Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN
THE
THEORY AND PRACTICE
OF
BREWING.
MICHAEL COMB RUNE, BREWER.
ORIGIN ALLY PUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION OF THE MASTER, WARDENS,
AND COURT OF ASSISTANTS OF THE WORSHIPFUL
COMPANY OF BREWERS.
A NEW EDITION.
CORRECTED ANi> GREATLY ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR,
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR VERNOR. AND HOOD, LONGMAN AND REES, CVTflEU-
AND MARTIN, AND J. WALKER,
By J. Wright, St. John's Square, Clerkcnvell.
TO
DOCTOR PETER SHAW,
PHYSICIAN TO HIS MAJESTY,
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE £F PHYSICIANS OF LO.VDOV,
AND OF THE 11OYAL SOCIETY.
SIR,
THE brewing of malt liquors has hitherto
been conducted by such vague traditional
maxims, that an attempt to establish its
practice on truer and more fixed principles
must, like every new essay, be attended
with difficulties.
Your works, Sir, will be lasting monu-
ments, not only of your great abilities, but
also of your zeal for the improvement of
the arts, manufactures, and commerce of
your country. You will therefore permit
me to place under your patronage this
treatise, which, if it can boast no other
merit, has that of having been undertaken
and finished by your advice and counsel.
a2
* 15 '
it
Some favor, I hope, will be shewn for
this distant endeavour to imitate the laud-
able example you have set, and whatever
be the success, I shall ever glory in the
opporjjmity it has given me of professing
myself publicly,
Sir,
Your most obedient,
And most obliged humble Servant,
MICHAEL COMBRUNE-.
Hampstead, Middlesex,
December 15, 17«1.
%-
A THE
CONTENTS.
Paga
PART I.
Explanation of technical terms, t I
SECTION I.
Of Fire, <...... 15
SECTION II.
Of Air, 1$
SECTION III.
Of Water, 24
SECTION IV.
Of Earth, 33
SECTION. V.
Of Menstruums or Dissolvents, 34,
SECTION VI.
Of the Thermometer, 39
SECTION VII.
Of the Vine, its fruits, and juices, 50
SECTION VIII.
Of fermentation in general, „.... 66
SECTION IX.
Of artificial fermentation, ,.i * , 80
SECTION X.
Of the nature of Barley, , 89
SECTION XL
Of Malting ., .. 94
vi CONTENTS.
SECTION XII.
Of the different Properties of Malt, and of the num-
ber of its fermentable Parts, 113
SECTION XIII.
Observations on defective Malts, 131
PART II.
SECTION I.
Of the heat of the Air, as it relates to the practical
part of Brewing, 145
SECTION II.
Of Grinding, '. 157
SECTION III.
Of Extraction, 160
SECTION IV.
Of the nature and properties of Hops, 201
SECTION V.
Of the lengths necessary to form malt liquors of the
several denominations, 217
SECTION VI.
Method of calculating the height in the Copper at
which worts are to go out, 220
SECTION VII.
Of Boiling, 224
SECTION VIII.
Of the quantity of Water wasted ; and of the appli-
cation of the preceding rules to two different
processes of Brewing, f 230
CONTENTS; rii
SECTION IX.
Of the division of the Water for the respective
Worts and Mashes, and of the heat adequate to
each of these, 234
SECTION X.
An enquiry into the volume of Malt, in order to re-
duce the Grist to liquid measure, ..... ...... 25S
SECTION XL
Of the proportion of cold Water to be added to
that which is on the point of boiling, in order
to obtain the desired heat in the extract, 271
SECTION XII.
Of Mashing, 286
SECTION XIII.
Of the incidents, which cause the heat of the ex-
tract to vary from the calculation, the allow-
ances they require, and the means to obviate
their effects, 289
SECTION XIV.
Of the disposition of the Worts when turned out of
the Copper, the thickness they should be laid at
in the Backs to cool, and the heat they should
retain for fermentation, under the several cir-
cumstances, 304
SECTION XV.
Of Yeast, its nature and contents, and of the man-
ner and quantities in which it is to be added to
the Worts, , ,. 311
itiu CONTENTS.
SECTION XVI.
Of practical fermentation, and the management of
the several sorts of Malt liquors, to the period
at which they are to be cleansed, or put into
the casks, 318
SECTION XVII.
Of the signs generally directing the processes of
Brewing, and their comparison with the forego-
ing Theory and Practice, 327
SECTION xvm.
An enquiry, into what may be, at all times, a proper
stock of Beer, and the management of it in the
cellars, ,..: 331
SECTION XIX.
Of Precipitation, and other remedies, applicable to
the diseases incident to Beers, 334
SECTION XX.
Of Taste, » :..: 342
Appendix, 349
THE
PREFACE.
THE difference that appears in the several processes of
brewing, though executed with the same materials, by the
same persons, and to the same intent, is generally ac-
knowledged. The uneasiness this must occasion to those
who are charged with the directive part of the business,
cannot be small : and the more desirous they are of well
executing the duty incumbent on them, the greater is
their disappointment, whenfrustrated in their hopes. To
remove this uncertainty, no method seems preferable to
that of experiments, as it is by this means alone, any art
whatever ca?i be established upon a solid foundation : but
these require caution, perseverance, and expence-, they
must be multiplied and varied both for the same and for
different purposes. The operations of nature elude super-
ficial enquiries, where we have few or no principles for
our guides, many experiments are made, which tend only
to confound or deceive. Effects seen, without a sufficient
knowledge of their causes, often are neglected, or
viewed in an improper light, seldom faithfully reported,
and, for want of distinguishing the several circumstances
x PREFACE.
that attend them, many times become the support of old
prejudices, or the foundation of new ones.
Whoever is attentive to the, practical part of brewing,
will soon be convinced that heat, or fire, is the principal
agent therein, as this element, used in a greater or less
degree, or differently applied, is the occasion of the
greatest part of the variety we perceive. It is but a few
years since the thermometer has been found to be an in-
strument sufficiently accurate for any purposes where the
measure of heat is required. And, as it is the only one
Kith which we are enabled to examine the processes of
krcwing, and to account for the difference in the ef-
fects, a theory of the art, founded on practice, must be of
later date than the discovery of the instrument that guides,
us to the principles.
So long since as the year 1T4I , / began this research,
and never neglected any opportunity to consult the artists
of the trade, or to try such experiments as I conceived
might be conducive to the purpose. It is needless, per-
haps shameful, to mention their number, or to speak of
the many disappointments I met with in this pursuit.
Error admits of numberless combinations. Truth alone
is simple, and confirmed by continuity. At last, flatter-
ing myself with having collected the true theoiy, assisted
and encouraged by men of abilities, I thought it jit the
public should judge whether I had succeeded in my en-
PREFACE. xi
deavours; and in 1758 the Essay on Brewing was sub-
mitted to them, either for their approbation, or that the
errors therein might be pointed out. I have had no
reason to repent of my temerity, though perhaps the no-
velty, more than the merit of this performance, engaged
the attention, I may add the favor and advice of some
good judges. They have allowed my principles to be at
least plausible, and their agreement with practice has
since repeatedly convinced me they were not far from
truth.
The Essay just mentioned, revised and corrected, na-
turally forms the first part or theory of the present trea*
tise. The second part is entirely practical, dfter giv-
ing a short idea of the whole process, I resume its differ-
ent branches in as many chapters, and endeavour in such
manner to guide the practitioner, that he may, in every
fart, at all times, and under a variety of circumstances,
know what he is to do, and seldom, if ever, to be disap-
pointed in his object.
From the investigation of so extensive a business, some
benefit, it is hoped, must accrue to the public ; from
the process of brewing being carried on in a just and uni-
form manner, our malt liquors, probably, will in time
better deserve the name of wine.
Boerhaave, Shaw, Macquer, and most of the great
masters in chymistry are far from limiting that name to
*ii PREFACE.
the liquors produced from the juice of the grape : they
extend it to all fermented vegetable juices, which , on dis-
tillation, yield an ardent spirit, and look on the strength
and faculty wine has to cherish nature, and preserve it-
self, to be in proportion to the quantity it possesses of this
liquid, generally termed spirit of wine. This, when tho-
roughly pure and dephlegmated, is one and the same,
whatever different vegetable it is produced from. Barley
wines possess the same spiritous principle, which is the
preservative part of the most valuable foreign wines, with
a power j)f being brewed superior or inferior to them in
quality, and the other constituejit parts of beer, beside this
ardent spirit, will not, I believe, be esteemed less whole-
.wine than those which make up the whole of grape wine
The reasons why Great Britain hath not hitherto fur*
nished foreign nations with this part of her product, but
more especially her seamen, are obvious. Our mariners,
when at home, do not dislike beer, either as to their pa-
lates, or its effects on their constitution ; but when abroad,
spiritous liquors, or new wines, often the product of an
enemy's country, are substituted in lieu thereof. The
disuse of beers, on these occasions, has been owing to the un-
certainty of the principles on which they were brewed; the
maintaining them sound in long voyages and in hot cli-
mates, could not sufficiently be depended upon ; and it has
been supposed they could not be procured at so easy a rate
PREFACE. xia
<w «>*'««, brandies, or rums, purchased abroad. The
frst of these objections, the author hopes, by this toork,
to remove ; and, were all the duties to be -allowed on what
would be brewed for this purpose, our seamen might be
furnished with beer stronger than Spanish wine, and at a
less efpence, the mean price of malt and hops being taken
for seven years. It is true that, in times of peace, the
seamen in his Majesty's service are not very numerous,
but the number of those then employed by merchants is
considerable. I should not have 'presumed to mention
this, but on account of the encouragement given to the
exportation of corn, and to many manufactures of British
growth or British labor. It is computed that, in Eng-
land and Wales, are brewed three millions Jive hundred
thousand quarters of malt yearly, for which purpose up-
wards of one hundred and fifty thousand weight of hops
Are used. The improvement of the brewery might be-
come a •means of increasing the consumption of the
growth of our country, viz. of barley, to more than one
hundred thousand quarters, and of hops to between four-
teen and fifteen thousand weight annually.
Whether this be an object deserving the attention of the
legislative power, or of the landed interest, and what
might be the proper means to put it successfully in prac-
tice, are considerations which do not belong to this place ;
it being sufficient here to point out, how universally bene-
sir PREFACE.
fcialit is to establish the art of brewing on true and inva-
riable principles.
This being the first attempt, that has been made, to re*
duce this art to rules and principles, the Author hopes
he has a just claim to the indulgence of the public, for
any errors he unwillingly may have adopted ; far from
believing that there is no room left for future improve-
ments, he recommends it to those, who, blessed with supe-
rior talents and more leisure than himself, may be in-
clined to try their skill in the same field, to watch closely
the steps of NATURE ; after the strictest enquiry made, it
will be found, the success of brewing beers and ales wholly
depends on a true imitation of the wines she forms.
This second edition, it may be obsemed, in many re-
spects, differs considerably from the first. I have en-
deavoured to convert to use every advice, every opinion I
received, and. having put these to the test of farther
practice, fiat ter myself it will be found improved.
A COPY OF DOCTOR SHAW'S LETTER.
ON PERUSING THE ESSAY BEFORE MEXTIOXE0.
DEAR SIB,
/ HAVE, with pleasure and improvement,
read over your manuscript ; and should be glad
to see some other trades as justly reduced to
rules as you have done that of brewing : which
would not only be making a right application
of philosophical knowledge, but, at the same
time, accommodate human life, in many respects,
wherein it is still deficient. Perhaps your ex-
ample may excite some able men, to give us
their respective trades, in the form of so many
arts. For my own part, having long wished
to see some attempts of this kind, for the good
of society in general, I cannot but be particu-
larly pleased with the nature, design, and exe-
cution of your essay, and am,
Dear Sir,
Your obliged Friend,
« „ TV, n T . And humble, Servant,
Pall-Mall, July 20,
iT58. PETER SHAIf\
AN
EXPLANATION
OF THE
TECHNICAL TERMS.
1 HE intent of every brewer, when he forms his drink,
is to extract the fermentable parts of the malt, in the
most perfect manner ; to add hops, in such proportion
as experience teaches him will preserve and ameliorate
the beer ; and to employ just so much yeast as is sufficient
to obtain a complete fermentation.
Perhaps it may be said, these particulars are already
sufficiently understood, and that it would be a much
more useful work to publish remedies for the imperfec-
tions, or diseases, beer is naturally or accidentally sub-
ject to, and which at present are deemed incurable. But
if the designs just now mentioned be executed according
to the rules of chymistry, such imperfections and such
diseases not existing, the remedies will not be wanted ;
for beer brewed upon true principles, is, neither natu-
rally nor accidentally, subject to many disorders often
perceived in it. Hence it is evident, that some know-
ledge of chymistry is absolutely necessary to complete
the brewer, as, without the informations acquired from
that science, he must be unqualified to lay down rules
for" his practice, and to secure to himself the favor of the
public ; for which purpose, and to make this treatise useful
to those concerned in the practical part of brewing, it has
A
2 AN EXPLANATION
been thought adviseable to avoid, as much as possible,
the technical terms of art, to prefix an explanation of
those that necessarily occur, and, in as short a manner as
possible, to trace the properties of fire, air, water, and
earth, as far as they relate to the subject.
ACIDS are all those things which taste sour, as vinegar,
juice of lemons, spirit of nitre, spirit of salt, the oil and
spirit of vitriol, &c. and are put in a violent agitation, by
being mixed with certain earths, or the ashes of vege-
tables. An acid enters, more or less, into the composi-
tion of all plants, and is produced by, or rather is the last
effect of, fermentation. Mixed in a due proportion with
an alkali, it constitutes a neutral salt, that is, a salt where-
in neither the acid nor alkali prevail. Acids are fre-
quently termed acid salts, though generally they appear
under a fluid form.
ALKALIES, or alkaline salts, are of a nature directly-
contrary to the acids, and generally manifest themselves
by effervescing therewith : they have an urinous taste,
and are produced from the ashes of vegetables, and by se-
veral other means. They, as well as testaceous and cal-
carious substances, are frequently made use of by cooperi,
to absorb the acid parts of stale beer, by them called
softning.
Am is a thin elastic fluid, surrounding the globe of the
earth ; it is absolutely necessary to the preservation both
of animal and vegetable life, and for the exciting and
carrying on fermentation.
ALCOHOL is the pure spirit of wine, generally supposed
to be without the least particle of water or phlegm.
OF THE TECHNICAL TERMS. 3
ANIMALS are organized bodies, endued with sensation
and life. Minerals are said to grow arid increase, plants
to grow and lire, but animals only to have sensation. —
Animal substances cannot ferment so as to produce by
themselves a vinous liquor; but there may be cases
wherein some of their parts rather help than retard the
act of fermentation.*
ATMOSPHERE is that rast collection of air, with which
the earth is surrounded to a considerable height.
ATTRACTION is an indefinite term, applicable to all ac-
tions whereby bodies tend towards one another, whether
by virtue of their weight, magnetism, electricity, or any
other power. It is not, therefore, the cause determining
some bodies to approach one another, that is expressed
by the word attraction, but the effect itself. The space,
through which this power extends, is called the sphere
of attraction.
BLACKING is a technical term used by coopers, to de-
note sugar that is calcined, until it obtains the colour that
occasions the name.
BREWING is the operation of preparing beers and ales
from malt.
BOILING may thus be accounted for. The minute par-
ticles of fuel being by fire detached from each other,
and becoming themselves fire, pass through the pores of
* Vide Dr. Pringle's experiments in his book of observations oo the
diseases of the army, p. 350, 351 & seq.
A 2
4 AN EXPLANATION
the vessel, and mix with the fluid. These, being perpe-
tually in an active state, communicate their motion to
the water : hence arises, at first, a small intestine mo-
tion, and from a continued action in the first cause, the
effect is increased, and the motion of the liquor continu-
ally accelerated ; by degrees, it becomes sensibly agitated,
but the particles of the fire, acting chiefly on the parti-
cles that compose the lowest surface of the water, give
them an impulse upwards, by rendering them specifi-
cally lighter, so as to determine them to ascend, accord-
ing to the laws of equilibrium. Hence there is a constant
flux of water from the bottom to the top of the vessel,
and reciprocally from the top to the bottom. This ap-
pears to be the reason why water is hot at the top sooner
than at the bottom, and why an equal heat cannot be
distributed through the whole. The thermometer there-
fore can be of little service, to determine immediately the
degree of heat, especially in large vessels, on which ac-
count it is better for brewers to heat a certain quantity
just to the act of boiling, and to temper it, by adding a
sufficient quantity of cold water. Boiling water is inca-
pable of receiving any increase of heat, though acted on
by ever so great a fire, unless the atmosphere becomes
heavier, or the vapours of the water be confined. It oc-
casions the mercury to rise, according to Farenheit's
scale, to 212 degrees.
CHARR. A body is said to be charred when, by fire,
its volatile or most active parts are drove out ; its coarse
oils, by the same means, placed chiefly on the external
parts ; and so deprived of color as to be quite black.
CLEANSING is the act of removing the beer from the
ton, where it was first fermented, into the casks.
OF THE TECHNICAL TERMS. *
CLOUDY is an epithet joined to such beers, which, from
the violent heat given to the water that brewed them,
are loaded with more oils than can be attenuated by
fermentation, and incorporated with the water ; from
Avhence a muddy and grey oil is seen floating on the sur-
face of the liquor, though the body is often transparen- ;
this oil is frequently extracted in such quantity as to ex-
ceed the power of any known menstruum.
COHESION is that action by which the particles of the
same body adhere together, as if they were but one.
COLD is a relative term in opposition to heat. Its
greatest degree is not known, and it is supposed that the
colder a body is, the less is the agitation of its internal
parts.
COLOUR ; a greater or less degree of heat causes diffe-
rent colours in most bodies, and from a due observation,
of the colour of malt, we may determine what degree of
heat it has been impressed with.
DENSITY expresses the closeness, compactness, or near
approach of the parts of a body to one another : the more
a body weighs in proportion to its bulk, the greater is
its density. Gold is the densest body in nature, because
there is none known of the same bulk, which weighs so
much.
EARTH is that fossil matter or element, whereof our
globe partly consists.
EBULLITION is the boiling or bubbling of water, or any
A 3
6 AN EXPLANATION
other liquor, when the fire has forced itself a passage
through it. Brewers suppose water to be just beginning
to boil, when they perceive a small portion of it forced
from the bottom upwards in a right line, so as to disturb
the surface : when the liquor is in this state, they call it
through, or upon the point of ebullition. The vulgar
notion that the water is hotter at this time than when it
boils, is without any foundation. i ^ii
EFFERVESCENCE is a sudden agitation, arising in certain
bodies upon mixing them together ; this agitation most
commonly generates heat.
ELASTICITY, or springiness, is that property of bodies,
by which they restore themselves to their former figure,
after any pressure or distension.
EXPANSION is the swelling or increase of the bulk of
bodies from heat, or any other cause.
EXTRACT consists of the parts of a body separated from
the rest, by cold or hot water.
FERMENTATION is a sensible internal motion of the par-
ticles of a mixture : by the continuance of this motion,
the particles are gradually removed from their former
situation, and, after some visible separation, joined toge-
ther again in a different order and arrangement, so a.s
to constitute a new compound. No liquors are capable
of inebriating, except those that have been fermented.
FIXED BODIES are those, which, consisting of grosser
parts, cohering by a strong attraction, and by that means
OF THE TECHNICAL TERMS. ;
less susceptible of agitation, can neither be separated nor
raised, without a strong heat, or perhaps not without
fermentation.
FIRE is only known by its properties, of which the
chief are to penetrate and dilate all solid and fluid
bodies.
FREEZING POINT is the degree of cold, at which water
begins to be formed into ice, which, according to Faren-
heit's scale, is expressed by 32.
FOXED is a techical term, used by brewers, to indicate
beers in a putrid state.
GUMS are concreted vegetable juices, which transude
through the bark of certain trees, and harden upon the
surface ; they easily dissolve in water, and by that means
distinguish themselves from balsams or resins.
HERMETICALLY SEALED is a particular method of stop-
ping the mouth of vessels, so close that the most subtil
spirit cannot fly out, which is done by heating the neck
of the -bottles, till it is just ready to melt, and then with
hot pinchers twisting it close together.
HOMOGENEOUS is an appellation given to such parts
or subjects, which are similar or of the same nature and
properties.
ISINGLASS is a preparation from a fish called huso,
somewhat bigger than the sturgeon ; a solution of which
in stale beer is used, to fine or precipitate other beers :
A 3
8 AN EXPLANATION
it is imported from Russia by the Dutch, and from them
to us.
LIGHT consists of particles of matter inconceivably
small, capable of exciting in us the sensation of colours,
by being reflected from every point of the surface of
luminous bodies ; but, notwithstanding they are so ex-
ceeding small, Sir Isaac Newton found means to divide
a single ray into seven distinct parts, viz. red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
MALT, in general, is any sort of grain, first germi-
nated, and then dried, so as to prevent any future vege-
tation : that generally used, is made of barley, which
experience has found to be the fittest for the purpose of
brewing.
MEDIUM is that space, through which a body in mo-
tion passes : air is the medium through which the bodies
near the earth move ; water is the medium wherein fish
live ; glass affords a medium or a free passage to light. —
This term is also made use of, to express the mean of
two numbers, and sometimes the middle between several
quantities.
MUSTS are the unfermented juices of grapes, or of any
other vegetable substances.
MENSTRUUM is any fluid, which is capable of interpos-
ing its parts between those of other bodies, and in this
manner either dissolves them perfectly, or extracts some
part of them.
OF THE TECHNICAL TERMS. 9
OIL is an unctuous, inflammable substance, drawn
from several animal and vegetable substances.
PRECIPITATION. Isinglass dissolved becomes a gluti-
nous and heavy body ; this put into malt liquors intend-
ed to be fined, carries down, by its weight, all those
swimming particles, which prevent its transparency;
and this act is called fining, or precipitation.
REPULSION ; " Doctor Knight defines it to be that cause
which makes bodies mutually endeavour to recede from
each other, with different forces at different times." In
this case they are placed beyond the sphere of each
other's attraction or cohesion, and mutually fly from
each other.
RESINS, or balsams, are the oils of vegetables inspis-
sated and combined with a proportion of the acid salts ;
as well as they mix with any spirituous liquor, as little
are they soluble in water ; but they become so, either by
the intervention of gums or soaps, or by the attenuating
virtue of fermentation.
SALTS are substances sharp and pungent, which rea-
dily dissolve in water, and from thence, by evaporation,
crystallise and appear in a solid form. They easily
unite together, and form different compounds. Thus
salts, composed of acids and alkalies, partake of both,
and are called neutral.
SETT : a grist of malt is by brewers said to be sett,
when, instead of separating for extraction, it runs in
clods, increases, in heat, and coagulates. This accident
10 AN EXPLANATION
is owing to the over quantity of fire in the water, ap-
plied to any of the extractions. , The air included in the
grist, which is a principal agent in resolving the malt,
being thereby expelled, the mass remains inert, and its
parts, adhering too closel^v together, are with difficulty
separated. Though an immediate application of more
cold water to the grist is the only remedy, yet, as the
cohesion is speedy and strong, it seldom takes effect. —
New malts, which have not yet lost the heat they receiv-
ed from the kiln, are most apt to lead the brewer into
this error, and generally in the first part of the process.
. SUGAR, or saccharine salts, are properly those that
come from the sugar canes; many plants, fruits and
grains give sweet juices reducible to the same form ;
they are supposed to be acids smoothed over with oils ;
all vegetable sweets are capable of fermenting sponta-
neously when crude ; if boiled, they require an addition
of yeast to make them perform that act. Malt, or it*
extracts, have all the properties of saccharine salts.
SULPHUR. Though by sulphur is commonly under-
stood the mineral substance called brimstone, yet in chy-
mistry it is frequently used to signify in general any oily
substance, inflammable by fire, and, without some salina
Addition, indissoluble in water.
SOAP OR SAPONACEOUS JUICES. Common soap is made
of oil mixed with alkaline salts : this mixture causes a
froth on being agitated in water. The oils of vegetables
are, in some degree, mixed with their salts ; and accord-
ing to the nature of these salts, appear either resinous or
saponaceous, that is, soluble or indissoluble in water. —
OF THE TECHNICAL TERMS. \\
Sugar is a kind of soap, rendering oil miscible with
water ; and therefore all bodies, from which saccharine
salts are extracted, may be termed saponaceous,
VEGETABLE is a term applied to plants, considered as
capable of growth, having vessels and parts for this pur-
pose, but generally supposed to be without sensation.
VINEGAR is an acid penetrating liquor, prepared from
wine, beer, cyder, or a must, which has been fermented
as far as it was capable.
VITRIOL is, in general, a metalline substance combined
with the strongest acid salt known. This acid, being
separated from the metal, differs in nothing from that
which is extracted from alum or brimstone. It is impro-
perly called spirit of vitriol, when diluted with water,
and, with as little propriety, oil, when free from it.
VOLATILE BODIES are those, which, either from their
smallness or their form, do not cohere very strongly to-
gether, and being most susceptible of those agitations,
which keep liquors in a fluid state, are most easily sepa-
rated and rarified into vapour, with a gentle heat, and
on the contrary condensed and brought down with cold.
WINE is a brisk, agreeable, spirituous, fluid cordial,
formed from fermented vegetable bodies. In this sense
beers and ales may be called, and really are, barley
wines.
WORTS are the unfermented extracts of malt.
12 AN EXPLANATION, &c.
YEAST is both the flowers and lees of a fermented
wort, the former of these being elastic air enveloped in a
subject less strong and less consistent than the latter.
PRINCIPLES
OF THE
THEORY OF BREWING.
SECTION I.
OF FIRE.
1 HOUGH fire is the chief cause and principle of al-
most every change in bodies, and though persons un-
taught in chymistry imagine they understand its nature,
yet, certain it is, few subjects are so incomprehensible,
or elude so much our nicest research. The senses are
very inadequate judges of it ; the eye may be deceived,
and suppose no fire in a bar of iron, because it does not
appear red, though at the same time it may contain
enough to generate pain : the touch is equally unfaith-
ful, for a body, containing numberless particles of heat,
will to us feel cold, if it is much more so than ourselves.
The great and fundamental difference among philoso-
phers, in respect to the nature of fire, is, whether it be
originally such, formed by the Creator himself, at the
beginning of things ; or whether it be mechanically pro-
ducible in bodies, by inducing some alteration in the
particles thereof. It is certain that heat may be gene-
rated in a body, by attrition ; but whether it existed
U THE THEORY OF SKEWING.
there before, or was caused immediately by the motion,
is a matter of no great import to the art of brewing ;
for the effects, with which we are alone concerned, are
the same.
Fire expands all bodies, both solid and fluid. If an iron
rod just capable of passing through a ring of the same
metal, is heated red-hot, it will be increased in length,
and so much swelled as not to be able to pass through
the ring, as before :* if a fluid is put into a bellied glass,
with a long slender neck, and properly marked, the
fluid, by being heated, will manifestly rise to a consi-
derable height.
The expansion of fluids, by heat, is different in diffe-
rent fluids ; with some exceptions, it may be said to be
in proportion to their density. Pure rain water, gradu-
ally heated to ebullition, is expanded one 26th part of its
bulk,f so that 27 gallons of boiling water, will, when
cold, measure no more than 26, and 27 gallons of boil-
ing wort will not yield so much, because worts contain
many oily particles, which, though less dense than wa-
* There is a very singular exception in regard to iron itself, in this
respect. It is only a certain degree of heat that expands this metal;
(and that much less than any other either more or less dense) when
melted, it occupies a less space than when in a solid form. This
ought to caution us against an entire dependence on general rules, hy
which nature doth not appear to be wholly restricted. See Mem. d«
i'Acad. des Scienc. p. 273.
* See Dr. Lewis's Philosophical Commerce of Arts, p. 42.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 15
ter, hare the property of being more expansible : hence
\ve see the reason why a copper, containing a given num-
ber of barrels of wort, when cold, is not capable to hold
the same of beer, when boiling.
Bodies are weakened or loosened in their texture by
*
fire: the hardest, by an increased degree of heat, will
liquify and run ; and vegetables are resolved and sepa-
rated by it into their constituent parts. It must be owned
vegetables seem at first, on being exposed to the fire, to
become rigid or stiff; but this is owing to the evapora-
tion of the aqueous particles, which prevented a closer
adhesion of the solid matter. It is only in this manner
fire strengthens some bodies which before were weak.
That the texture of bodies should be loosened by fire,
seems a consequence of expansion ; for a body cannot be
expanded but by its particles receding farther from one
another ; and if these be not able to regain the situation
they had when cold, the body will remain looser in its
texture than before it suffered the action of fire. This
is the case of barley when malted.
Fire may be conveyed through most bodies, as air, wa-
ter, ashes, sand, &c. The effect seems to be different
according to the different conveyances. A difference
appears between boiling and roasting, yet they answer
the same purpose, that of preserving the subject ; and
this, in proportion to the degree of heat it has suffered^
A similar variety appears, even to our taste, from the
16 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
different conveyance of fire to malt : for acids having a
great tendency to unite with water, if this element does
not naturally contain any itself, is the reason why a great
heat is conveyed through water, and applied to extract
the virtues of pale malt ; the water gaining from the grain
some of these salts, or possessing them itself, the effect of
this great aqueous heat is not to imprint on the palate a
nauseous burnt taste, as is the case of great heats, when
conveyed through air to the same grain. The salts the
water has obtained, or perhaps had, being sheathed by
the oils it draws from the malt, rather become saccha-
rine, which cannot be the case when oils are acted upon
by a strong heat, entirely void of any such property ;
but malt, the more it is dried, the longer is it capable of
maintaining itself in a sound state, and the liquor brewed
with it will, in proportion to its dryness, keep the longer
sound, the hotter the water is, applied to malt, provided
its heat doth not exceed the highest extracted degree,
the more durable and sound will the extract be.
