Although he has the most perfect refrigerating apparatus at his command, our brew-master now evinces considerable anxiety; he is pretty sure of the usual result of his operations; but he knows “there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip,” or, rather, between the cooling-tank and the fermenting tun; and right here appears to be the only loophole which human ingenuity left to chance. His object is to reduce the temperature of the liquid and render the wort properly amenable, in the desired measure, to the action of the yeast which he will presently add to it, and thus place it in a fair way for the beginning of fermentation. But unless this is done rapidly, the wort may turn sour, and besides, many believe that other dangers usually accompany a protracted exposure of the liquid to the open air. In many breweries, particularly those situated on depressed ground, or hedged in by other high buildings, artificial means are employed to accelerate this first stage of the cooling process. Cooling is one of the most interesting, as it is one of the most important, phases of brewing. The manner in which it is accomplished in model breweries of to-day, impresses us with the greatness of science and its illimitable resources when pressed into service of a progressive industry. Formerly, the successful brewer of lager-beer depended very much upon the climate, the supply of ice and the chances of securing what the Germans style “Felsenkeller,” rock cellars; that is, deep caverns hewn into the rocks. The refrigerators of to-day completely emancipate the brewer from the thraldom of these contingencies; he can now brew almost anywhere and everywhere, even in Southern climates. Mild winters and consequent scarcity of ice have no terrors for him; and if it were not for his second nature to utilize every natural advantage offered him, he might get along without any cellars, certainly without “Felsenkeller.” From the cooling-tank the wort is conveyed through pipes into a pan, whence it trickles over two refrigerators. These two refrigerators are on separate floors, one above the other; the one over which the wort passes first is supplied with water from an artesian well; the other derives its cooling capacity from a refrigerating plant, of which we shall presently speak at some length. Having now reached the temperature most suitable for the beginning of fermentation, the wort passes directly into the fermenting tuns. [Sidenote: FERMENTATION] Fermentation, artificially induced by the admixture of yeast, at the rate of about one pound per barrel, sets in at once and gradually converts the saccharine principle into alcohol and carbonic acid gas, thus imparting to beer that quality which places malt liquors in the category of intoxicating beverages.