DIFFICULTIES OF FERMENTATION : FINING. 
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the syphon introduced, and the fermenting liquor racked into the barrel without allowing the fumes 
to escape. The liquor absorbs the Sulphurous Acid Gas, and thus the yeast plants are destroyed. 
It is at first made thick and muddy by the process, but in a short time it becomes clear and remains 
so, without any taste or smell of the Sulphur, if it has been carefully done. Should the hissing begin 
again in a few days the process is repeated. The fumes of Sulphurous Acid are readily absorbed 
by water and a saturated solution is sometimes used instead of the ordinary gaseous fumes from 
burnt Sulphur. 
Salicylic Acid has many advantages as a yeast plant destroyer, and has of late become in 
more frequent use to arrest continued fermentation. It is a powerful remedy, and requires much 
care. In proper proportions, it is quite harmless, tasteless, free from smell and does not change the 
colour of any liquid to which it is applied; so long as it is not brought into contact with any metallic 
substance, particularly with iron which would at once give it a black colour. It is used in solution, 
and is thus more easily applied than Sulphur. An ounce or an ounce and a half to one hundred 
gallons is all that is required, and it is simply poured into the fermenting liquor immediately after 
it has been racked. It is very effectual and leaves no sensible effects on the liquor. 
Persistent fermentation is the great difficulty to be encountered with juices of inferior quality, 
whether this may have arisen from bad varieties of Apples or Pears ; imperfect management of the 
fruit; or from the indifferent nature of the soil on which the trees have been erown. The French 
chemists have had much experience in the endeavour to make good liquor from such poor materials, 
and have attained an amount of success that demands special notice. They have established the 
fact that juices of inferior quality are deficient not only in Glucose, but also in Tannin and Mucilage. 
When the first fermentation is over, they rack into a cask filled with the Sulphurous Acid fumes to 
check further fermentation—they supply the deficiency of Alcoholic fermentation by the addition of 
Alcohol in the shape of brandy to “ fortify ” or preserve it—and add half a pound of the extract of 
Catechu (previously dissolved in some of the cider,) to every 100 gallons of liquor, which they believe 
not only aids in fining and preserving it, but also in making it more wholesome. This may be 
so, but it requires some education in an ordinary palate to be able to enjoy the peculiar astringent 
flavour it produces. 
Much more might be said on this subject as, for example, on the addition of Bitartrate of 
Potash, or Cream of Tartar, &c., &c., but the attempt to make good liquor by chemical means from 
bad juices can never be successful, and should never be encouraged. The axiom might be laid 
down “ that Cider or Perry is the more pure and wholesome in inverse proportion to the amount of 
chemicals employed in its manufactured The best cider-makers in good cider districts do not 
happily require their use. 
Want of Clearness is the last difficulty to be considered, and it is one so very frequent in 
every quality of fermented liquor that careful cellarmen seldom trust to nature alone, however 
favourable the process of fermentation may have been. The richer the juice and the more abundant 
the Mucilage, the greater is the difficulty of obtaining a clear bright liquor. When the active 
fermentation is over, and the liquor is racked from the lees into a fresh cask, various substances are 
added to it for the purpose of “fining” or clarifying it. To the best qualities of Cider or Perry, 
