Historical Document · 1856
The Brewer A Familiar Treatise on the Art of Brewing with Directions for the Selection of Malt and Hops--and the Making of Cider and Wine
- brewing
Historical Document · 1856
THE BREWER: A FAMILIAR TREATISE ON THE ART OF BREWING, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THE SELECTION OF MALT AND HOPS, &e., &e. : INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING CIDER AND BRITISH WINES: ALSO, A DESCRIPTION OF THB NEW AND IMPROVED BREWING SACCHAROMETER AND SLIDE RULE, WITH FULL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THEIR USE. London : WILLIAM R. LOFTUS, 6, BEAUFOY TERRACE, EDGEWARE ROAD. 1856. LONDON 3 PRINTED BY A, SWEETING, BARTLETT'S BUILDINGS. O==15 {e) 2 Dp + 1 MARI954 eS Steg at CONTENTS. Introduction to the Art of Brewing ... The Art of Brewing . Brewing India Pale Ale ... » . Porter eee eee Method of recovering damaged Malt... Washing and purifying Casks Directions for managing & Two- _querter Brewing ... Cider Brewing eee ove British Wine Making... ene Gooseberry Wine (Champagne) oes Currant » (White)... soe Currant » (Red) .. wee Carrant » (Black)... ove Currant »» (Constantia) wee Mulberry ,, aoe oes Elder »» (Flower) eo Elder . ,, (Berry)... ove Grape —_,_—s (Ripe) ... one Grape y» (Unripe) eee Rhubarb ,, (Champagne) eee Rhubarb ,, (Hock) wee Orange ” wee tee 117 121 123 124 124 125 126 127 129 130 181 133 184 4 CONTENTS. Raisin Wine (Sweet) oes ove Raisin » (ry) ose one Raisin (Madeira) eee vee Demson » a wee Mead oe eee Parsnip »” eee wee tee Malt » (Malega) Ginger ” ove Ginger »» (Green) Strawberry , ~ oe eee Brambleberry ,, vee uae Cherry - ” ‘ ; Cowslip ” tee Balm . ” : ose Birch - ” we one Spruce Beer ,, © - see ee aes Ginger Beer ,, on on oes Introduction to Saceharometer . . vee Description of New: Improved Saccharometer ave Ditto ditto . Skide Rule pee Instructions for using the Saccharometer - Examples Instructions for using the “Slide. Rule i in estimating the Value of. Malt Ditto ditto Samples of Molt oer Table of Solid Extract corresponding to Gravity per Barrel “ Index . toe tee PAGE 136 138 139 140 141 144 145 147 149 152 158 158 154 155 155 186 157 161 167 172 174 176 478 184 188 189 INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF BREWING. ALE or BEER is a fermented liquor, obtained from the infusion of malt and hops. This liquor, the natural substitute for wine in such countries as could not produce the grape, was, it seems, origi- nally made in Egypt, the first planted kingdom after the dispersion at Babel, which was supposed unable to produce grapes; and, as subsequent colonies penetrated further west, they found, or thought they found, in those countries, the same defect, and supplied it in a similar manner. Thus the inhabitants of Spain and France, and the Aborigines of Britain, all used an infusion of barley for their ordinary drink, and it was called by the various names of Celia and Ceria in the B 6 INTRODUCTION. first country, Cerevisia in the second, and Curmi in the last; all literally signifying, strong water. “ The several nations,” says Pliny, “ who inhabit the west of Europe, have a liquor with which they intoxicate themselves, made of corn and water. The manner of making this liquor is somewhat different in Gaul, Spain, and other countries, and called by many various names; but its nature and properties are everywhere the same. The people of Spain in particular brew this liquor so well, that it will keep good a long time. So exquisite is the cunning of mankind in gratifying their vicious appetites, that they have thus invented a method to make water itself intoxicate.” The mode employed by the ancient Britons in prepar- ing their beer is thus described by Isidorus :— “ The grain is steeped in water, and made to germinate, by which its spirits are excited, and set at liberty; it is then dried, and grinded ; after which it is infused in a certain quantity of water, which, being fermented, becomes a pleasant, warm- ing, strengthening, and intoxicating liquor.” Wheat, oats, and millet, were the grains most commonly used in manufacturing this beer. An- ciently, the Welsh and Scots had also two kinds of ale, called Common Ale and Spiced Ale, and their value was thus ascertained by law :—“ If a GROWTH AND DECAY OF PLANTS. 