The last consideration of fire or heat, relative to brew-
ing, is the knowledge of its different degrees, and how
to regulate them. Till of late, chymists and all others,
were much to seek in this respect ; they distinguished
more or less fire in a very vague and indeterminate man-
ner, as the first, second, third, andfourth degree of heat,
meaning no precise heat, or heat measured by any stan-
dard ; but, by the invention of the thermometer, we
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 17
are enabled to regulate our fires with the utmost preci-
sion. Thermometers are formed on different scales ; and
therefore, when any degree of heat is mentioned, in order
to avoid confusion, the scale made use of should be indi-
cated. I have constantly employed Fahrenheit's, as it is
the most perfect, and the most generally received. Ac-
cording to this instrument,* by the author of it, an
artificial cold was made so as the mercury stood at 72
divisions below the first frost. The gentlemen of the French
Academy, in the winter of the year 1736, observed, at
Torneao, Latitude 65° 51', the natural cold to be 33 de-
grees below 0 : these are proofs there are colds much
more intense than the first frost, or 32 degrees, where
water first begins to harden into ice ; from 32 to 90 de-
grees are the limits of vegetation, according to the dif-
ferent plants that receive those or the intermediate heats.
The 40th degree is marked by Boerhaave as the first fer-
mentable heat, and the 80th as the last : 47 degrees I
have found to be generally the medium heat of London,
throughout the year, in the shade ; 98 degrees is said to
be that of our bodies when in health, as from 105 to 112
are its degrees when in a fever. Hay stacked with too
much moisture, when turned quite black, in the heart of
the rick, indicated a heat of 165 degrees. At 175 the
purest and highest-rectified spirits of wine boil, and at
* See Marline's Dissertation on Heat. What the degree of cold
was which fixed mercury at St. Petersburg, I do net recollect
B
18 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
this degree I have found well-grown malts to charr, at
212 degrees water boils, at 600 quicksilver and oil of vi-
triol. Gold, silver, iron, and most other metals in fu-
sion exceed this heat ; greater still than any known is
the fire in the focus of the burning lens of Tschirnhausen,
or of the concave mirror made by Villette ; they are
said to volatilise metals and vitrify bricks. Thus far ex-
periments have reached ; but how much more, or how
much less, the power of this element extends, will pro-
bably be for ever hid from mankind.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 19
SECTION II.
OF AIR.
JN ONE of the operations, either of nature or art, can
be carried on without the action or assistance of air. It
is a principal agent in fermentation ; and therefore brew-
ers ought to be well acquainted with its principal pro-
perties and powers.
By air we mean a fluid, scarcely perceptible to our
senses, and discovering itself only by the resistance it
makes to bodies. We find it every where incumbent
on the surface of the globe, rising to a considerable
height, and commonly known by the name of atmos-
phere. The weight of air is to that of water as 1 to
850, and its gravitating force equal to that of a column
of water of 33 feet high ; so that an area of one foot
square receives, from air, a pressure equal to 2080 pounds
weight.
Elasticity is a property belonging only to this element,
and this quality varies in proportion to the compressing
weights. We scarcely find this element, (any more than
the others) in a pure state ; one thousandth part of com-
mon air, says Boerhaave, consists of aqueous, spiritous,
oily, saline, and other particles scattered through it. —
These are not, or but little, compressible, and in general
prevent fermentation: consequently, where the air is
B 2
20 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
purest, fermentation is best carried on. The same au-
thor suspects, that the ultimate particles of air cohere to-
gether, so as not easily to insinuate themselves into the
smallest pores, either of solids or fluids. Hence, those
acquainted with brewing, easily account, why very hot
water, which forces strong and pinguious particles from
malt, forms at the same time extracts unfavourable for
fermentation, as oils are an obstruction to the free en-
trance of air ; and, from an analogous reason, extracts
which are much less impressed with fire, in them fermen-
tation is so much accelerated, that the whole soon be-
comes sour.
Air, like other bodies, is expanded and rarified by
heat, and exerts its elasticity in proportion to the num-
ber of degrees of fire it has received ; the hotter therefore
the season is, the more active and violent will the fer-
mentation be.
Air abounds with water, and is perpetually penetrat-
ing and insinuating itself into every thing capable of re-
ceiving it. Its weight, or gravitating force, must neces-
sarily produce numberless effects. The water contained
in the air is rendered more active by its motion ; hence
the saline, gummous, and saponaceous particles it meets
with are loosened in their texture, and, in some degree,
dissolved. As principles similar to these are the chief
constituent parts of malt, the reason is obvious why
such, which are old, or have lain a proper time exposed
1
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 21
to the influence of the air, dissolve more readily, or, in
other words, yield a more copious extract than others.
All bodies in a passive state, remaining a sufficient
time in the same place, become of the same degree of
heat with the air itself. On this account the water,
lying in the backs used by brewers, is nearly of the
same degree of heat as the thermometer shews the open
air in the shade to be. When this instrument indicates
a cold below the freezing point, or 32 degrees, if the
water does not then become ice, the reason is, because it
has not been exposed long enough to be thoroughly af-
fected by such a cold. For water does not immediately
assume the same degree of temperature with the air,
principally on account of its density, also from its being
pumped out of deep and hot wells, from its being kept
in motion, and from many other incidents. Under these
circumstances, no great error can arise" to estimate its
heat equal to 35 degrees.
Air is not easily expelled from bodies, either solid or
fluid. Water requires two hours boiling to be dis-
charged of the greatest part of its air. That it may be
thus expelled by heat appears from hence ; water, if
boiled the space abovementioned, instead of having any
air bubbles when it is froze, as ice commonly has, be-
comes a solid mass like crystal.
Worts or musts, as they contain great quantities of
salts and oils, require a greater degree of heat to make
B3
22 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
them boil : consequently more air is expelled from boil-
ing worts, than from boiling water in the same time ;
and as air doth not instantaneously re-enter those bo-
dies,* when cold, they would never ferment of them-
selves. Were it not for the substitute of yeast, to sup-
ply the deficiency of air lost by boiling, they would fox
or putrify, for want of that internal elastic air, which is
absolutely necessary to fermentation.
As air joined to water contributes so powerfully to
render that fluid more active, that water which has en-
dured .fire" the least time, provided it be hot enough, will
make the strongest extracts.
Though there is air in every fluid, it differs in quan-
tity in different fluids ; so that no rule can be laid down
for the quantity of air, which worts should contain. —
Probably the quantity, sufficient to saturate one sort, will
not be an adequate proportion for another.
Air in this manner encompasses, is in contact with,
confines, and compresses all bodies. It insinuates itself
into their penetrable passages, exerts all its power either
on solids, or fluids, and finding in bodies some elements
to which it has a tendency, unites with them. By its
weight and perpetual motion, it strongly agitates those
parts of the bodies in which it is contained, rubs, and
intermixes them intimately together. By disuniting
* It requires seven or eight days. (See Dissertation sur la glace
par MODS, de Mayran.) Paris edition, 1749. Page 191.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. . ?3
some, and joining others, it produces very singular ef-
fects, not easily accomplished by any other means. —
That this element has such surprising powers, is evident
from the following experiment. " Fermentable parts
" duly prepared and disposed in the vacuum of Mr.
" Boyle's air-pump will not ferment^ though acted up-
" on by a proper heat; but, discharging their air, re-
" main unchanged."
B4
fit
.1
»* THE THEORY OF BREWING.
SECTION III.
OF WATER.
As water is perpetually an object of our senses, and made
use of for most of the purposes of Hfe, it might be imagined
the nature of this element was perfectly understood : but
they who have enquired into it with the greatest care,
find it very difficult to form a just idea of it. One reason
of this difficulty is, water is not easily separated from
other bodies, or other bodies from water. Hartshorn,
after having been long dried, resists a file more than
iron ; yet, on distillation, yields much water. I have
already observed, that air is intimately mixed with, and
possibly never entirely separated from it, but in a va-
cuum ; how is it possible then ever to obtain water per-
fectly pure ?
In its most perfect state, we understand it to be a li-
quor very fluid, inodorous, insipid, pellucid, and colour-
less, which, in a certain degree of cold, freezes into a
brittle, hard, glassy ice.
Lightness is reckoned a perfection in \vater, that which
weighs less being in general the purest. Hence the
great difficulty of determining the standard weight it
should have. Fountain, river, or well waters, by their
admixture with saline, earthy, sulphureous, and vitriolic
substances, are rendered much heavier than in their na-
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 2.5
tural state ; on the other hand, an increase of heat, or an
addition of air, by varying the expansion, diminishes the
weight of water. A pint of rain-water, supposed to be
the purest, is said to weigh 15 ounces, 1 drachm, and 50
grains, but, for the reasons just now mentioned, this must
differ in proportion as the seasons of the year do from
each other.
Another property of water, which it has in common
Tvith other liquors, is its fluidity, which is so great, that a
very small degree of heat, above the freezing point,
makes it evaporate. Experiments to ascertain the pro-
portion steemed away of the quantity of water used in
brewing, is an object worthy of the artist's curiosity ;
but the purer the water is, the more readily it evapo-
rates. Sea-water, which is supposed to contain one for-
tieth part of salt, more forcibly resists the power of fire,
and wastes much less, than that which is pure.
The ultimate particles of this element, Boerhaave be-
lieved to be much less than those of air, as water passes
through the pores and interstices of wrood, which never
transmit the least elastic air ; nor is there, says he, any
known fluid, (fire excepted, which forces itself through
erery subject) whose parts are more penetrating than
those of water. Yet as water is not an universal dis-
solver, there are vessels which will contain it, though
they will let pass even the thick syrup of sugar, for su-
26 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
gar makes its way by dissolving the tenacious and oily
substance of the wood, which water cannot do.
Water, when fully saturated by fire, is said to boil,
and by the impulse of that element, comes under a strong
ebullition. Just before this violent agitation takes
place, I have already observed, it occupies one seventy-
sixth more space than when cold : so the brewer who
would be exact, when he intends to reduce his liquor to
a certain degree of heat, must allow for this expansion,
abating therefrom the quantity of steam exhaled.
As water, by boiling, may be said to be filled or satu-
rated with fire, so may it be with any other substance
capable of being dissolved therein ; but, though it will
dissolve only a given quantity of any particular substance,
it may, at the same time, take in a certain proportion of
some other. Four ounces of pure rain water will melt
but one ounce of common salt, and after taking this as
the utmost of its quantity, it will still receive two scru-
ples of another kind of salt, viz. nitre. In like manner
the strongest extract of malt is capable of receiving the
properties belonging to hops: but in a limited pro-
portion. This appears from the thin bitter pelicle, that
often swims on the surface of the first wort of brown
beers, which commonly are overcharged with hops, by
putting the whole quantity of them at first therein ; the
wort not being capable of suspending all that the heat
dissolves, it no sooner cools but these parts rise on the
1
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 27
top. This may serve as a hint to prevent this error, by
suffering the first wort to have no more hops boiled
therein than it can sustain : but as this incident must va-
ry, in proportion to the heat of the extracts and quantity
of water used, some few experiments are necessary to in-
dicate the due proportion for the several sorts of drink.
This however should always be extended to the utmost,
for the first wort, which, from its nature and consituent
parts, stands most in need of the preservative quality the
hops impart.
Water acts very differently, as a menstruum, accord-
ing to the quantity of fire it contains : consequently its
heat is a point of the utmost importance with regard to
brewing, and should be properly varied according to
the dryness and nature of the malt, according as it is
applied either in the first or last mashes, and in pro--
portion also to the time the beer is intended to be kept.
These ends, we hope to shew, are to be obtained to a
degree of numerical certitude.
Nutrition cannot be carried on without water, though
likely water itself is not the matter of nourishment, but
only the vehicle.
Water is as necessary to fermentation as heat or air.
The farmer, who stacks his hay or.corn before it is suf-
ficiently dried, soon experiences the terrible effects of
too much moisture, or water, residing therein : all vege-
tables therefore intended to be long kept, ought to be
28 THE THEORY OF BREWING,
well dried. The brewer should carefully avoid purchas-
ing hops that are slack bagged, or kept in a moist place,
or malt that has been sprinkled with water soon after it
was taken from the kiln. By means of the moisture, an
internal agitation is raised in the corn, which agitation,
though soon stopped, for want of a sufficient quantity of
air, yet, the heat thereby generated remaining, every
adventitious seed, fallen from the air, and resting on the
corn, begins to grow, and forms a moss, which dies, and
leaves a putrid musty taste behind, always prevailing,
more or less, in beer made from such grain.
That water is by no means an universal solvent, as
some people have believed, has been already observed.
It certainly does not act as such on metals, gems, stones,
and many other substances : it is not in itself capable of
dissolving oils, but is miscible with highly rectified spi-
rits of wine, or alchohol, which is the purest vegetable
oil in nature. All saponaceous bodies, whether artificial
or natural, fixed or volatile, readily melt therein ; and
as man}' parts of the malt are dissoluble in it, they must
either be, or become by heat, of the nature of soap,
that is, equally miscible with oils and water.
When a saponaceous substance is dissolved in water,
it lathers, froths, and bears a head ; hence, in extracts of
malt, we find these signs in the underback. Weak and
slack liquors, which contain the salts of the malt without
a sufficient quantity of the oils, yield no froth. Some-
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 29
what like this happens, when the water for the extract
is over-heated, for then as more oils are extracted than
are sufficient to balance the salts, the extract comes
down as before, with little or no froth or head. This
sameness of appearance, from two causes directly oppo-
site to each other, has many times misled the artist, and
shews the necessity there is to employ means less liable
to error.
This might be a proper place to observe the diffe-
rence between rain, spring, river, and pond waters ; but
as the art of brewing is very little affected by the diffe-
rence of waters, if they be equally soft, but rather de-
pends on the due regulation of heat ; and as soft waters
are found in most places, and become more alike, when
heated to the degree necessary to form extracts from
malt ; it is evident, that any sort of beer or ale may be
brewed with equal success, where malt and hops can be
procured proper for the respective purposes. If hither-
to prejudice and interest have appropriated to some
places a reputation for particular sort of drinks, it has
arose from hence ; the principles of the art being totally
unknown, the event depended on experience only, and
lucky combinations were more frequent where the
greatest practice was. Thus, for want of knowing the
true reason of the different properties observed in the
several drinks, the cause of their excellencies or defects
was ignorantly attributed to the water made use of, and
30 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
the inhabitants of particular places soon found an ad-
vantage, in availing themselves of this local reputation.
But just and true principles, followed by as just a prac-
tice, must render the art more universal, and add dignity
to the profession, by establishing the merit of our barley
wines on knowledge, not on opinion void of judgment.
To place this truth in a fuller light, and to communicate
to the brewer the readiest means to examine any waters
he may have occasion to use, I have extracted from
Doctor Lucas's Essay on Waters, the experiments he
made on the Thames, New River, and Hampstead com-
pany's waters, but without closely adhering to the accu-
racy this gentleman prescribed to himself ; such exact-
ness much better suiting a man of his abilities : for the
purposes of brewing it is not of absolute necessity.
Experiments on the Thames, New River, and Hampstead JVaters, which in general are
in use in the Cities of London and Westminster.
Subject! em-
Thames, at Somerset
Inferences from the er
Acw River.
Hampstead.
ployed.
House.
Quantity of insoluble
matter in one pint, one
grain and a half.
periments on Thame
u-ater.
Quantity of insoluble
matter in one pint, one
grain and a half.
In 24 hours discharges
air, lets some light se-
diment fall, and grows
clearer.
Quantity of water used
Quantity of water used
Quantity of water used
two ounces.
two ounces.
two ounces.
Produced, 1st a se»-
Twenty drops
rrup of violets.
Prod uced— -a sea-green.
A small quantity of al
kaline principle.
Produced a paler green.
.green ; upon standing,
heiehtens; in 12 hours
becomes yellowish.
Infusion of cam-
echy wood to a
ark orange.
A pink color
heighten to crimson.
A calcarious earth dis-
solved in a marine acid
perhaps something of a
volatii alkaly, whence,
the water appears unfit
A paler pink
but heightens as Thames
A pink bloom;
upon standing heightens ;
alter faiies, and comes
to the color of old Ca-
for the scarlet dye.
nary Wine.
A pink bloom
A very beau-
1 grain of co-
tiinelle, in pow-
heightens to crimson ;
fades to a pale muddy
purple, letting fall ob-
Confirms the preceding
experiment.
The same a?
the Thames water.
tiful crimson ; heightens
upon standing; in 12
hours surfers no diminu-
scure green clouds.
tion of color.
Charged with terrinc
Slight milky
parts.disso^ve d by means
cloud ; becomes milky
of an acid ; at hizh wa.-
' •*
Of alkaline Ive used
Alcaline lye, 5
raps.
all over; a light sedi-
ment of pale earth coats
the glass, and is found
ter more acid in the wa-
ter than at low, and the
alkaline principle in this
Less milky,
••rith less sediment.
ten drops.— Worked no
sensible change in this
water.
at bottom.
river more at low wattj
than at high.
Solution of Soap.
A pearl-co-
lored milkiness, but no
coagulation.
Confirms the former
obseivation.
Less milky ;
no coagulation.
Mixes smooth-
ly, and causes a slight
lactescence.
A diluted acid
No percepti-
Snews an alkaly not
No sensible
Upon standing
shews some air bubbles.
f vitriol.
ble change.
predominant. '
change.
and seems somewhat
brighter.
Mercury subli-
late dissolved in
ure water, 10
rops.
No change ;
upon standing, a mother
of pearl colored pellicle
covered the surface ; the
liquor beneath slightly
milky.
The quantity of alkaly
inconsiderable.
The same ap-
jearance as Thames ;
rather slighter precipita-
tion.
The same ap-
jearance, but rather
slighter than any of the
other two.
Pale clouds
Upon dropping
A solution of
lercury in the
id of nitre.
at every drop : 1st white
and milky, theu yellow-
ish ; four drops more got
the same color all over ;
upon standing, a slight
pale pellicle arose, and
a muddy ochre-colored
sediment subsided.
Shews some absorbent
earth,- by means of an
acid, suspended in the
water.
The same as
Thames, but slighter.
no change appears ; up*,
on standing LTOWS milky,
then to a pale yellow,
with a slight pearl-co-
ored pellicle ; shews no
air nor sediment ; the
glass slightly coated up-
>n standing; precipita-
ted fairly.
A blight mil-
*
— ••— —
cy cloud, which, grow-
A solution of
ng more opac and white,
ad in distilled
negar, at every
subsided ; upon being
stirred, had a milky opa-
Confirms the prece-
ding observation.
The same as
Thames, but in a lower
The same is
N>w River.1
rop as far as 4
city all over ; upon
degree.
rops.
standing, threw up a [.ale
pellicle, and let tall
white precipitate.
Pale bluisfc
A solution of
Iver in the acid
' nitre, 4 drops.
Caused a
pearled milkiness ; upon
landing subsided a vio-
et purple colored pre-
cipitate.
Shews some portion ot
sea-salt, ef which the
Thames has more at high
water than at lovr.
The same ef-
fects, but slighter; the
precipitate of a pale vi-
olet color.
white clouds; the pre-
cipitate, a bluish slate
color, thinly covered the
ill its and bottom of tl;-
32 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
All these waters appear to be sufficiently pure for the
common uses of life ; the difference between them is
very trivial, if any : those of Hampstead approach near-
est to the simple state this element is to be wished for.
Although it cannot be said to have an immediate relation
to this work, yet it may not, perhaps, be disagreeable or
useless here to add the quantities of water the cities of
London and Westminster, and the adjacent buildings, are
daily supplied with.
From the New River Company 57897 Tons per Day,
London Bridge, 8500
Chelsea, 1740
Hampstead, 120O
York Buildings, «49
Hartshorn Lane, 205
70391 Tons required
every 24 hours.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 33
SECTION IV.
OF EARTH.
REGULARITY requires some notice should be taken
of this element. The great writer on chymistry, so often
mentioned, defines it to be a simple, hard, friable, fossil
body, fixed in the fire, but not melting in it, nor disso-
luble in water, air, alcohol, or oil. These are the cha-
racters of pure earth, which, no more than any of the
other elements, comes within our reach, free from ad-
mixture. Though it is one of the component parts of
all vegetables, yet as, designedly, it is never made use of
in brewing, except sometimes for the purpose of preci-
pitation ; it is unnecessary to say any thing more upon it :
whoever desires to be farther informed concerning its
properties may consult all, or any of the authors before
mentioned.
34 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
SECTION V.
OF MENSTRUUMS OR DISSOLVENTS.
menstruums is understood a body which, in a fluid
or subtilised state, is capable of interposing its small
parts betwixt the small parts of other bodies. This act
so obviously relates to the art of brewing, especially
where the extracting of the malt and the boiling of the
hops are concerned, that it should not be passed un-
heeded by.
The doctrine of menstruums, as laid down by Boer-
haave, seems most intelligible and applicable to our pur-
pose. He says, the solutions of bodies in general are the
effect only of attraction and repulsion, between the par-
ticles of the menstruums and those of the body dissolved,
the whole action depending on the relation between
these two ; of consequence, there cannot be any body,
natural or artificial, which, without distinction, will dis-
solve all bodies whatsoever ; nor is the cause assignable
why certain menstruums dissolve certain bodies : the
effects of alcaline, acid, neutral, fixed, or volatile salts,
any more than those of oils, water, alcohol, fire, or air,
are not to be accounted for by any general rule, that
universally holds true ; nor even, in many cases, doth the
dissolution of a body depend on the purity or simplicity
THE THEORY OF 'BREWING. 35
of the menstruum : the nearest path then to success, is
cautiously to apply every menstruum we know of to
the body whose solvent we want to discover.
The elements of fire and air greatly promote the action
and effect of menstruums, and in this light they are ad-
mitted as such. Water dissolves most salts, all the na-
tural sapos of plants, and the ripe juices of fruits ; for in
these, the oils, salts, and spirit of the vegetables, are ac-
curately mixed and concreted together, and malts, hav-
ing the same constituent parts with them, this element
becomes a proper menstruum to extract this grain:
though malts, by being dried with heats which greatly
exceed what is necessary to bring barley to a state of ma-
turity, do, from hence, require greater, though de-
terminate heats, yet inferior to that at which water boils ;
but such heats must be applied in proportion to their
dryness, to extract their necessary parts. Even earths,
by t^e intervention of acids, dissolve in water ; but having
treated of the four elements already, as far as we con-
ceived was requisite for the art of brewing, we shall, in
this chapter, confine ourselves to oils and salts, and view
these acting as menstruums only.
To the definition already given of oils, it may be ne-
cessary to add, in general, they contain some water, and
a volatile acid salt ; that they receive different appella-
tions, and have different properties in proportion to their
respective spissitudes. Oils from vegetables are obtain-
C2
36 THE THEORY OF BREWING,
ed by expression, infusion, and distillation ; in either of
which methods, a too great heat is to be avoided, as this
gives them a prejudicial rancidness, and where water
does not interpose, alters their color until thereby they
are turned black.
In general oils unite with themselves, but, excepting
alcohol, not with water, unless when combined with
salts, for salts attract water, and so they do oils : hence
arises many elegant preparations both natural and arti-
ficial, from which wines are formed.
The power of oils in dissolving bodies is in a propor-
tion to their heat, and being capable, Avhen pure, of r^.
ceiving a quantity of fire equal to 600 degrees, it is not
surprising this liquid should mix with gums and with re-
sinous bodies ; but the color of these, and of every sub-
ject when thrown into boiling oils, changes in proportion
to the impression made on them by heat, either to a yel-
low, a red, or a black. Oils which are inspissated, or
thickened by heat, are termed balsams. Do not the oils
of malt, from the heat they have undergone, resemble
these ? and from the circumstance of their having en-
dured a heat superior to that necessary for putrefaction,
may they not be suspected to possess a volatile alcaline
salt ? Beyond doubt, the extracts from malt (though they
boil at a heat of 218 degrees only) yet do they, in great
measure, dissolve hops, which are gum resinous.
Salt may well be denominated a menstruum, as it i«
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 37
easily diluted with water ; fixed alcaline salts we have
already seen appear to be the produce of fire alone.—
Such are never distinguished in the composition of vege-
tables in their natural state ; though a volatile alcalious
salt (the effect of heat equal or superior to that necessary
for putrefaction) is found in many, and especially in
such as are putrified.
The power of a fixed alcali as a solvent is great, ap-
plied (says Boerhaave) to animal, vegetable, or fossil
concretions, so far as they are oils, balsams, gummy, re-
sinous, or of gummy resinous nature, and therefore con-
creted from oily substances : these, this salt intimately
opens, attenuates, and resolves : disposing them to be
perfectly miscible with water : oils of alcohol leaving
however the impression of taste naturally belonging
to this salt.
Vegetable acid salt dissolves animal, vegetable, fossil,
and metalline substances, except mercury, silver, and
gold. In most terrestrial vegetables this salt is evident ;
ripe mealy corn has the least indication of it, yet extracts
therefrom, when fermented, and sometimes before they
are fermented, discover sensibly their acidity. Sea-plants
in general have not their roots inserted in the earth at
the bottom of the sea, and these in distillation yield an
oily volatile alcali ; but more subtil than the native acids
of vegetables, are the vinous acids produced by fermen-
tation ; they dissolve equally most matters put into them,
C 3
38 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
and render the whole homogene. Into a must or wort,
when under this act, by means of an elaeosaccharum,
might be introduced the choicest flavors, and the aroma-
tics of the Indies be applied to heighten the taste and
flavor of our barley wines. The laws of England at
present subsisting are indeed opposite to any improve-
ment of this sort, from the apprehensions of abuse : but
where elegance alone is intended, undoubtedly the merit
of our beers and ales might thereby be increased. As
such, this is a part of chymical knowledge well worth the
enquiry and attention of the brewer.
Neutral salts have already been mentioned ; these are
very various, and very different when acting as men-
struums. Resins and gum-resins are generally said to
be most effectually dissolved by alcohol ; but Boerhaave
informs us, that sal-amoniac (a very salutary subject and
a neutral salt) if boiled with gums, resins, or the gum-
resins of vegetables, intimately resolves, and disposes
them to be conveniently mixed in aqueous and ferment-
ing spiritous menstruums. Of this class of salts thus
much is sufficient. This observation perhaps is of too
much consequence to escape the notice of the artist.
THE THEORY OF BREWfNG. 39
SECTION VL
OF THE THERMOMETER,
1 HIS instrument is designed for measuring the increase
or decrease of heat. By doing it numerically, it fixes in
our minds the quantity of fire, which any subject, at any
time, is impregnated with. If different bodies are
brought together, though each possesses a different de-
gree of heat, it teaches us to discover what degree of
heat they will arrive at when thoroughly mixed, sup-
posing effervescence to produce no alteration in the mix-
ture.
The inventor of this admirable instrument is not eer-
tainly known, though the merit of the discovery has been
ascribed to several great men, of different nations, in or-
der to do them and their countries honor. It came to
us from Italy, about the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
tury. The first inventors were far from bringing this
instrument to its present degree of perfection. As it
was not then hermetically sealed, the contained fluid
was, at the same time, influenced by the weight of the
air, and by the expansion of heat. The academy of
Florence added this improvement to their thermometers,
which soon made them more generally received ; .but,
as the highest degree of heat of the instrument, con-
C 4
46 THE THEOEY OF BREWING.
strutted by the Florentine gentlemen, was fixed by the
action of the strongest rays of the sun in their country,
this vague determination, varying in almost every place,
and the want of a fixed universal scale, rendered all the
observations made with such thermometers of little use
to us.
Boyle, Halley, Newton, and several other great men,
thought this instrument highly worthy of their attention.
They endeavoured to fix two invariable points to reckon
from, and, by means of these, to establish a proper divi-
sion. Monsieur des Amontons is said to have first made
use of the degree of boiling water, for graduating his
mercurial thermometers. Fahrenheit, indeed, found the
pressure of the air, in its greatest latitude, would cause
a variation of six degrees in that point ; he therefore con-
cluded, a thermometer made at the time when the air
is in its middle state, might be sufficiently exact for
almost every purpose. Long before the heat of boiling
water was settled as a permanent degree, many means
were proposed to determine another. The degree of
temperature ^in a deep cave or cellar, where no external
air could reach, was imagined by many a proper one ;
but what that degree truly was, and whether it was fixed
and universal, was found too difficult to be determined.
At last the freezing point of water was thought of, and
though some doubts arose, with Dr. Halley and others,
whether water constantly froze at the same degree of
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 41
cold, Dr. Martine has since, by several experiments,
proved this to be beyond all doubt, and this degree is
now received for as fixed a point as that of boiling
water.
These two degrees being thus determined, the next
business was the division of the intermediate space on
some scale, that could be generally received. Though
there seemed to be no difficulty in this, philosophers of
different countries have not been uniform in their deter-
minations, and that which is used in the thermometer at
present the most common, and, in other respects, the
most perfect, is far from being the simplest.
