454 
having been carried away mechanically in the gases produced dur- 
ing fermentation. 
No. 3 represents a fermentation of two tons five ewt. of Shiraz 
grapes. The timely use of ice here averted a disastrous fermenta- 
tion. In two and a-half days the temperature jumped from 7/deg. 
F. to 99deg. F., when 85lbs. of ice were placed in the coolers on 
the 17th of February in the morning, and the temperature was in a 
few hours brought down to 88deg. F. As explained on page 447, the 
optimum, or the most suitable degree of temperature for the yeast 
germs of vinous fermentation, ranges between S0deg. to 90deg. F. 
Below 80deg. fermentation is sluggish, and the yeast zerms work 
slowly; above 90deg. F. fermentation becomes for a time tumult- 
uous, until as the heat increases and gets nearer 100deg., when the 
yeast germs by degrees become paralysed and soon die, unless 
prompt relief is brought to them and the degree of, heat reduced. 
When that higher temperature is reached, latent germs of Jiseases, 
such as the mannitic ferment, which produces sowr—-sweet wine, as 
well as other germs of maladies of wine, take possession of the fer- 
menting mass, and in a short period spoil the wine. 
In the instance under review the dangerous zone of tempera- 
ture was soon reached and as quickly reduced, and a'though the fer- 
menting mass was only subjected for a very few hours to a tem- 
perature ranging over 95 deg., the cvil effect sooa became apparent, 
and had not ice been timely applied, over 300 gallons of wine would 
have been irremediably lost. On the fifth day, the new wine was 
drawn into clean, cool casks, and still contained as much as 3.5 per 
cent. of grape sugar. Owing to the timely application of the ice, 
fermentation shortly afterwards started again, and the wine is now 
dry and sound. 
No. 2 chart illustrates a healthy fermentation, and with proper 
eare, the resulting wine should exhibit all the qualities which are 
prized in good wines. 
The grapes are the choicest sorts used in wine-making, and 
are such as produce the celebrated Medoc and Hermitage wines of 
France. They were picked before they became over-ripe. A small 
quantity of tartaric acid was added to the must to further help the 
yeast plants in converting the grape sugar in the must into whole- 
some alcohol in the wine. 
The fermentation lasted six days, and the temperature was 
maintained below 90 degrees F. The cap, made of skins and seeds, 
was kept submerged in the vat by means of a false head, and was 
not, as is often done, plunged three or four times a day into the 
liquid below. The result was a wine completely fermented; that 
is to say, a wine which does not contain any appreciable amount 
of grape sugar left. It was, moreover, lighter in colour than wines 