7 farmer have no mead, he shall pay two casks of spiced ale, or four casks of common ale, for one cask of mead.” Even common ale was, at that period, an article of luxury among these people, and was accessible only to the opulent. Wine appears, at that time, to have been quite unknown to the kings of Wales, as it is not so much as once mentioned in their laws, though Giraldus Cambrensis, who flourished about a century after the Conquest, informs us, that there was a vine- yard in his time at Maenarper, near Pembroke, in South Wales. Ale was a favourite liquor with the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, and it has continued to be the national beverage from their times down to the present. This much of the early history of Brewing must suffice. “ An inscrutable wisdom,” says Stockhardt, “ has given to the seed the power of germinating in moist air, and of growing up into a plant, which puts forth leaves, flowers, and fruit, and then perishes and disappears. Germination, growth, flowering, fructification, and decay, are the prin- cipal stages of existence through which plants have to pass. When they have produced seed— that is, new bodies capable of life—they have ful- filled their destiny, and their course then tends downwards to decay. Whether they live only one 8 INTRODUCTION. short summer, or survive hundreds of years, the general principle remains essentially the same.” The Divine agency which effects these changes, and calls forth the phenomena of life in the vege- table world, is, in its essence, wholly unknown to us. A particular name, vital power, has indeed been given to it, but from this we derive no clearer conception or understanding of it. Its operations are conducted in such a mysterious manner, that it is not probable that the vague speculations of the inquiring mind on this point will ever lead to bright or clear ideas here below. That only which it produces, and that from which it was produced, are comprehensible to our senses. There are two ways by which we may gain a partial insight into the mysterious workshop of vegetable life:—first, that of observation, which, by the aid of the microscope especially, has led to a very accurate knowledge of the structure of plants, and of the changes which their separate parts undergo during their growth ; secondly, that of chemical experiment, by which the constituents of plants, their food, and some of the transforma- tions of matter occurring during the growth of the vegetables, have been discovered. There are generated in plants during their growth various independent substances, which, in ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 9 many cases, we can distinguish from each other even by their aspect and taste. Grapes, carrots, and many other fruits and roots, have a sweet taste; they contain sugar. The branches and leaves of the grape vine have a sour taste; they contain an acid salt. Those of the wormwood have a bitter taste ; they contain a peculiar bitter principle. The latter emit also a strong odour, which proceeds from volatile oil. In the seeds of the different species of grain, and the tubers of the potato, we find a mealy substance, starch; in the seeds of the rape, and of the flax plant, a viscous juice, fat oil. From the cherry and plum-trees exudes a mucilaginous substance, which is soluble in water; from the firs and pines, a similar sub- stance, but which is insoluble in water; the for- mer we call gum, the latter pitch. The magnifi- eent colours of flowers proceed from a colouring matter ; the noxious effects of poisonous plants, from vegetable bases, &c. The elements of which all plants are composed are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and from these few elements, the four main pillars of the vegetable world, with the addition of small portions of sulphur, phosphorus, and inorganic salts, does the Creative Power produce the count- less multitude of plants which cover our earth. B2 10 INTRODUCTION. The substances into which these elements re- solve themselves are chiefly vegetable tissue, albumen, gum, sugar, starch, mucus, fats, chloro- phyll, some acids, &c., colouring and extractive matter, resins, volatile oils, &c. Vegetable tissue constitutes the solid parts of plants ; it imparts to them form and strength. It is to the vegetable, what bones and skin are to the animal system; it forms the vessels and cells of plants, through which the sap circulates, and in which the other substances are formed, developed, and matured. The active agents in awakening the vital force in plants, are heat and moisture. The constituent properties of plants undergo considerable changes in the process of vegetation ; unripe grapes taste sour, ripe ones sweet—the acid of the grapes having been changed during the ripening into sugar. Barley to the taste is mealy, but if suffered to germinate it becomes sweet—a large portion of its starch being converted into sugar. Transformations which nature thus effects slowly, art is able to accomplish more rapidly, and in manifold combinations. Albumen is a substance common to plants, though it varies much in quantity and appearance; it constitutes their milky and nutrient properties, ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 11 and is three times as abundant in ripe barley as in unripe. Gum is a clammy substance not formed in all vegetables—for instance, in barley or malt—though it is a chief nutrient in many: it abides largely in coffee. Sugar, in its liquid state as saccharum, may be regarded as the blood, or supporter of life in plants ; it decreases considerably in the ripening of seeds, while their starch is considerably increased. As saccharum is the most essential property of wort, its conversion and