Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/255

Rh amount of it is invariably in proportion to the original specific gravity of the worts or must, and the degree to which it has been attenuated.

We are thus left entirely in the dark, and from thence can only infer that the Bavarian brewers have not yet got beyond the good old system so long acted upon in this country, and perhaps still in some parts—viz., rules founded on practical experience alone.

We shall now proceed to mention some of the points on which the two processes differ. In the first place, their tedious mode of making the extract must be very objectionable, particularly in warm weather, as in so great a length of time as they occupy in that process, the worts, at least in this country, would very often get tainted, and thus injure the beer. In the next place, according to Liebig, their process of fermentation occupies from four to six weeks, and is carried on in very shallow vessels, possibly not more than two feet in depth. This alone would be an insuperable objection to its being adopted in this country, even were it in any way more beneficial, which, from all that we as yet know on the subject, is very doubtful. It appears to be nearly the old system as it has been carried on from time immemorial, being an adherence to the good old usages of our ancestors, which is not in accordance with Liebig’s general doctrines. Another reason why this process could not be profitably