The liquid wherewith thermometers were to be
filled, became the object of another enquiry. Sir Isaac
Newton employed, for this purpose, linseed oil j but
this, being an unctuous body, is apt to adhere to the sides
of the glass, and, when suddenly affected by cold, for
want of the parts which thus stick to the sides, does not
shew the true degree.
Tinged water was employed by others ; but this freez-
yig, when Fahrenheit's thermometer points 32 degrees,
and boiling, when it rises to 212, was, from thence, in-
capable of denoting any more intense cold or heat.
Spirit of wine, which endures much cold without
stagnating, was next made use of; but this liquor,
being susceptible of no greater degree of heat than that
42 THE THEORY OF BREWING,
which, in Fahrenheit's scale, is expressed by 175, could
be of no service where boiling water was concerned.
At last the properest fluid, to answer every purpose,
was found to be mercury. This had never been knoAvn
to freeze* ; and not to boil under a heat of 600 degrees,
and is free from every inconveniency attending other
liquors.
As the instrument is entirely founded on this princi-
ple, that heat or fire expands all bodies, as cold con-
denses them, there was a necessity of employing a fluid
easy to be dilated. A quantity of it is seated in one part
in the bulb. This .being expanded by heat, is pushed
forward into a fine tube, or capillary cylinder, so small,
that the motion of the fluid in it is speedy and percep-
tible. Some thermometers have been constructed with
their reservoir composed of a larger cylinder ; but in ge-
neral, at present, they are made globular. The smaller
the bulb is, the sooner it is heated through, and the finer
the tube, the greater will be the length of it, and the
more distinct the degrees. It is scarcely possible that
any glass cylinder, so very small, should be perfectly-
regular ; the quicksilver, during the expansion, passing
through some parts of the tube wider than others, the
* Lately, indeed, by such intense cold as can only be procured
with the greatest art, and in the coldest climates, mercury is said to
have been stagnated, or fixed.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 43
degrees will be shorter in the first case, and longer in the
latter. If the divisions, therefore, are made equal be-
tween the boiling and freezing points, a thermometer,
whose cylinder is irregular, cannot be true. To rectify
this inconveniency, the ingenious Mr. Bird, of London,
puts into the tube about the length of an inch of mercu-
ry ; and measuring, with a pair of compasses, the true
extent of this body of quicksilver in one place, he moves
it from one end to the other, carefully observing where
it increases or diminishes in length, thereby ascertaining
the parts, and how much the degrees are to be varied.
By this contrivance, his thermometers are perfectly ac-
curate, and exceed all that were ever made before.
I shall not trouble my reader with numerous calcula-
tions that have been made, to express the quantity of
particles of the liquor contained in the bulb, in order to
determine how much it is dilated. This, Dr. Marline seems
to think a more curious than useful enquiry. It is suffi-
cient, for our purpose, to know how the best thermome-
ters ought to be constructed : they who have leisure and
inclination, may be agreeably entertained by the author
last cited.
By observing the rise of the mercury in the thermo-
meter, during any given time, as, for instance, during
the time of the day, we ascertain the degree and value
of the heat of every part of the day, from whence may
44 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
be fixed the medium of the whole time, or any part
thereof. By repeated experiments, it appears, the me-
dium heat of most days is usually indicated at eight
o'clock in the morning, if the instrument is placed in
the shade, in a northern situation, and out of the reach
of any accidental heat.
Though water is not so readily affected as air by heat
and cold, yet, as all bodies long exposed in the same
place, become of the same degree of heat with the air
itself, DO great error can arise from estimating water, in
general, to be of the same heat as the air, at eight o'clock
in the morning, in the shade.
The thermometer teaches us that the heat of boiling
water is equal to 212 degrees, and by calculation we may
kriow what quantity of cold water is necessary to bring
it to any degree we choose ; so, notwithstanding the in-
strument cannot be used in large vessels, where the wa-
ter is heating, yet, by the power of numbers, the heat
may be ascertained with the greatest accuracy. The
rule is this: multiply 212, the heat of boiling water, by
the number of barrels of water thus heated, (suppose 22}
and the number of barrels of cold water to be added to
the former, (suppose 10,) by the heat of the air at eight
o'clock, (suppose 50,) add these two products together,
and divide by the sum of the barrels ; the quotient shews
the degree of heat of the water mixed togetJier.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. *
212 heat of boiling water.
22 barrels to be made to boil.
424 50 deg. heat of air at eight.
424 10 barrel^ of cold water.
22 4664 500
10 500
sum 32 ) 5 1 64( 1 6 1 1 degrees will be the heat of the water
of barrels 32 when mixed together.
196
192
44
32
12
The calculation may be extended to three or more
bodies, provided they be brought to the same denomi-
nation. Suppose 32 barrels of water to be used where
there is a grist of 20 quarters of malt, if these 20 quar-
ters of malt are of a volume or bulk equal to 1 1 barrels
of water, and the malt, by having lain exposed to the air,
is of the same degree of heat with the air, in order to
know the heat of the mash, the calculation must be thus
continued.
46 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
1 6 1 f heat of water 50 degrees of heat of malt
32 barrels of water 1 1 barrels, volume of malt
333 550
483
32 water 5163
11 malt 550
43 ) 5713 ( 132 degrees, which will be the heat of
43 the mash.
141
129
123
86
37
We shall meet hereafter with some incidents, which oc-
casion a difference in the calculations made for the pur-
pose of brewing, but of these particular mention will be
made in the practical part.
The thermometer, by shewing the different degrees of
heat of each part of the year, informs us, at the same
time, how necessary it is the proportions of boiling water
to cold should be varied to effect an imiform intent ; also
that the heat of the extracts of small beer should differ
proportionably as the heats of the seasons do : it assists us
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 41
to fix the quantity of hops necessary to be used at diffe-
rent times ; how much yeast is requisite, in each term of
the year, to carry on a due fermentation ; and what va-
riation is to be made in the length of time that worts
ought to boil. Indeed, without this knowledge, beers, •
though brewed in their due season, cannot be regularly
fermented, and whenever they prove good, so often may
it be said fortune was on the brewer's side.
,Beers are deposited in cellars, to prevent their being
affected by the variations of heat and cold in the exter-
nal air. By means of the thermometer, may be deter-
mined the heat of these cellars, the temper the liquor is
kept in, and whether it will sooner or later come for-
ward.
The brewing season, and the reason why such season
is fittest for brewing, can only be discovered by this in-
strument. It points out likewise our chance for success,
when necessity obliges us to brew in the summer months.
As all vegetable fermentation is carried on in heats,
between two settled points, we are, by this instrument,
taught to put our worts together at such a temperature,
as they shall neither be evaporated by too great a heat,
nor retarded by too much cold.
If curiosity should lead us so far, we might likewise
determine, by it, the particular strength of each wort, or
of every mash ; for if water boils at 212 degrees, oil at
600, and worts be a composition of water, oil and salt,
48 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
the more the heat of a boiling wort exceeds that of
boiling water, the more oils and salts must it contain, or
the stronger is the wort.
A given quantity of hops, boiled in a given quantity
of water, must have a similar effect, consequently the
intrinsic value of this vegetable may, in the same man-
ner, be ascertained.
The more the malts are dried, the more do they alter
in color, from a white to a light yellow, next to an am-
ber, farther on to a brown, until the color becomes
speckled with black ; in which state we frequently see it.
If more fire or heat is continued, the grain will at last
charr, and become intirely black. By observing the
degrees of heat necessary to induce these alterations, we
may, by the mere inspection of the malt, know with
what degree of fire it has been dried ; and fixing upon
such which best suits our purpose, direct, with the
greatest accuracy, not only the heat of the first mash,
but the mean heat the whole brewing should be impres-
sed with to answer our intent, circumstances of the
greatest consequence to the right management of the
process.
If I had not already said enough to convince the brew-
er of the utility of this instrument, how curious he ought
to be in the choice, and how well acquainted with the
use of it, I should add the heat gained by the efferves-
cing of malt, is to be determined by it al«ne ; the quan-
*hTHE THEORY OF BREWING. 49
tity of heat lost by mashing, by the water in its passage
from the copper to the mash ton, and by the extract
coming down into the underback, these can be found by
no other method ; and, above all, that there is no other
means to know with certainty the heat of every extract.
I know very well good beers wrere sometimes, perhaps
often, made before the thermometer was known, and
still is, by many who are entirely ignorant of it ; but this,
if not wholly the effect of chance, cannot be said to be
very distant from it. They who carry on this process,
unassisted by principles and the use of the thermometer,
must admit they are frequently unsuccessful, whereas
did they carefully and with knowledge apply this in-
strument, they certainly would not be disappointed. —
It is equally true, the breAving art, for a long space of
time, has been governed by an ill-conveyed tradition
alone ; if lucky combinations have sometimes flattered
'the best practitioners, faulty drinks have as often made
them feel the want of certain and well established rules.
It is just as absurd for a brewer to refuse the use of the
thermometer, as it would be for an architect to reject
the informations of his plummet and rule, and to assert
they were unserviceable because the first house, and pro*.
£>ably many others, were built without their assistance.
D
$0 THE THEORY OF BREW^G
SECTION VII.
OF THE FINE, ITS FRUITS, AND JUICES.
AFTER these short accounts of the principles and in-
strument necessary to the right understanding of the
brewing art, we should now draw near to the particular
object of this treatise, but as the most successful method
to investigate it, must be first to inspect the great and
similar example nature has set before us, our time will
not be lost by making this enquiry.
Any fermented liquor, that, in distillation, yields an in-
flammable spirit miscible with water, may be called
wine, whatever vegetable matter it is produced from. —
As beer and ales contain a spirit exactly answerable to
this definition, brewing may justly be called the art of
making wines from corn. Those, indeed, which are the
produce of the grape, have a particular claim to the
name, either because they are the most ancient and the
most universal, or that a great part of their previous
preparation is owing to the care of nature itself. By
observing the agents she employs, and the circumstances
under which she acts, we shall find ourselves enabled to
follow her steps, and to imitate her operations.
Most grapes contain juices, which, when fermented,
become in time as light and pellucid as water, and are
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 51
possessed of fine spiritous parts, sufficient to cherish,
comfort, and even inebriate. But these properties of
vinosity are observed not to be equally perfect in the
fruits of all vines ; some of them are found less, others
not at all proper for this purpose. It is therefore neces-
sary to examine the circumstances which attend the
forming and ripening of those grapes, whose juices pro-
duce the finest liquors of the kind.
All grapes, when they first bud forth, are austere and
sour, therefore of a middle nature. And this can be no
other than the effect of the autumnal remaining sap,
mixed with the new raised vernal one, the consequence
of which mixture will be found greatly to merit our in-
quiry. As far as our senses can judge, at first, it appears
that the juice, in this state, consists of somewhat more
than an acid combined with a tasteless water. When
the fruit is ripe, it becomes full of a rich, sweet, and
highly flavoured juice. The color, consistency, and
taste of which shew, that, by the power of heat, a con-
siderable quantity of oil has been raised, and, sheathing
the salts, is the reason of its saccharine taste and saccha-
rine properties.
In England, grapes are probably produced under th«
least heat they can be raised by. They discover them-
selves in their first shape, about June, when the mediun)
heat of the twenty-four hour's shade is 57,60. This,
with what more should be added for the effect of the
D2
52 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
sim's beams, are the degrees of heat which first introduce
the juices into this fruit.
The highest degrees of heat, in the countries where
grapes corne to perfect maturity, have been observed to
be, in various parts of Italy, Spain, and Greece 100, and
at Montpelier 88, in the shade; to which, according to
Dr. Lining's observations, 20 degrees must be added
for the effect of the sun's beams. The greatest heat in
Italy will then amount to 120 degrees, and in the south
of France to 108. These approach nearly to the
strongest heats observed in the hottest climates, which,
in Astracan, Syria, Senegal, and Carolina, were from 124
to 126 degrees.
Those countries, where the heat is greatest, in general
produce the richest fruits, that is, the most impregnated
with sweet, thick and oily juices. We are told, among the
Tockay wine-hills, there is one which, directly fronting
the south, and being the most exposed to the sun, yields
the sweetest and rishest grapes. It is called the sugar-
hill, and the delicious wines extracted from this parti-
cular spot, are all deposited in the cellars of the impe-
rial family. Those grapes, some in the Canaries, some
in other places, being suffered to remain the longest on
the tree, with their stems half cut through, by this means
procure their juices to be highly concentrated, and pro-
duce that species of sweet, oily, balmy wines, which >
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 53
from this operation, are called sack, a derivation of the
French word sec or dry<
In all distillations of unfermented vegetables, water
and acid salts rise first. A more considerable degree of
fire is required for the elevation of oils, and a still greater
one for the lixivial salts, which render those oils miscible
with water.
A plant, exposed to a very gentle heat, at first yields a
water which contains the perfect smell of the vegetable
blended with a subtile oil ; if more heat be added, an
heavier oil will come over : from some a volatile alkali,
from others a phlegm will rise, which gradually grows
acid ;.and, last of all, with the farther assistance of fire,
the black, thick, empyreumatic sulphur. Nature, in
a less degree, may be said to place a like series of events
before our eyes, in the forming and maturating of
grapes, and it is by imitating what she does, that the in-
habitants of different countries may improve the advan-
tages of their soil and of their air.
In order to illustrate the doctrine, that grapes are en-
dued with various properties, in proportion to the heat
of the air they have been exposed to, let us remember
what Boerhaave has observed, that, in very hot wea-
ther, the oleous corpuscles of the earth are carried up
into the air, and, descending again, cause the showers
and dews in summer to be very different from the pure
snow of winter. The first are acrid, and disposed to
D 3
54- THE THEORY OF BREWING.
froth, the last is transparent and insipid. Hence sum-
mer rain, or rain falling in hot seasons, is always fruitful,
whereas in cold weather it is scarcely so at all. In win-
ter the air abounds with acid parts, neither smoothed by
oils nor rarined by heat : cold is the condensing power, as
heat is the opener of nature. In summer, the air, dilat-
ing itself, penetrates every where, and gives to the rain
a disposition to froth, occasioned by the admixture of
oleous and aerial particles. Thus the acid salts, either
previously existing, or by the venial heat introduced into
the grapes, and necessary to their preservation, are neu-
tralized by coming in contact with the juices the fore-
going autumn produced ; after which a hotter sun, cover-
ing or blending these juices with oils, changes the whole
into a saccharine form. In proportion as these acids are
more or less sharp, and counterbalanced by a greater or
Jesser quantity of oils, the juices of grapes approach
more or less to the state of perfection, which fermenta-
tion requires.
There are many places, as Jamaica, Barbadoes, &c.
in which experience shews the vine cannot be cultivated
to advantage. By comparing the heat of these places
with those in Italy and Montpelier, it appears this de-
fect is not owing to excessive heats, but to their constan-
cy and uniformity ; the temperature of the air of these
countries seldom being so low as the degree necessary
for the first production of the fruit. Whenever the cul-
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 55
tivation of the vine is attempted in these parts of the
West Indies, the grapes, on their first appearance, are
shaded and skreened from the beams of the sun, which,
in their infancy, they are not able to bear.
Hence we learn, though nature employs both the au-
tumnal and vernal seasons, yet there are lesser heats with
which she prepares the first juice of grapes, a stronger power
of the sun she requires to form the fruit, and a greater
than either to ripen it. We have investigated the lowest
degrees of heat, in which grapes are produced, and near-
ly the highest they ever receive to ripen them. Let us
call the first the germinating degrees, and the last those
of maturation. If nearly 58 be the lowest of the one,
and 1 26 the highest of the other, and if a certain power
of acids is necessary for the germination of the grapes,
which must be counterbalanced by an equal power of
oils raised by the heat of the sun for their maturation,
then the medium of these two numbers, or 92, may be
said to be a degree at which this fruit cannot possibly
be produced, and" inferior to that by which it should be
maturated. At Panama the lowest degree of heat in the
shade is 72, to which 20 being added, for the sun's
beams, the sum will be 92, and consequently no grapes
can grow there, except the vines be placed in the
shade.
If we recollect that we can scarcely make wine, which
will preserve itself, of grapes produced in England, we
D4
56 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
shall be induced to think, that the reason of this defect
is the want of the high degrees of heat. Our sun sel-
dom raises the thermometer to 100 degrees, and that but
for a short continuance. Our medium heat is far infe-
rior to 92, and hence we see, at several distant terms in
summer, new germinated grapes, but seldom any per-
fectly ripe. These observations, the use of which, in-
brewing, we will endeavour to apply, likewise point out
to us, what part of our plantations are fit to produce this*
fruit, and to what degree of perfection.
A research made for each constituent part forming
grapes, as well as the proportion they bear to one ano- ,
ther, at first sight, appears to be an eligible method to
discover the nature of wines ; but in every vegetable
their parts are mixed and interwoven, and every degree
of heat, acting on them, finds these so blended, as to-
render their division too imperfect for such enquiry to-
be made with sufficient accuracy, to deduce therefrom
the rules of an art. In the producing, ripening, and
fermenting the juice of the grapes, as well as in forming
beers and ales, the element of fire so superlatively influ-
ences and governs every progressive act, as to occasion
some remarkable difference in their appearance : from,
hence, then, we may expect the information we want,,
and be enabled to discover the laws by which Nature
forms her wines.
When the constituent parts of a subject are to be esti-
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 57
mated by heat alone, the* number of degrees compre-
hended between the first heat which formed it, and the
last which brought it to a perfect state, must express
the whole of its constituent parts. Complete finished
substances, must have been benefited by the whole lati-
tude of degrees applicable thereto; and in proportion as
part of the whole latitude is wanting, will their nature
be different, and themselves less perfect.
This variety is remarkable in the fruit we are now
treating of. A country endued with the lowest germi-
nating, and with the highest maturating degrees of heat
for grapes, would produce them in the utmost perfec-
tion ; that is, they would possess all the several proper-
ties they could obtain from this circumstance ; con-
sequently such are capable of forming wines that
would preserve themselves a very long time, and would
also become spontaneously fine. From the several
heats we have observed that this fruit is capable of en-
during, it is reasonable to believe the greatest number of
degrees of heat employed to form all their constituent
parts, must be where, during the whole space of vege-
tation, the heat in the shade varies from 60 to 106 de-
grees, and constitutes a difference of 46 degrees. So
great a latitude, ordered by nature, most certainly de-
notes the general utility of the plant.
The climate of the southern part of France approaches
nearest to this ; but Spanish wines are richer ; their grapes
5S THE THEORY OF BREWING.
are formed by a warmer sun ; their vernal and maturating
heats exceed those of France ; but, at the same time,
their wines are more stubborn, and, to be made fine, re-
quire the help of precipitation. This variety increases
according to the heat of climates : thus we see wines
which come from the coast of Africa, whose richness and
stubbornness are beyond the reach of any menstruum
employed to fine them. Let us endeavour to reduce this
apparent inconstancy to rule, in order to assist our art. — >
If the lowest heat which forms the grape, in the southern
parts of France, be 60 degrees, and if 88 degrees, in the
shade, be the mean of their maturating heat, the diffe-
rence between 60 and 88, or 28 degrees, is the mumber
which includes the constituent parts of grapes in this
country, as these degrees imply the whole space of their
progress. If like juices were to be imitated by art, as
in our hot-houses, it is clear half the number of the de-
grees of heat which form the whole of the constituent
parts, or 14, deducted from 74, the mean heat of their
whole vegetation, would give 60, for the first heat to be
employed, and this to be raised, for maturation, to 88, the
greatest heat, nature in this case, permits, or 1 4 degrees
to be added to the same whole mean. To liken the
wines of Spain, where the autumnal and vernal heats are
greater than in France, the heat forming the first juices
must be more, as also the maturating heats ; but with
such practice, the number of constituent degrees would
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 59
be found to be fewer, and spontaneous brightness could
no more be expected, than it is found, in their wines.
A strict enquiry after the heats first and last applied
to grapes, is of such consequence to ascertain the prin-
ciples by which malt liquor should be formed, that,
though grapes produced in England scarcely make wines
which can maintain themselves sound, yet, as the rule
is universal, even from them we shall be able to esta-
blish not only its certainty, but also the application of
the number of the degrees found between the heats which
germinate the fruit, and those which ripen them.
From twelve years observation, we have found
the mean heat in the shade, from the 1st of
June, to the 15th, when grapes with us first Deg.
bud forth, to be 57.60
Our greatest heat, under like circumstances,
from the 15th to the 3Ist of July, to be 61.10
Their difference, 3.5O
Their medium, 59.35
If, from their medium, 59.35, we subtract 1.75, half
their difference, or half their constituent parts, we must
have left 57.60 for the germinating heat ; and if to their
medium, 59.35, we add 1.75, half the number of their
constituent parts, we shall have 61.10, the highest mean
60 THE THEORY OF BREWING,
heat, in the shade, at the time the richest juices of our
grapes are formed. It is true, in July, nor even in the
following months, when the heat continues nearly alike,
our grapes are not ripe, nor gathered ; the properties
raised by our greatest sunshine, as yet have not reached
the fruit, and though the mean heat of the air in Septem-
ber and October is less, yet it is sufficient to place in
the grapes the juices raised by the preceding hot sun,
which concentrate and grow richer, by remaining on the
plant, though, for want of a sufficient heat, they do not
reach that perfection obtained in warmer climates.
The want of grapes in many parts both of America
and Africa, and the reason we gave for this, (See page
55,) warrants the truth of the division we have just now
made, between the germinating and maturating heats ;
and if the effects caused by a hot sun do not immediately
benefit the fruit, by a parity of reason, after the grapes
are gathered, the plant must possess, (and surely for
some longer space, by a continued heat, equal, and of-
ten superior, to the vernal sun,) juices which Nature
is too frugal not usefully to apply ; these juices, we ap-
prehend, assist in forming the embryo of the leaves
which are fully to expand the ensuing year, and serve,
b'y their oleaginous quality, to preserve these and the
whole plant during the cold of the winter ; which cold,
at the same time that it contracts the'pores of the vine,
condenses and thickens these richer juices, from whence
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 61
few, if any of them, are lost or expended by perspira-
tion. The heat of the following spring renews their ac-
tivity, when blending with those this season attracts, the
leaves open, the flowers appear, and the fruit forms.
Thus far we conceive the act of germination extends,
provided for and assisted both by the autumnal and ver-
nal heats, and which, in point of power, are nearly equal
and uniform.
The heat of the sun, during summer months, and if to
this we add the more constant heat at the roots of the vine,
retained there by the density of the earth ; these (though
superior to the germinating heat) produce a like unifor-
mity for maturating the fruit: thus nature, in order
to implant in wines an original even taste, and to faci-
litate the fermentable act, amidst the great variety that
appears to us in the heat of the air, seems, upon the
whole, to act by steady and equal motions ; 'or rather,
perhaps, this is the best manner by which we can reduce
to rule ; the inconstancy of the atmosphere.
I am sensible these facts had been represented in a
more natural light, had I observed the degrees of heat
impressed on the vine in every season of the year;
the difference of the sun's heat, in every hour of the day,
a variety exceeding that in the shade; that between
night and day ; the aspect of the plant ; the heat of the
earth at its surface, as well as at the roots of the vine ;
all these would have increased the circumstances to a
62 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
prodigious extent ; which, though perhaps requisite to
satisfy philosophic investigation, might, from their
number and variety, have been the means rather to in-
duce us to error, than to discover the general rules by
which nature acts.
From the above-related process we are taught, that na-
ture, in forming wines, is not confined to a certain
fixedn umber of degrees, but admits, for this act, of
a considerable latitude, according to the extent of
which the wines vary in taste and properties ; and that
she affects an equality of heat in each period of vegeta-
tion ; from whence the brewer is taught, if he form his
malt-liquors with four mashes, as in the autumn and
spring the vine is impressed with heats nearly uniform,
so ought his two first mashes to be ; the third, in imitation
of the high heat of summer, should be much hotter, and
the heat of his last mash the same with this ; and this
general rule has been found Universally true, for beers
expected to preserve themselves sound a sufficient time ;
and admits but of a proportional variation, when fewer
or more mashes are employed, as the degrees of heat
denominating the constituent parts of the grain, must be
applied in proportion to the quantity of water used to
each mash ; but in malt liquors speedily to be drank, or
when we deviate greatly from the more perfect produc-
tions of nature, we are then compelled to swerve froia
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 63
her rules ; a practice never profitable, and which no-
thing but necessity can justify.
The nature of the soil proper for the vine, might, in
another work, be a very useful enquiry. It will be suf-
ficient here, barely to hint at the effect, which lixivia!
soils produce in musts. The Portugueze, when they
discovered the Island of Madeira in 1420, set fire to the
forests, with which it was totally covered. It continued
to burn for the space of seven years, after which the
land was found extremely fruitful, and yielding such
wines, as, at present, we have from thence, though in
greater plenty. It is very difficult to fine these wines,
«.nd, though the climate of this island is more temperate
than that of the Canaries, the wines are obliged to be
carried to the Indies and the warmer parts of the globe,
to be purged, shook, and attenuated, before they can
arrive to an equal degree of fineness with other wines ;
were the Portugueze acquainted with what may be term-
ed the artificial method of exciting periodical fermenta-
tion, much or the whole of this trouble might be avoided.
Hence we see, that soils impregnated with alkaline salts
will produce musts able to support themselves longer,
and to resist acidity more, than other soils, under the same
degree of heat.
Grapes have the same constituent parts as other vege-
tables. The difference between them, as to their tastes
and properties, consists in the parts being mixed in dif-
•64 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
fercnt -proportions. This arises, either from their absor-
bent vessels more readily attracting some juioes than
others, or from their preparing them otherwise, under
different heats and in different soils.
We find, says Dr. Hales, by the chymical analysis of
vegetables, that their substance is composed of sulphur,
volatile salts, water, and earth, which principles are en-
dued with mutual attracting powers. There enters like-
wise in the composition, a large portion of air, which has
a wonderful property of attracting in a fixed, or of re-
pelling in an elastic state, with a power superior to vast
compressing forces. It is by the infinite combinations,
actions, and reactions of these principles, tha,tall the ope-
rations in animal and vegetable bodies are effected. —
Boerhaave, who is somewhat more particular with regard
to the constituent parts of vegetables, says, that they
contain an oil mixed with a salt in form of a sapo, and
that a saponaceous juice arises from the mixture of water
with the former.
Thus we see, from the composition of grapes, that
they have all the necessary principles to form a most ex-
quisite liquor, capable, by a gentle heat, to be greatly
attenuated. They abound with elastic air, water, oils,
acid, and neutral salts, and even saponaceous juices. —
The air contained in the interstices of fluids is more in
quantity than is commonly apprehended. Sir Isaac New-
ton has proved that water has forty times more pores.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. e5
than solid parts ; and the proportion, likely, is not very
different in vegetable juices. When the fruit is in its
natural entire state, the viscidity of the juices, and their
being enveloped by an outward skin, prevent the expan-
sion of the inclosed air ; it lies as it were inactive. In
this forced state, it causes no visible motion, nor are the
principles, thus confined, either subjected to any appa-
rent impressions of the external atmosphere, or so inti-
mately blended as when they are expressed. A free
communication of the external air, with that contained
in the interstices of the liquor, is required to form a per-
fect mixture. By what means this is effected, what alte-
rations it produces, or, in general, in Avhat manner the
juice of the grape becomes wines, must be the subject of
our next inquiry.
The process of a perfect fermentation is undoubtedly
the same (where the due proportions of the constituent
parts, forming the must, are exactly kept) whatever ve-
getable juices it is excited in. For this reason, we will
observe the progress of this act in beers and ales, these
being subjects we are more accustomed to, and where the
characters appear more distinct, in order to apply what
may be learned from thence to our chief object, the busi-
ness of the brewer.
&5 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
SECTION VIII.
OF FERMENTATION IN GENERAL.
VEGETABLE fermentation is that act, by which oils
and earth, naturally tenacious, by the interposition of
salts and heats, are so much attenuated and divided, as to
be made miscible with, and to be suspended in, an homo-
geneous pellucid fluid ; which, by a due proportion of
the different principles, is preserved from precipitation
and evaporation. According to Boerhaave, a less heat
than forty degrees leaves the mass in an inert state, and
the particles fall to the bottom in proportion to their gra-
vity ; a greater heat than eighty degrees disperses them
too much, and leaves the residuum a rancid, acrimonious,
putrid mass.
It is certainly very difficult, if not impossible, to dis-
cover the true and adequate cause of fermentation. But,
by tracing its several stages, circumstances, and effects,
we may perhaps perceive the agents and means employ-
ed by nature to produce this singular change ; a de-
gree of knowledge, which, we hope, is sufficient to an-
swer our practical purposes.
The must, when just pressed from the grapes, is a li-
quid, composed of neutral and lixivial salts, oils of diffe-
rent spissitude, water, earth, and elastic air. These, ir-
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 61
regularly ranged, if I may be permitted the expres-
sion, compose a chaos of wine. Soon after the liquor is
settled, a number of air bubbles arise, and at first adhere
to the sides of the containing vessel ; their magnitude in-
creases as they augment in number, so that at last they
cover the Avhofe surface of the must.