preservation is of the first moment. Starch, the most abundant constituent of ripe grain, is analogous.to gum as albumen is to gluten; it may be regarded as the tendons and solvent sinews of plants, and is stored up so that the water of vegetation does not easily dissolve it. It is capable of supplying food to the young plant, and yet continues to increase till the plant has reached its maximum growth. This substance in grain is converted into sugar in the process of germination, and this change is effected by the power of a principle called Diastase, generated during the action of germination. This shews the necessity of malting grain, without which no diastatic power can be evoked, 12 INTRODUCTION. and no.conversion of the starch into sugar effected. Such, however, is the power of diastase when once evoked, that one part is sufficient to render soluble two thousand parts of starch, and convert them into sugar. Mucus or Farina is the fleshy and perishable substance of plants, and is second to albumen alone in the nutritious properties it contains. Most fruits contain mucilage, which is combined with the sugar or with the oil. It is found abundant in wheat, and consists of the most nutritious parts of various kinds of pulse and tubers. Fat or fat Oils are the unctuous and thick flow- ing parts of-plants. They occur in small quantities in almost all plants, even in those in which we should not expect to find any; such as different kinds of corn, grasses, &c. They are insoluble in water, and will float thereon ; being of less specific gravity, and non-volatile. Chlorophyll is a substance widely diffused, as it is the colouring matter of all plants possessing a green colour. It is a mixture of wax and other matters not well known. It is not soluble in water; for if it were, the water would become green in flowing over our meadows. It is gene- rated only with the co-operation of light, and in ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 18 the maturity or decay of plants is converted into leaf-yellow, or leaf-red, probably by a process of oxidation. Vegetable Acid is chiefly found in unripe fruit, and is generated during the growth of plants. It may, however, be artificially produced from non- acid vegetable substances, as acetic acid from alcohol—formic and oxalic acid from sugar, &c. The Colouring and Extractive matter in plants, is that which gives to almost every plant certain peculiar properties, upon which the colour, effect, and taste of such plant depend; imparting to flowers, their endless variety of rich and inimi- table colours ; and to plants, those special, sweet, pungent, bitter, acrid, and narcotic tastes, and those medicinal effects they possess. Resins are the juices of plants, which exude either spontaneously or through incisions in the bark made for the purpose. They are tasteless and inodorous, unless they retain some volatile oil. They do not easily decay; are insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol or oils. Volatile Oil is one of the constituents of odorous plants; but how diffused and diluted in many plants, may be inferred from the fact, that not one quarter of an ounce is contained in one hun- 14 INTRODUCTION. dred pounds of rose leaves, or orange flowers. It is chiefly found in the flowers and seeds; some- times in the stalks and leaves, and more rarely in the roots. Some plants contain several kinds of volatile oils—as, for example, the orange tree: the leaves containing one kind ; the blossom, another ; and the rind of the fruit, a third kind. Let us now institute an inquiry into the con- stituents of Barley and Malt, and rapidly glance at the nature of the process by which the conver- sion is effected. Prout, in his analysis of Barley, presents us with the following result :— Barley. Unmalted. Malted. Starch ........ ccc eens 32 56 Saccharum or sugar ...... 5 15 Fibre or farina .......... 55 12 Mucilage....... 0.0.00 4 15 Gluten. ........ cece eee 3 1 . . 1 1 Bitter and Extractive...... i00 100 The constituents of barley appear to consist of sugar, starch, mucilage, gluten, fibre or farina, and a small quantity of extractive matter. These, by a process of vegetation called malting, are made to change their proportions, and yield a pro- CONSTITUENTS OF BARLEY AND MALT. 15 duct more nutritious, and available to the purpose of the Brewer. Barley intended for malting should have laid in the stack, sweating, for at least two or three months. It should exhibit no inequalities, either in colour or size, and appear of a bright colour, with a thin, clean, and wrinkled husk, closely adhering to a plump, round, and well-fed kernel, which, when broken, appears white, chalky, and sweet. It is then steeped in water for a space of time ranging, according to temperature and season, from 40 to 68 hours; fed with a plentiful supply of liquor, and ordinarily a change within that period. It is then drained, and thrown into a frame called a couch, where it lies full six-and- twenty hours, to generate heat by the