Braverstock on Brewing

Braverstock on Brewing

i 4 | BAVERSTOCK ON BREWING. | JANNES IBAYEIRS COCK, 7 , 7 . ~ Lean fun Vj). Spal Ube GNIS . = 3% 5 a OO LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. & W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA-LANE. . MDCCCXXIV. Digitized by Goog le - Soe 4702 BRHF HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROG TUT RS OF GEORGE Cc, DEAPSEY LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES, ; Northomberland-court. BHS Gift of - he Heirs of » gieerse C. Dempsey, TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE. My Lorps anp GenTLEMEN, It igs now nearly forty years, since my father published and dedieated to your valuable: Institution; his Hydrometrical Observations and Experiments in the Brewery ; at which time, he had for sixteen years used an hydrostatical instrument so constantly in his own practice, as on no one occasion, to vend a single cask of beer, the specific gravity of which had not been previously ascertained, and brought to a regular In the following biographical. sketch, I have endea- voured to shew, and I trust with success, that he was the first to discover and to promulgate the method of applying the hydrometer to the purposes of the brewery—and I have related the ridicule he expe- rienced from some, and the opposition he met. with from others, (among whom, was Martin, its inventor — and maker,) to its introduction; but time has shewn ~ the value of the discovery, and the instrament, which has .been gradually improved in. its construction, is is now more or less used, in almost every public _ brewhouse in the kingdom. Indeed it has at length attracted the. attention of the legislature, for the Act of 1 and 2 Geo. IV. cap. 22, contemplates the use of ‘it in levying the. Excise duties on beer, and Mr. Bate vi DEDICATION. of the Poultry, under the direction of the Board of Excise, has been employed to construct an instrument for the use of their officers. "The extensive mathematical and philosophical know- ledge of this gentleman, and the accuracy with which all his instruments are finished, are well known ; and in securing his attention to the subject, the Board could not have made a more judicious sélection, and he kas at length eucceeded in producing an ihstru- "omen (fer which he haz obtained .a patent) on an entively new construction, the principle of which is by very far the most mathematically correct, and the nearest to perfection of any saceharometer or hydro- nicter that bas yet been published. The rapid advances which chemistry has made in the last forty years, and the use of accurately-con- structed thermometers and hydrometers, have been the means of introdueing a regular system in brewing, which has shewn that the. process is a science, de- pending for its success upon certain and invariable principles, and that it is not a mere mechanical ope- ration, performable by any mesial and illiterate per- son whom # may be convenient to employ in it. And it is, in coneequence, beginning to rank as high among the arts and scientific manufactures, as the enormous duties which it pays entitles it to do among the revenues of the kingdom. - Much clamour has been raised against the sup- posed monopoly of the great capitalists in the concern, and it has been charged against them, that possessing such monopoly, they compel their customers to pur- chase, at an extravagant price, any trashthat they may. DEDICATION. vil - think fit to supply them with. I pass by the ridicalous and unnatural supposition, that a brewer who has any regard for his reputation will purposely make a bad article, or, if he could be so blind to his own interest, that he could force persons to drink what they dis- _ like, and at an unreasonable price, and shall tell the persons so ready to advance such charges, that it is only in London, and within a certain distance of it, that the public brewers exist in any number—that in 1807, the ecommaon brewers throughout the kingdom, and including London, did not exceed fourteen hundred—whilst the brewing publicans amounted. to the amazing number of nearly twenty-four thousand, very few of whom were in London. The chief part of the supply therefore, of the king. dom, is not produced by the common brewers, but.by victuallers brewing their own beer; hence, the up- _ fairness of the charge of monopoly—and if it be ad- mitted that brewing is a scienee,. requiring chemical and mathematical knowledge, it will not be denied, I think, that the reputable public brewers are more likely to possess the necessary qualifications for oon- dueting the process fairly and succesefully, than per- sons who are generally uneducated, and from their habits of life, unequal to any application to scientific pursuits. With such persons, brewing must be wholly a matter of chance, in which success, when it happens, is bla- zoned forth in high colours, and disappointment (which if they were candid they would confess they most commonly experience,) is