Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/122

106 more fully treated of, when we describe Irregular Fermentations.) In that case we know that the worts must have been tainted somewhere; the cause of which must be traced and corrected before any successful results can be expected. In most of the brewhouses which we have visited, we have invariably found, that the want of uniformity in fermentation did not arise from the uncertainty, as it is called, of the process, but from one or more of the causes before mentioned. We think, therefore, we are warranted in stating, that fermentations, when conducted on strictly chemical principles, may be carried on with nearly as great uniformity as any other chemical process.

After what has been said about sound regular fermentations, it may by some be thought unnecessary to describe those which are irregular. There are many brewers, however, as before asserted, who from causes already mentioned, have never had it in their power to see a thoroughly regular and good fermentation. Such are apt to think that all is right, although the contrary may be the case; we, therefore, think it better to describe some kinds which have come under our own observation, and shall commence with