It has been long suspected, and, if I mistake not, de-
monstrated, that an acid, of which all others are but so
many different species, is universally dispersed through,
and continually circulating in, the air ; and that this is
one of nature's principal agents in maturating and re-»
solving of bodies. Musts, like other bodies, being porous,
the circulating acids very powerfully introduce them-
selves therein by the pressure of the atmosphere, in pro-
portion as the pores are more or less expanded by the
heat they are exposed to. The particles of acids are
supposed by Newton to be endued with a great attractive
force, in which their activity consists. By this force,
they rush towards other bodies, put the fluid in motion,
excite heat, and violently separate some particles in such
manner as to generate or expel air, and consequently
bubbles.
From henee it appears that, as soon as the acid parti-
cles of the air are admitted into the must, they act on
the oils, and excite a motion somewhat like the efferves-
cence generated, when acids and oils come in contact,
though in a less degree. This motion is the Qause of
E 2
68 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
heat, by which the included elastic air, being rarefieo*,
occasions the bubbles to ascend towards the surface. —
These, by the power of attraction, are drawn to the
sides of the vessel ; at; first they are small and few, but in-
crease, both in number and magnitude, as the effect of
the air continues, till, at last, they spread over the whole
surface. The first stage of vegetable fermentation shews
itself to be a motion excited by the acids floating in the
air, acting on the oleous parts of the liquor, which mo-
tion gives an opportunity to the divided minute parts of
air, dispersed throughout the whole, to collect themselves
in masses : from hence they become capable to exert their
elasticity, and to free themselves from the must. (See
Arbutlmoton air p. U6.) It may, perhaps, be proper
to observe, that all musts, which ferment spontaneously,
contain for this purpose a large portion of elastic air.
Bubbles still continue to rise after the must is entirely
covered with them ; and a body of bladders is formed,
called, by the brewers, the head of the drink ; as the bub-
bles increase, the head rises in height, but the oils of the
must, being as yet of different spissitudes, those which are
least tenacious soon emit their air ; others, somewhat
stronger, being rarefied by the fermenting heat, rise on
the surface higher than the rest, while such aerial bub-
bles as are more dense, take their place below them.
From hence, and from the constituent parts of the drink
not being as yet intimately mixed, the head takes an
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 69
ttneven and irregular shape, and appears like a beautiful
piece of rock work. After this, it requires some time,
and it is by degrees, that the particles dispose themselves
in their due order, to be farther attenuated by the act of
fermentation, which, when effected, the saline, oily, and
spiritous parts become perfectly miscible* with *the
water. The head of the liquor then is more level ; hete-
rogeneous bodies, as dirt, straw, corks, &c. assisted by
bubbles of air adhering to them, are now buoyed on the
surface, and should be skimmed off, lest, when the liquor
becomes more light and spiritous, they should subside.
About this time, such parts of the must as are too
course to be absorbed in the wine (as they consist
chiefly of pinguious oils, mixed with earth, though they
strongly envelope much elastic air) from their weight,
sink to the bottom, and form the lees. But the internal
motion increasing, the air bubbles grow larger ; some, not
formed of parts so strong as the others, which generally
are the first, burst and strengthen the rest ; and thereby
a heat is retained in the fermenting liquor, which carries
the act on to a farther degree. The particles of the must
become more pungent and spiritous, because more fine
and more active; some of the most; volatile ones fly off;
hence, that subtle and dangerous vapor, called gas,
which extinguishes flame and suffocates animals. The
wine, by these repeated acts, being greatly attenuated,
is at last unable to support, on its surface, the weight of
E3
TO THE THEORY OF BREWING.
such a quantity of froth, rendered more dense by the-
repeated explosions of the air bubbles. Now, lest the
liquor should be fouled by the falling in of the froth, it is
put in vessels having only a small aperture, where it
continues to ferment, with a slower and less perceptible
motion, which gradually diminishing until it reaches the
period when it neither attracts or repels air, it admits of
its communication with it to be cut off; not that thereby,
in a strict sense, the fermentation can be said to be com-
pletely ended : the least heat is sufficient to renew, or rather
to continue the act, more especially if by any means the
atmosphere can gain any admittance, however small.
The alteration caused in the liquor, by the pressure
of the external air, from the very first of its fermenting,
not only occasions the particles of the must to form
themselves in their due order, but also, by the weight and
action of that element, grinds and reduces them into
smaller parts. From hence they more intimately blend
with each other, the wine becomes of an equal and even
taste, and if the constituent parts of the must be in a per-
fect proportion, it will continue to ferment, until, these
being disposed and ranged in right lines, a fine and pel-
lucid fluid is produced.
That this operation subsists, even after the liquor be-
comes fine, is evident ; for every fretting is a continu-
ance of fermentation, though often almost imperceptible.
Thus, the component parts of the liquor are continually
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 71
reduced to a less volume, the oils become more attenuated,
and less capable of retaining elastic air. As these fret-
tings are often repeated, it is impossible to determine, by
any rule, the exact state in which wine should be, in
order to be perfect for use. It would seem, however,
that the more minutely the parts are reduced, the more
their pungency will appear, and the easier their passage
be in the human frame. Both wines and beers, when
new, possess more elastic air, than when meliorated by-
age ; to be wholesome, they must be possessed of the
whole of the fermentable principles. For these reasons,
beers and ales, when substituted for wines in common,
and more especially when given to the sick, should al-
ways be brewed from entire malt : for the last extracts,
possessing but the inferior virtues of the grain, have by
so much less the power to become light, spiritous, and
transparent.
Wines never totally remain inactive ; fermentation in
pome degree continues, and in time the oils, by being
greatly attenuated, volatilise, fly off, and permit a readier
admission of the external air into the drink. In propor-
tion as this circumstance takes place, the latent acids of
the liquor sh«w themselves, the wine becomes sour, and
in this state is termed vinegar.
Its last stage or termination is, when the remaining
active principles, which the vinegar possessed, being eva-
porated in the air, a pellicle forms itself on the- surface
E4
72 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
of the liquor, and dust and seeds, which always float
in the atmosphere, depositing themselves thereon,
strengthen this film into a crust, on which grows moss,
and many other small plants. These vegetables, toge-
ther with the air, exhaust the watery parts ; after which
no signs of fermentable principles remain ;. but, like
the rest of created beings, all their virtues being lost,
what is left is a substance resembling common earth.
Upon the whole, then, it appears, that a liquor fit for
fermentation must be composed of water, acids smoothed
over with oils, or saccharine salts, and a certain portion
of elastic air ; the heat of the air the liquor is fermented
in, must be in proportion to the density of its oils ; and
lastly, that the pores are to be expanded by slow degrees,
lest the air, by being admitted too hastily, should cause
an effervescence rather than a fermentation, and occa-
sion the whole to become sour. Wines, therefore, fer-
mented in countries where the autumn* is hot, require
their oils to be more pinguious, than where the season
is cooler. For the same reason beers are best made,
when the air is at forty degrees of heat, or below the
first fermentable point, because the brewer, in this case,
can put his wort to work, at a heat of his own chusing,
which will not be increased by that of the air ; on the
contrary, when, by its internal motion, the heat becomes
gr* ater, it will again be abated and regulated by the co!4
of the medium.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. <73
The pores of a wort are expanded in proportion to the
heat it is impressed with ; on which account common
small beer, brewed in summer, when the air and acids
more easily insinuate themselves into the liquor, ought
to be enriched with oils obtained by hotter extracts, to
sheath these salts ; and in winter -the contrary method
must be pursued.
From this history of fermentation, we can, with propri-
ety, account for the many accidents and varieties that ac-
company this act ; and a comparative review of some of
them may not be unnecessary.
A cold air, closing the pores of the liquor, always re-
tards, and sometimes stops, fermentation ; heat, on the
contrary, constantly forwards this act ; but, if carried
too high, immediately prevents it.
A must, loaded with oils, will ferment with more diffi-
culty than one which abounds with acids ; it likewise is
longer before it becomes perfectly fine ; but, when once
so, will be more lasting.
<»* If the quantities of oil are increased, they will exceed
the power both of the acids naturally contained in the
must, and of those absorbed from the air in fermenting ;
the liquor will therefore require a longer time before it
becomes pellucid, unless assisted by precipitation : and
there may be cases where even precipitation cannot fine'
it.
These considerations naturally lead us to a general dt-
74- THE THEORY OF BREWING.
vision of wines into three classes : First, of such as
soon grow fine, and soon become acid, being the growth
of cold countries. Secondly, of those which, by a due
proportion of heat, both when the grapes germinate, and
when they come to maturity, form a perfect must, and
not only preserve themselves, but, in due time, (more es-
pecially when assisted by precipitation,) become trans-
parent; and, thirdly, of such as, having taken their
first form under the highest degrees of germination, (as I
termed them) are replete with oils, disappoint the cooper,
anc1 render the application of menstruums useless, un-
less in such quantities as to change the very nature of
the wine.
This remarkable difference in wines appears chiefly to
arise from the climate; and it will confirm the observa-
tion before made, that, as wines are neither naturally
nor uniformly perfect, they must be subject to many
diseases.
All vegetable substances possess fermentable prin-
ciples, though in a diversity of proportions ; for thosa H
juices only, whose constituent parts approach to the
proportion necessary for the act of fermentation, can be
made into wines. I would not, however, from what I
have attributed to a difference of heat in different cli-
mates, be understood, as if I thought that vegetables
are more or less acid, more or less sulphureous, or in
general more or less fermentable, merely from the heat
THE THEORY OF BREWING. it
of the country they grow in. This, though likely OB*
of the principal causes of their being so, is by no means
the only one ; the form and constitution of the plant is
another. In very hot climates, we find acid fruits, such
as limes, tamarinds, lemons, and oranges; the propor-
tions of fermentable principles in these fruits are such,
as to render them incapable of making sound wines,
though their juices may, in some degree, be susceptible
*>f fermentation. In countries greatly favored by the
sun, some vines and other fruit trees there are, which
attract the acids from the air, and possibly from the
farth, so greedily, that, when their juices are fermented,
they soon become sour. On the contrary, in cold clir
mates, we see warm aromatic vegetables grow, as hops,
horse-raddish, camomile, wormwood, £c. whose prin-
ciples cannot, without difficulty, and perhaps not per-
ceptibly, be brought to ferment. But these instances
must be accounted the extremes on each sides ; for in
cold, as well as in hot countries, fruits are produced
Susceptible of a perfect natural fermentation : ^vith us,
for example, apples ; some species of which are endued
with such austere and aromatic qualities, that their ex-
pressed juices ferment spontaneously, until they become
pellucid, and are capable of remaining in a sound state
many years. From hence it appears, that proper sub-
jects, which will naturally ferment, for making wines,
may be found in almost every climate. England, says
•76 THE THEORY OF BREWING,
Boerhaave, on this account, is remarkably happy : her
fruits are capable of producing a great variety of wines,
equal in goodness to many imported, were not our tastes
but too often subservient, not to reason, but to custom
and prejudice.
A similar want of perfection to that observed in wines,
may be noticed in our beers and ales, and it chiefly has
its origin in the different degrees of heat the malt has
been impressed with, both in drying and extracting;
where, in the processes of malting and brewing, a suffi-
cient heat has not been maintained, the liquor undoubt-
edly must become acid ; in proportion as the contrary is
the case, or that the beer is overcharged with hops, if
this is in no great excess, it retains still a greater ten-
dency to fermentation than to putrefaction, acids not
being wanting, but only enveloped. In this case, time will
get the better of the disease ; like to the wines made
from the growth of too hot a sun, these liquors, at a
certain period, sicken, smell rancid, and have a disagree-
able taste, but, by long standing, they begin to fret, and,
receiving more acids from the air, recover their former
health, and improve in taste.
But should the quantity of oils exceed this last pro-
portion, in wines formed from corn, the must, instead
of fermenting, would putrify, even though, by some
means, elastic air has been driven into them. In this
case, the over proportion of the oil, and its tenacity,
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 11
prevents the entrance of the acids, the wort receives no
enlivening principle from without, and the air, at first
conveyed into it, is enveloped with oils so tenacious as
to be incapable of action. Nothing so much accelerates
putrefaction as heat, moisture, and a stagnating air ;
and all substances corrupt, sooner or later, in proportion
to the inactivity of the contained air, to the want of a
proper vent, and to the closeness of their confinement.
Besides these cases, beers and ales, as well as wines,
sometimes are vapid and flat, without being sour ; this
does not so much arise from the imbibing the air of the
atmosphere, as from their fermenting, generating and
casting off too much air of their own. To prevent this
accident, they are best preserved in cool cellars, where
their "active invigorating principles are kept within
due bounds, and not suffered to fly off. These facts
ought to convince us of the truth, deduced by Dr. Hales,
from many experiments, that there is a great plenty of
air incorporated in the substance of vegetables, which,
by the action of fermentation, is roused into an elastic
state, and is as instrumental to prpduce this act, as it is
necessary to the life and being of animals.
I should here close this short and imperfect account ;
but as, in the art of brewing, there is no part so difficult,'
and at the same time so important to be in some measure
understood, as the cause and effects of fermentation ; and
as the examination of this act, in all the different lights
?S THE THEORY OF BREWING.
in which it offers itself to our notice, can hardly b£
thought uninteresting, these few detached thoughts 1
hope will be allowed of.
The effect of the act of fermentation on liquors is, so to
attenuate the oils,' as to cause them to become spiritous,
and easily inflammable. When a wine is dispossessed of
such oils, which is nearly the case in vinegar, far from
possessing a heating or inebriating quality, it refreshes
and becomes a remedy against intoxication. The terra!
of fermentation ought, perhaps, only to be applied, to
that operation which occasions the expressed juices of
vegetables to become wine : but as several acts have as-
sumed the same name, it may not be improper here to
notice the difference between them.
Vegetation, one of them, is that operation of nature
wherein more air is attracted than repelled. I believe
all that has been said above, concerning the juice of
grapes, is a convincing proof thereof.
Fermentation is, where the communication of the ex-
ternal and internal air of a must is open, and in a perfect
state ; when the power of repelling, is equal to that of at-
tracting, air.
Putrefaction is when, by the power of strong oils, or
Otherwise, the communication between the external and
the internal air of the must is cut off, so that the liquor
neither attracts the one nor repels the other, but, by
THE THEORY OF BREWING 7f
an intestine motion, the united particles separate and
tend to fly off.
Effervescence is when, by the power of attraction, the
particles of matter so hastily rush into contact, as to ge-
nerate a heat which expels the enclosed air ; and this
more or less in proportion to the motion excited.
ffO THE THEORY OF BREWING.
SECTION IX.
OF ARTIFICIAL FERMENTATION.
X>Y what has been said, it appears, that, though fer-
mentation is brought on by uniform causes, and produc-
tive of similar effects, it is subject to many varieties, both
in respect to its circumstances and to its perfection. One
difference is obvious, and seems to deserve our attention,
as it furnishes a useful division between natural and ar-
tificial fermentation. The first rises spontaneously, and
requires nothing to answer all the necessary purposes,
but the perfection of the juices, and the advantage of a
proper heat. The other, at first sight less perfect, wants
the assistance of ferments, or substitutes, without which
the act could, either not at all, or very imperfectly, be
excited.
There are undoubtedly liquors, which, though they
have of themselves a tendency to fermentation, and are
naturally brought to it, yet, from some defect in the
proportions of their constituent parts, either do not ac-
quire a proper transparency, or cannot maintain them-
selves in a sound state for a sufficient time. These dis-
advantages, inbred with them, can hardly ever be entirely
removed ; they gain very little, especially the latter, from
age, and therefore are really inferior to liquors, which
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 81
require the assistance of substituted ferments, to become
real wines. In some artificial fermentations, the ferments
are so duly and properly supplied, and so intimately
blended with the liquor, that in the end they approach
very near to, and even vie with, the most perfect natu-
ral wines. Were I to enter into a more minute detail, it
might be shewn, that wines, when transported from a
hot climate to a cold one, are often hurt and checked in
the progress of the repeated frettings they require ; from
whence they become or remain imperfect, unless racked
off from their grosseV lees, or precipitated with strong
menstruums ; whereas beers may be so brewed, as to be
adapted either to a hot or a cold region, not only with-
out any disadvantage, but with considerable improve-
ments.
Hitherto I have considered grapes as a most pulpous
fruit, sufficient to furnish the quantity of water necessary
for extracting its other parts ; but the natives of the
countries where this fruit abounds, in order to preserve
them, as near as possible in their primitive state, after
they are gathered, suspend them in barns, or place them
in ovens, to dry. Thus, being in great measure divest-
ed of their aqueous parts, these grapes remain almost
inactive, and without juices sufficient to form wines.
In all bodies, the various proportions of their consti-
tuent parts produce different effects ; hence they remain
more or less in a durable state, and tend either to in-
F
82 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
action, fermentation, or putrefaction. Now, by a judi-
cious substitution of such parts as shall be wanting, they
are nearly, if not wholly, restored to their pristine nature,
as may be proved by the observations and experiments
communicated to the public by Dr. Pringle. Thus
grapes, though dried and exported from their natural
climate to another, by the addition of water only, fer-
ment spontaneously, and form wines very near alike to
such as they would have produced before. It may, with
confidence, be said, that, when any considerable differ-
ence appears, it arises from the injudicious manner in
which the water is administered, from the fruit not being
duly macerated, or from want of such heat being con-
veyed to the water and fruit, as the juices would have
had, if they had been expressed out of the grapes Avhen
just gathered ; often from the whimsical mixture of
other bodies therewith, and perhaps too from the quan-
tity of brandy, which is always put to wines abroad, to
prevent their fretting on board a-ship. Upon the whole?
though, from what just now has been observed, some
small difference must take place, it rather proves than
contradicts the fact, that, a due quantity of water being
applied to dry raisins, an extract may be formed, which
will be impregnated with all the necessary constituent
parts the grapes had in them when ripe upon the vine,
consequently will spontaneously ferment, and make a
vinous liquor. Water then, in this case, becomes a sub-
THE THEORY OF BREWING, S3
stitute, and the liquors produced in this manner may be
accounted of the first class of artificial wines.
Vegetables, in their original state, are divisible into
the pulpous and farinaceous kinds, both possessing the
same constituent parts, though in different proportions.
If from the farinaceous such parts be taken away as they
superabound in, and others be added, of which they are
defective, these vegetables may, by such means, be
brought to resemble, in the proportion of their parts,
more especially in their musts, the natural wines I have
before been treating of : and these being universally ac-
knowledged to be the standard of wines, the nearer any
fermented liquor approaches thereto, by its lightness,
transparency, and taste, the greater must its perfection
be.
To enquire which of the pulpous or which of the fa-
rinaceous kinds of vegetables are fittest for the purpose
of wine-making, would here be an unnecessary digres-
sion. Experience, the best guide, hath, on the one side,
given the preference to the fruit of the vine, and on the
other to barley. To make a vinous liquor from barley,
having all the properties of that produced from the
grape, is a task, which can only be compassed by ren-
dering the wort of these, similar to the must of the
other.
As malt liquors require the addition of other substi-
tutes, besides water, to become perfect wines, they can
84 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
only be ranked in the second class of artificial fermenta-
tion. These substitutes are properly called ferments,
and merit the brewer's closest attention.
Ferments, in general, such as yeast, flowers or lees of
wine, honey, the expressed juices of ripe fruits, are sub-
jects more or less replete with elastic air, and convey
the same to musts, which stand in need thereof. Boer-
haave has ranged these, and several others, in different
classes, according to their different powers, or rather in
proportion to the quantity of air they contain for this
purpose.
The juice of the grape, when fermented, forms more
lees than the extracts of malt. May we not, from thence,
infer that, in the fruit, the elastic air is both more abun-
dant, and contained in a greater number of stronger,
though smaller, vesicles, than it is in the malt ? The bar-
ley, being first saturated with water, germinated only,
and then dried with a heat far exceeding that which
ripened it, or that which fermentation admits of, has its
air in part driven out. The expulsion of air from
the worts of beers and ales is still farther effected by the
long boiling they undergo. Hence the necessity of re-
placing the lost elastic air, in order that these extracts
may become fermentable. This is effected by means of
the yeast, which, consisting of a collection of small bub-
bles, rilled with air, and ready to burst by a sufficient
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 85
heat, becomes the ferment, which facilitates the change
of the wort into a vinous liquor.
The musts of rnalt generally produce two gallons of
yeast from eight bushels of the grain, whereas, in the
coldest fermentable weather, and for the speediest pur-
pose, one gallon of yeast is sufficient to work this quanti-
ty of malt. Much elastic air still remains in beer, or
wine from corn, after the first part of the fermentation is
over ; for the liquor, separated from the yeast above men-
tioned, is, at the time of this separation, neither flat,
vapid, nor sour; but as yeast, the lees and flowers of
malt liquors are of a weaker texture than those of grapes,
all artificial fermentations should be carried on in the
coolest and slowest manner possible: and beers, but
more especially such as are brewed from high-dried,
brown malts, (the heat of whose extracts approaches
much nearer to that which dried the grain, than is the
case in brewing pale malt) ought not to be racked from
their lees, as it is frequently practised for 'natural wines,
unless, on account of some defect, they are to be blended
with fresh worts under a new fermentation.
As all ferments are liable to be tainted, great care
ought to be taken in the choice of them, every imper-
fection in the ferment being readily communicated to the
must. It would not, therefore, be an improper question
to be determined by physicians, whether, in a time of
sickness, the use of those which have been made in in-
F3
t6 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
fected places ought to be permitted, and whether, at all
times, a drink fermented in a pure and wholesome air is
not preferable to that which is made among fogs, smoke,
and nauseous stenches.*
Wines from corn are distinguished by two appella-
tions, viz. those of ale and beer. As each of these li-
quors have suffered in character, either from prejudice
or want of a sufficient enquiry, it may be proper to levy
the objections made against their use, before we enquire
into the means of forming them. The most certain sign
of the wholesomeness of wines is transparency and
lightness ; yet some, which are rich, more especially ales,
though perfectly fine, have been said to be viscid. — .
Transparency appears indeed in many wines, before the
oils are attenuated to their highest perfection, and some
viscidity may therefore be consistent with some degree
of brightness. Where th» power of the oils and the
salts are equal, which is denoted by the transparency of
the liquor, viscidity can only arise from the want of age :
this cannot be said to be a defect in, but only misappli-
cation of the liquor, by being used too soon.
That beers retain igneous or fiery particles, seems
* By Dr. Hales's experiments made for discovering the proportion
§f air generated from different bodies, it appears that raisin wine, ab-
sorbed, in fermenting^ a quantity of air equal to nearly one third
of its volume ; and ale, undor the like circumstances, absorbed on«.
fifth.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 37
equally a mistake. Malt dried to keep, has undoubtedly
its particles removed by fire, so far as the cohesion of
them is thereby destroyed, otherwise it would not be in
a fit state to preserve itself sound, or readily to be ex-
tracted. For this reason, when the grain comes in con-
tact with the water, which is to resolve it, an effervescent
heat is generated, which adds to the extracting power, and
should be looked on by the brewer as an auxiliary help ;
but it is impossible that the malt, or the must, should
ever inclose and confine the whole or part of fire em-
ployed to form them. Fire is of so subtile a nature, that
its particles, when contained in a body, continually tend
to fly off, and mix with the surrounding air ; so that
only an equal degree, with what is in the atmosphere,
can be continued in the grain, or any liquor whatever,
after it has been, for some time, exposed thereto. —
Brown beers, made from maJt more dried than any other,
from experience, are found to be less heating than li-
quors brewed from pale malt ; which probably arises
from hence, that brown beers contain a less quantity of
elastic air than pale beers, as pale malt liquors contain
less than wines, produced from vegetables in their natu-
ral state : and as malt liquors contain their elastic air in
bubbles of a weaker consistence than those made from
the juices of the grape, the effect of beer, when taken in
an over-abundant quantity, is neither of so long a con-
tinuance, nor so powerful as that of wine, supposing the
F4
88 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
quality and quantity of each to be equal. This may ap-
pear to some persons to be the effect of prejudice, yet it
is but a justice due to the produce of my country, to
add, that some physicians have given it as their opinion,
that strong drinks from malt are less pernicious than
those produced from grapes. As far as these gentlemen
have, I hope I may advance, without being thought
guilty of assuming too much, or countenancing debauch,
by pointing out the wines that occasion the fewest dis-
orders.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 89
SECTION X.
OF THE NATURE OF BARLEY.
ii\.'f .fi'iOtl'",; "&>.'.> <J IflfTJ: llitf. {;.' .^j.:-r?'»l-/U .T>7 AVJ i • •?' •'
is a spicated, oblong, ventricose seed,
pointed at each end, and marked Avith a longitudinal
furrow. The essential constitution of the parts, in all
plants, says Dr. Grew, is the same : thus this seed,
like those which have lobes, is furnished with radical
vessels, which, having a correspondence with the whole
body of the corn, are always ready, when moistened,
to ad minster support to the plume of the embryo, usually
called the acrospire. These radical vessels, at first, re-
ceive their nourishment from ^ great number of glandules
dispersed almost every where in the grain, whose pulpous
parts strain and refine this food, so as to fit it to enter
the capillary tubes ; and such an abundant provision is
made for the nourishment of the infant plant, that the
same author says, these glandules take up more than
nine tenths of the seed.
Barley is sown about March, sooner or later, Beard-
ing to the season or soil that is to receive it, and gene-
rally housed from ten to twenty weeks after. Most plants,
which so hastily perform the office of vegetation, are re-
markable for having their vessels proportionably larger ;
and that these may be thus formed, the seed must con-
90 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
tain a greater quantity of tenacious oils, in proportion to
those seeds, whose vessels being smaller, require more
time to perform their growth and come to maturity.
This grain, as may be observed, grows and ripens with
the lower degrees of natural heat ; from whence, and
from the largeness of the size of its absorbent vessels, it
must receive a great portion of acid parts. It is said to
be viscid, though, at the same time, a great cooler, wa-
ter boiled with it being often drank as such ; and, how-
ever it be prepared, it never heats the body when un-
fermented.
From these circumstances, of its being viscous and re-
plete with acids, it would at first appear to be a most
unfit vegetable, from which vinous liquors, to be long
kept, should be made; and, indeed, the extracts from
it, in its original state, are not only clammy, but soon
become sour.
When the grain is at full maturity, its constituent parts
seem to be differently disposed than when in a state of
vegetation. By germination alone all its principles are
put in action ; the fibrous parts possess themselves of a
great quantity of tenacious oils, leaving the glandules
and finer vessels replete with water, salts, and the purest
sulphur. If, in this state, the corn is placed in such a
situation, that, by heat, the acid and watery parts may
be evaporated, the more such heat is suffered to affect
it, the more dry, and less acid, will the corn become ;
1
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 91
its parts will be divided — its viscidity removed ; its taste
becomes saccharine, by the acids being sheathed or co-
vered over with oils ; and these last be rendered more te-
nacious in proportion to the greater quantity of heat
they are made to endure. This process, regularly car-
ried on, is termed malting, and will hereafter be ex-
plained more at large.
But, before we enter thereon, it is necessary to cen-
sider the state of the grain as it comes from the field. —
When mowed, though, upon the whole, it may be said
to be ripe, yet every individual part, or every corn,
cannot be so. In some seasons, this inequality is so re-
markable, as to be distinguished by the eye. The dif-
ference in the situation, the soil, and the weather, ths
changes of the winds, the shelter some parts of the field
have had from such winds, are sufficient to account for
this, and a much greater variety. When the greater
part of the corn is supposed to have come to maturity,
it is cut and stacked ; the ripest parts having the least
moisture, and the fewest acids, as the greenest abound
in both. In this state the unripe grains of the corn com-
municate, to such as are more dry, their moisture and
acid parts, which, coming in contact with their oils, an
agitation ensues, more or less gentle, in proportion to
the power of the acids and water ; and from hence is ge^
nerated a heat, the degree whereof is with difficulty de-
termined.
92 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
When this sweating in the mow is kept within its pro-
per limits, the whole heap of the corn, after this inter-
nal emotion is over, becomes of one equable dryness,
and is not discoloured ; but if the grain be put together
too wet or too green, the effervescence occasioned there-
by will produce such a violent intestine heat, as to charr
and blacken the greatest part thereof, nay often make
it burst into actual flame.
The effect which a moderate and gentle heat has on
the corn, is that of driving the oils towards the external
parts of its vessels and skin : by this means, it becomes
more capable to preserve itself against the injuries of the
weather. The more it is in this state, the backwarder will
it be to germinate, when used to this purpose ; and if
this act is carried too far, or to somewhat like what we
have just now mentioned, the plume and root of the en-
closed embryo must be scorched, the corn become in-
ert, and incapable of vegetation. This effect is pro-
duced by a motion sufficient to remove the particles of
the grain from each other beyond their sphere of attrac-
tion ; and the heat, by which this motion is excited, has
been found, in malted corn, to be at about 120 degrees.
It is likely, that vegetables, in general, are susceptible
of a large latitude in this respect, according to their dif-
ferent textures. The degree of heat just now men-
tioned may, perhaps, be applicable to barley alone ;
the seeds of some grapes endure 1 26 degreees of heat,
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 93
and may be capable of being impressed with more, and
yet vegetate. But, with corn, if their oils have endured
so great a heat, as thereby to be discolored, the seed
can by no means be revived. The color of the grain
properly indicates the' healthy state of the embryo, or
future plant ; but this, more immediately, is the business
of the farmer and maltster, than that of the brewer.