strictly concealed from their customers. vili DEDICATION. In situations where there are no large brewhouses, the importance of the contern‘in. a commercial point of. view, is litte known or thought of. The vast capitals employed in. buildings, in utensils, in ma- chinery, in casks, in stock, and in book debts*, ren- der a London brewery a: pursuit of the first conse- quence ; and if to this we add the enormous. sums which it pays to the Excise directly and indirectly, it may be safely asserted, that no commercial under- taking is of more value to the Government and to the sevenue, than the brewery. . -. In proof.of this, the twelve principal porter, and the dix first ale brewers in London, in the year ending 5th July, 1823, paid to the Excise for direct duties on strong beer only, the almost incredible sum. of £706,038, 17s. 8d. exclusive of the direct duties on . table beer; and on malt and hops, which of course the brewer also pays, though indirectly, in the purchase of those commodities, and which amount to as’ much more, making altogether the immense sum of a million and a half of money, paid to the revenue by eighteen houses only, a fact unparralled I presume, in “any other ‘business or country in the world. A speculation of such magnitude necessarily re- quires considerable property to enable persons to em- bark in it, and property usually gives influence and power to its possessors, which may sometimes, ‘per- * I purposely omit public houses, which form no part of the essential capital of a brewery ; if a brewer possesses a large for- tune, it is of course more advantageous to him, to invest a part of it in the purchase of public houses, than in buying land or keeping it in the funds. DEDICATION. ix haps, be injudiciously used. The aspersions, there- fore, which have been cast upon the brewery, ought, if there be any foundation for them, to attach to the indi- viduals who have occasioned them, and not to the con- cern in general. The best. work on brewing and malting which has appeared, is unquestionably the Scotch Report, which was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 6th June, 1806, and was occasioned by the following circumstances. An opinion having been long entertained that Scotch barley and bigg were very inferior compared with English barley for the purposes of brewing and distil- ling, the duties charged on beer and on spirits made in Scotland, were considerably less than on the same articles manufactured in England. The late improve- ments in the agriculture of: North Britain, and in con- sequence, in the quality of the grain produced, ex- cited the English distillers to complain to the Lords of the Treasury “ that they were undersold in their own market (London) by their competitors in Séotland,” and that “‘ the necessity of such a distinction in the duties no longer existed.” Considerable debate having thus arisen on the question, and the Scotch distillers continuing to insist on the great inferiority of their own grain, it appeared to the Government that a de- cision between the two'parties would be more justly formed by a scientific investigation of the relative qua-. lities of the several sorts of grain in question. And for this purpose three gentlemen of distinguished abi- lities, osz., Dr. Hope, Professor of chemistry, Dr. Coventry, Professor of agriculture in the University of x DEDICATION. ° Edinburgh, and Dr. Thomson, Lecturer in chemistry in that city, were selected and recommended by the Board of Excise in Scotland, to the Lords of the Treasury in London, to make the researches. The length of time which was necessarily occupied: in the numerous experiments, together with the labo- rious attention paid to the minutest points under all the constantly-recurring variations in-processes of such — intricacy, by men so eminently qualified to form right conclusions from all the incidents, render their report of their experiments highly valuable to all who are interested in such inquiries. Dr. Thomson has since written an article on brew- ing for the Supplement to the “‘ Encyclopedia Britan- nica,” and there is a good article on the subject in Dr. Brewster’s ‘‘ Edinburgh Encyclopedia.” To you as the Patrons of the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, of these Kingdoms, I take the liberty ° of dedicating the follawing pages on a subject so con- sonant to the object of your excellent Society, express- ing my hope that my humble attempt to excite atten- tion to its importance, may not be altogether ineffec- tual, and soliciting your indulgence to its defects. I have.the honour to be, . With the most profound respect, My Lords and Gentlemen, Your most obedient humble Servant, J, H. Baverstocx. ° Newport, Monmouthshire, 25th Nov, 1823. CONTAINING INTRODUCTION, A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF | THE AUTHOR. Digitized by Google INTRODUCTION. James Baverstock. the writer of the follow- ing pamphlets, was born at Alton, in Hampshire, on-the 10th of