process of fermentation, which then commences. The heat is then checked by the grain being spread thinner on the floor; and germination is ordinarily stimu- lated after the sixth day by a supply of water. The moisture, and a temperate atmosphere, cause the grain to swell, decompose, and evolve heat ; the radicle shoots forth, and ministers food from the moist exterior, and from the atmosphere to the base of the plumula, and the grain emits an agreeable scent. The acrospire also swells, and shoots under the husk, and in a few days the end 16 INTRODUCTION. of the farinaceous matter whence the root issues becomes friable and sweet. Germination and saccharization continue until about the fourteenth day, when the moisture of the grain is so far reduced, and the particles are so thoroughly dis- turbed, and their cohesion so broken, that they become as meal; when, to check waste and pre- serve sweetness, the grain is subjected to heat upon a kiln, and evaporated to dryness. The malt produced is sweet and mucilaginous, because the conversion of the starch into dextrine and sugar continues during germination, until fur- ther progress is arrested by drying. Should the germinated barley be allowed to continue growing, as it does in the open fields, all the starch would gradually vanish from the grain, and would pass, in the form of dextrine and sugar, into the juice of the young plant, as is obvious from the sweet taste of such plant, and from its mucila- ginous feeling when rubbed between the fingers. Mr. Tizard, the eminent brewers’ engineer, has devised a process for converting grain into malt, which, according to his account, effects a great saving of time, labour, and space, and produces the finest article yet manufactured. This appa- ratus consists of a large upright cylinder, in which is fixed a series of wire trays provided with PROCESS OF MALTING. 17 machinery for turning and sprinkling, steam pipes, plunge and vacuum pumps, pressure gauges, thermometers, &c. This one vessel performs the whole operation of malting, and the space it occupies is inconsi- derable. Grain having been let into each dia- phragm or tray from a barrel store at the top, the opening of the cylinder is closed, and the appara- tus made air tight. Steam is then passed through tubes lying under the bottom of each tray, by which heat is imparted to the barley, and the sweating process of ordinary malting produced. The vacuum pumps are now set in motion; the disengaged vapour is removed, and a partial vacuum formed, ‘The grain thus dried, and freed from the pressure of the atmosphere, is made to imbibe steep water under very favourable circum- stances. After sufficient saturation, the corn is allowed to germinate ; the carbonic acid gas evolved is constantly removed by pumps; sprink- ling is kept up at intervals, while the temperature is carefully regulated throughout. To dry the vegetated grain, steam is again trans- mitted through the tubes, and when the grain has attained a heat of about 100° Fah. in the cylinder, the vacuum pumps are employed to expel the vapour which floats above it. A partial c 18 INTRODUCTION. vacuum being thus preserved, the grain in drying retains its plumpness, and the palest and richest malt is finally obtained. Malt bears the name of Pale, Porter or Black, Brown, and Blown, according to manufacture and colour. Pale malt is that which has been submitted to a slow drying on the kiln, ordinarily occupying three to four days. A slow degree of drying temperature not only improves the colour, but increases the sugar, and renders it more valuable. Porter, or, as it is sometimes called, Black or Patent malt, is manufactured by a process similar to roasting coffee in cylinders, at a heat of 370° to 405° Fah. It is used chiefly in colouring porter, ' being recognised as a lawful ingredient for the purpose. Great variety obtains in this article, both in quality and colour. An inferior sort is made of very light barley, or of such as has very slightly vegetated ; the maltster’s object being to preserve as much as possible the form and sub- stance of the grain. Such an article should never be purchased, for being composed of carbonized matter it is insoluble in water, and both the flavour and colour it imparts are alike poor and deficient. Porter malt, to be proper, should be made from ADULTERATING INGREDIENTS. 