — improved colour apart — is not 

 appreciably altered, and the buyer is not deceived as to 

 their quality. 



If, nevertheless, brewers have a certain objection to and 

 distrust of sulphured hops the reason is that some unscru- 



1 According to Chodounsky, " pole ruat " in hops is not masked by 

 sulphuring, but is rendered more clearly definable by this treatment 

 (Beriehte der Versuchscmstalt fil/r Brauindustrie in Boh/men, Prague, 1898, 



p. 28). 



18 