June, 1741. Inthe year 1763, he joined his father at Alton, who was at that time engaged in the brewery there, and who shortly after built the brewhouse in Turk Street. Having met with Combrune’s “‘ Theory and Practice of Brewing,’ published in 1762, he purchased a thermometer which he was: forced to conceal and'to use by stealth, his father ob- jecting vehemently to such “ experimental . innovations.” About the year 1768, he procured an : hydro- meter from Mr. Benjamin Martin of Fleet . Street, who had advertised it as ‘ useful in dis- covering the strength of beer, ale, wine and xiv INTRODUCTION. worts,” and in January, 1770, he put into the hands of that gentleman a manuscript contain- ing the particulars of some experiments which he had made with it: but although Martin was _ the constructor. and, I believe, the inventor of the instrument, and had advertised it as before- meationat he could not be prevailed. on to bolleve that té cowdd ever be introduced into the brewery with any effect; for having made his ‘experi- ments on different sorts of bets instead of on unfermented worts, he found himself so be- wildered and in'such a labyrinth, that he had abandoned the pursuit, aad did not, porinpas choose to.admit his error. - : Unsutcessful with Mr. Martin, our Authot afterwards’ procuréd an :intsoduction to Mr, Whitbtead, the founder of the celebrated brewery in Chiswell Street, who treated the matter as lightly as Martin had done, observing that he had got a large and suceessful trade without ever having used such an instrument, and he put-an esd to the confererice by saying, ‘‘ go home, young maa, attend tp your business q INTRODUCTION. XV ‘and do not engage in such visionary pur- , suits.” . . Independently, therefore, of the prejudice of custom, which of itself generally operates against the introduction of any scientific im- proyement, the hydrometer had to contend with the most powerful obstacles ; its use in the brewery being at that time denied by the in- ventor of the instrument, and treated as a chi- merical theory by the principal brewer in Lon- don: but that it has successfully overcome all opposition since the first publication of the «* Hydrometrical Observations” is proved by its being more or less used at the present day in moat of the breweries in the kingdom ;. while this fact affords indisputable testimony in favour of our Author's judgment in this particular, and of his scientific and practical knowledge in the art of brewing *. - It was vetural, however that such impedi- * Since this edition has been preparing for the press, the legislature has passed an act, by which it appears that it is in contemplation to charge the duty on beer according to the specific gravity of the worts. Xvi INTRODUCTION. ments shouldbe discouraging to him, and he had made up his mind to “ return home” and to content himself with using the instrument in his daily practice-in his own brewery, his ex- periments having convinced him of its immense. value, too clearly to permit him to abandon it. Chance, however, introduced him to‘ Mr. Thrale, then a highly.eminent brewer in, and M.P.,.for Southwark. .' to This gentleman duly appreciating the value of the subject, entered into it with all the warmth it desérved, and signed the following declaration in the manuscript before alluded to, as having been shéwn to Mr. Martin, expressive of his opinion of the utility of:the instrument : ‘© Understanding .by Mr. Baverstock that: «* Mr. Martin has objected that' the mean value: ‘‘ of two worts is not ascertainable by the ‘use’ “of figures, to stich a degree of accuracy and ‘< precision, as-is requisite to make the hydro- *“ meter useful to the brewer; Mr. Baverstock ‘has this morning in my.presence made some ‘INTRODUCTION. xvii ' trials of the instrument on different: worts, ‘each of which discovered: such a different . density as was to be expected: according to "<*'the various mashes ; and on mixing two equal 's© quantities of worts, the hydrometer disco- ' « vered to a digit, the exact density which the ‘¢ medium value of the two amounted to by the “use of figures: And I furthermore give it as ’ ¢my opinion, that the hydrometer is an instru- “ment of great use to the brewer in various ' parts of his business. Oo ‘SH. THRALB. * Southwark, 66 Od Feb. 1770.” During his intercourse with Mr. Thrale our author frequently: met the celebrated Dr. S. Johnson, who sometimes was present at their _€xperiments, on which occasions he always ex- pressed himself highly ‘gratified: and’ pleased therewith, as tending to render that a scientific and philosophical pursuit, which had hitherto been ‘considered a: mere practical operation, requiring neither superior skill nor judgment. xvii INTRODUCTION; ' . Notwithstanding the numerous engagements which his parliamentary duties:\as répresenta- - tive of Southwark must necessarily havé-occay /.” sioned him, Mr. Thrale appears to have closely f supetintended the opetations in his brewhouse;.