19 good barley thoroughly malted, and exhibit a sound interior, of a uniform dark chocolate colour ; each corn should be separate, and as near as pos- sible of its original size and shape. In this state it contains a large quantity of soluble colouring "matter of a superior kind, composed of burnt saccharine and mucilage, which impart an agree- able flavour and odour, as well as colour, to the beer with which it is mixed. Brown malt differs in its preparation from Pale only in the drying on the kiln, which operation is finished at a brisk heat, obtained from beech, or birch, or some other wood, while the grain is laid an even thickness of about two inches, and occasionally sprinkled with water. Blown malt is another variety of Brown. The vegetated is laid in a moist condition about half an inch thick upon a wire kiln, and kept con- stantly turned, while exposed to an ardent heat produced from fern, straw, or wood. The grain by this process suddenly expands its husk, and acquires an unnatural size, which gives to it its name of Blown malt. This fictitious malt was, on the introduction of the Saccharometer, found to yield a deficient pro- duce, as compared with Pale, of from 18 to 25 per cent., and the best Brown of from 15 to 20 per 20 INTRODUCTION. cent. These discoveries, combined with the high price of hops in certain seasons, led to the furtive introduction of many illicit substitutes, several of which are in a high degree poisonous, and the employment of which cannot be too strongly con- demned. Spanish liquorice root, both in the powder and in the juice, and black resin, were used to impart flavour, as well as colour. Molasses, raw grain, and sugar, took the place of malt. Gentian, or bitterwort root, marsh trefoil, and quassia, all became substitutes for hops, with alum to clarify it. A sensation of warmth was produced by capsicum ; sometimes, by salt of steel, and sometimes by copperas: though the two last were employed, the former to produce a “ reten- tive head,” the latter to tinge it brown, by its affinity for oxygen. Fictitious strength was im- parted by the coculus indicus, and the bitter bean of St. Ignatius. Tobacco and nux-vomica (rank narcotic poisons) were introduced with the same object. Some of these ingredients are so inimical to animal life, that a few grains are sufficient to pro- duce death, and when imbibed cannot fail to pro- duce excruciating head-aches, nausea, and distress- ing sickness. Besides these, they used honey, as a preserva- ADULTERATING INGREDIENTS. 21 tive, and saccharine sweet ; carraway and corian- der seeds, as stimulants ; jalap, as an effervescent, and corrective of acidity ; while ginger, grains of Paradise, orange-peel, and long pepper, were boiled with the wort in the copper. Hartshorn shavings also were boiled in the best ‘ London Ale,” to fine it; and marble dust, egg and oyster shells, were put into the ale as anti-acids, when lime was not native in the water. Opium was used to induce drunken sleep ; sub-carbonates of soda, magnesia, and potassa, to correct acidity ; and sulphate of lime, to prevent fretting. It is a relief to close this precious category of homicidal quackery—this laboratory of, for the most part, deadly- poisons, none of which no re- spectable Victualler would dare to touch—by insisting on a fact, now well attested, that a judicious combination of malt and hops, submit- ted to a careful mash, and fermented on principles hereinafter explained, will produce, without any foreign appliances whatsoever, a healthy, bright, and exhilarating drink, gently stimulating the digestive organs of the dyspeptic, and gratefully nourishing the strength of the robust. Let us now turn to c2 22 THE ART OF BREWING. THE ART OF BREWING. _ Perhaps there is no art, which, from its exten- sive use amongst us,—from its ministering so largely to the every-day comforts and necessities of life-—from the careful manipulation it exacts, ‘and the application of science it demands, should receive a larger share of thought and attention,— and especially from those whose profession and business it is to apply it. The mere mixing and stirring of malt with heated water may be called mashing; the expo- sure of the wort to atmospheric action, may be termed, cooling ; and its spontaneous, or excited changes, fermentation ; while the true principles of the art remain uncultivated and unapplied. Mere routine may suffice with most brewers, though the result in many instances may be dole- ful; but the intelligent brewer will extend his observations. He will take into consideration the erection of suitable premises and utensils, the use of proper materials, and the mode of working them; and will ever bear in mind, that he has to regulate processes of so delicate and precarious a character, as to require his utmost vigilance, . BREWING UTENSILS. 23 and the application of all his science and ex- perience. The Brewery, in its construction, should have respect to economy of labour, as well as to the quantity and quality of produce. The supply of water, when a tank is used, should be situated above the brewery, and exposed to atmospheric action. The liquor copper (which ought to be made of copper metal) should command the mash tun, and have a pipe of sufficient diameter projecting from. the bottom, through the brick-work, on a higher level than the top of the mash tun, and a noseless tap fixed to its extremity. The hopper, or ground malt binn, should be so fixed above the mash tun, as readily, on drawing the slide, to shoot its contents therein. The mash tun should have a false-bottom, made of several pieces, closely perforated with small gim- let ‘holes, and a hoop should be nailed within, ~ about two inches from the bottom, to support it. Three taps should be placed in the bottom, at an equal distance from each other, and in the form of a triangle, but not driven so as to protrude above the surface. A stage should be erected round it, so that the person employed in mashing might conveniently perform that operation. 