Thus, though it may be disadvantageous to the malt-
ster to steep grain which has not sweated in the mow,
as, for want of this, it will not equally imbibe the water ;
so barley, that is over-heated, or mow burnt, cannot be
fit for his purpose. It is, in fact, scarcely possible that
any large quantity of barley, from the same stack, should
make equally perfect malt, as, on its being put together,
the heat generated is always greatest in the centre of the
rick, and considerably more there than in its exterior
parts.
94- THE THEORY OF BREWING.
SECTION XL
OF MALTING.
THIS process is intended to furnish proper means, for
setting the constituent principles of the grain in motion :
so that the oils, which before served to defend the seve*
ral parts, may be enabled to take their proper stations. —
This is effected by steeping the barley in water, where
it strongly attracts moisture, as all dry bodies do ;ibut it
requires some time before the grain is fully saturated
therewith.* Two or three days, more or less, are neces-
sary, in proportion to the heat of the air ; for vegetables
receive the water only, by its straining through the outv
ward skin, and absorbent vessels, and their pores are so
* In the northern part of England, the usual time of steeping bar-
ley in the cistern is about 80 hours.
40 bushels of barley wetted 1 hour, will guage then in the couch 40 bushels, thstt
is, if drained from its exterior moisture.
40 bushels 20 hours, 421 bushels.
40 bushels 40 hours, —- , 45 bushels.
40 bushels 60 hours, 471 bushel..
40 bushels 80 hours, — — 50 bushels.
Here the barley is supposed to be fully saturated with the water; and
these 40 bushels of barley, guaged (after 80 hours wetting in the cis-
tern) in the couch, will be 50 bushels; but when again guaged on the
floor, from the effect of the roots, and sometimes the shoots, occa-i
sioning the corn to lie hollow, here the 40 bushels of barley will she\r
as 80 bushels. Vide Ramsbottom, page 113, &c.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 95
very fine, that they require this element to be reduced al-
most to a vapor, before it can gain admittance. Heat
hath not only the property of expanding these pores, but
perhaps also that of adding to the water a power more
effectually to insinuate itself.
By the water gaining admittance into the corn, a great
quantity of air is expelled from it, as appears from the
number of bubbles which arise on its surface when in
contact with the grain, though yet much remains there-
in. A judgment is formed that the corn is fully saturat-
ed, so as not to be able to imbibe any more water, from
its turgidity and pulpousness, which occasions it readily
to give way to an iron rod dropped perpendicularly
therein. At this time the water is let to run, or drawn
off, the grain taken out of the cistern, and laid in a regu-
lar heap, in height about two feet. We have before ac-
counted why moist vegetables, when stacked together,
grow hot ; so doth this heap of barley. The heat, as-
sisted by the moisture, puts in motion the acids, oils,
and elastic air remaining in the corn, and these not only
mollify and soften the radical vessels, but, with united
power, force the juices from the glandular parts into the
roots, which are thereby disposed to expand themselves,
and impowered to convey nourishment to the embryo
enveloped in the body of the grain. The corn in this
heap, or couch, is however not suffered to acquire so
great a degree of heat, as to carry on germination too
96 THE THEORY O F BREWING.
fast, by which not only the finer but also the coarser
oils would be raised and entangled together, and the
malt when made become bitter and ill tasted ; but before
the acrospire is perceived to lengthen, the barley is dis-
persed in beds on the floor of the malt house, and, from
being at first spread thin, gradually, as it dries, and as the
germination is thereby checked in its progress, it is
thrown into larger bodies ; so that, at the latter part of this
operation, which generally employs two days, much of
the moisture is evaporated, its fibres are spread, and the
acrospire near coming through the outward skin of the
barley. By these signs the malster is satisfied that every
part of the barley has been put in motion and separated.
It is of great consequence, in making of malt, that the
grain be dried by a very slow and gradual heat : for this
purpose it is now thrown into a large heap, and there
suffered to grow sensibly hot, as it will in about 20 or 30
hours : thus prepared for drying, in this lively and active
condition, it is spread on the kiln ; where, meeting with
a heat superior to that requisite for vegetation, its far-
ther growth is stopped ; though, in all probability, from
the gentleness of the first fire it ought to be exposed to,
none of the finer vessels are, by this sudden change, rent
01 torn, but, by drying, only the cohesion of its parts re-
moved, rendered inactive, and put in a preservative state.
Often, to a fault, the drying of a kiln of malt is performed
in 6 or 8 hours : it would be to the advantage of the grain
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 97
that more than double this time was employed for any
intent whatever. It may here be observed, that those
oils, which in part form the roots, being with them
pushed out from the body of the corn, and dried by heat,
are lost to any future wort, not being soluble in water ;
which is likewise true of those oils which are contained
in the shoot or plume ; so that the internal part of the
malt has remaining in it a greater proportion of salts* to
the oils than before, -consequently are less viscid, more
saccharine, and easier to be extracted.
Jn this process, the acid parts of the grain, though
they are the most ponderous, yet being very attractive
of water, become weaker, and, by the continued heat of
the kiln, are volatilized and evaporated with the aqueous
steam of the malt. Thus, by malting, the grain acquires
new properties, and these vary at the different stages qf
dryness ; in the first it resembles the fruits ripened by a
weaker sun, and in the last those which are the growth of
the hottest climates.
When the whiteness of the barley has not been greatly
changed by the heat it has been kept in, it is called pale
malt, from its having retained its original color ; £u,t
when the fire in the Jdln has been made ,more vehement,
or kept up a longer time, it affects both the oils and the
salts of $he grain, in proportion to the degree of the heat,
and to .the time it has been maintained, and thus occa-
4ions ji con$i4erable alteration ir» the cqlqr. Actual
G
98 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
blackness seldom is, and ought never to be, suffered in
malts ; but in proportion to the intenseness of the fire
they have been exposed to, the nearer do they come to
that tinge, and from the different brown they shew, re-
ceive their several denominations.
The condition the barley was gathered in, whether
green or ripe, is also clearly discernible when it is malt-
ed. If gathered green, it rather loses than gains in quan-
tity ; for the stock of oils in unripe corn being small, the
whole is spent in germination, from whence the malt be-
comes of a smaller body, appears shrivelled, and is often
unkindly, or hard. That, on the contrary, which hath
come to full maturity, increases by malting, and if pro-
perly carried through the process, appears plump, bright,
clean, and, on being cracked, readily yields the fine mealy
parts, so much desired by the brewer.
The malts, when dried to the pitch intended by the
maker, are removed from the kiln into a heap. Their
heat gradually dimishes, and, from the known proper-
ties of fire, flies off, and disperses itself in the ambient
air, sooner or later, as the heap is more or less volumi-
nous ; perhaps too in some proportion to the weight of
the malt, and as the fire has caused it to be more or less
tenacious. Nor can it be supposed that any of its parts
are capable of retaining the fire in such a manner as not
to suffer it to get away. So subtile an element cannot be
confined, much less be kept in a state of inactivity, and
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 99
imperceptible to our senses. Bars of iron, or brass, even
of a considerable size, when heated red hot, cool and lose
their fire, though their texture is undoubtedly much
closer than that of malt or barley. The experiments
made by Dr. Martine, on the heating and cooling of se-
veral bodies, leave no room to doubt of this fact, which
I should not be so particular about, nor in some measure
repeat, was it not to explain the technical phrase used by
brewers, when they say, malts are full of fire, or want
fire. Hence a prejudice hath by some been conceived
against drinks made from brown malts, though they have
been many months off the kiln, and have no more heat in
them, either whole or ground, than the air they are kept
in. The truth of the matter is, that, in proportion as
malts are dried, their particles are more or less separated
from one another, their cohesion is thereby broke, and,
coming in contact with another body, such as water,
strongly attract from it the uniting particles they want.
The more violent this intestine motion is, the greater is
the heat just then generated, though not durable. An
effect somewhat similar to wrhat happens on malt being
united with water, must occur on the grain being masti-
cated ; and the impression made on the palate most pro-
bably gave rise to the technical expression just taken no-
tice of.
The minute circumstances of the process of malting
will be more readily conceived from what will hereafter
G2
100 tHE THEORY OF BREWING.
be said. The effects that fire will have, at several de-
grees, on what, from having been barley, is now become
malt, are more particularly the concern of the brewer ;
and that these differ, both as to the color and properties,
is certain. A determinate degree of heat produces, on
every body, a certain alteration, and hence, as the action
of fire is stronger or weaker, the effect will not be the
same as what it would have been in any other degree.
Barleys, at a medium, may be said to lose, by malting,
«ne fourth part of their weight, including what is sepa-
rated from them by the roots being skreened off: but
this proportion varies, according as they are more or less
dried.
As the acrospire, and both the outward and inward
skins of the grain are not dissoluble in water, the glandu-
lar or mealy substance is certainly very inconsiderable in
volume and weight : but as in this alone are contained
the fermentable principles of the grain, it deserves our
utmost attention.
We have before seen, that wines, beers, and ales, after
the first fermentation, are meliorated through age by the
more refined and gentle agitations they undergo, and
which often are not perceptible to our senses. To se-
cure this favorable effect, we must form worts capable
of maintaining themselves, for some time, in a sound
state. This quality, however, if not originally in the
malt, is not to be expected in the liquor. Some objec-
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 101
tions have been raised against this method of arguing,
and these aided by prejudices, often more powerful
than the objections themselves. It is therefore necessa-
ry, as malting maybe esteemed the foundation of all our
future success, to enquire after the best and properest
methods of succeeding in this process. Let us, for this
purpose, reassume the consideration of the grain, as it
comes from the mow, trace it to the kiln, and observe
every change it undergoes by the action of the fire,
from the time that it receives the first degree of preser-
vation, to that when it is utterly altered and nearly de-
stroyed.
Barley in the mow, though there its utmost heat should
not much exceed 100 degrees, may be extracted or
brewed without malting. This the distiller's practice
daily evinces ; but then the extracts, made from this un-
changed corn, are immediately put in the still after the
first fermentation, else they would not long remain in a
sound state. Nor is this method practicable in summer
time, as the extracts would turn sour, before they were
sufficiently cooled to ferment. It is true, by this means,
all the charge of the malt duty is saved ; but our spirits
thereby are greatly inferior to those of the French. —
Boerhaave recommends the practice of that nation, which
is to let the wines ferment, subside, and be drawn off fine
from the lees, before they are distilled. Was this rule
observed in England, distillation would be attempted only-
G 3
102 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
from malted grain, which, if properly extracted for this-
purpose, the difference in the spirit would soon shew
how useful and necessary it is to give wines (either from
grapes or corn) time to be softened, and to gain some
degree of vinosity before they are used to this intent.
But might not barleys be dried without being germi-
nated ? Undoubtedly they might ; but as they abound
with many acids and strong oils, they woul(i require a
heat more intense than malt does, before they were suf-
ficiently penetrated, and then the oleaginous parts would
become so compact, and so resinous, as nearly to ac-
quire the consistence of a varnish, scarcely to be molli-
fied by the hottest water, and hardly ever to be entirely
dissolved by that element.
Barley then ungerminated, either in its natural state
or when dried, is not fit for the pnrpose of making
wines ; but when, by germination, the coarser oils are
expelled, and the mealy parts of the grain become sac-
charine, might not this suffice, and where is the neces-
sity of the grain being dried by fire ? I shall not dwell
on the impossibility of stopping germination at a proper
period, without the assistance of fire, so that sufficient
quantities of the grain, thus prepared, may always be
provided for the purposes of brewing ; nor even insist
upon the difficulty of grinding such grain, as, in this cases
it would be spongy and tough. I think it sufficient to
mention solely the vmfitness of this imperfect malt, for
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 10$
the purpose it is to be applied to, that of forming beers
and ales capable of preserving themselves for some time.
We should find so many acids blended with the water
still remaining in the grain, that, in the most favorable
seasons for brewing, they would often render all our en-
deavors abortive, and, in summer time, make it im-
practicable to obtain from them sound extracts in any
manner whatever.
I have heard of a project of germinating grain, and
drying it by the heat of the sun, in summer time, in or-
der, by this means, to save the expence of fuel. Though
the hottest days in England may be thought sufficient for
this act, as well as for making hay, yet, as barley and
grass are not of equal densities, the effects would not be
the same. This, however, is not the only objection :
as the corn, after a sufficient germination, should be
made inactive, this very hot season, favorable, in appear-
ance, to one part of the process, would rather forward,
than stop or retard, vegetation ; for the barley, by this
heat, would shoot and come forward so fast as to entangle
two much the constituent principles of the grain with one
another, and drive the coarser ill-tasted oils among the
finer s\veet mealy parts, which alone, in their utmost
purity, are the subject required for such as would obtain
good drinks.
There often appears in mankind a strange disposition
to -wish for the gifts of Providence, in a different man-
G4 '
104 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
ncr than they have been allotted to us. The various
schemes I have just now mentioned, if I mistake not,
have sprung from the desire of having beers and ales of
the same appearance with white wines. But as they are
naturally more yellow or brown, when brewed from
malts dried by heats equal or superior to that which con-
stitutes them such, all such projects, by which we en-
deavour to force some subjects to be of a like color with
others, are but so many attempts against nature, and the
prosecution of them must commonly be attended with dis-
appointments. It is true, that though the germinated
grain be dried slack, yet; if they are speedily used, and
brewed in the most proper season, they may make a to-
lerable drink, which will preserve itself soiind for some
time: but the proportion, which should be kept be-
tween the heat which dried the malt, and that which is to
extract it, cannot, in this case, be truly ascertained ; and,
as the grain will be more replete with air, water, and
acids, than it ought to be, the drink, even supposing
the most fortunate success, and that it does not soon
turn acid, will still be frothy, and therefore greatly
wanting in salubrity ; for an excess in any of the fer-
mentable principles must always be hurtful.
Barley then, to be made fit for the purpose of brew-
ing, must be malted ; that is, it must be made to sprout
or germinate with degrees of heat nearly equal to those
which the seed should be impressed with when sown in
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 105
the ground ; and it must be dried with a heat superior
to that of vegetation, and capable of checking it. How
far germination should be carried on, we have already
seen ; the law seems to be fixed universally, as to the
extent of the acrospire : the degree of dryness admits of
a larger latitude, the limits of which shall be the sub-
ject of our next enquiry.
Malt dried in so low a degree, as that the vegetative
power is not entirely destroyed, on laying together in a
heap, will generate a considerable degree of heat, ger-
minate afresh, and send forth its plume or acrospire
quite green. The ultimate parts of the nourishing prin-
ciples are then within each other's power of acting, else
this regermination could not take place ; and such grain
cannot be said to be malted, or in a preservative state.
Bodies, whose particles are removed, by heat, beyond
their sphere of attraction, can no more germinate ; but,
coming in contact with other bodies, as malt with water,
they effervesce. The grain we are now speaking of first
shews this act of effervescence, when it has been tho-
roughly impressed with a heat of 120 degrees, and a
little before its color, from a white, begins to incline to
th-2 yellow. Such are the malts, which are cured in a
manner to be able to maintain themselves sound, though
in this state, and at this degree of dryness, they possess
as much air, and as many acid and watery particles, as
their present denomination can admit of. This there-
106 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
fore may be termed the first or lowest degree of dry-
ing this grain for malt.
To discover the last or greatest degree of heat it is ca-
pable of enduring, the circumstance to guide us to it,
though equally true, is not so near at hand as efferves-
cence, which helped us to the first. We must therefore
have recourse to the observation of that heat, which
wholly deprives the grain of its principal virtues. Dr.
Shaw observes, alcohol is one of the most essential parts
of wine ; when absent, the wine loses its nature, and,
when properly diffused, it is a certain remedy for most
diseases incident to wines, and keeps them sound aitd
free from corruption ; from whence was derived the me-
thod of preserving vegetable and animal substances. — -
The same excellent author had before this observed,
that no subjects but those of the vegetable kingdom are
found to produce this preserving spirit. Is alcohol, then,
a new body, created by fermentation and distillation ; or
did it originally, though latently, reside in the vege-
table ? I have for a good while been satisfied, by cxpe*
riments, says Boerhaavey that all other inflammable
bodies are so only as they contain alcohol in them, or, at
least, something that, on account of its fineness, is ex-
ceedingly like it i the grosser parts thereof, that are left
behind, after a separation of this subtile one, being no
longer combustible.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 107
Now, as the same author has clearly proved* that fire,
by burning combustible bodies, as well as by distilling
them, separates their different inflammable principles,
according to their various degrees of subtilty, the alcohol
residing in the barley, when exposed to such a degree
of heat as would cause it to boil, i. e. 175 degrees, must
make great efforts to disengage itself from the grain. Is
it not, thefefore, natural to conclude, that, in a body
like malt, whose parts have! been made to recede from
one another, (from whence it is porous, and easily affected
by fire,) prepared for fermentation, or the making a
vinous liquor, this event will probably happen at the same
time when the .body of the grain has been ultimately
divided by fire, or that malt charrs ? and if this is true,
may not charring be termed the last degree of dryness,
when, even somewhat before it takes place, the acid
parts and finest oils, which are necessary for forming a
fermentable must, fly off, and cannot be recovered. —
Charring seems to be a crisis in solid bodies, somewhat
analogous to ebullition in fluids ; both being thereby per-
fectly saturated with fire, their volatile and spiritous
parts tend to fly off. In charring, the subject being ul-
timately divided by fire, the constituent principles are
* Boerhaave Elem. of Chym. Vol. I. p. 195-199. Exp. 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, and 13.
108 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
set at liberty, and escape in the atmosphere, in propor-
tion to their several degrees of subtilty, and to the fife
W;hjch urged them. In boiling they are equally divided,
and incline to disperse ; but, even the more volatile,
being surrounded with water, a medium much denser
than themselves, they are caught up therein, and, by
the violent motion caused in boiling, entangled with it,
and with other parts it contains, so as not to be extri-
cated or divided therefrom except by the act of fermen-
,tation. Now, as liquors boil with a greater or less fire
in proportion to their tenacity and gravity, solid bodies
may likewise be charred by various proportions of heat.
The whole body of the barley, as its different parts are
of different texture, cannot, at the same instant, become
black, nor, where any quantity of the grain is under
similar circumstances, if not equally germinated, can
the whole charr with the same degree.
To the several reflections, before made, I thought pro-
per to add the surer help of experience. I therefore
made the following trial, with all the care I was capable
of. If the effects of it appear satisfactory, by gaining
two Jimited and distant degrees, we may determine and
fix the properties of the intermediate spaces, in propor-
tion to their expansion.
In an earthen pan, of about two feet diameter, and
three inches deep, I put as much of the palest malt, un-
equally grown, as filled it on a level to the brim. This
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 109
I placed over a little charcoal, lighted in a small stove,
and kept continually stirring it from bottom to top.
At first it did not feel so damp as it did about half an
hour after. In about an hour more, it began to look of
a bright orange color on the outside, and appeared more
swelled than before. Every one is sensible that a long-
continued custom makes us sufficient judges of colors,
and this sense in a brewer is sufficiently exercised. Then
I masticated some of the grain, and found them to be
nearly such as are termed brown malts. On stirring,
and making a heap of them, towards the middle, I placed
therein, at about half depth, the bulb of my thermome-
ter ; it rose to 140 degrees : the malt felt very damp, and
had but little smell.
At 165 degrees, I examined it in the same manner as
before, and could perceive no damp ; the malt was very
brown, and on being chewed, some few black specks ap-
.peared.
Many corns, nearest the bottom, were now become
black, and burnt ; I placed my thermometer nearly there,
and it rose to 175 degrees : but, as the particles of fire,
ascending from the stove, act on the thermometer, in
proportion to the distance of the situation it is placed in,
through the whole experiment an abatement of five de-
grees should be allowed, as near as I could estimate. —
Putting, a little after, my thermometer in the same posi-
tion, where about half the corns were black, it shewed
HO THE THEORY OF BREWING.
180 degrees. I now judged that the water was nearly
evaporated, and observed the heap grew black apace.
Again, in the centre of the heap, raised in the middle
of the pan, I found the thermometer at 180 degrees; the
corn tasted burnt, the surface appeared, about one half
part a full brown, and the rest black. On being masti-
cated, still some white specks appeared, which I ob-
served to proceed from those barley-corns which had not
been thoroughly germinated, and whose parts cohering
more closely together, the fire, at this degree, had not
penetrated. The thermometer was now more various,
as it was nearer to, or farther from, the bottom ; and, in
my opinion, all the true-made malt was charred, for
their taste was insipid, they were brittle, and their skins
parting from the kernel.
I, nevertheless, continued the experiment, and, at 190
degrees, still found some white specks on chewing the
grain ; the acrospire always appearing of a deeper black,
or brown, than the outward skin ; the corn, at this junc-
ture, fried at the bottom of the pan.
I still increased the fire ; and the thermometer, placed
in the middle, between the bottom of the pan, and the.
upper edge of the corn, shewed 210 degrees. The malt
hissed, fried, and smoked abundantly. Though, during
the whole process, the grain had been kept stirring, yet,
on examination, the whole was not equally affected by
the fire, A great part thereof was reduced to perfect
3
THE THEORY OF BREWING ill
cinders, easily crumbling to dust between the fingers,
some of a very black hue, without gloss, some very
black, with oil shining on the outside. Upon the whole,
two thirds of the corn were perfectly black, and the rest
of a deep brown, but more or less so, as the grains were
hard, steely, or imperfectly germinated. This was ea-
sily discovered by the length of the shoot : most of the
grains seemed to have lost their cohesion, and had a taste
resembling that of high-roasted coffee.
In the last stage of charring the malt, I placed over it
a wine glass inverted, into which arose a pinguious oily
matter, and tasted very salt. It may, perhaps, not be
unnecessary to say, that the length of time this experi-
ment took up, was four hours, and that the effect it had,
both on myself, and on the person who attended me,
was such as greatly resembled that of inebriation.
Though, from this experiment, the degree of heat at
which malt charrs, is not fixed with the utmost, preci-
sion, yet we see that black specks appeared, when the
thermometer was at 165 degrees ; some of the corns were
entirely black at 175, others at 180. In proportion as
fire causes a deficiency of color, it must occasion a want
of fermentable properties, the whole of which are cer-
tainly dispersed, when the grain becomes of an absolute
black. Thus we may conclude, with an exactness surely
sufficient for the purposes of brewing, that true germi-
nated malts are charred in heats, at about 175 degrees:
1J2 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
as these correspond to the heat at which pure alcohol, or
the finest spirit of the grain itself, boils, it seems to re-
quire this heat, wholly to extricate itself from the more
tenacious parts of the corn j which, when deprived of this
etherial enlivening principle, remains inert, incapable of
forming a fermentable must or wort, and indicates to us,
that the constituent parts of vegetables may be resolved
by heats, equal to those between the first degree which
formed them, and the last, which ultimately destroys
their properties ; though the extracts will possess differ-
ent qualities or virtues, according to the determinate
heat which is applied.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 113
\iU ' •-' ~'i A
SECTION XII.
OF THE DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF MALT,
.
AND OF THE NUMBER OF ITS FERMENTABLE PARTS.
'. *..': i'.J -' f' ' ' •
m
J. HE consequences resulting from the before-mentioned
experiment have already been hinted at. But it is ne-
cessary to trace them farther, and to shew how much
they tend to the information and use of the brewer.
Germinated barleys, so little dried, as that their parti-
cles remain within their sphere of attraction, are not in a
preservative state, and therefore cannot properly be
termed malts.
The first degree of dryness, which constitutes them
such, as we have seen before, is that which occasions
them to cause some effervescence. This cannot be
effected, when they are dried with less than 120 degrees
of heat ; the highest that leaves them white. When urged
by a fire of 115 degrees, they are charred, black, and to-
tally void of fermentable principles. Now this difference
of heat, being 55 degrees, and producing in the grain so
great an alteration, as from white to black, the different
shades or colors, belonging to the intermediate degrees,
cannot, with a little practice, be easily mistaken.
White, we know, from Sir Isaac Newton's experi-
H
114 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
ments, is a composition of all colors, as black is owing
to the absence of them. These two terms indicate the
extremes of the dryness of malt. The color, which the
medium heat impresses upon it, is brown, which, being
compounded of yellow and red, the four tinges which
shade malt differently, may be said to be white, yellow,
red and black. The following table, constructed on
these principles, will, on chewing the grain, readily in-
form the practitioner of the degree to which his malts
have been dried. It is true some doubts have arisen, whe-
ther the increase of heat is by equal divisions (according
to the scales marked on thermometers) or whether the
degrees should not rather be in proportional parts : but if
the effect of fire on bodies (as every experiment shews)
is exactly corresponding to the expansion it is the cause
of, this undetermined question in no wise affects the
brewery.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 115
A TABLE of the different Degrees of the
Dryness of Malt, with the Changes of Co-
lor occasioned by each Increase of the De-
grees.
Degrees.
119 White White
124 W. W. Yellow White turning to a
light Yellow.
129 W. W. Y. Y Yellow.
134 ; W. W. Y. Y. Red, High yellow.
138 W. W. Y. Y. R. R Amber.
143 W. Y. Y. R. R Light brown.
148 Y. Y. R. R. Brown.
152 Y. R. R. High brown.
157 ...... Y. R. R. Black, Brown inclining to
black.
162 Y. R. R. B. B High brown, spec-
kled with black.
167 R. R. B. B Half brown, half
black.
171 R. B. B: Coffee color.
176 Black, Black.
N. B. The several letters against each degree, it is ap-
prehended, will help in practice to fix the color.
H 2
M THE THEORY OF BREWING.
The foregoing table not only enables us to judge of the
dryness of the malt by its color, but also, when a grist is
composed of several sorts of malt, to foresee the effect of
the whole when blended together by extraction. Some
small error may possibly occur in judgments thus formed
upon the report of our senses ; but as malt occupies dif-
ferent volumes, in proportion to its dryness, if, in the
practice of brewing, upon mixing the water with the
malt, the expected degree is observed, such parcel of
malt may be said to have been judged of rightly, in re-
gard to its dryness. So that the first trial either confirms
or corrects our opinion thereof.
Though malt, dried to 1 20 degrees, is in a preserva-
tive state, yet is it the least so as malt : it then possesses
the whole of its fermentable principles, which, if not im-
peded in the extraction, would be very speedy and ac-
tive: the duration of the worts to be formed from grain
so low dried, must entirely depend on the power given to
the water by heat, to draw from the malt, oils of such con-
sistence as shall sheath and retard the hasty effects of the
fermentable parts. By extraction, then, malted grain,
even so low dried as this, may, with very hot waters, and
with the farther assistance of hops, be made to produce
beers, which for years will be capable of maintaining
themselves sound, or for a long time to resist the effects of
the hottest climates. They may also, by a less heat be-
ing given to the extracting water, and blended with less
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 117
hops, form drinks, which shall be fit for use iu so short a
time as a week, and perhaps a term much shorter : hence
we see the degree of heat which dried the malt, and the
degree of heat given to the water to extract it. The
mean of these numbers (making an allowance for the
quantity of hops used ) is that which directs us to fix the
properties and duration of the wort. In one sense, then,
we may consider malt, so low dried as this, as being such
as would in the shortest time furnish us with a fermented
liquor, and in another, such as would yield the most de-
licate and strongest drink. When malt charrs, and
becomes black, its parts are ultimately divided ; it
has lost the principles fit to form a fermentable wort,
and which it once possessed. The degree of heat,
prior to that which produces this effect, is the last
which still retains any part of the fermentable proper-
ties. In worts from malt thus highly impressed by
fi re, fermentation would proceed with so slow and .re-
luctant a pace, that, in this case, they might be
said to be in the utmost state of preservation. No term
can be fixed for their duration. A liquor of this sort,
brewed with the greatest heat it would admit of, in the
jextracting water, might keep many years, and become
rather accommodated to the temperature of the place it
was deposited in, than to its own constituent parts. Ex-
perience has shewn, that drinks, impressed by the drying
and extracting heat, with a medium of 148 degrees,.
H 3
118 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
with a proper addition of hops, at the end of eighteen
months, have been found sound, and in a drinkable
state ; and at this degree we find the middling brown. —
From these two extremes, and on these principles, the
following table is formed, exhibiting the length of time
drinks made from malt, impressed with each respective
degree of heat, properly brewed, in the most favourable
season, will require, before they come to their due per-
fection to be used.
Equally as with hot extracting waters, 4ow dried pale
malt may be made to yield beers which will long conti-
nue in a sound state ; so high dried malt, acted upon by
cooler and low extracting water, may be made to furnish
a wort soon fit for use, though less agreeable and more-
inelegant. It might here be asked, why, then, at any
time, is malt dried with heats exceeding 1 20 degrees ?
In answer to this, it might justly be said, it would be
very difficult for the malster exactly to hit this point of
drying, without deviating from it either on the one side
or on the other; and suppose this difficulty removed,
still he could not be certain every individual grain was
equally affected : if the drying was less than 1 20 degrees,
the malt, by receiving the moist impressions of the air,
would regerminate, and be spoiled. Before the use of
hops, malt was high dried, as a means to keep the ex-
tracts sound. To eradicate an ancient custom or preju-
dice requires a long time. This, and the conveniency of
THE THEORY OF BREWING.
119
keeping malts, was the reason why, for many years, it
was in general dried to excess ; an error which for some
time past has been losing ground, as no reason at
present subsists, why malts should exceed in color a
light amber.
A TABLE, shewing the age beers will require,
before being used, when brewed from malts,
which, in drying and extracting, have been
impressd with a medium heat corresponding
to the following degrees.
