Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/53

Rh barrels each and supported by iron columns, to have them insulated, from which they have derived great beneﬁt. The same house, sensible of the importance of observing the atmospheric changes, has kept a meteorological journal for the last ten years; the observations being made three times a day—at four o’clock A.M., at nine oclocko' clock [sic] A.M., and at three o’clock P.M. In order to prevent the electric action on the fermentations of beer or wash, the vessels should be thoroughly insulated, and the mains, or pipes, leading to or from these vessels, should be thoroughly disconnected from them, by means of union screws, or perhaps still better, by a short hose of leather, or caoutchouc, or Indian rubber. By these simple means, the galvanic circle, otherwise formed by the metal pipes and cocks, &c. employed in removing the worts, refrigerating, or cleansing, will be broken, and a uniform, regular, and healthy fermentation, be produced. I have been inclined to think, that the great difference in the quality of wines which we read of, produced from vineyards within a short distance of each other, may as often be traced to some electrical action, caused by a bad arrangement of the fermenting vessels, as to any difference in the soil or quality of the grapes. I hope these few observations, brief as they are, will draw the attention of men of science, and also of the manufacturer, to