24 THE ART OF BREWING. The wort copper (which ought also to be made of copper metal, as a saving of fuel and eventually of outlay will, owing to its thinness and durabi- lity, be thereby realised) should be placed at a lower elevation, to receive the wort as it runs from the mash tun, in which position it will serve as an under-back, and save the labour of pump- ing up. From the bottom should project, through the brick-work, a pipe, terminated by a noseless tap, having a piece of canvas attached to its mouth about a foot long, to break the force of the worts as they issue into the hop back. The hop back should be so situated as to receive the wort and hops discharged from the copper. This utensil, like the mash tun, should be fur- nished with a false-bottom, through which the worts might descend clear on to the true bottom, and thence by plug-taps to the coolers. The coolers should extend from a level some- what below the hop back, and have a slight incli- nation, so that at the time of drawing off they might thoroughly empty themselves, leaving only the deposited sediment behind. They should be provided with sluices, to admit the wort at plea- sure from one to another. The refrigerator should be so placed as to operate on the wort in its way BREWING UTENSILS. 25 to the gyle-tun, which last should be so situated as to command the cleansing casks, as they lie side by side on the stands or stillions in the cellar, or store-room. The size of your vessels must be regulated by the amount of your brewings, and the extent of your business. It is safer, however, to have them too large than too small; and as a general rule, the coppers and mash tun should contain about four barrels of liquor for every quarter of malt used. Your coppers, mash and gyle-tuns, should be accurately gauged ; and for this purpose, provide for each utensil a flat rod, and mark ‘thereon the height to which the water rises on the introduction of every thirty-six gallons or barrel measure into it. Floating gauges are best adapted for the coppers, as they indicate the quan- tity of wort or liquor they contain at any time. As the fermentative process can be better and more successfully conducted, where a uniform and low temperature prevails, it is very desirable, that the fermenting-room should be situated as low down as locality and circumstances will admit. It has been thought, and indeed proved, that an equable temperature of 52°, attainable only at depths varying from twenty to one hundred yards below the surface of our soil, is productive of the 26 THE ART OF BREWING. most perfect fermentation, and would in every instance lead to the most successful results. The expense, however, and inconvenience of effecting such excavations, must render the recommenda- tion impracticable, and therefore valueless. Such a depth, however, might easily be attained for our fermenting-rooms as would screen them from those excessive variations to which the temperature of our climate is liable. Damp cellars have by many been preferred to dry ones, on the ground that they are not only cooler, but cause less loss to the beer, by evaporation. Great and weighty objections have been urged against coolers constructed of wood ; as, from their alternate expansion and contraction, under the in- fluence of heat, moisture, &c., the fibres of the wood alternately expand and contract ; thus pulverising their own albumen, and grinding away their more solid substances. The loosened particles either float out of their cells, or exude therefrom, and are swept away by the cleansing broom. The gap thus formed soon becomes deeper and wider, affording easy ingress to the vegetable moisture, until the whole plank is saturated with principles that decay with greater rapidity than the albumen it displaces. The ligneous substance is in its turn decomposed and removed, and makes way for new matter, the pores of the wood acting as so WOODEN COOLERS. Q7 many fermenting vessels in every stage of pro- gress from the vinous to the putrefactive. During this work of destruction, the worts are absorbed and wasted, and become so permanently impregnated with acidity, that they not only irre- coverably lose their flavour, but a poison is com- municated to them by these unsuspected acetous and putrefactive ferments, which after treatment can neither remove nor correct. : Cast-iron is perhaps the least objectionable material for the construction of these utensils; but precaution should be taken, previous to bolting the pieces, to boil each segment in a dense sac- charine liquid for the space of fifteen hours, or so. This process would so overlay the pores of the metal, and render them impervious