- and to have attended, minutely, to the making | up his lengths himself; consequently, his opi- nion and his reception of, were the. more .- flattering to, our Author, with whom ‘he com. tinued to correspond, and to whom he presented an hydrometer which he directed: Martin to make in silver, for the purpose *. . . In 1773 the subject of this memoir formed a connexion with Mr. John Dowden, at Alton, under the firm of Baverstock and Dowden, which continued until the year 1786, when he — left Alton for Windsor, having entered into an engagement with Messrs. Jolin and Richard Ramsbottom of that place. Here he had the management of the brewing department of a trade, which consisted-at that _ time of no more than about 11,000 barrels per * Some of Mr. Thrale’s letters are inserted in the Appendix, INTRODUCTION, « xix anivum, bat which incteased annually until 1801, when he left it, and when it had reached to upwards of 30,000 barrels. About the year 1796, the Windsor Brewery began to send ale to London, where it soon ac- quired a celebrity equal to their utmost expec- tations, and which has continued unabated during a period of seven-and-twenty years *. * Mr. Emly a late scientific and judicious brewer at Salis- bury, in a letter which he published in 1807, containing answers to some questions put to him by the collector of ex- ise, relative to the different methods of malting, writes thus of the Windsor ale. “ But as speaking of our own article might have the ap- “ pearance of egotism, I shall mention the Windsor ale, an * article well known in London. This ale was introduced, * and is still brewed, according to the practice of Mr. Baver- “ stock, now of Alton, who is highly and very justly cele- “brated .as a practical brewer. That gentleman has more “« than once told me, in speaking of the ‘ Ware’ practice” (of malting,) “ that he could find 10 malts from any other parts of the kingdom, that so well answered his purpose. Mr. “ Baverstock is in several instances a competitor with us in “trade; but I have no hesitation in acknowledging that -I “ have never yet seen malt-liquor from any house in the king- “ dom, which ‘has discovered more evident marks of science ‘¢ in its manwfacture, or that has exceeded the best Windsor. “ ale im flayour and transparency.’ b2 xx INTRODUCTION. ‘In 1785 he published his « Hydrometrical Observations and Experiments in the Brewery,” and dedicated it to the Society of Arts. Upon which occasion he received the following letter from their Secretary, Dr. Samuel More. ee Adelphi, May 19th, 1785. Dear Sir; "Thad the pleasure of laying before the Society for the en- couragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, at the meeting last night, your Treatise entitled “ Hydrometrical Observations and Experiments in the Brewery ;” and to-read : to them your polite dedication. , A Work calculated to improve so capital a branch of busi- ness as the brewery could not fail of meeting with the appro- bation of the Society; and I am directed to return you their thanks for this instance of your regard, and to assure you that the copy of the work which you have been pleased to present to them, is directed to be carefully pteserved. I have the honour of subscribing myself, Sir, Your most obedient, and most humble servant, - ‘Sam. More, Mr. Baverstock. Secretary. ‘ - This little treatise, which is, in fact, the manuscript which was shewn to Martin fifteen INTRODUCTION. : xxi years before, was no sooner published than the writer of it had a host of correspondents, chiefly brewers, with some West India planters, all seeking farther. information on the subject ; the letters of some of these are printed in the Appendix. _ - In 1801 the term of his partnership at Windsor having expired, he returned to Alton and re- sumed his brewery there, which he had leased to Mrs. Dowden, the widow of his former partner, and leaving his eldest son Thomas to succeed him in the firm of Ramsbottoms and Baverstock, at Windsor. In 1807 he printed the “ Short Address to the Public on the Preju- dices against the Brewery,” which was distri- buted among his friends and customers, but not before published for sale. In 1808 he wrote the letters in Cobbett’s “Register, which produced a very able reply from a gentleman at Malton, who signed him- self Canpipus, and a short controversial cor- respondence ensued which ended in Candidus’s xxii INFRODUCTION. communicating his own practice to owr author seeking his advice and instruction *. In 1811 he published his « Observations on the Prejudices against the Brewery,” and in 1813; ‘ Observations on the State of the Brewery, and on. the Saccharine Quality of Malt.” This last was written expressly for, and printed in the fourth number of Mr. Valpy’s — valuable work “the Pamphleteer,” and was the | last of his publications. He married in 1769, Jane, the daughter (and heir of her mother, the first wife,) of the Rev. John Hinton, who during fifty-eight years, was Rector of Chawton, near Alton, by whom he had a