Degrees.
119
124
129
134
Shortest time with
12 Ib. of hops.
Longest time with
12 Ib. of hops.
Shortest time with the
fewest quantity of
hops possible.
2 Weeks
1 Month .... 3 Months ... -^ Brewed /"2 Weeks
3 Months ... 6 Months ... / in the j 4 Weeks
4 Months ... 9 Months ... f proper J 6 Weeks
138 ... 6* Months... 12 Months .. J season ^6 Weeks
143 ..
. 7 Months
...12 Months .
,.. Wf :UU Weeks
148 ..
. 9 Months
... 12 Months ,
... tinsum-/2Weeks
' mer ^
152 ..
10 Months
... 18 Months
151 ..
18 Months
... 2 Years
162 ..
. 2 Years
167
111
176
* When the medium heat of the dryness of the malt, and of the
heat of the extracts, are so high as to reqtyre the liquors to be forced
H4
!£<!> THE THEORY OF BREWING.
It must be observed, that the foregoing table is con-
structed on the supposition, that these different sorts of
malt are brewed, fermented with the utmost care, with
waters heated to extract it, in proportion to the dryness
of the grain, and to intent of time there set down, and
with an adequate addition of hops ; an ingredient which
shall be considered in its proper place. What is meant
by the water being heated to extract malt in proportion
to the dryness of the grain, may merit some explanation.
Grapes, when ripe, carry with them the water they
have received, both during their growing state, and that
of their maturity. This quantity is sufficient to form
their musts with. To dried grapes or raisins, water is
added, to supply what they have lost ; and for the same
reason it is requisite in regard to malt: but as grapes
stand in no need of artificial fire, to give to their fermen-
tative principles a due proportion, so what they produce
themselves, or cold water applied to them, when dry, is
a sufficient menstruum. But barleys, wanting the assist-
ance of a great heat to bring their parts to the necessary
proportion, require, when malt, a similar or rather a
greater heat to resolve them : without which, experi-
ment shews, the flour of the grain would come away un-
or precipitated, in order to become pellucid, part of the oils which
supported them sound, being carried down by the precipitant, they
will be less capable of preserving themselves, after having been preci-
pitated, th,an they were before.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 121
dissolved, and thus considerably impoverish the grist.— *•
Should, on the other hand, too great a heat be applied,
an equal loss would be sustained, from some of the finer
parts being coagulated or blended with oils, tenacious
beyond the power of fermentation to exhibit them. The
proportioning therefore the heat of the water to the dry-
ness of the malt, more especially to obtain from the grain
the whole strength it is capable of yielding, as well as to
cause the drink to preserve itself sound its intended time,
is of real necessity.
Well-brewed drinks should not only preserve them-
selves sound their due space, in order to be meliorated
by time ; they should likewise be fine and transparent, —
These circumstances prove the artist's skill and care, as
well as the salubrity of the drink ; and are the surest
signs of a well-formed must, and of a perfect fermenta-
tion. If then the rules for obtaining these ends can be
deduced from the foregoing principles and experiments,
we may flatter ourselves with possessing a theory, which
will answer our expectations in practice.
According to the laws of nature discovered by Sir Isaac
Newton, the spaces between the parts of opaque bodies
are filled with mediums of different densities, and the
discontinuity of parts, each in themselves transparent, is
the principal cause of their opacity. Salts in powder, or
infused in an improper medium, will intercept the light ;
gums make a muddy compound, when joined to spirits ;
122 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
and oils, unassisted by salts, refuse to be incorporated
with water. Musts, therefore, whose constituent parts are
not capable of being dissolved by water into one homo-
geneous body, are not fit, either for a perfect fermenta-
tion, or a pellucid drink.
Length of time, which improves beers and wines, often
rectifies our errors in this respect ; for the oils being, by
various frettings, more attenuated, and more intimately
mixed, the liquor is frequently restored, and becomes of
itself pellucid. Yet I never found this to succeed, Avhere
the error upon the whole of the dryness of the malt, and
the heat of the extracts, exceeded the medium by 10
degrees.
Art has also, in some measure, concurred with nature
to remedy this defect. When beers or wines have been
suffered to stand, till they are rather in an attracting than
in a repelling state, that is, when their fermentations and
frettings apparently stand still ; then, if they do not be-
come spontaneously fine, they may be precipitated, by
mixing with them a more ponderous fluid. The floating
particles, that occasioned the foulness, are, by this means,
made to subside to the bottom, and leave a limpid wine :
but the power of dissolved isinglass, the ingredient ge-
nerally used for this purpose, seldom takes effect, when
the error exceeds the medium, as before, by more than 10
degrees.
Other ingredients, indeed, have been used, which
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 123
carry this power near 10 degrees farther. It is not my
province to determine, whether such be salutary : un-
doubtedly it would be better if there were no occasion for
them. Beyond these limits, precipitation has no effect ;
the liquor, which cannot be fined thereby, if attempted,
by increasing the quantity of the precipitants, will be
overpowered by the menstruum, and injured in its taste.
How frequent this last case of cloudiness is, would answer
no purpose in this place to enquire. The use of doubt-
ful ingredients, and such errors as have been mentioned,
need no longer blemish the art, when a constant and
happy practice, will be both the effect and the proof of a
solid and experimental theory.
Beers which become bright of themselves, or by time
alone, as well as those precipitated either by dissolved
isinglass, or by more powerful means, each possess their
respective properties in a certain latitude or number of
degrees ; and as these effects arise wholly from the heats
employed in drying the malts, and in forming the extracts,
the following table will be of use to point out the limits,
within which each drink may be obtained.
124
THE THEORY OF BREWING.
A TABLE, shewing the tendency beers have t&
become Jine, when the malt, in drying and ex-
tracting, has been impressed with heats, the
medium of which answers to the following
degrees, supposed to be brewed and kept in
the most eligible manner.
Deg.
119 White, ) V
>Immedjately. j Latitude of
124 Inclining to yellow, .._) f musts which
129 Yellow, :.... 2 Months. f nne sponta-
1 neously.
134 High yellow, 4 Months. )
138 Amber, 6 Months. -\T £;•«. .
J Latitude of
143 Light brown, 8 Months. f musts which
148 Brown, .. 10 Months. i fine: b3f Pre-
j cipitation.
152 High brown, 12 Months <
157 \ *"»?»> »— »«»g ™ | 14 Months. j ^itude of
heats which
cannot form
musts, so as
f to answer
167 Half brown half black 18 Months. the intent
171 Coffee color, .. ..^ of becoming
(20 Months. wholesome
176 Black, C j beer.
The difference between the heat for forming grapes,
and the greatest heat which ripened them, affords to us
the number of degrees answerable to their constituent
parts: the investigation of barley, in like manner, though
THE THEORY OF BREWING. ' istf
less important to our purpose, yet may, with some pro-
priety, be admitted.
Upon examination it will be found, barley ears, and
the new grain begins to forjn (being still in possession of
its flower) about the same time with us as grapes do, in
June ; when we found the mean heat of the air in the
shade to be 51.60 degrees.
Barleys in general are mowed from August to Sep-
tember ; so that, in their growth, they are benefited
by the whole of our summer's heat, and for like reasons
as in page 59, we estimate this 61.10 degrees: 3.50 de-
grees then would be the number of their constituent
parts, taken from the degrees of heat in the shade, and
which perhaps would be different if the actual sun-shine
heat and what is reflected from the earth, were accounted
for. Barleys are annuals, unbenefited by the whole of
the autumn sun; but, after being mowed, they are
stacked, retaining still much of their straw, leaves, and
outward skins. In these heaps they heat, more or less,
according to the condition in which they were housed ;
and which heat may reach to 120 degrees or more, but
in general is equal, or somewhat superior, to that of our
bodies. The properties of the grain, by this means im-
proved, ripen, and from hence are more capable of pre-
serving themselves. This might be a reason why a far-
ther allowance should be made to the number of degrees
denoting their constituent parts : how much, by a very
126 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
great number of observations, made from the germina-
tion, ripening, to the stacking of the barley, in many
years, and in many cases, might probably be ascertain-
ed ; but the difficulty of doing this, and afterwards the
impossibility of complying with the information such
enquiries would afford , and the little need there is for it,
as nature has allowed a considerable latitude for our de-
viating from what may be styled perfection, without
any sensible injury : these circumstances render such
enquiries unnecessary, if not fruitless.
Vegetables, but more particularly barley, from their
first origin to such time as they might be ultimately sepa-
rated by fire, may be divided into different periods, accord-
ing to the distinct properties belonging to each, (and each
of these require again a more exact enquiry.) Barley is
under the act of germination, so long as the acrospire or
stem is within the outward skin of the parent corn ; this
excluded, it vegetates so long as it receives nourishment
by the interposition of its roots. It may be said to be in
a state of concentration, when receiving but little or no
support from the earth, yet it is acted upon by such heats
as do not exceed what it might bear in the vegetative
period ; and in that of inaction, when, by the power of
heat, it is placed in a passive state. Now malt is barley
germinated, and, by a quick transition, is impressed with
heats superior to those admitted in vegetation, and such
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 127
as places the corn in a state of inaction. In the be-
ginning of the process of malting, the more tenacious
oils, together with some salts, are excluded from the
body of the grain, to form the vessels requisite to for-
ward the growth of the future plant. What remains in the
parent grain (that choice food, at first necessary to the in-
fant barley) are saccharine salts, alone applicable to the
brewer's purpose, and of the nature and quantity of
which, he ought to be well acquainted. To retain these,
and prevent a waste thereof, the germinated corn is
placed in such heat, as destroys the union between its
parts, from whence it becomes inactive. When this
intent is obtained by the least heat capable of effecting it,
the malt retains both its color, and the whole of its pro-
perties.
Vegetables, in no part of their growth, are ever affect-
ed by heats so great as to disperse their constituent parts ;
on the contrary, by natural heats, in general they are im-
proved. The whole of their elements then, must be mea-
sured from the first degrees which form them, to the last
which procure their highest perfection ; and in climates
where they are not benefited by the whole of such heat,
their properties must be accounted only so many degrees,
as in such places are between the extremes of their ger-
mination and maturation. Alike with malt, their whole
number of constituent parts, denoted by degrees of heat,
must be so many as are comprehended between that de-
1
12S THE THEORY OF BREWING.
which leaves it in possession of the whole of their
elements, and the first heat which excludes a part ; for
malt more dried than this, being less perfect, and losing
some of its properties, fewer must remain.
The degree of heat which in malt divides the period
of germination from that of inaction, we have found to
be 1 19 ; the grain then is perfectly white, and shews little
if any sign of effervescence ; the first change, fire occa-
sions therein, is to impress it with a light yellow color;
this takes place at 129 degrees of heat, an alteration
which can proceed from no other cause, but, m removing
its original whiteness, to have expelled some of its pri-
mitive parts. The difference then between these two
numbers of 10, specifies, in degrees of Fahrenheit's scale,
the number of properties constituting barley, malt.
It must be confessed this is establishing a principle of
the art of brewing, upon the uncertain report of our
senses, as perhaps our sight may deceive us in fixing
this change of color exactly at 129 degrees; but we
know white and black to be the two extremes of the
dry ness of malt, and that the middle color between them
is brown, which being compounded of yellow and red,
these four tinges, equally divided, as we have done in the
foregoing tables, will corroborate our fixing the teint of
yellow at this degree. The table shewing the tendency
beers have to become fine, was formed from experiments
made on brewing.*, whose governing medium heats were
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 129
from 134 to 148, the proportion in point of time given
by these, justifies the division between immediate pelluci-
dity, at 119, and that taking place at two months,
or 129 degrees. So from hence we may be satisfied,
however an absolute perfection cannot be depended
upon, yet this being the most exact division our senses
afford, it approaches so near to truth, that if any mistake
remains, it can be but trivial, compared to the latitude
of errors, fermentation and time correct. But this num-
ber, 10 degrees, denoting the quantity of fermentable
parts, must lessen in proportion as a continued, or a
greater heat deprives the grain of more properties. A
speedy spontaneous pellucidity is the effect of the
whole fermentable parts ; malt affected by heat, convey-
ed either through air or Avater, or through both, (so the
medium of these exceeds not 138 degrees,) if assisted by
the acids gained to the drink by long standing, such will
obtain transparency. Beers, then, intendedto be formed
of themselves to become fine, in the calculations used to
discover their elements, so many of the members of the
constituent parts must be implied, as corresponds with
the time the beer is intended to be kept ; but when
beers are made intentionally to require precipitation to
become fine, in such proportion as we purpose to impress"
opacity on the drink, we must, in the calculations made
to discover the temperature of the extracts, imply only
so many of the constituent parts, as correspond to the
I
130 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
medium heat which will occasion this foulness. These
few observations shew the necessity of establishing this
fundamental doctrine, the use of which will obviously
appear in practice.
Thus does the success of this art depend on the instru-
ment so often mentioned, which, by indicating the ex-
pansions caused by different heats, becomes a sure guide
in our operations. I shall now close this account, by
comparing with the principles here laid down, the de-
fects which we, but too often, meet in barley when
malted.
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 131
SECTION XIII.
OBSERVATIONS ON DEFECTIVE MALTS.
J.N the preceding enquiry, some of the defects of malt
have been occasionally mentioned : but as a perfect
knowledge of the grain, especially when it has under-
gone this process, is a matter of no small concern to the
brewer, I shall now bring such defects into distinct view,
both to compare them with the foregoing principles, and
that the knowledge of them may be more at hand, on
every occasion, when wanted.
Every different degree of heat acting on bodies causes
a different effect: and this varies also, as such heat is
more or less hastily applied. The growth of vegetables
is in general submitted to these laws : but yet I conceive
there is some difference between germination and vege-
tation, which I beg leave to point out. The former
seems to be the act caused by heat and moisture, while
the plume or acrospire is still enveloped within the tegu-
ments of the parent corn, and it is most perfectly per-
formed by the gentlest action, and consequently by the
least heat, that is capable of moving the different princi-
ples in their due order. Vegetation, again, is that act
which takes place when the plant issues forth, and, be-
ing rendered stronger by the impressions of the air, be-
I 2
132 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
pomes capable of resisting its inclemencies, or the
warmth of the sun-shine. Germination is the only act
necessary for malting, the intention being solely to put
in motion the principles of the grain, and not to rear up
the embryo to a plant. Now, as this begins in barley at
the degree where the water first becomes fluid, or nearly
so, the cold season, when the thermometer shews from
about 32 to 40 degrees, would seem the most proper for
this purpose. How far its latitude may with propriety
be extended, experience alone can determine. Malt-
sters continue to work so long as they think the season
permits, and leave off generally in May, when the heat
of the water extends at a medium from 50 to 55 degrees.
But the nearer they come to this medium, with the
greater disadvantage must they malt: as, by such
warmth, the vessels of the corn are much distended, the
motion of the fluids violent, and the finer parts too apt
to fly off. Thus the coarser oils gaining admittance, the
glandular parts become filled with an impure and less
delicate sulphur, which, instead of a sweet, inclines to a
bitter, taste. This is so manifest, and so universally ex-
perienced, that, in general, brewers carefully avoid pur-
chasing what is termed latter-made malts.
Malt, which has not had a sufficient time to shoot, so
that its plume may have reached to the extent of the inward
skin of the barley, remains overburthened with too large
^ quantity of earth and oils, which otherwise would have
THE THEORY OF BREWING. -.- 1 53
been expended in the acrospire and radical vessels. All
those parts of the corn which have not been separated j
and put in motion by the act of germination, will, when
laid on the kiln to dry, harden and glutinize : no greater
part thereof -will be soluble in water, than so far as the
stem or spire of the barley rises to, or very little farther,
and as much as is wanting thereof will be lost to the
strength of the drink.
When malt is suffered to grow too much, or until the
spire is shot through the skin of the barley, which is not
often the case, though all that is left be malt, that is, con-
taining salts dissoluble in water, yet as too large a por-
tion of oils has been expended out of the grain, such
malts cannot be fit to brew drinks for long keeping. —
There is, besides, a real loss of the substance of the cornj
occasioned by its being overgrown.
Malt, the germination of which has reached and been
stopped- at the proper period^ and has been duly worked
upon the floors, if not sufficiently dried on the kiln, even
though the fire be excited to a proper heat, retains many
watery parts; The corn, when laid together, will be apt
to germinate afresh, perhaps to heat so as to take fire ;
should not this extreme be the case, at least it must grow
mouldy, and communicate an ill flavor to the drink.
Malt, well grown, and worked as before, but over-
dried, though with a proper degree of heat, will become
of so tenacious a nature, as to require a long time before
13
134 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
it can admit of the outward impressions of the air to
relax or mellow it, that is, before it is fit to be
brewed with all the advantages it otherwise would
have ; and in proportion as it has black specks on be-
ing masticated, so much of its parts being charred is a
diminution to the strength of the liquor, besides impress-
ing it with a burnt or nauseous taste.
Malt, dried on akiln not suffielentlyheated,must require
proportionably a longer time to receive the proper effect
of the fire; the want of which will bring it into the
same state as malt not thoroughly dried.
If too quick or fierce a fire be employed, instead of
gently evaporating the watery parts of the corn, it torri-
fies the outward skin, divides it from the body of the
grain, and so rarifies the inclosed air as to burst the ves-
sels. Such is called blown malt, and, by the internal
expansion, occupies a larger space than it ought. If
the fire be continued, it causes its constituent parts to
harden to the consistence of a varnish, or changes it
into a brittle substance, from whence the malt is said to
be steely and glassy : it dissolves but in a small propor-
tion, is very troublesome and dangerous in brewing,
and frequently occasions a total want of extraction ; by
the brewery termed, setting the grist.
Malt, just, or but lately, taken from the kiln, remains
warm for a considerable time. Until the heap becomes
equally cool with the surrounding air, it cannot be said
THE THEORY OF BREWING 135
to be mellow, or in a fit state ,to be brewed : its parts
being harsh and brittle, the whole of its substance can-
not be resolved, and the proper heat of the water, which
should be applied to it for that purpose, is therefore
more difficult to be ascertained.
The practice of those maltsters, who sprinkle water on
malt newly removed from the kiln, to make it appear as
having been made a long space of time, or, as they say,
to plump it, is a deceit which cannot too much be ex-
posed. By this practice, the circumstance of the heat,
and harshness of the malt, is only externally, and in ap-
pearance, removed, and the purchaser grossly imposed
on. The grain, by being moistened, occupies a greater
volume, and, if not speedily used, soon grows mouldy,
heats, and is greatly damaged.
The direct contrary is the case of malt which has
been made a long time : the dampness of the air has re-
laxed it, and so much moisture has insinuated itself into
the grain, that some doubt must arise how much hotter
the mash should, for this reason, be. Yet, supposing no
distemper, such as being mouldy, heated, or damaged
by vermin, it is observed, malt, under this circumstance,
may more certainly be helped in brewing, than those
just abovementioned.
From what has been said, it appears how necessary it
is to procure malt which has been properly steeped,
germinated to its true pitch, and dried by»a gentle, mo-
14
136 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
derate heat, so as the moisture of the corn be duly evapo-
rated, then cured by just so much fire as to enable it to
preserve itself a due time, without being blown or burnt.
How easy it is to regulate this process in the cistern, in
the couch, on the floors, and on the kiln, when the mal-
ster, intends no artifice to save his excise, I need not
say ; but with what certainty and ease the whole might
be carried on by the help of the thermometer, I leave
such to determine as are modest enough to think, that
the art may be brought to more accurate rules than
those of the bare report of our unassisted senses. As
such rules may easily be deduced from the principles
here laid down, I shall not be more particular in shewing
their application, as not being my immediate purpose,
nor my business as a brewer : nor have I leisure, or the
conveniency of a malt house^to make experiments of this
sort ; yet with truth it may be said, that such as would
not be disappointed in their brewing, must take care
not to be deceived in their malt. This, however, being
but too frequently the case, we should constantly be on
our guard against its defects, and know how to cor-
rect them. If it is treated in the same manner as if it
was perfect, the well-malted parts alone will be di-«
gested. If too slack dried, it may be corrected by
an addition of heat, if over-dried, or injured by fire,
it may proportionably be helped. By applying the
thermometer to the extracts, more particularly to the
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 137
first, the brewer thereby will be informed, to a sufficient
degree of exactness, of the defects he can mend, and
hardly be ever at a loss for the properest means to work
the grain to the greatest advantage.
As far as we have proceeded in our enquiry, though
some satisfaction must arise from bur being enabled to ac-
count for the greater part of the process of brewing, yet
it may be observed, even with the assistance of the thermo-
meter, as yet a geometrical exactness, in many respects,
has not been attained ; but nature, when the interest and
ncessities of mankind are the object, apparently has sup-
plied our wants, and rectified our defects. In this art,
fermentation, when allowed to display itself, corrects all
our errors to a considerable latitude, though as yet, of
this act, it may be said we scarcely conceive its cause,
or properly discern its effects.
PART II.
THE
PRACTICE OF BREWING,
BEFORE I enter upon the practical, and indeed most
important, part of this work, it will not be improper to
give a distinct, though general, view of the different
parts it is to consist of.
To extract from malt a liquor, which, by the help of
fermentation, may acquire the properties of wine, is the
general object of the brewer, and the rules of that art are
the subject of these sheets.
An art truly very simple, if, according to vulgar opi-
nion, it consisted in nothing else than applying warm-
water to malt, mashing these together, multiplying the
taps at discretion, boiling the extracts with a few hops,
suffering the worts to cool, adding yeast to make it fer-
ment, and trusting to time, cellars, and nostrums, for
its taste, brightness, and preservation !
A few notes jand observations, such as are too often,
found to be foisted under the articles of beer and brew-
ing, in some books of agriculture and others of cookery,
140 tHE THEORY OF BREWING.
might be sufficient, were the place and constitution of the
air always the same, the materials and vessels employed
Entirely similar, and lastty, the malt drinks intended for
the same use and time ; but, as every one of these parti-
culars is liable to variations, and can be complied with,
only by the application of different determinate heats j
was the artist to submit himself to loose, vague, and erro-
neous directions, like those above mentioned, they would
only serve to deceive him, and his case would be but little
• mended, if he trusted to indefinite signs, and insufficient
maxims, in his deviation from them.
A more certain foundation has been laid down in the
first part of this treatise, and the principles there esta-
blished will, I trust, in all cases, answer our ends, pro-
vided we make use of proper means to settle their appli-
cation. The most elegible means to effect this, must be
to follow, as near as possible, such plan, which the ra-
tional brewer would, in every particular circumstance,
sketch to himself, before he proceeded to business. His
first attention ought to be directed not only to the actual
heat of the weather, but also to that which may be ex-
pected in the season of the year he is in. The grinding
of his malt must be his next object, and as the difference
of the drinks greatly depends upon that of the extracts,
he cannot but chuse to have distinct ideas of what may
be expected from the amount of the heat of them. Hops,
which are added as a preservative to the extracts form too
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 141
important a part to be employed without a sufficient
knowledge of their power. The strength of malt liquors
depending principally on their quantity or lengths, it is
necessary to ascertain the heights in the copper, to an-
swer what, on this account, is intended. The difference
in boiling, for different drinks or seasons ; the loss of
water by evaporation ; the proper division of the whole
quantity of this element employed, and, in proportion to
such division, that of the heat to be given in each part of,
the process ; the means to ascertain these degrees, by de-
termining what quantity of cold water is to be added to
that, which is at the point of ebullition, come afterwards
under his consideration. The manner and time of mash-
ing, the many expected incidents which must produce
some small variations between the actual and the calcu-
lated heat of his extracts, it will be incumbent upon him
to make a proper estimation and allowance for. To dis-
pose of the worts in such forms and at such depths, as may
render the influence of the ambient air the easiest and
most efficacious, and then, by the addition of yeast, to
provide the drink with that internal and most powerful
agent it had lost in boiling, are the next requisites. Fer-
mentation, which follows, and which the brewer retards
or forwards according to his intentions, completes the
whole process ; after these necessary precautions, to com-
pare his operations with those of the most approved prac-
U2 THE THEORY OF BREWING,
titioners in his art, and to find himself able to account for
those signs and established customs, which before were
loosely described, authoritatively dictated, and never suf-
ficiently determined or explained, must be to him an ad-
ditional satisfaction. As precipitation is requisite in cer-
tain cases, the common methods for effecting it should be
known, and likewise the means practised among coopers
to correct the real or imagined errors of the brewer, in
order to render the drink agreeable to the palate of the
consumers, will naturally lead him to consider what true
taste is, and by employing the means, by which it may
safely be obtained and improved, he will have done all in
his power, to answer his customers expectation, and to
secure his success.
This arrangement, which appears the most simple, i«
that, which the reader will find observed in the following
sections. The proper illustrations of tables and exam-
ples have not been omitted, and from the complete plans
for brewing, under two forms of the most dissimilar kind,
it will be found the rules are adapted to all circum-
stances, and applicable to every purpose.
I must here add somewhat in justification, for publish-
ing what may be said to be the mysteries of an art, often
too cautiously precluded from the sight and attention of
the public ; but every art and science whatever have
equally been laid open, and from such communication
THE THEORY OF BREWING. 143
received greater improvements, and become more useful
to mankind in general, and the professors of them in par-
ticular. If attention is given to the rules and practice
here laid down, it will be found that the brewer, from the
large quantities he manwfactures, from repeated experi-
ence, from the conveniency of his utensils, and more
than all, from the interest he has to Be well acquainted
with his business, is most likely to be successful, in pre-
ference to any one else, and therefore can have no reason
to be displeased on being presented with a theory and
practice, which, far from being the sole right of the
brewery, the discovery of the principles were certainly
the property of the author and of his friends, whose names
would do his work honor if mentioned. From the ap-
plication of these principles, being convinced of their
exactness and facility in practice, he offers his labor to a
trade he esteems, with no other view than the hope he
entertains of being of some service to it and to the
public.
If, notwithstanding repeated endeavours, some things,
in this treatise, should appear out of their places ; others,
in more than one ; if redundancies, chiefly occasioned by
the natural temptation of accounting ' for particular ap-
pearances, have not always been avoided j if inaccuracies
should now and then have escaped me, let it be remem-
bered (by the good-natured it certainly will) that, in
U4 THE THEORY OF BREWING.
new and intricate subjects, digressions and repetitions
are in some measure allowable, that an over-fulness is pre-
ferable to an affected and often obscure brevity, and that
the improvement of the art, rather than the talent of
writing, must be the brewer's merit, and was my only
aim. *
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION I.
AIR,
AS IT RELATES TO THE PRACTICAL PART OF BREWING.
IN and about the city of London, the most intense cold
that has been observed is 14 degrees, and the greatest
heat has made the thermometer rise, in the shade, to 89,
Within these limits are comprehended all the fermentable
degrees, and consequently those necessary for carrying
on the process of brewing. If the lowest degree proper
for fermentation be 40, and the highest 80, the medium
of these two would, at first sight, appear to be the fittest
for this purpose ; but the internal motion, necessary to
carry on fermentation, excites a heat superior to the ori-
ginal state of the must by 10 degrees. Hence, if 60 de-
grees be the highest eligible heat a fermenting must
should arise to, 50 should be the highest for a wort to
be let down at, to begin this act ; which heat can only
be obtained, when that of the air is equal thereto, so that
it denotes the highest natural heat for beers and ales to be
properly fermented. With regard to the other extreme,
or the lowest heat, however cold the air may be, as the
worts, which form both beers.and ales, gain, by boiling,
a degree greatly superior to any allowed of in fermenta.
tion, it is constantly in the artist's power to adapt his
K
146 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
worts to a proper state. The brewing season, then, may
justly be esteemed all that part of the year in Avhich the-
medium heat of the day is at or below 50 degrees : this,
in our climate, is from the beginning of October to the
middle of May, or 32 weeks; the most elegible period
of time for brewing all kinds of beers.
But, as many incidents often make it necessary to ex-
tend these limits, the only time for venturing to comply
therewith is, when the medium heat of the season is at
55 degrees ; by which, six weeks more may be obtained.
But, under these circumstances, the quantity of beer
brewed should be less, that the worts may cool more rea-
dily, by being thinner spread ; and, to gain more time,
the brewing is best carried on with two worts only :
taking these precautions, and beginning early in the
morning, the first wort, by laying long enough in the
coolers, will, towards evening, be brought to a heat of
55 degrees. The night, in this season of the year, be-
ing generally colder by 10 or 12 degrees than the me-'
dium heat of the whole 24 hours, the second Avorts may
be reduced to a cold of 43 degrees : the mean of 55 and
43, being 49 degrees, would be the real heat of the worts
in the ton ; and with 10 degrees more, (the heat gained
by fermentation,) -still it would not reach 60 degrees,
the highest fermentable heat, beers intended to preserve
themselves long should arrive to ; but so near would it
bfc to this, and so little is the uniformity of the heat of the
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 147
air to be relied on, that necessity alone can justify the
practice of brewing such drinks, when the heat of the
air is so high as 55, consequently, where it exceeds this,
it should never be attempted.