to atmospheric moisture, that, provided the vessels were swept down and dried, when the last wort was run off, and not washed with cold water until a few minutes before the first wort of the succeeding operation was turned out of the copper to cool upon them, no danger of rust or oxydation need be apprehended. A further guarantee against deteriorating from these causes would be obtained by coating ‘the iron with zinc in a molten state. Mash tuns, fermenting tuns, false-bottoms, and 28 THE ART OF BREWING. mashing machines, have been made of this material. As much of the success of the operator will depend upon the quality of the materials used, he must have a care to their judicious selection. The best pure malt is light, because it has been well digested ; but should the “ cockspur” appear, it will prove weak, having grown too freely. When made of good barley, it exhibits a round, full body, which is easily bruised into a sweet white flour. The skin is very thin, and the meal very sweet and rich to the taste. Sameness in colour, and equality of size, are also good tokens. Hard and flinty malt is to be rejected. A test in common use, is to put a handful into a glass of cold water, when the flints or unmalted grain will sink to the bottom; those partially made, will dip obliquely in angles of depression corresponding to their imperfection; while the thoroughly malted seeds will swim, and float for several hours, before they absorb sufficient water to precipitate them. Experience will, however, enable the eye, the teeth, and the palate, to de- termine with some accuracy the quality of malt; though the ultimate and best test of productive- ness, is the Saccharometer. By its use you may ascertain the extract it will yield per quarter, and thus readily discover its intrinsic value; and by THE SACCHAROMETER. 29 adopting the plan of recording your observations, you will at all times know which malt to reject, and which to prefer. Your record may be kept thus :— Maltster’s Names. Extract per Quarter, Price. A, B. 82 68s. C, D. 80 65s. -E,F. 74 62s. 9d. . The importance commercially of employing at all times an instrument of such exquisite sen- sibility as the Saccharometer, to determine the quality of malt, cannot be too strongly insisted on. To expect a uniform quantum of extract from a given bulk of goods is a dangerous fallacy, greatly aggravated by those differences and fluctuations in the quality of grain which soil and season occa- sion, and to which each deviation of temperature materially contributes. Of all such changes, however, the Saccharometer will be found the faithful indicator, and its use will enable the Brewer to select the most productive malt—a con- sideration of great pecuniary importance, we re- peat, at all times, but especially in those seasons in which the harvest has been scanty, or exposed to injury by wet or lying in the field. The em- ployment of the Saccharometer is opposed by D 80 THE ART OF BREWING. many, on the ground of intricacy ; but it is hoped: that in this advancing age, in which science. is everywhere superseding custom and blind routine, such objections will be abandoned, and that the directions for its use, in a subsequent page of this work, will enable every thoughtful Brewer to avail himself successfully of its invaluable aid. Another indispensable constituent in the manu- facture of beer is Hops. This flower has been quaintly but correctly styled, the “ Nosegay of the British brewery.” Its fine, full, and soft bitter, is used to impart the desired flavour and durability to the wort; and, although the cupidity and art of man have ofttimes made the attempt, they have not yet succeeded in discovering a substitute, at all approximating in its quality, for this precious plant. Indeed, the evidence of experience goes to prove, that all other flowers and herbs are far inferior to the bloom of the hop in its preservative pro- perties, as well as being ranker and coarser in their flavours. As nothing has been found in the past, so it is unlikely that anything will be discovered in the future, to supersede its fine aromatic flavour, and its warm, stomachic, and cheering bitter; and though in times of scarcity and dearth, such as the failure of two or three general crops would . SELECTION OF HOPS. 81 produce, it might be advantageous, did the law permit, to use chamomile, gentian, and quassia, together with the hops, still, under no other cir- cumstances could any deviation from the recog- nised and exclusive use of malt and hops be jus- tifiable, either in a pecuniary or moral point of view. The quality of hops depends upon soil and culture ; also, upon picking, drying, bagging, and other contingencies. Those in highest. repute are grown in Kent, in the environs of Canterbury: the Farnham hops are likewise much esteemed : they are both distinguished for their strength and flavour. The north-clays, so called from the stiff lands in Nottinghamshire, where they grow, are remarkable for a rankness of taste approaching