numerous family, and lie died in the seventy-fifth year of his age, at Southampton, whither he had retired from business for the benefit of his health, only a few months, on 26th December, 1815, leaving his .wife and — * All the letters of this gentleman are now in my posess- sion, but I do not conceive myself at liberty to publish them ngt having asked his permission to do so. INTRODUCTION, xxiii three only of his children surviving him; of ’ - whom Thomas, the eldest died at Windsor in the following May, whereupon his youngest and only surviving son, James Hinton, the writer of this memoir, left Alton and succeeded his brother in his partnership at Windsor. -. It is not the wish of the writer to trouble the reader with a recital of all the difficulties which the has had to contend with since his father’s death. But he trusts that it may not be thought altogether unnecessary for him to state that an extent in aid was very unfairly obtained againts his father’s estate, at the instance of a banking firm in London, in less than a fortnight after he was buried, and that the Alton Brewery was in _ consequence sold at a great loss in the October following, to a gentleman who having got pos- session of it, retained it for three years without — completing the purchase, whilst the vendors _ were endeavouring to clear up some trifling de- fects in the title. That in October 1819, having obtained the command of a considerable sum of money, by compromising some law-suits in axiv ‘INFRODUCTION.. whieh his mother had engaged for the recovery of some very extensive estates in Hampshire and other counties, to which she was heiress, he. unfortunately withdrew himself from hig — partnership at Windsor and returned to Alton | in the, fond hope of being able to accomplish the settlement of his father’s affairs, and volun- tarily took upon himself all the incumbrances in which they were involved by the pracess be- _ fore alluded to. He was, however, unfortu- nately disappointed; the undertaking proved too great for his means, and he failed in the attempt. . — He hopes that he may be excused for this di- gression, but as the events are extensively known, his total silence on the subject might create surprise in some, and suspicion, perbaps " in others, who do not know him, that the ciz- cumstances could not be satisfactorily explained. Having, since his father’s death, been re peatedly asked for the Hydrometrical Observa- tions, which have now been many years out of print, he has for some time past had it imconr INTRODECTION. xxy¥ templation to collect all the pamphlets and ‘to. print them in one volume, together with such manuscripts as he has found among his father's papers as relate to the brewery, and as may, ac- . cording to. his humble judgment, be interesting to the public, either professionally or otherwise. With this view he has added some papers on malting, on specific gravities, and on the various kinds of hydrometers and saccharometers now in’ use, which are partly collected from his father’s manuscripts, and partly original, and he flatters himself that they may be found to con- tain some matters not altogether unworthy notice. . ’ He has carefully revised every sheet as it came from the press, and has occasionally ad- ded such notes as appeared to him to be re- quired by the alteration of circumstances, which a period of nearly: fifty years has neces- sarily occasioned. In conclusion, he desires to add that respect to the memory of an honoured Parent is his principal motive for republishing his several xxvi IWFRODUUTION. tracts on a subject in which he had placed his whole delight, and in which he was constantly and actively engaged for more than half a . The Hydrometrical Observations are favour» ably reviewed in the “ Critical Review” of 1785, and they are quoted in the “‘ Edinburgh Ency- clopedia” article «* Brewing,” and by Dr.Shan- non in his.“ Practical Treatise.” Mr. Accum algo in a little work published in 1820, entitled A Treatise on the Art of Brewing,” quotes from the Observations” in the “ Pamphleteer.” J. H. B. POSTSCRIPT. need -Tuat my Father was the first person whe used the hydrometer in the brewery, I have no doubt. He tells us in the year 1785, in the preface to the Hydrometrical Observations and Experiments, that he had then constantly used sa instrament of this description for sixteen years, and the declaration of Mr. Thrale before noticed is dated 2d Feb. 1770, and the manu- ' scriptwhich my Father put into the hands of Martin in that year, contains some preliminary observations on the thermometer, which con- clude thus: ‘ what follows, relates to another “ instrument called the hydrometer, which was ‘* invented by Mr. B. Martin of Fleet-Street, for ** the service of the distillery, but which I have “never yet heard has been applied to any use tn * the brewery. The ensuing examples will shew XXvii? POSTSCRIPT. * whether this ts practicable or not.” Then fol- low the hydrometrical experiments. This was _ written