Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/89

Rh windy weather, becomes condensed in hazy weather, and by then falling on the worts in a liquid state, it produces acidity, or foxyness, as it is technically called.

It has been already stated, that condensed steam is injurious, in every stage of the process of brewing, and particularly so in the cooling of the worts. Steam, as has been lately discovered under certain circumstances, is perhaps the most powerful positive electric yet known, and therefore by falling on the worts on the coolers in a condensed state, may produce acidity.

Our opinion is, that little good can be effected by cooling the worts much below the temperature of the atmosphere at the time, (in winter we must, of course, watch to prevent their getting too low,) unless, as in Bavaria, the tun-rooms can also be kept at an equally low temperature. The reason of this is obvious; if the temperature of the tun-room be the same as the atmosphere, the worts will also rise to that temperature, without gaining a regular progressive attenuation, unless checked by regulators, which we would rather dispense with at all times if possible.—See article on Regulators.

Now, as it is the steam hanging on the worts which prevents their cooling, if that can be blown away or dissipated, they will soon arrive at a sufﬁciently low temperature, perhaps a degree or two below that of the atmosphere. Fans or blowers