The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-10

impart bad odors and favors to the wine
3. The yeast finally dies. leaving the field
tree to the many injurious organisms
always present. These organisms develop
and live upon the food materials uncon-
sumed by the yeast, and complete the
work of destruction. They destroy the
alcohol, tartar and coloring matter Of the
wine, leaving in exchange acetic Tactic and
butyric acids and various others of indie
scribable odors. This is of course an
extreme case. There are many stuck wines
that after a tedious lingering fermentation
finally become dry and show the effect of
sticking only by dulIness of color and
iatness of taste which, while not render
ing them unstable, puts them out of the
class of ''clean tasting wines" Another
evil of hot lamentations is the loss of
alcohol by evaporation. This has been
shown in Algeria to amount in some cases
to per cent.
Now as to the methods Of avoiding stuck
wines and of obtaining that cieanness of
taste which is due to prompt and thor
ough fermentation. The treatment of
musts Of detective chemical composition is
beyond the scope of this article. | will
confine myself to those musts which have
q correct amount of sugar, acid, etc. The
principal points to be kept in view are
That the grapes shall commence to ferment
Immediately on being crushed that the
maximum temperature shall not exceed 80
degrees Fahrenheit, or, better still, IS de-
grees Fahrenheit, and, finally, that the
WINE shall not remain III contact with the
pomace longer than is necessary for the
extraction Of the proper amount Of tannin
and color. A prompt beginning of fer
nentation is assured by the addition of
active yeast preferably pure yeast during
or Immediately after crushing. The prob
lem of maintaining q low temperature is
more complex, and must be met with a
variety of eXpedients. In the first place
the grapes should always be crushed while
cool: This can be accomplished by leaving
the boxes of grapes, picked during the heat
OF the day, scattered along the avenue of
the vineyard all night, and as soon as pos
sibe in the cool of the morning stacking
them up and hauling them to the cellar.
1t is inadyisabIe to maintain the tempera-
ture of the fermenting cellar too low, on
account of the danger of checking the
INSTRUMENTATION of the heavier wines.
A certain amount OF cooling is possible by
the use of shallow watts and frequent stir
ring. These precautions, together with
the usual manipulation of the skillful
cellarman, will in cool weather generally
suffice to avoid trouble. But in hot
weather something more IS needed. The
use of some cooling machine Is the only
resource yet tried or suggested that seems
TO hold out any hope Of success. Some of
the brewers methods of cooling have been
tried, but unsuccessfully, on account of
the heavy cap of pomace in tank of red
wine. During the last three years various
machines (refrigerators) have been in
vented and tested in Algeria, and the
success of some Of them is most en-
couraging. Already the use OF yeasts
and cooling devices bids fair to render
unnecessary the immense ''filtreries''
which have been SO much used in
Algeria for the elimination of unsound
germs. One of the first of these cooling
devices was the ''cuve toutee," a metallic
fermenting vat covered with cloth. which
was kept constantly wet on the outside.
In this vat the wine could be kept or 6
degrees lower than in the ordinary wooden
tanks, but as it necessitated replacing all
the vats in use, it was too expensive for
practical purposes. The later refrigerators
are of various characters, but the best all
agree in being machines so constructed
that warm wine is pumped through small
tubes in one direction and water outside
the tubes in the other. In one large zig
gag tube through which the water runs con-