in 1769; Mr. Richardson did not pub- lish his saccharometer until the year 1784, and in his treatise on the “ Application and Use of the Saccharometer,” he intimates that the only attempt which had been made to introduce an hydrostatical instrument into the brewery up to that. time, was that by Martin, with his hy- drometer. That Martin himself did not succeed we have already seen in the relation of what passed between him and my Father in Jonuary 1770. Iwill now quote what Mr. Richardson says of his communication with Martin, on the same subject; and if Mr. R. is correct.in say- ing. that there was no other attempt to intro- duce an hydrostatical apparatus into the brew- ery, then it follows, I think, that Martin’s was the first instrument that was used inthe brewery, _ ‘and that my Father was the first person who discovered the mode of applying i it; I quote Mr. Richardson’s words : The only attempt, or rather profession to POSTSCRIPT. xxix «ascertain the strength of malt-liquors, within “my knowledge, was that of a late celebrated « philosopher, who, on publishing an hydro- ‘‘ meter for assaying spirituous liquors, roundly " “ asserted in his treatise on that subject, that ‘it was useful in discovering the strength of ** domestic liquors, such as beer, ale, punch, gc. "© $c, (see Martin’s Treatise on the Hydrometer.) ' «© These are his words to the best of my recol- ‘* lection, as I quote by memory. Unfortu- “‘ nately, however, for the credit of his asser- “tion, after I had tried various sorts of malt- “ liquor by it, and found their specific gravities *¢ equally various and disproportioned to their “evident though undefined strength, I applied “to him for information on' the method. of -¢ ysing his instrument, in order to attain these «* ends, when he ingenuously signed his recan- “tation in reply, by acknowledging that he “ knew of no instrument which would discover ‘‘ the strength of malt-liquors.” (See Richard- son’s “* Philosophical Principle of the Science of Brewing,” p. 117.) XXX POSTSCRIPT, I wish Mr.R. had given. us the date of thie conyersation with Martin, we should then have known which of.the two, my Father ot Mr. Richardson first conferred with that gentleman. I have shewn by authentic ‘datés, that my _ father used the hydrometer sixteen years before Mr. Richardson published -his saccharometer 3 and that its-use was unknown to the London brewers until my Father communicated it to Mr. Thrale, is, I think, quite clear, and amply ‘proved by the reception he met with from Martin, from Mr. Whitbread, and by Mr. Thrale’s declaration and letters. See also Sect. III. of “« Observations on the Prejudices against the Brewery.” p. 65. - - , . . . . “‘* , aK ae CONTENTS. Hydrometrical Observations and Experiments in the _ Brewery . . . . _ A Short Address to the Publi¢, en the Prejudices against the Breweries . . ‘ Correspondence between our Author and “ Candidus” ‘ Practical Observations on the Prejudices against the Brewery Observations on the State of the Brewery, and on the Sac- ; - charine Quality of Malt . . ‘ . On the Specific Gravity of Worts, &c. ; and on the various kinds of Hydrostatical Instruments now used in the ‘Brewery =. . . . . OuMaltng? ©. . 9. Appendix . Index sf . Page 105 125 163 227 251 278 297 823 HYDROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS IN THE BREWERY. TO _ THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE, LONDON. My Lorps anp GENTLEMEN, . Humsty conceiving that the purport of the following sheets will be found to coincide with the views of your most respectable and lauda- -ble Institution; I beg leave, with all due de- ference, to inscribe them to the Society. Notwithstanding the principal part of this work consists of examples, taken from actual practice in the brewery, it is presumed that the utility of hydrostatics, in contributing to the improvement of the arts and trades depen- dent on liquid extracts, is not confined to that branch ; but that some hints may be hence de- rived, which may prove worthy the attention also-of the malt-distiller and vinegar-maker. Each of these respective employs being en- gaged in different processes on corn, hereby a relation is produced between the present sub- ject and the important concern of agriculture. For by hydrostatics may be ascertained, to the utmost degree of precision and certainty, the value of every kind of grain; and hence the Be ——~ a oy . 