491 
They are easy to keep out if casks are continuously maintained 
full, in order to exglude air. Where a thin light veil caused by ° 
this fungus occurs, a good plan for getting rid of it is to insert into 
the bunghole to a depth of a few inches a tin tube, the upper end of 
which closes with the thumb; that tube will penetrate the floating 
layer without carrying any of it downwards and without disturbing 
the wine. Fit a funnel at the upper end of the tube and pour 
sufficient strong wine into the cask to fill the ullage. The veil of 
microbes will float to the surface, and by pouring more wine will 
run out through the bunghole. The ullage should be frequently 
filled. 
If the wine has 
already contracted a 
mouldy taste, it 
should be racked 
into a sulphured cask 
after the fungus has 
been removed as ex- 
plained. Add a gal- 
lon of strong spirit 
or a few gallons of 
a stronger wine, 
per 100 ~ gallons, 
fine and rack again. 
Aceétification is one 
of the most common 
diseases of wine 
and also one of the 
most _ troublesome. 
700 Like the flowers of 
Mycoderma or Diplococeus accti a wine, it consumes 
the alcohol of wine, 
when exposed to air. Under these circumstances it transforms the 
aleohol into acetic acid and water, and is shown by the following 
chemical equation :— 
Alcohol. Oxygen. Acetic Acid. Water. 
ass a 
C,H,O + O02 = C.H,O, + 4H,0 
The disease generally only attacks wine that has been neglected 
and left in ullaged casks. It shows as a film, wrinkled and velvety - 
on the surface. After a time masses of viscous matter in the wine 
surround that film and cause some portion of it to sink. When 
looked at under a high-power microscope the germs show as oblong 
cells disposed rod fashion. These cells multiply very rapidly by a 
process of segmentation, or pinching in the centre. The disease is 
easier to guard against than to counteract As the alteration starts 
from the surface it is sometimes possible when the trouble has just 
