Of the Coolers.—The contents of the copper are run into what is called the hop-back, on the upper part of which is fixed a drainer, to keep back the hops. The pump is placed in the hop-back, for the purpose of raising the wort to the coolers, usually placed in an airy situation upon the top of the brewery. Two coolers are indispensable when we make two kinds of beer from the same brewing, and even in single brewings, called gyles, if small beer is to be made. One of these coolers ought to be placed above the level of the other. As it is of great consequence to cool the worts down to the fermenting pitch as fast as possible, various contrivances have been made for effecting this purpose. The common cooler is a square wooden cistern, about 6 inches deep, and of such an extent of surface that the whole of one boil may only occupy 2 inches, or thereabouts, of depth in it. For a quantity of wort equal to about 1500 gallons its area should be at least 54 feet long and 20 feet wide. The seams of the cooler must be made perfectly water-tight and smooth, so that no liquor may lodge in them when they are emptied. The utmost cleanliness is required, and an occasional sweetening with lime-water.
The hot wort reaches the cooler at a temperature of from 200° to 208°, according to the power of the pump. Here it should be cooled to the proper temperature for the fermenting tun, which may vary from 54° to 64°, according to circumstances. The refrigeration is accomplished by the evaporation of a portion of the liquor: it is more rapid in proportion to the extent of the surface, to the low temperature, and the dryness of the atmosphere surrounding the cooler. The renewal of a body of cool dry air by the agency of a fan, may be employed with great advantage. The cooler itself must be so placed that its surface shall be freely exposed to the prevailing wind of the district, and be as free as possible from the eddy of surrounding buildings. It is thought by many, that the agitation of the wort during its cooling, is hurtful. Were the roof made moveable, so that the wort could be readily exposed, in a clear night, to the aspect of the sky, it would cool rapidly by evaporation, on the principles explained by Dr. Wells, in his “Essay on Dew.”
When the cooling is effected by evaporation alone, the temperature falls very slowly, even in cold air, if it be loaded with moisture. But when the air is dry, the evaporation is vigorous, and the moisture exhaled does not remain incumbent on the liquor, as in damp weather, but is diffused widely in space. Hence we can understand how wort cools so rapidly in the spring and autumn, when the air is generally dry, and even more quickly than in winter, when the air is cooler, but loaded with moisture. In fact, the cooling process goes on better when the atmosphere is from 50° to 55°, than when it falls to the freezing point, because in this case, if the air be still, the vapours generated remain on the surface of the liquor, and prevent further evaporation. In summer the cooling can take place only during the night.
In consequence of the evaporation during this cooling process, the bulk of the worts is considerably reduced; thus, if the temperature at the beginning was 208°, and if it be at the end 64°, the quantity of water necessary to be evaporated to produce this refrigeration would be nearly 1⁄8 of the whole, putting radiation and conduction of heat out of the question. The effect of this will be a proportional concentration of the beer.
The period of refrigeration in a well-constructed cooler, amounts to 6 or 7 hours in favourable weather, but to 12 or 15 in other circumstances. The quality of the beer is much improved by shortening this period; because, in consequence of the great surface which the wort exposes to the air, it readily absorbs oxygen, and passes into the acetous fermentation with the production of various mouldy spots; an evil to which ill-hopped beer is particularly liable. Various schemes have been contrived to cool wort, by transmitting it through the convolutions of a pipe immersed in cold water. The best plan is to expose the hot wort for some hours freely to the atmosphere and the cooler, when the loss of heat is most rapid by evaporation and other means, and when the temperature falls to 100°, or thereby, to transmit the liquor through a zig-zag pipe, laid almost horizontally in a trough of cold water. The various methods described under Refrigerator are more complex, but they may be practised in many situations with considerable advantage.
Whilst the wort reposes in the cooler, it lets fall a slight sediment, which consists partly of fine flocks of coagulated albumen combined with tannin, and partly of starch, which had been dissolved at the high temperature, and separates at the lower. The wort should be perfectly limpid, for a muddy liquor never produces transparent beer. Such beer contains, besides mucilaginous sugar and gum, usually some starch, which even remains after the fermentation, and hinders its clarifying, and gives it a tendency to sour. The wort contains more starch the hotter it has been mashed, the less hops have been added, and the shorter time it has been boiled. The presence of starch in the wort may be made manifest by adding a little solution of iodine in alcohol to it, when it will become immediately blue. We thus see that the tranquil cooling of wort in a proper vessel has an advantage over cooling it rapidly by a refrigeratory apparatus. When the wort is sufficiently cool, it is let down into the fermenting tun. In this transfer, the cooling might be carried several degrees lower, were the wort made to pass down through a tube inclosed in another tube, along which a stream of cold water is flowing in the opposite direction, as we have described in the sequel of [Acetic Acid]. These fermenting tuns are commonly called gyle-tuns, or working tuns, and are either square or circular, the latter being preferable on many accounts.