As the extractions are made by heats far superior to
any natural ones, though the actual temperature of the
air neither adds to, nor diminishes from, their strength,
yet it is to be known for the following reason. The
proper heat given to the mash is by means of cold
added to boiling water ; and cold water generally is
of no other heat than that of the air itself. Indeed,
when the cold is so intense, as to occasion a frost, and
to change water into ice, that which is then used for
brewing, being mostly drawn from deep wells, or places
where frost never, or but seldom, takes place, may be
estimated at 35 degrees, and this will be sufficiently
exact.
i
The following table shews the temperature of the air
for every season in the year, and confirms what I have
just now said concerning the season proper for brewing,
and the actual heat of the water. It was deduced from
many years' observations, made with very accurate in-
struments, at eight o'clock in the morning, the time in
which the heat is supposed to be the medium of that of
the whole day.
148
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE, shewing the medium heat, for every
Season of the year, in and about London, de-
duced from observations made from 1753 to
\765, at eight o'clock each morning.
Degrees,
Degrees
January
l|36, 33
July
• l leaf 52
to
m
to
15-^
to
31 134'97
to
J60'29
)
3
February
J35' 51
August .
V59' 89"
to .
14-J
to
153
to
(38' 11
28 \
to
f 58' 48
313
40 J
T.*»^
March .
(ST 99
Septemb
155' 17
to
15*"^
to
15 *
to
139' 72
31 >
to.
t54' 13
30 1
}
" j
April
^43y 13
October
US' 66
to
1 *» -'
to
tf*
to
1 46' 04
30 1
to
146' 72
31 \
jv j
Jl J
May
[49' 05
Novemb.
[42 26
to
15 *
to
15-^
to ....
)
£-53' 67
31 \
to
\ 39' 40
30 1
June .,...
" J
Decemb.
^ j
l&y 20
> 38' 61
to...,
J53
to...
15*
[59' 14,
to 30 )
[37'
to 31 J
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 149
To ascertain the authority of this table, and to make it
useful to several purposes, I have carried to decimals
the mean numbers resulting from my observations. —
But such an exactness has been found, in the practice of
brewing, to be more troublesome than necessary. I
have therefore constructed another table, similar to the
former, but where the fractions are omitted, and the
whole numbers carried on from five to five. The heats
of the latter end of October, and beginning of Novem-
ber, have here been set down rather higher than they
really are ; as, at this time of the year, the hops fit to
brew with are old and weak, and I could not devise any
means more easy to allow for their want of strength.
K3
150
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE, shewing the medium heat of she air,
in and about London, for every season of the
year, applicable to practice.
January 1
to 15
Degrees.
j:
)• •§
J5°
} 1
-»
July ..
Deg
. i
to
60
15
60
31
' l\
>6O
"
[60
3l3
15 <
30 )
31-*
. 1
45
15
?40
30 J
rl
15J °
to 31
February 1
to 14
to
August .
to . i
to 28
to .
March.... 1
to 15
Septemb
to.
to 31
to. :..
October
to
April 1
to.. .. 15
to 30
to
May 1
to 15
Novemb
to
to 31
to . .
June 1
to 15
Decembe
to...,
to
30
60
to 31 i
TH£ PRACTICE OF BREWING. 151
As nothing is so inconstant as the heat of the air, we
are not to be surprised when it deviates from the progres-
sion specified in the table. The flowing *water used in
the brewery, at the coldest seasons, we have fixed at 35
degrees, and the highest heat in the air, to carry on the
process for beers brewed for long keeping, at 55 degrees.
The length proper to be drawn, or the quantity of beer
to be made from each quarter of malt being fixed, the
brewer, at any time, has it in his power to make calcu-
lations for brewings, supposing the mean heat of the air
to be at 35, at 40, at 45, at 50, and even at any degree
of heat whatever, so as never to be unprovided for any
season. Water, being a body more dense than air, re-
quires some time to receive the impressions either of heat
or cold, for which reason the medium heat of the shade of
the preceding day, will most conveniently govern this
part of the process, unless some very extraordinary
change should happen in the atmosphere. This must
make the business of the artist, in this respect, very easy,
as, in the course of his practice, he will have only to cor-
rect the little changes that occasional incidents give rise
to ; and the calculations will answer all his purposes so
long as the lengths of beer to be brewed from the same
quantity of malt remain unaltered, and with very little
variation and trouble, when the coppers employed, by
being changed, are of different dimensions.
The best method to know the true heat of cold water,
K4
152 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
would be to keep a very accurate and distinct thermo-
meter, in the liquor back ; but as this, in every place,
is not to be expected, and inaccuracies must arise from a
change in the air, to prevent their consequences in prac-
tice, we must have recourse to experience. This has
taught us that a difference of 8 degrees, between the ac-
tual heat of the water, and that from which the brewing
was computed, will produce, in the first extract, a differ-
ence of four degrees*
Most brewers' coppers, though they vary in their di-
mensions, are generally made in proportions nearly
uniform ; the effect of one inch of cold water more or
less) will therefore nearly answer alike, that is, it will
alter the heat of the tap, by 4 degrees. But this will
only hold good in such cases, where the water is in the
same proportion to the volume of the grist. In brewing
brown beers, or porter, three worts are generally made ;
the extracts therefore must be of different lengths from
what they are in beers brewed at two worts only. In
this case, the quantity of water for the first wort, is less
than it otherwise Avould be.; and what must be allowed
for the first mash, to wet the malt, is so much as to oc-
casion the second, or piece liquor, to be proportionably
less also ; as it is of great consequence, if the first tap
doth not answer to its proper degree, that the second
should be brought to such a heat, as to make up the me-
dium of the first and second extracts, the second, or piece
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 153 "
liquor, by reason of its shortness, is more conveniently,
and more exactly tempered in the little copper ; and one
inch cooling in, is in this case found, both by calculation
and experience, to occasion a difference of one degree
of heat only in the mash.
One of the principal attentions, in forming beers and
ales of any sort whatever, is that they may come to their
most perfect state, at the time they are intended to be
used. Common small beer is required to be in order,
from one to four weeks, and as it is impossible to pre-
judge the accidental variations, as to heat and cold, that
may happen in any one season of the }7ear, it is rational
to act up to what a long experience has shown, is to be
expected, and to mix such quantity of cold water with
that, which is made to come to ebullition, as to bring
the extract to the degree fixed for each- particular season,
let the heat, at the time of brewing, vary therefrom, in
any degree whatever.
In treating on the subject of air, in the former part of
this work, I observed the effect it had in penetrating the
parts of the malt, or in the . technical term used by
brewers, in slacking it. As such is the case, when the
grain is entire and whole, it is more so when ground, and
experience teaches us, that, when malt has been about
24 hours from the mill, the dampness it has imbibed is
equal to half an inch more of cold water added to that
which is to be made to boil for the fh-st liquor, and pro-
154 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
duces therefore a diminution of 4 degrees in the heat of
the tap*.
An effect, somewhat resembling this, is caused by
the impression of the air on the utensils of a brewhouse,
which are not daily used ; the heat received from a fore-
going process has expanded their pores, and rendered
them more susceptible of cold and moisture. From this
circumstance, the heat of the first mash will be affected
in a proportion equal to half an inch less cooling in, or
in^the space of 24 hours, to 4 degrees of heat.
The time of the day, in which the first extract is made*
becomes another consideration ; for as 8 o'clock in the
morning is the time of the medium heat in the whole 24
hours, the other hours will give different degrees. When
a first mash is made about 4 o'clock in the morning, the
following table shews the difference between the heat at
4 and 8 ; that of the other hours, in the like case, may be
learned by observation. It has been observed, that, in
the cold months, from the sun's power being less, the
heat of the day and night are more uniform, and also
that the coldest part of the 24 hours is about half an hour,
or an hour before sun-rising. I have judged it convent
ent to place, in the same table, the several incidents af-
fecting the first extract.
* I chose this manner of expressing the quantity of moisture receiv-
ed in ground malt from the air, as it is the most easy for the direa-
tion of the first extract.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. J55
INCIDENTS occasioned by the air affecting the
heat of the Jirst extract, to be noticed more
particularly, when small beer is brewed, as
the quantity of water is then greatest, and
the mash more susceptible of its impressions.
Morning at 4 o'clock Utensils, for want of be-
January 0 & inS used> in 24 hours
.5 lose 4 degrees of heat,
"ebruary ° | equal tohalfaninch of
March 2 6 coid AVater.
I
c Malt, which has been
April 4 •* ground 24 hours, im-
rS bibes moisture equiva-
^ay- 6 "o lent to half an inch,
June ,...-.».. 8 -It which lessens the heat
op
"5 by 4 degrees.
eg The difference between
~ the actual heat of the
Jul7 • 10 g air, and that naturally
August ». 8 o3 expected is to be al-
September 6 |> lowed in proportion of
g 8 degrees to one inch
o cooling 'in.
October 4 •£ Malts, from having been
^ long kept, or old,
November 23 become considerably
December 0 slacked.
15* - THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Before we quit this subject, it may not be impreper to
observe, that, in the hottest season, and in the hottest
part of the day, the difference between the heat of the
air in the shade, and that in the sun's beams in and about
London, is nearly 16 degrees, and also that cellars or re-
positories for beers, are, in winter, generally hotter by
ten degrees, than the external air ; and in summer,
colder, by five.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 157
SECTION II.
OF GRINDING.
MALT mast be ground, in order to facilitate the
action of the water on the grain, which otherwise would
be obstructed by the outward skins. Every corn should
be cut, but not reduced to a flour or meal, for, in this
state, the grist would not be easily penetrable. It is
therefore sufficient that every grain be divided into two
or three parts, nor is there any necessity for varying this,
for one sort of drink more than another. In every brew-
ing the intention of grinding is the same ; and the trans-
parency of the liquor, mentioned by some on this occa-
sion, depends, by no means, on the cut of the corn.
It has been a question, whether the motion of the mill
did not communicate some heat to the malt ; should this
be the case, it can be but in a very small degree ; and,
what may arise from hence, will be lost by shooting the
grain out of the sacks, or uncasing the grist*nto the mash
ton. Of late years it has been recommended, instead of
grinding the malt, to bruise it between two iron cylin-
ders : if, by this means, some of the fine mealy parts are
prevented from being lost in air, it must be very incon-
siderable, and, perhaps, not equal to the disadvantage
of the water not coming in immediate contact with
15* THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
the flour of the grain. In brewing, not all, but only a
certain portion of the constituent parts of the malt are
requisite ; these, heated water alone is sufficient to pro-
cure, so that, upon the whole, the difference between
bruising and grinding the grain can be of no great con-
sequence.
We have before observed, malt, by being ground and
exposed for some time to the air, more readily imbibes
moisture than when whole, and the dampness, thus ab-
sorbed, being in reality so much cpld Avater, a grist, that
has been long ground, is capable of being impressed with
hotter waters than otherwise it would require. In country
places, where the quantity brewed consists only of a few
bushels of malt, and make so small a volume as to be in-
capable to maintain an uniform heat, where the people
are ignorant, that a certain degree is necessary to form a
proper extract with ; and where, instead of this, boiling
water is indifferently applied, the effects of these errors
are in some measure prevented, by grinding the malts a
considerable time, as a month or six weeks before the
brewing, and by the excess of fire readily escaping from
so small a quantity. This method, from the inconstant
state of the air, and from the impossibility of acting up.
to rule, must be very uncertain and fortuitous, so that
few or no arguments are necessary to explode it. The.
truth is, the merit of country ales, so often mentioned,
proceeds from the forbearing to use the drink, but whei^
I
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 159
it is in the fittest state. Thus time not only corrects the
errors of the operators, but also gives them, in the eyes
of the consumers, the credit of an extraordinary know-
ledge and unmerited ability.
160 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION III.
OF EXTRACTION.
.T IRE hnpressed on malt, either through air or water, it
is true, has similar effects as to preservation, but the fact
is not the same as to taste : the sweet, the burnt flavor,
or the proportion of both, the malt originally had, sensi-
bly appear in the extracts ; but water heated to excess
will not, in extracting pale malt, communicate to the
worts an empyreumatic taste; whether this proceeds
from some acid parts, still residing in^the heated waters,
which might help the attenuated oils to tend towards a
sweet, or from other reasons, is not easily determinable ;
certain it is, the foundation of taste in malt liquors is in
the malt itself.
The basis of all wines is a sweet : this circumstance
for brewing beers agreeable to the palate must always be
attended to. Next to this, it is required that the liquor
should possess all the strength, it can fittingly be made
susceptible of. Pale malt, as it retains the whole virtue
of the grain, yields the strongest beers. The finest oils
being fittest for fermentation, malt dried by fierce heats,
in- a great measure loses these, and what remains are not
only coarser oils, less miscible with water, but such as
bring with them the impressed taste of fire.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 161
To answer the purposes of taste, strength, and preser-
vation, from what has been said it appears, that the ex-
tracting water must be of a heat superior to that which
dried the malt ; no other rule appears to direct in this,
than to make choice of malt of such dryness, the delicacy
of which has not been removed by fire, and such as will,
at the same time, admit of a sufficient number of supe-
rior degrees of heat, to extract all its fermentable parts ;
that is (see page 124) malt whose dryness is nearly 19
degrees less than the mean of the drying and extracting
heats applicable to the purpose intended.
As 119 degrees, the first heat forming pale malt, and
at which it possesses the whole of its sweetness and vir-
tues, may be said to be the lowest degree of dryness in
the grain to form keeping beers with, so 138 degrees,
above which the native whiteness of the grain is so sub-
dued, as to remain but in a very small proportion, is the
highest dried mak fit to be used for any purpose ; from
these premises the following table is formed, to shew the
degree of dryness of malt, where taste and strength are
equally consulted, to brew drinks capable of keeping
themselves sound a long time, at any medium required.
The proper choice of malt I thought necessary to
point out, previous to entering more at large on the
subject of extraction. This table, it must be observed,
is in no wise directive for brewing common small beer,
soon to be expended, that liquor depending on many
L
l€2 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
other circumstances, of which notice will be taken im-
mediately under that head.
A TABLE, shewing the proper dry ness of
Malty applicable to the mean of the drying
and extracting heats under which keeping
malt liquors should be formed.
Mean degrees of dryness of malt
and heat of extracts.
138
Color of matt expressed
in degrees.
1 19
140
121
142
123
144
lo;>
146
127
148
13O *
150
13°
152
134
155 .
136
161 ...
.. 138
The subject to be resolved having been examined as
to its dryness, we now come to the immediate matter for
which this section was intended.
Extraction is a solution of part, or the whole, of a
body, made by means of a menstruum. In brewing, it
is chiefly the mealy substance of the grain that is required
to be resolved ; fire and water combined are sufficient to
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 163
perform this act. Water properly is the receptacle of
the parts dissolved, and fire the power, which conveys
into it a greater or less proportion of them.
When all the parts necessary to form a vinous liquor
are not employed, or when more than are required for
this purpose are extracted, the liquors must vary in their
constituent parts, and consequently be different in their
effects. This difference arises either from heat alone, or
from the manner of applying it ; and the properties of
beers and ales will admit of as many varieties as may be
supposed in the quantity of the heat, and in its applica-
tion. But as the useful differences are alone necessary
to the brewer, they may be reduced to the four following
modes of extraction .
First, that which is most perfect, and for which malt
is chose of such dryness, in which it with certainty pos-
sesses the whole of its constituent parts, and the extracts
are made with such heats, as to give the beer an oppor-
tunity to be improved by time, and to become of itself
fine and transparent.
Secondly, that from which, in order to obtain every
advantage of time, strength, and flavor, such extracts are
produced as cannot become pellucid of themselves, but
require precipitation.
Thirdly, that which is intended soon to become in-
tense, where soundness and transparency are for some
short time expected, but not always obtained, because
L 2
164. THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
brewed in every season of the year, and deprived of the
advantages which age and better managements procure
to the first.
Fourthly, that where the advantages of strength and
pellucidity are to be procured in a very short space.
These four modes of resolving the grain, being the
fundamental elements on which almost ever}' specie of
drink is brewed, I must observe, the two first may be
said to be an exact imitation of natural wines, in forming
which, the principles we have laid down may fully be
applied. The third is the effect of necessity, by which
we are deprived of that time nature directs for properly
producing fermented liquors, and where we are sub-
jected to many disadvantageous circumstances ; to guard
against the consequences of which, we must rely, in some
measure, upon opinion formed from observation alone ;
and the fourth may be said to be art too precipitately
Carried on. Before I treat of them separately, it is re-
quisite to mention a few general rules applicable to all.
In the enquiry we made of the means which nature
employs to form the juices of grapes, we found two re-
markable circumstances : the first, a necessary lesser heat
for the production of the fruit, and the second, a much
greater for its maturation ; the former useful to incline
the must to fermentation, the latter to raise therein such
oils as should maintain it for some time in a sound state.
But in all wines, an evenness of taste is requisite to affect
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING; J65
the palate with an elegant sensation ; and it may be ob-
served, the autumn and spring heats being nearly equal^
so the first juices of grapes are formed by almost, uni-
form impressions ; the summer heats, though stronger j
act upon the same principle ; for though the grapes re-
main upon the vine some part of the autumn, perhaps in
this space they gain little more than the juices prepared
by the summer's sun : from whence the tastes of wine are
more simple than otherwise they would be. Thus are
we directed, that a first wort shall have the least share
of heat of the whole brewing, and the last wort the
greatest ; intermediate worts, if anyj must be propor-
tioned to both, and if "several mashes or extracts are made
to compose a wort, these must be equal as to their heat,
being careful at the same time to preserve to the process
the medium heat which is to govern the whole. By this
means, AVC shall obtain our intended purpose^ and place
into the drink one and the same smooth taste.
In the table* shewing the different effects produced in
ihe grain by the different degrees of heat, the numbers,
with respect to beers, express^ not only the mean of the
degrees of dryhess the malt had, with those also of heat
in the extracting liquors, but also is implied the power
communicated by the hops, that is, it imparts to us, the
idea of the whole combination.
'Part I. Sect XII. p. 124
L3
166 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
'As malt liquors are made with different views, so must
the principles on which they are formed be varied.
Beers intended long to be kept, inquire more, heat in their
extracts, in order to produce such oils, or so many in
quantity from the grain, as shall retard 'and delay the
quick effects of fermentation ; and malt liquors, which are
soon to be brought into use, claim an opposite manage-
ment. This is imitating nature, for we have before ob-
served*, the hotter the autumnal, the vernal and matu-
rating heats are, with more power do the wines resist the
impressions of time and the air ; and we traced the rule
which governed this variety, by an enquiry into the num-
ber of degrees required to form the juices of grapes, and
applied their number to discover the first and last heats
they were impressed with. In calculations to find out
the heat to be given to water properly to resolve the malt,
the same method must be followed, it being equally ne-
cessary here to employ only such a proportion of the
number of degrees which constitute the whole of the fer-
mentable principles in malt that are needful to the pur-
pose we would answer. We have said malts continue in
possession of all their constituent parts' from their first
degree of dry ness, 1 19 to 129. By age alone beers ob-
tain spontaneous pcllucidity, when urged in the whole of
their process with a heat so great as 138 degrees, prcci-
* Sec page 56.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 167
pitation or art extends it to near 157 degrees, after
which neither the acid parts furnished by the air, nor
art avails: an obstinate foulness is the result; from
whence it may be concluded, that at or beyond this heat,
so great a part of the fermentable principles is dispersed,
as what remains in the grain has not power sufficient to
produce transparency. The following table, founded on
these principles, will hereafter be found directive to fix
the first and last heats to be given to the extracts of
malt.
•
168 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE, shewing the quantify of ferment-
able principle* residing in malts at their seve-
ral degrees of dry ness, or, the number of
constituent parts which form beers in pro-
portion to their properties*, specified in de-
grees, and to be used in calculations^ made to
ascertain the proper heats to be given to the
first and last extracts of malt.
iean degrees of heat
Constituent
affecting malt.
parts.
119,
10
124
9
129
8
134
7
138
, 7
143
ir....: 6
148
5
152
5
157 ,
4
162
3
167 «,
.* 2
171
1
175 ..
. 0
For th« |)roperti«5 answerable to the degree*, see page
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 169
Though beers and ales are divided into strong and
small, this division regards only the proportion of the
vehicle, and not that of the constituent parts. The same
means, as to the heat of the extracts, must be employed,
to form small beers, capable of preserving themselves
sound fof some time, as are used to make strong drinks :
for though a small liquor possesses more aqueous parts,
the oils and salts of the malt are only more diluted, not
altered in their proportions, and this causes but a very
small difference in the duration of the liquor.
It now remains to apply these rules, deduced from the
theory, to the several sorts of malt liquors, which answer
to the four modes of extraction, just before laid down.
The first and most perfect is, when the malt is chosen
of such dryness, and the extracts made with such heats,
as give the beers an opportunity of being improved by
time, and slow fermentations, to become spontaneously
bright and transparent. Under this head, may be com-
prehended all pale keeping strong, and all pale keeping
small beers.
From its name, regard must be had to the color of the
malt, and such only used, as is dried the least, or by
1 19* degrees of heat.
* It may be observed that, in the first and last degrees for drying
malt, sometimes we say one degree more, sometimes a degree less. —
The experiments we have made do not admit of a geometrical exact-
ness, nor does the practice of brewing require it ; small errors i
HO THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The hops should likewise be pale, and their quantity
used in proportion to the time the drink is intended to
be kept; suppose, in this case, it is 10 months, lOlb. of
fine hops, for every quarter of malt, will be required.
The highest degree of heat, or rather the medium of
the highest dryness in malt, with the mean heat of the
several extractions, to admit of spontaneous pellucidity,
we have seen in the foregoing table (page 124) to be
138 degrees, and this medium is chosen, as it answers
not only the intent of long keeping, but of brightness
also.
From the medium degree of the malt's dryness, and of
the heat of the extracts, to determine the heat of the first
and the last extract, and the value in degrees of the
quantity of hops to be used, for brewing pale strong and
pale small beers, intended to be kept about ten months
before they are used, and expected to become self-
transparent.
119 Malt's dryness.
138 Mean of malt's dryness, heat of extracts,* and
value of hops.
3 Degrees, value of 10 Ib. of hops.
135 Mean of malt's dryness and heat of extracts.
effectually removed by age, and these variations have often been adopted
in the tables, for the convenieucv ot" dividing into whole numbers.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 171
For the first liquor.
135 As before.
3-i Half the number of the constituent degrees, an-
STrerable to 138 degrees, the mean heat of
the whole process, to be subtracted*.
1311 Degrees governing the first extracts.
1 1 9 Malt's dryness.
144 First rule to discover the heat of the first extract.
263
131-1- As above.
For the last liquor.
135 As before.
3| Half the number of the constituent degrees, to be
added, to find
138'- The degrees governing the last extract.
119 Malt's dryness.
158 First rule to discover the heat of last mash.
277
1381 As above.
* See p. 124.
172 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The elements for forming pale strong and pale small
beers, intended to be kept, are therefore as follows :
Malt's Value of Whole First Last
dryness. hops. medium. heat. heat.
119 3 138 .... 144 158
2 2 heat lost at
the time the extract separates from the grist.
The proof of this is as follows :
144 Heat of the first extract.
158 Heat of last extract.
302
151 Mean heat of extracts.
119 Malt's dryness.
270
135 Mean heat of Malt's dryness, and of heat of extracts.
3 Value of hops.
138 Whole mean given as above.
It is necessary to add 2 degrees to the heat of every
mash, such being the mean of 4 degrees, constantly lost
in every extract, at the time they are separated from the
grist, and exposed to the impressions of the air.
3
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 17$
The second mode of extraction is, that, in which every
advantage which can be procured from the corn, from
art, and from time is expected; this produces such
drinks, as cannot become spontaneously pellucid, but re-
quire the help of precipitation.
The improvement, which every fermented liquor gains
by long standing, is very considerable ; the parts of the
grain, which give spirit to the wine, being, by repeated
fermentations, constantly attenuated, not only become
more light and pungent, but more wholesome. If, in
order to give to beers more of the preservative quality,
greater quantities of oils are extracted, in proportion to
the salts, transparency cannot take place ; but, when the
heat employed for this purpose does not exceed certain
limits, this defect may easily be remedied, and the drink
be fined by precipitation ; as time enables it to take up
part of the very oils, which at first prevented its transpa-
rency, it will, by long standing, and by precipitation, be-
come both brighter and stronger.
Where the demand for a liquor is constant and consi-
derable, but the quantity required not absolutely certain,
it ought to be brewed in such manner that time may in-
crease its merit, and precipitation render it almost imme-
diately ready for use. These circumstances distinguish
this class of extraction, and justify the preference given
to porter or broivn beer, which comes under the mode wo-
are now treating of..
17* THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Though transparency in beers is a sure .sign of the
sahs and oils being in an exact proportion, it is in no
•wise a proof of the justness of taste : for strong saks act-
ing on strong oils may produce pellucidity, but the deli-
cacy and pungency of taste, depend on the finer oils and
the choicest salts being wholly preserved, these best ad-r
mitting of fermentation, and most perfectly becoming
miscibte with the liquor, the more volatile oils and salts
of the grain if excluded, by the malt being too high
dried, the consequence in the beer must be, an heavy
and rancid taste. The less dried the malts are, which
are brewed for beers to be long kept, the hotter are the
extracts required to be, but this greater heat being com-
mnnicated to the grain through water, an element eight
hundred times more dense than air, the finer parts of the
corn, though acted upon by an heat which in air would
disperse them, by this means are retained.
It appears, by the table (page 124) that drinks brew-
ed from malts, affected by heats, whose medium is 148
degrees, and with twelve pounds of hops to every quar-
ter of malt, require from 6 to 12 months with precipita-
tion to become bright ; this is the age generally appoint-
ed forbrown beers to be drank at, and by the table, page
133, we find the proper malts where the medium heat of
the whole process is 148 degrees, must be such as have
been dried with 130 degrees to 1'onii this liquor, whose
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 175
color as yet is expected to be full or brown, without be-
ing deprived of more valuable qualifications.
In the drink before examined, the number of degrees
which constitute the properties of malt, affected by a mean
heat of 138 or 7 degrees, were employed, they being in-
tended to become, in time, spontaneously bright ; but,
as this quality in the present case is required only with
the assistance of precipitation, the number 5, in the table,
shewing the constituent parts remaining in the grain at
every degree of dryness, (page 168) as this corresponds
to the medium 148, is undoubtedly that which must an-
swer our purpose, both as to the nature and to the time
this liquor is in general made use of. These conditions
being premised, the proper degrees of the first and last
extract for porter will be found by the same rules as were
used before.
1 30 Degrees, malt's dryness.
148 Degrees, whole medium intended.
4 Degrees, value of hops, fractions omitted.
144 Mean of malt's dryness and heat of extracts.
IIS THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
For the first extract.
144 As before.
2J; Half the number of the constituent degrees to be
deducted.
141^ Mean of malt's dryness, and of the heat of the
first extract.
130 Malt's Dryness.
153 Rule to discover the first heat.
283
141| As above.
For the last extract.
144 As before.
2|; Half the number of the constituent degrees to be
added.
1461 Mean of nialt's dryness, and of the heat of tht-
last extract.
130 Malt's dryness.
163 Rule to discover the last heaK
293
146^ As above.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 1T7
The elements for brewing brown strong beers, with
two degrees added to the first and last extracts, for what
Is lost at their parting from the malt, independent of its
farther division into the respective mashes.
Malt's Value of Medium heat of the First Last
dryness. hops. extracts, malt's dry- heat. heat.
ness, and value of
hops.
130 4 148 155 ......... 165
Brown beers, brewed with malt so low dried as 130
degrees, twenty years since, would have appeared very
extraordinary, and most likely, at that time, when a hea-
viness and blackness in the drink formed its principal
merit, Avould have been a sufficient reason to condemn
the practice ; but strength and elegance being now more
attended to, have justified the brewer, in making porter,
to employ malt of such degree of dryness, as he shall
think will best answer these purposes.
As high liquors used to extract low dried malt will
form a must capable to preserve itself equally a long time,
as an adequate liquor used to high dried malt doth ; and
the first of these methods having greatly the advantage
of the other in point of taste, as 1 30 degrees of dryness in
malt is one, from its change of colorj where part of its
finer principles may be supposed to be evaporated. It
may not be amiss to enquire if there be not reasons why
malt, less affected by fire, should be used for manufac-
turing this commodity.
M
178 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The medium of the malt's dryness, and of the heat of
the extracts, together with the value of the hops which
are to make porter, is 148 degrees. This, because pre-
cipitation has been found convenient and necessary for
this drink, yet, when at the proper age, it has undergone
this last operation, it is supposed to shew itself in its best
form ; bright, well-tasted, and strong ; that is, in such
state as drink should be, which becomes spontaneously
transparent, and is capable of preserving itself a long
time, if from 148 degrees.
The value of the oils yielded by the hops
(See page 180) is deducted, 4 degrees.
Will remain, 144
And by table (page 162) we find a must under the
mean of 144 degrees should be formed Avith malt dried to
125 degrees, with this circumstance the elements of
brewing porter will be as follows.
1 25 Malt's dryness.
148 Degrees, whole medium intended.
4 Value of hops.
144 Mean of malt's dryness, and heat of extracts.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 179
For the first extract.
144 As before.
21 Half the number of constituent parts, to be de-
ducted.
14 1| Mean, of malt's dry ness, and of the heat of the
first extract.
125 Malt's dryness.
158 Rule to discover the first heat.
283
1411- As above.
For the last extract.
144 As before.
21 Half the number of constituent parts, to be added.
1461 Mean of malt's dryness, and of the heat of the last
extract.
1 25 Malt's dryness.
168 Rule to discover the last
i •• i • .