to nauseousness, which renders them fitter for strong store-beer than for any other. The Worcesters are characterised by their mildness and agreeable flavour, while the Sussex, though highly prized in some districts, are studiously avoided in others, owing to a peculiar and incurable smatch they possess. Proximity of growth and local tastes will, for the most part, determine the purchaser in his choice; but he should be careful to select such only as are full grown, abundant in seed, thick 32 THE ART OF BREWING. leaved, and as ripe as possible. More reliance should be placed on the smell of the hop, than on its colour, as the green tinge, with its yellow coating, is often artificially produced, by burning charcoal, and the fumes of sulphur and saltpetre, in the process of drying. An experienced man will also reject those “choice portions” which are commonly picked too early, whereby the permanency, and perfection of the natural bitter, are sacrificed to colour and delicacy, in the appearance of the aroma. When nature has matured the hop, its necta- rium or pollen appears in large particles, and of a bright yellow; its seeds hard and brown, with many of the edges of its blossoms also tinged brown; when rubbed, it yields a thick oily mat- ter, emitting a grateful and pungent smell. The period of its maturity has now arrived, and the grower may gather with advantage to himself and his customer. Preference should always be given, other cir- cumstances being equal, to hops of the latest growth, and of eight to ten months old, as many of their valuable properties dissipate by longer keeping. The character of the hop should be adapted to the quality and constitution of the beverage—the QUALITIES OF HOPS. 33 palest and mildest for the light fresh ales—the strongest and most aromatic for pale ales of a stronger description. The Farnhams answer well for the imitation of London ales, and for those ales intended for exportation; whilst the darker coloured and more astringent Kents, answer best for store-beer, and porter. Writers, as well as Brewers, differ widely in their opinions as to the qualities in water best adapted for brewing: some prefer hard, others soft, while a third class are indifferent in their choice, provided it be water. Competent authorities, however, and the evi- dence borne by many of our choicest ales (Burton, for instance), incline the balance of opinion in favour of hard spring water, particularly that drawn from wells dug in a chalk soil, and impreg- nated with saline matter. In such a case, how- ever, higher pitching heats and a higher fermen- tation are necessary than for soft water, to over- come the obstinacy with which such worts ferment ; and the employment of such improved patented utensils and instruments as Tizard’s “ Mashing Attemperator,” and “ Hop Converter,” is very desirable, to force an extract from the malt, equal in quantity, if so desired, to that produced by rain or snow water. D2 34 THE ART OF BREWING. Although such worts require to be pitched from ten to fifteen degrees higher than those drawn from soft water, in order to effect the same attenu- ation in the same time, yet are their preservative properties increased thereby, for a-larger propor- tion of saccharine matter remains undeveloped, to improve the fulness and flavour of the ale, and prevents its becoming sour, as other full-bodied ales are apt to become, especially in hot weather. Having sketched a plan for the erection of the brewery, and prescribed some tests for the selec- tion of the three main brewing constituents— malt, hops, and water ; let us now advance a step, and explain their combination in the process of Mashing. It is necessary that the malt you intend mashing should have been bruised or malted from twenty to forty hours before it is used, so that the heat engendered by the process may have thoroughly escaped from it. It should not be ground or crushed, but subjected to the action of rollers, so placed as to split the husk of the grain, and destroy the cohesion of the meal, without remov- ing it, thus converting the husk into a kind of bag, confining the soluble farina within it, and preventing its escape as flour. Early next morning, when your mashing liquor TREATMENT OF MALT.. 35 shall have attained a heat of 184°, discharge it into the mash tun, in the proportion of about two barrels for every quarter of malt you employ. When the heat is reduced to 180°, let the malt down from the hopper gradually into it, taking care to mix it well with the liquor. Respecting the temperature of the mashing liquor, Brewers are not agreed; some are partial to high heats, others to low. The choice must depend, partly upon the character of the water used (for hard waters require lower heats than soft, from the difficulty of making such a rich ex- tract with them, although the reverse might appear to be true), and partly upon the temperature of the malt, and of the surrounding atmosphere. The variety in the colour and constitution of the malt, will also r