Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/106

90 certainly a better process. All sorts of beer, both ale and porter, may be produced equally as good, or perhaps better, by comparatively shorter fermentations, as by the longest now in use: and they will always be found to retain their vinosity and soundness much longer than the others.

The quantities of yeast to be used, however, must necessarily vary according to circumstances. When the worts are got together in the gyle-tun at high temperatures, such as 65° to 70°, less yeast will be necessary than when got together at temperatures which are lower, say from 53° to 60°. If the proper quantity of yeast be applied to sound worts, we generally find that for every degree of temperature gained, the worts will attenuate one pound in gravity by Long’s instrument, or 2.78 by Allan’s and Bates’ instruments; the quantities of yeast to be applied should therefore be so regulated as to preserve this uniformity, which is a sure guide to work by. This rule will not apply, however, where long fermentations are practised.

Many brewers conceive, that by long fermentations, their beer retains more fulness on the palate than with a shorter process. We entirely differ from them, however, on that subject, and maintain that when worts are kept in the gyle-tuns ten to fourteen days or more, the fermentations are much more liable to suffer injury from the atmospherical or other fluctuations which may take place during