Page:A Practical Treatise on Brewing (4th ed.).djvu/150

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CHANGE OF LOCALITY.

cannot otherwise account for it. Chemistry has, however, superseded witchcraft, in every process dependent upon its own laws. The process of brewing being strictly chemical from beginning to end, must be subservient to the laws of chemistry, and until these laws are understood and applied, no uniformity can be expected. In some chemical processes, the slightest variation will produce very different results. By using vessels made of certain improper materials in some chemical processes, it is possible to compound deadly poisons, instead of wholesome medicines. May not the same, to a certain extent, be true in the brewery? If we find that in one brewhouse, constructed in a certain way, every thing succeeds, while in others, differently constructed, nothing will succeed, have we not a right to suppose that this must be owing to the different construction of the said brewhouses? and that, therefore, the process of brewing must be pursued with reference to the proper chemical laws, in every respect the same as in producing the nicest chemical compounds.

Now, however, nothing is attended to in the construction of brewhouses but saving manual labour; by the introduction of a multiplicity of metal pipes, to prevent the possibility of any waste in the beer. We think enough has already been advanced in the chapter on Electricity, to point out the injurious effects of mixtures of metals in the construction of