Studies on Fermentation: The diseases of beer, their causes, and the means of preventing themPasteur, Louis
Science
Studies on Fermentation: The diseases of beer, their causes, and the means of preventing them
Pasteur, Louis
Beer; Fermentation
In the ordinary yeast, as met with in breweries, the majority of cells
show one or more of these vacuoles; if, however, we place a little of
this yeast in an aerated wort, and watch under the microscope the
changes that occur in the cells, we shall witness, often in the course
of a few seconds, a kind of turgescence, a greater tension of the
cell-walls, which seem to grow thinner, and a complete disappearance of
the vacuoles. At the same time the interior gelatinous matter will
become filled with fine granulations that are scarcely visible, but
which at a certain distance appear brilliant. At the same time
protuberances begin to show themselves, and next day the budding will
have already become very active. The newly-formed cells will have such a
delicacy of aspect and contour as to be scarcely discernible in the
field of the microscope. There will also be a tendency to ramification
in the budding, which appearance will be more or less marked according
to the kind of alcoholic ferments present, as we shall see presently,
attaining its maximum in each case when the cells have been revived
after exhaustion by rest and want of food. In the latter case, the
process of rejuvenescence may be protracted; but this is not the case
with cells of commercial yeast, which is always used within a few days
of its formation. And thus, as I said a little ago, speaking of these
cells, they often manifest the first signs of their budding in a few
seconds.
In our preceding remarks we have expressly assumed that there are many
kinds of alcoholic ferment. This is, beyond doubt, the case, as we have
given incontestable proofs, first in 1862, in the _Bulletin de la
Société chimique_ of Paris, and later on, in 1864 and 1866, in a Note in
the _Comptes rendus_, on the diseases of wines, as well as in our
“Studies on Wine.” Moreover, we know that brewers have long recognized
two distinct methods of fermentation—“high” fermentation and “low”
fermentation—and two corresponding yeasts. It is true that the
differences presented by these fermentations were believed to be caused
by the different conditions under which they took place, and that it was
supposed that we might change “high” yeast into “low” yeast, or
inversely, by subjecting the first to a low temperature, or the second
to a high one. In our observations of 1862, which we have just
mentioned, we discovered that must gives rise to several yeasts; that
the ferment of “high” beer cannot develop except with great difficulty
in must, whilst one of the ferments of the grape grows rapidly and
luxuriantly in wort; that it is easy to isolate the smallest of the
ferments of the grape from its congeners, by subjecting filtered must to
fermentation; and finally, that the secondary fermentations of wines
which remain sweet furnish a remarkable ferment, very different in
aspect to the ferment of beer.
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