4 ' DEDICATION. exact superiority or inferiority between any corn of like species, the produce of different climates. Thus, we may be taught, how far the barley of Siberia exceeds im value the same kind of corn produced in England; or, in what degree the barley of one county in England is preferable to the same produce in any other county. Other examinations will, probably, tend to afford the like information respecting the intrinsic worth of different kinds of. wheat: and the inquiries, in all the above cases, may be extended to the most useful instruction, by ascer- taining the exact effects of different. modes of husbandry, on both the grains. here mentioned. The business of sweets is, no less than the occupations dependent on corn, likely to be very materially benefited by the application of a hydrometer ; as is attempted to be shewn in _ the following publication, in a section -appro- . priated to that particular intent. Submitting the whole to the perusal and at- tention of the Society, I am, with the greatest respect, My Lords and Gentlemen, Your most obedient and very humble Servant, J. BavERSTOCK. Attron, Hants, May 9, 1785. oa PREFACE. Tue Author of the following Treatise having now* used an hydrometer, during upwards of sixteen years, so constantly, as on no one oc- casion in all that time to vend a single cask of beer, without having previously ascertained the specific gravity of the worts, and brought them to a standard proportioned to the price of the beer, or to some standard determined on by considerations, varying with the yearly pro- duce and price of the materials; it is presumed that it will not prove unacceptable to those who may be interested or engaged in the brewery, that the result of his observations should at length be made known. He has the greatest reason to believe that he can render the information afforded by this instrument exceedingly useful to those who are employed in that business. It may not, there- - fore, be improper to assign the causes why it it was not published sooner. * Written in the year 1785. 6 HYDROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. So long ago asin January, 1770, he put in the hands of the late Mr. B. Martin, a manu- script, containing some observations and par- ticulars of experiments, derived from the use of an hydrometer, which, about fifteen months before that time, had been purchased at his shop; which circumstance, indeed, led the author to consult him the first. “When, not- withstanding what he had himself asserted in his Treatise, given with the instrument to the purchasers thereof, namely, “that it was use ful in the discovery of the strength of beer, ale, wine, and worts,” he was not, by any en- deavours, to be prevailed on to acknowledge that such an instrument could, by any device or contrivance, be rendered of service to the brewery. The fact was, that Mr. Martin had contrived this instrument for the service of the distillery only; and, so far as he had any conception of its application to the brewery, had tried his hydrometer in various kinds of beer and ale, instead of (as he should have done) in worts just boiled, and previous to fermentation: and the specific gravities of such beers and ales depending, in some measure, on the degree of their fermentation, and on their casual state of ripeness and clearness, at the times when these PREFACE. 7 experiments happened to be thade, and not al- together on any other circumstances, he found himself so bewildered, that he gave the matter up. . His surprise, however, appeared to be very great, when he was first told the actual and very material differences in the gravities of a first, a second, and a third wort; a matter on which he seemed to have never once made any trials, notwithstariding he was the constructor of an instrument sufficiently capable of de- cidimg thereon. —- Unsuccessful with this gentleman, the author introduced himself to a late very eminent brewer*; who entered very warmly into the subject, and was so kind as to sign a declara- tion in the manuscript before-mentioned, ex- pressive of his opinion of the utility of the instrument to the brewery +. _ | It would be tedious and uninteresting, to relate all the means which were used to prevail on this gentleman also to neglect the use of the instrument; suffice it to say, that. they were of such a kind, that the author scorned to give himself the trouble to endeavour to * Mr. 'Thrale. _ + See the Declaration, signed by Mr. Thrale, in the Introduction. 8 HYDROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. counteract them. Some of the’ hydrometers intended for him proved very defective: and thus the author was induced to decline all thoughts of making the matter public at that time ; contenting himself with applying the in- strument daily in ‘his own practice, and finding, from every succeeding year’s experience, still additional proofs of its extreme usefulness, as well in respect to profit by the just directions it has afforded in the purchasing of malt’and barley, as also by its acting as the index to the process of brewing, in shewing the different effects of varying heats and operations. It will, undoubtedly, be suspected and said, that the cause why the gentleman abové alluded to, or the people he employed, rejected the instrument in question, might be, the total incompetency of Martin’s hydrometer in “prin- ciple, rather than merely to the inaccuracy or defectiveness of the workmanship. - It is readily granted, that much better instru- ments have been made, since that time, by Quin and others. But this superiority consists only in the workmanship, and in the strength of the instruments. The form* of each: kind * It isto be noted, that we are here speaking of hydro- meters.’ The hydrostatical balance differs from such in form: although not, in respect to fluids, in application. PREFACE. 9 of them is the same; ‘nor is there’ any distinc- tion among them, provided they are equally * well finished, save in the scale or sum of their indications; of which we shall speak in an- other place. Martin’s hydrometer ever was, it may be asserted from long experience, as. capable of perfection as any other; and it ap- pears to be self-evident, that any instrument which serves to shew the comparative specific - gravity which one wort bears to another, with the precise, or very nearly the precise superiority of each such wort to water, in different situa- ’ tions, (whether such an instrument may or may not be sufficiently nice to satisfy the inquiries of philosophy,) may be, and is, so great are the differences between. the worts, fully com- petent to the practical purposes and pursuits - of the brewery; in which, a small variation, as far as five, or even more, in a thousand, can never be an object worth notice. It has been already observed, that the hydro- meter acts as the index to the process of brew- ing, by shewing the different effects of varying heats and operations: It is not hereby meant that the hydrometer will inform the brewer whether his process is just, to the obtaining transparency, proper flavour, and the preserva- tive principles; which, abstracted from more 10 HYDROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. immediate views of. profit, are the propertied mostly to be wished-for in beer. But only that the hydrometer indicates to the brewer the precise quantity of valuable matter, obtained from any given quantity of malt. ' If, therefore, the brewer could by any con- trivance, such as the taking unusual care and pains in the mixing a certain parcel of malt to the amount of his consumption during several distinct brewings, make the whole exactly similar in quality; whatever difference then appeared, in the total amount of the specific gravity of the worts of each such brewing, must be imputed to a difference in the heats of the water applied in the respective mashes, or to some other varia« tions in the process. And, thus, by the hydro- ' meter is discovered a rule for establishing the best process, to the obtaining the greatest pos- sible quantity of valuable matter, from any cer- tain number of quarters of malt. The other properties of early transparency, similarity of flavour, and due preservation, are _ to be obtained by proper regulations of the heats of the water used in the respective mashes, and of the heat of the worts under the action of fermentation. Ail which heats rest on the brewer's judgment; being obtainable to the utmost degree of exactness and precision, by PREFACE. ‘At the use of another and better known instrument, the thermometer. - But te return to the hydrometer. If the constant use of this instrument were to become universal in the brewery, the event would be, the distinguishing which farmer produces the best barley, and which maktster sells the best malt. The real value of which, or the precise difference between different lots or parcels of them, may, by an hydrostatical apparatus, be discovered to such exactness, as to a five-hun- dredth part of the whole, if such exactness should be required. The author has frequently found such differences as from five to ten, and fifteen per cent., in the goodness of malt made from barley, even of the same season; and a still greater disproportion, so much as twenty and twenty-five per cent. in maltsmade from barleys the produce of different years; which is surely — such important information, afforded by this in- strument, as of itself to prove the extreme utility ’ derivable from the continued application of it. And, if this information were to become general, it could be injurious only to such farmers as may be negligent, and to such maltsters as may _ be so unjust as to injure the quality’ of their malt, in their endeavours to obtain an unreason- able increase of quantity. 12 HYDROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. The author has’ only to observe farther, on - the following sheets, that they are intended chiefly for the use and assistance of such per- sons in the brewery, as may not yet have seen,. or, perhaps, ever heard, that there is such an instrument as the hydrometer. This view, or ‘intention, will account for his being more par- ticular, on some occasions, than may by others. be thought necessary or proper. But+the majo- rity. of readers will, he trusts, make allowances for that particularity, which can have no other object than their information and service *. . * It can not be too strongly impressed on the mind of the reader, that this was written in the years 1784-5, be- fore the use of an hydr