Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/181

Rh the good or bad quality of the beer. Such trifling causes, however, affect this process, that a brewer must not only have a distinct and extensive knowledge of chemistry, but also be what is termed a good manipulator, with great skill in the operative department of the business, before he can reasonably expect to brew uniformly good beer.

How often do we hear brewers say, "We cannot account for our want of success in this brewing, as it was conducted in every respect precisely the same as one last year, and designed to produce the same kind of beer, which then turned out remarkably well." They never, however, think of the different state or temperature of the atmosphere, which, by requiring the worts to remain several hours longer in the coolers, may occasion acidity, and thus produce the difference in quality. A change in the construction of the utensils, may, from various causes, have an equally injurious effect; besides many other casualties.

As already stated, brewers possessing a good and accurate taste and smell have a great advantage over those who in these respects are defective, as they are thereby enabled at once to discover acidity or unsoundness in the worts. Litmus paper, however, if properly employed, will in some measure compensate, as it also enables them to make the same discovery; after which, by immediately