IV. Of the Fermentation.—In the great London breweries, the size of these fermenting tuns is such that they contain from 1200 to 1500 barrels. The quantity of wort introduced at a time must, however, be considerably less than the capacity of the vessel, to allow room for the head of yeast which rises during the process; if the vessel be cylindrical, this head is proportional to the depth of the worts. In certain kinds of fermentation, it may rise to a third of that depth. In general, the fermentation proceeds more uniformly and constantly in large masses, because they are little influenced by vicissitudes of temperature; smaller vessels, on the other hand, are more easily handled. The general view of [fermentation] will be found under that title; I shall here make a few remarks on what is peculiar to beer. During the fermentation of wort, a portion of its saccharine matter is converted into alcohol, and wort thus changed, is beer. It is necessary that this conversion of the sugar be only partial, for beer which contains no undecomposed sugar would soon turn sour, and even in the casks its alcohol undergoes a slow fermentation into vinegar. The amount of this excess of sugar is greater in proportion to the strength of the wort, since a certain quantity of alcohol, already formed, prevents the operation of the ferment on the remaining wort. Temperature has the greatest influence upon the fermentation of wort. A temperature of from 55° to 60° of the liquor, when that of the atmosphere is 55°, is most advantageous for the commencement. The warmth of the wort as it comes into the gyle-tun must be modified by that of the air in the apartment. In winter, when this apartment is cold, the wort should not be cooled under 64° or 60°, as in that case the fermentation would be tedious or interrupted, and the wort liable to spoil or become sour. In summer, when the temperature of the place rises to above 75°, the wort should be cooled, if possible, down to 55°, for which purpose it should be let in by the system of double pipes, above mentioned. The higher the temperature of the wort, the sooner will the fermentation begin and end, and the less is it in our power to regulate its progress. The expert brewer must steer a middle course between these two extremes, which threaten to destroy his labours. In some breweries a convoluted pipe is made to traverse or go round the sides of the gyle-tun, through which warm water is allowed to flow in winter, and cold in summer, so as to modify the temperature of the mass to the proper fermenting pitch. If there be no contrivance of this kind, the apartment may be cooled in summer, by suspending wet canvas opposite the windows in warm weather, and kindling a small stove within it in cold.
When the wort is discharged into the gyle-tun, it must receive its dose of yeast, which has been previously mixed with a quantity of the wort, and left in a warm place till it has begun to ferment. This mixture, called lobb, is then to be put into the tun, and stirred well through the mass. The yeast should be taken from similar beer. Its quantity must depend upon the temperature, strength, and quantity of the wort. In general, one gallon of yeast is sufficient to set 100 gallons of wort in complete fermentation. An excess of yeast is to be avoided, lest the fermentation should be too violent, and be finished in less than the proper period of 6 or 8 days. More yeast is required in winter than summer; for, at a temperature of 50°, a double quantity may be used to that at 68°.
Six or eight hours after adding the yeast, the tun being meanwhile covered, the fermentation becomes active: a white milky-looking froth appears, first on the middle, and spreads gradually over the whole surface; but continues highest in the middle, forming a frothy elevation, the height of which increases with the progress of the fermentation, and whose colour gradually changes to a bright brown, the result, apparently, of the oxidation of the extractive contained in this yeasty top. This covering screens the wort from the contact of the atmospherical air. During this time, there is a perpetual disengagement of carbonic acid gas, which is proportional to the quantity of sugar converted into alcohol. The warmth of the fermenting liquid increases at the same time, and is at a maximum when the fermentation has come to its highest point. This increase of temperature amounts to from 9° to 14° or upwards, and is the greater the more rapid the fermentation. But in general, the fermentation is not allowed to proceed so far in the gyle-tun, for after it is advanced a little way, the beer is cleansed, that is, drawn off into other vessels, which are large barrels set on end, with large openings in their top, furnished with a sloping tray for discharging an excess of yeast into the wooden trough, in which the stillions stand. These stillions are placed in communication with a store-tub, which keeps them always full, by hydrostatic pressure, so that the head of yeast may spontaneously flow over, and keep the body of liquor in the cask clean. This apparatus will be explained in describing the brewery plant. See the [figures], infrà.
It must be observed, that the quantity of yeast, and the heat of fermentation, differ for every different quality of beer. For mild ale, when the fermentation has reached 75°, its first flavour begins; at 80° the flavour increases; at 85° it approaches the high flavour; at 90° it is high; but it may be carried to 100° and upwards, for particular purposes. A wort of 30 lbs. per barrel (sp. gr. 1·088), ought to increase about 15°, so that in order to arrive at 80°, it should be set at 65°. The quantity of yeast for such an ale should be from 2 to 3 lbs. per barrel. The higher the heat, the less yeast is necessary. If the heat of the fermentation should at any time fall, it must be raised by a supply of fresh yeast, well stirred in; but this practice is not advisable in general, because rousing the worts in the gyle-tun is apt to communicate a rank flavour of yeast to the ale. It is the practice of many experienced brewers to look every 2 hours into the gyle-tun, chiefly with the view of observing the progress of the heat, which is low at first, but afterwards often increases half a degree per hour, and subsequently declines, as the fermentation approaches its conclusion, till at length the heat becomes uniform, or sometimes decreases, before the fermentation is finished, especially where the quantity operated upon is small.