293
146i As above. . « •:"::';:> -'^
M«
180 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Elements for brewing porter with malt dried to 1 2>
degrees, and two degrees added to the first and to the
last extracts, for what heat is lost at their parting from the
^* ,
malt, but this, independent of a farther allotment of this
heat to the respective mashes.
Malfs Value of Medium of the heat of First La3t
dryness. hops. the extracts, malt's mash. mash.
dryness, and value of
hops.
125 4 148 160 1TO
XVhether any attempt to improve this liquor, by using
malt of less dryness than 125 degrees, may ever be put
in practice, is very uncertain ; porter, if brewed with
malts so low as 119 degrees, probably would succeed;
for, in this case, the last mash, according to the forego-
ing rules, would be at the 174th degree, at which the
spirit of the grain could not be dispersed, and probably
the result would be, a more delicate, more strong, and
more vinous liquor.
It may be observed, that 4 degrees are charged for the
quantity of hops used ; as this number corresponds to the
quantity proper to form beer of this denomination. A
greater or a less proportion of hops is sometimes allowed
to this drink, on account of its better, or inferior qua-
lity, of the necessity there may be to render it fit for use
in a shorter time than that which is commonly allowed —
from nine to twelve months, and, lastly, of old, stale,
or otherwise defective drinks, Wended, with new
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 1ft
guiles. In these cases, which cannot be too rare, the
errors should be corrected only by the addition of hops,
and no alteration be made, either in the dryness of the
malts, or in the heat of the extracts.
The third mode of extraction is that which intends
spontaneous transparency, but not a durable liquor.
Under this head is comprehended common small beer,
soon to be drank.
Common small beer is supposed 'to be ready for use,
in winter, from two to six weeks, and in the heat of sum-
mer, from one week to three. Its strength is regulated
by the different prices of malt and of hops ; its chief in-
tent is to quench thirst, and its most essential properties
are, that in the winter it should be fine, and in the sum-
mer sound. This liquor is chiefly used in and about
great trading cities, such as London, where, for want of
a sufficient quantity of cellar room, drinks cannot be
stowed, which, by long and slow fermentations, would
come to a greater degree of perfection. The duration
of this kind of liquor being short, and there being a ne-
cessity of brewing it in every season of the year, divid-
ing it into very small quantities, easily affected in its con-
veyance by the external heat : generally neglected, and
placed in repositories influenced by every change of air,
the incidents attending it, and the methods for carrying
on the process must be more uncertain, various, and com-
plicated, than those of any other liquor made from malt
M3
U2 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The incidents attending this specie of malt liquor are
so many, so short .of existence, so contrary to one ano-
ther, and often so <5merent from what should be expected
in the different periods of the year, that an attempt to
guard, in a just proportion, against every one of them,
and against what may happen, and oftentimes does not,
must be fruitless. After many endeavours of this sort,
which terminated in a doubtful success, we have found it
most eligible to form these drinks in proportion to the
principal circumstances constantly attending them, and
the result was more fortunate, as, in general, the drink
was able to maintain itself against that variety of tempe-
rature it met with in the places allotted to it.
In proportion as it is brewed, in a hot or in a cold sea-
son, we must employ every means, either to repel or to
attract the acids circulating in the air ; for this purpose,
the degree of dryness in the malt, the quantity of hops,
the heat of the extracts, and the degree of temperature
the wort is suffered to ferment with, must vary as such
seasons do. The success, in brewing common small beer >
greatly depends on its fermentation being retarded or ac-
celerated, in proportion to the heat of the air, and ex-
pansion being the principal effect of heat, was a wort of
this sort suffered, in winter, to be so cold as 40 degrees,
the air would, with difficulty, if at all, penetrate the
must, or put it in action. This slow fermentation would
not permit the beer to be ready at the time required. —
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 183
For these reasons, brewers let down their worts, in that
season, at 60 degrees, whereas, in summer, the air of
the night is made use of to get them as cold as pos-
sible, by which means a part of them may be 12 de-
grees colder than the medium of the heat of the day, and
the whole of the worts nearly 5 degrees, in the space of
24 hours.
The choice of the malt, as to its dry ness and color, for
brewing this liquor, should be varied in proportion to the
several seasons, but custom requires it should be kept
nearly to an uniform color. For this reason, when the
air is so cold as the lowest fermentable degree, a greater
dryness than 1 1 9 degrees is required ; but the dryness of
malt forming only one part of the process, the proper
medium directing the whole must be brought to its true
degree, by the heat given to the extracts. In the height of
summer, malt dried to 1 30 degrees seems to be the best,
as it unites the properties of speedy readiness, preserva-
tion, and transparency, and these several characters are,
at that time, requisite in this liquor.
To come as near as possible to the inclination of the
consumers, or to maintain as near as may be an uniform
color, if in the hottest season malt dried to 1 30 is best
for this purpose, the mean between this and 1 1 9, the first
degree that constitutes malt, must answer nearest every
intent, when the heat of the air is at 40 degrees. Upon
this footing, the following table will, from the proportion
M4
184 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
of these two extremes, shew the color of the grain for
every season of the year.
Heat in the Malt's Value of hops
air dryness. in degrees.
35 122 1
40 124 1
45 125 I
50 127 1
55 129 1±
60 130 2
Jf common small beer was immediately to be used
after being brewed and fermented, and it was free from
the incidents, most of which we have just now enume-
rated, no hops would be required, and the medium de-
gree of the whole process would be that of the lowest
dried malt, 119, to be employed when the heat of the air
was at its first fermentable degree, or 40, as, with adequate
malts, this would make the liquor that would be ready
in the least space, and, at the same time, yield its con-
stituent parts ; but if small beer was intended to be kept
some short time, brewed without hops, and not liable to
any accidents, and the process to be carried through, in a
heat of air equal to the highest fermentable degree, or
80, in this case the governing medium for the whole
process must be the utmost heat the grain is able to en-
ilure, where malt charrs, or 175 degrees. As malt Ii-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 185
quors are principally affected by heat, we will first pro-
portion the medium heat, directive of each process, for
every fermentable degree, without any regard had to
;any incident whatever.
Fermentable Mean heats to govern
degrees the processes.
''!.. ••• inrj^l oi;J •'!"! TO}iD2£».i£!HrvRro
40 11Q
45
126
ifiorf oHT
F^kwr t$f»9i*
50
, 133
55 ,
60 ,
* 147
65 ,
154
70
.. . . 161
75 t
80...
..175
Now the principal heats affecting common small beer,
with regard to its duration, are the degree of heat under
which the beer is at first fermented, that of the air when,
brewed, and when conveyed from place to place, and
that of the cellar where it is deposited j let us, in regard
to these heats, take the mean of the circumstances this
drink is liable to, at the time when the air is at the first
fermentable degree, and at the time when the season is
hottest (taking for this the medium heat of the whole 24
hours.) Having these two extremes, and making a fit
allowance for the hops employed, we shall be ablq> from
3
186 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
the above table, to fix the medium heat that should go-
vern the several processes for making common small
beer in every season of the year.
I observed, in page 183, that when the heat of the air is
40 degrees, brewers set the worts of common small beer
to be fermented, at a heat of 60 ; add to this 10 degrees
more heat, excited by the fermentable action, makes 10°
The heat of the air we fixed for the first ex-
treme, was the first fermentable heat, 40
In page 156, we said cellars in winter were ge-
nerally ten degrees hotter than the air, but we
observed, those employed for this use, were the
worst of the kind, subjected to exterior impres-
sions, or perhaps other defects, for which rea-
son we here set this heat only at 46
Divided by the number of circumstances 3 ) 156
52'
is the mean of the principal incidents affecting small beer
in this season, and, by the foregoing table, this degree
indicates a medium to govern the whole process 136, to
which must be added, for preservative efiect bestowed
by the hops used, 1 degree more, which makes it at this
heat in the air 1 37 degrees.
When the mean heat of the whole 24 hours is 60 de-
grees, (see page 150) if, as in page 183, by the advan-
tage of the evening and night to cool the wort, an abate-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 1*7
ment of 5 degrees is obtained, the whole of the heat is
55 degrees, add to this only 8 degrees more, because at
this time the beer is divided, and put in casks long be-
fore the first fermentable act is compleated, and their
real heat will be
The medium heat of the air in the hottest
season (page 150) CO
In page 156 we say, the heat of the cellars in
summer time is generally 5 degrees colder than
the exterior air, but these being the worst of
the kind, may certainly be thought somewhat
more exposed, though not so much affected in
summer as in winter, when there are fewer culi-
nary fires, for this reason we fix their heat at 56
Divided by the number of observations 3 ) 179
59°
is the mean of these incidents affecting the small beer at
this season, and by the foregoing table it indicates a me-
dium heat to govern the whole process 146 degrees, to
which, if two degrees more be added, for the effect of the
hops, (as experience teaches us six pounds of hops in
summer scarcely are so powerful as three pounds in
winter) it will give us for the mean of the heats drying
the malt, those impressed in the extracts, together with
the allowance made for the hops 148 degrees.
Spontaneous pellucidity is always expected in this
188 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
drink, although the time allotted to gain this in general
is much too short ; to forward this intent as far as possi-
ble, without hazarding the soundness of the drink, in the
computations to determine the heats of the first and last
extracts, the whole number of constituent parts of malt
or 10 degrees are employed.
.Having premised these rules, the heats for the first
and last extracts are to be found by like operations be-
fore made use of, an example of which we shall state ;
and knowing the mean heats required for two distinct
distant processes, in proportion to these I shall form a
table, for brewing this drink in every season of the year.
When the air is at 40, the degree of dryness fixed for
malts to be used for common small beer is 124, the quan-
tity of hops three pounds per quarter, the medium of
their dryness and the heat of the extracts, together with
the value of the hops added thereto, is 1 37 degrees.
124° Malt's dryness.
137 Medium intended.
137
1 Value of hops.
136 Mean of Malt's dryness, and heat of extracts.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 18$
For the first extract.
136 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees,
to be deducted. (See p. 168.)
131
124 Malt's dryne&s*
138 Rule to discover the first heat.
..*.... . .
262
131 As above.
For the last extract.
136 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees,
to be added. (See p. 168.)
141
1 24 Malt's dryness.
158 Rule to discover the last heat.
4*^a." '.)' :.
282
141 As above.
190 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The proof.
138 Heat of the first extract.
158 Heat of the last extract.
296
148 Mean heat of extracts.
124 Malt's dryness.
272
,^, •;«..:
1 36 Mean of Malt's dryness and heat of extracts.
1 Value of hops.
137 Medium intended, as above.
The elements for forming common small beer, when
the heat of the air is at 40 degrees, independent of the
proper division of this heat, adequate to each Mash.
Malt's Value of Whole First Last
dryness. hops. medium. heat. heat.
124 1 137 138 ». 158
2 2
The medium of the heat lost in the mash ton, amount-
ing to two degrees, is added to the heat of the first and
Jast mash, in the following table.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 191
A TABLE of the elements for forming common
small beer, at every degree of heat in the air,
•with the allowance of two degrees of heat, in
the first and last extractions.
Heat
Malt's
Value of
Medium heat
First
Last
of air.
dryness,
hops.
of the pro-
heat.
heat.
cesses.
35
122 ..
1 ...
135
133
158
40
124 ..
1 ...
137
140
160
45
125 ..
1 ...
140
145
165
50
127 ..
1 ...
143
149
169
55
129 ..
H...
146
152
172
60 ..
130 ..
2 ...
148
154
174
From due observation of this table, it appears, how
necessary it is for brewers to be acquainted, not only
with the daily temperature of the air, but also with the
medium heat of such spaces of time, wherein a drink
like this is expected to preserve itself. This I have esti-
mated for every 14 days; (page 150) but as the event may
not always exactly correspond with our expectations, an
absolute perfection in this drink, as to its transparency
and soundness, is not to be expected. It greatly depends
on the care and attention given to it, and on the tempe-
rature and quiescent state of the cellars it is placed in.
The first of these circumstances is often neglected, and
the other hardly ever obtained, as the places, where
2
122 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
common small beer is kept, are generally the worst of
the kind.
In keeping beers, every circumstance is assistant t6
form them so as to obtain elegance in taste, strength,, and
pellucidity, either spontaneously or by precipitation, but
in common small beer, from the shortness of its duration^
and from the many complicated incidents that occur^
only the medium of the effect of these can be attended
to; which governing medium, in general, differs so much
from those which form more exact fermentable propor-
tions, that in these extracts, there cannot be expected
that near resemblance to natural wines, which, under
more favorable management, it is capable of.
The fourth mode of extraction is that, which, by con-
veying a heat, equal to what is practised for keeping
pale strdng, and keeping pale small beers, to the liquors
commonly known by the names of pale ale, amber, or
twopenny j the softest and richest taste malt can possibly
yield, and which makes them resemble wines formed
from grapes ripened by the hottest sun, though by art-
fully exciting periodical fermentations, they are, in a
very short time, made to become transparent.
As wines have, in general, been named from the town
or city, in the neighbourhood of which the grapes, from
which they are made, are found growing, this has,
though with less reason, been the case, with our nu-
merous class of soft beers and ales. These topical
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 193
denominations can indeed constitute no real, at least no
considerable difference, since the birth-place of any
drink is the least of ah1 distinctions, where the method of
practice, the materials employed, and the heat of the cli-
mate, are nearly the same.
Ales are not required to keep a long time ; so the hops
bestowed on them, though they should always be of the
finest color, and best quality, are proportionably fewer
in the winter than in the summer. The reason is, that
the consumption made of this liquor in cold weather, is
generally for purl*, whereas, in summer, as it is longer
on draught, it requires a more preservative quality.
The properties of this liquor are, that it should be
pale ; its strength and taste principally depend on the
malt, and its transparency should be the effect of fer-
mentation, accelerated by every means, which will not
be hurtful to it. Malt capable of yielding the strongest
extracts, is such whose dry ness does not exceed 120
degrees; and 138 we have seen to be the highest mean
of the extracts, and of the dry ness of the malt to admit of
pellucidity, without precipitation ; the hops used, being
only so many as are necessary to resist the heat of the
seasons the ale is brewed in, may in general be estimated
* Purl, is pale ale, in which bitter aromatics, such as wormwood,
orange peel, &c. are infused, used by the labouring people, chiefly in
cold mornings, and a much better and wholesomer relief to them, than
spiritous liquors.
N
194 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
in value, one degree ; from these premises, the elements
for brewing this drink, will be found by the same rules
as before, where 10 degrees are supposed to be equal to
the whole of the constituent parts, and the whole of these
are employed to accelerate its coming to perfection.
120 Degrees of malt's dryness.
138 Degrees, whole medium intended.
1 Value of hops.
137 Mean of malt's drytiess, and heat of extracts.
For the first extract.
137 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees
to be deducted.
132 Mean of malt's dryness, and of the heat of first
extract.
120 Malt's dryness.
144 Rule to discorer the first heat.
264
132 As above.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 195
For the last extract;
137 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees
to be added.
142 Mean of malt's dry ness j and of the heat of last
extract.
120 Malt's dryness.
164 Rule to discover the last heat of last extract.
284
1 42 As above.
The elements for brewing pale ale or amber, with the
allowance of 2 degrees for the heats lost in the extracts.
Malt's Value of Medium of Heat of Heat of
dryness. hops. the whole. first mash. last mash.
120 1 138 146 166
The time this liquor is intended to be kept, should en-
tirely be governed by the quantity of hops used therein ;
for this ale being required to become spontaneously fine,
the medium of the whole, or 138 degrees, cannot be ex-
ceeded. In and about London, and in some counties in
England, these ales, by periodical fermentations, are
made to become fine, sooner than naturally they would
do, and often, in a shorter time than one week. The
N 2
196 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
means of doing this, by beating the yeast into the drink j
as it is termed, has by some been greatly blamed, and
thought to be an ill practice. An opinion that the yeast
dissolved in the drink, and thereby made it unwholesome,
prevailed ; and some brewers, erroneously led by this,
and yet willing that their commodity should appear of
equal strength with such as had undergone repeated fer-
mentations, have been induced to add ingredients to their
worts, if not of the most destructive nature, at least very
unwholesome. The plain truth is, that, by returning the
elastic air in the fermenting ale, the effects of long keep-
ing arc greatly imitated, though with less advantage as
to flavor and to strength ; but as this case relates to
fermentation, we shall have hereafter an opportunity of
explaining it more at large.
It is under this class, that the famous Burton ale may
be ranked, and, if I do not mistake, it will be found, that
its qualities and intrinsic value will be the same, when
judiciously brewed in London, or elsewhere, from
whence it may be exported at much cheaper rates to
Russia and other parts, than when it is increased in
price by a long and chargeable land-carriage.
When drinks are made so strong as these generally
are, only two mashes can take place, by which the whole
virtue of the malt not being expended, small beer is
made after these ales. The purest and most essential
parts of the grain being extracted, it is not to be expect-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 191
ed, from an impoverished grist, that beers can be" made
to possess all their necessary constituent parts, or to keep
so long, as where fresh malt is used ; but the sort of small
beer, which answers best to the brewer, and is most salu-
brious for the consumer, must be, by the addition of
fresh hops, to form the remaining strength into keeping
small beer, the greater quantity of hops necessary to be
allowed, beside those boiled in the ale, is 2i pounds for
every barrel intended to be made. As much more water
must be employed, for this small beer, besides its length,
as will steam away in two hours boiling, and .J. of a bar-
rel per quarter of malt, for waste. The heat regulating
the extract of small, will be found by the fpllowing
rule.
138 Medium heat intended for keeping small beer.
2 Value of hops,
136 Mean of malt's dryness and heat of extract.
1 20 Malt's dryness,
152 *Heat of the mash for keeping small after amber,
one mash, and one wort.
272
136 As above.
* 152, to which 2 degrees must be added, for what is lost in th«
extracts coming away, or 154 degrees, being the heat of the mash for
keeping small beer, after amber; as this number is less than 16XJ d«-
N3
198 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
All the hops after these two brewings, as those added
for the keeping small beer have been boiled but in one
wort, are in value, for the next guile of beer, equal to
J^ of fresh hops.
We should now put an end to this section, but, as
other drinks are brewed besides those here particularly
treated of, we shall just mention them, to shew how
their different processes are reducible to the rules just
laid down.
Brown ale is a liquor, whose length is generally two bar-
rels from one quarter of malt, and which is not intended
for preservation. It is heavy, thick, foggy, and there-
fore justly grown in disuse. The hops used in this, dif-
fer in proportion to the heats of the season it 'is brewed
in, but are generally nearly half the quantity of what is
employed, at the same times, for common small beer.
The system it ought to be brewed upon is not different
from that of this last liquor ; the medium of the malt's
dryness, and heat of the extracts, are the same for each
degree of heat in the air, and it requires the same ma-
nagement when under fermentation. But though com-
grees, the last mash of the amber, consequently, in the computation
made, to find how much of the quantity of the liquor used, is to be
made to boil, to give the true degree of heat to the mash of small, the
difference of heat required in this mash, 154, and the heat of the goods
162 or 8, is to be multiplied by the volume of the goods, and the
product in this case subtracted ; whereas, in the operations for brew-
ing, whose heat gradually increased every mash, it is to be added.
3
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 199
mon pale small beer and brown ale are so much alike in
their theory, yet, from the difference of the dryness of
the malt, which, for brown ale, is constantly so high as
130 degrees, the practice will appear greatly different.
Small beer is made after this ale, by the same rules as
that made after pale ale or amber ; the malt must, in that
case, be valued according to its original dryness, and
the medium governing the process be the same as for
small beer, and as if no extract had been taken from the
grain. No small beer brewed after ales can ever be
equal in goodness to such as are brewed from entire
grists ; but that which is made after brown ale, from the
grain being so highly dried, and nearly exhausted, is
neither nourishing or fit to quench thirst.
Brown stout is brewed with brown malt, as amber is
with pale ; the system for brewing these liquors is the
same, allowing for the difference in the dryness of the
malt. The overstrength of this drink has been the rea-
son of its being discontinued, especially since porter or
brown beer has been brought to a greater perfection. —
That which is brewed with an intent of being long kept,
should be hopped in proportion to the time proposed, or
the climate it is to be conveyed to.
Old hock requires the same proportion of hops as are
used in keeping pale strong, or keeping pale small beer;
but more or less, according to the time it is intended to
be kept before it becomes fit for use. The length is
N 4
200 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
about two barrels, from a quarter of the palest and
best malt. As spontaneous pellucidity is required, its
whole medium must not exceed 138 degrees, for the dry-
ing and extracting heat. The management of it, when
fermenting, is under the same rules with keeping small
beer, or those which are allowed a due time to become
of themselves pellucid.
Dorchester beers, both strong and small, range under
the same head. They are brewed from barleys well
germinated, but not dried to the denomination of malt.
The rule of the whole 138 degrees for the governing
jhedium, must, even with this grain, be observed to form
these drinks ; but, from the slackness of the malt, and the
quantities of salt and wheaten flour mixed with the liquor,
when under fermentation, proceed its peculiar taste, its
mantling, and its frothy property.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 2<H
SECTION IV.
OF THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES
OF HOPS.
1 HE constituent parts of malt, like those of all vege-
table sweets, are so inclined to fermentation, that, when
once put in motion, it is difficult to retard their pro-
gress, retain their preservative qualities, and prevent
their becoming acid. Among the many means put in
practice, to check this forwardness of the malt, none
promised so much success as blending with the extracts,
the juices of such vegetables as, of themselves, are not
easily brought to fermentation. Hops were selected for
this purpose, and experience has confirmed their whole-
someness and efficacy.
Hops are an aromatic, grateful bitter, endued with an
austere and astringent quality, and guarded by a strong
resinous oil. The aromatic parts are volatile, and disen-
gage themselves from the plant with a small heat. To
preserve them, in the processes of brewing, the hops
should be put into the copper as soon as possible, and be
thoroughly wetted with the first extract, while the heat
of the wort is at the least, and the fire under the copper
has little or no effect thereon. Whoever will be at the
trouble to see this performed, by the means of rakes, or
202 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
otherwise, will be made sensible, that flavor is retained,
which, when the wort comes to boil, is otherwise con-
stantly dissipated in the air.
The bitter is of a middle nature, or setnivolatile : it
requires more fire to extract it, than the aromatic part,
but not so much as the austere or astringent. Hence it
is plain, that the principal virtues of this plant are best
obtained by decoction, the austere parts not exhibiting
themselves, but when urged by so violent and long con-
tinued boiling, as is seldom, or never practised in the
brewery. It would be greatly satisfactory to fix, from
experiments, the degrees of heat, that first disperse the
aromatic, next the bitter, and lastly the austere parts ;
as it is likely, by this means, a more easy and certain
method of judging of the true value and condition of
hops, than any yet known, might be discovered.
This vegetable is so far from being, by itself, capable
of a regular and perfect fermentation, that, on the con-
trary, its resinous parts retard the aptness which malt
has to this act. Hops, from hence, keep barley-wines
sound a longer space of time, and, by repeated and slow
frettings, give an opportunity to the particles of the
liquor to be more separated and comminuted. Fer-
mented liquors acquire, by this means, a greater pun-
gency, even though it was admitted they received no
additional strength from this mixture, the direct contrary
of which might easily be made to appear. Hops, then,
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 203
are not only the occasion of an improvement of taste,
but an increase of strength. >' M
Dr. Grew seems to think the bitter of the hops may
be increased by a greater degree of dryness ; but, per-
haps, this is only one of the means of their retaining
longer this quality, which undoubtedly decreases through
age, in a proportion, as near as can be guessed, of from
1 0 to 15 per cent, yearly.
The varieties of the soils in which hops are planted,
may have some share in the inequality we perceive in
them. They seem to be much benefited by the sea air.
Whoever will try similar processes with the* Worcester-
shire and Kentish hops, will soon perceive the difference,
and the general opinion strengthens this assertion, as the
county of Kent alone produces nearly half the quantity
of hops used in this kingdom.
The sooner and the tighter hops are strained, after
having been bagged, the better will they preserve them-
selves. The opinion that they increase in weight, if
* We had rather attribute to this cause, the inferior quality of the
Worcestershire hops, than to what is reported. That some planters
in that county suffer their hops to be so ripe on the poles, that they
become very brown before they are gathered : to recover their color,
on the fire of the kiln they strew brimstone, which brings them to a
fine yellow ; the dryness and harshness this acid occasions, they cor-
rect by sprinkling the hops with milk, from whence they bag closer,
and require little straining, but two ingredients more pernicious to
the forming good beers, perhaps, could not have been though^ of, than
milk and brimstone.
204 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING,
not strained until after Christmas, may he true, hut will
not recommend the practice ; the hops imbibe the mois-
ture of the winter air, which, when the weather grows
drier, is lost again, together with some of the more spi-
yitous parts. Nor is this the greatest damage occasion-
ed by this delay, as hops, by being kept slack bagged in
a damp season, too often become mouldy.
Hops may be divided into ordinary and strong, and
into old and new. The denomination of old is first given
to them, one year after they have been bagged. New
ordinary hops, when of equal dry-ness, are supposed to be
nearly alike in quality, with old strong ones.
The different teints, Avith which hops are affected from
the fire of the kiln, afford in brewing the best rule for
adapting their color to that of the malt ; in general the
finest hops are the least, but the most carefully, dried.
To extract the resinous parts of the hops, it is neces-
sary they should be boiled. The method of disposing
them is generally to put the whole quantity, in the first
wort, which, being always made with waters leSs hot
than the succeeding extracts, possesses the greatest share
of acids, and is in want of the largest proportion of re-
sins and bitters to defend it. The virtue of the hops is
not entirely lost by once boiling, there remains still
enough to bitter and preserve the second wort. But
where the first wort is short of itself, and a large
quantity of hops are required for the whole, it is need-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING: 205
less and wasteful to put more in at once than it can ab-
sorb, the overplus of which appears by a thin bitter pel-
licle floating on the wort when laid to cool in the backs.
No particular rules can be given to avoid this inconve-
niency, as the nature and quantity of the worts on one
side, and the strength of the hops on the other, must oc-
casion a difference in the management, easily determina-
ble by experience.
When waters, not sufficiently hot, have been used,
the wort, for want of the proper quantity of oils, readily
admits of the external impressions of the air, and is easi-
ly excited to a strong and tumultuous fermentation,
which disperses the bitter particlesj and diminishes the
effects of the hops. The virtue of this plant is therefore
retained in the drinks, in proportion to the heat of the
extracts, and the slowness of the fermentation.
But beers being a composition of malt, hops, and
water, united by heat, and the properties of this combi-
nation being judged of by the medium of the whole
number of degrees of fire made use of in the process, as
we brought the virtues of malt to this denomination, it is
also essential to reduce those of hops. After many tedi-
ous calculations and experiments, made with this view,
and unnecessary here to mention, we were obliged to
have recourse to a more simple and probable hypothesis,
and confirm the truth thereof by repeated experiments,
the relation of which, as it becomes here necessary, will
206 THE PRACTICE OF BREW IN C.
shew the necessity we were under to take a general view
of the whole process before we attempted to ascertain
this point.
In the table shewing the mean heat of the air applica-
ble to practice, the greatest cold is 35 degrees, and in
this season we observed, (page 156) the repositories of
beers were more warm than this by 10 degrees, which
makes the greatest cold of cellars to be 45 degrees ; in
the same table the highest heat is 60, when cellars are 5
degrees colder than the external airs, the utmost diffe-
rence then in the temperature of cellars is 10 degrees,
and this takes place in 6 months, so that the whole vari-
ety of heat beers deposited for keeping undergo in one
twelvemonth is 20 degrees.
There is no specie of beer, in brewing of which it is
requisite the artist should be more attentive to alter his
process in proportion to the change of heat in the air,
than common small beer, which, though brewed in every
season, is constantly expected to be in an uniform order
for use. In the preceding section, in the table directing
this variety, we find a difference of five degrees of heat
in the air, requires an alteration in medium heat of the
whole process of 3 degrees, and as it is from the mean
heat of the dryness of ±he malt, of the heat of the ex-
tracts, and of the value of hops in degrees, that we are to
discover the quantity of fire to be given to the extracts,
this can be done only by deducting from such medium
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 201
so much as it is affected by the properties of the hops.
Just before we have seen, that the whole of the variety
of heat beers deposited in cellars to keep twelve months
undergo, amounts to 20 degrees, these, in a proportion of
5 to 3, would be 12, without being scrupulously exact.
Hops, with regard to their proportion in the whole pro-
cess, must be admitted to be one third part thereof, and,
in this case, of the proportion, 12, now found, only 4
degrees would be what they contribute towards preserv-
ing the drink 1 2 months : the quantity of hops necessary
to maintain beers in a sound state this space of time, we
have found to be twelve pounds ; this quantity then is
equal to 4 degrees of the medium heat of the whole
process. On these grounds we repeatedly tried the ex-
periment in a variety of brewings made for different pur-
poses, and never found any inconveniencies from the es-
timating hops in such like proportion.
Hops should be used in proportion to the time the
liquors are intended to be kept, and to the heat of the
air in which they are fermented. The quantity requi-
site to preserve beers twelve months, experience has
shewn to be * twelve pounds, of a good quality, joined
to one quarter of malt, and when the heat of the air'is
* This rule only takes place for such climates as are of the same heat
with ours ; for when drinks are brewed to be expended in more southern
countries, or to undergo long voyages, twenty pounds of hops to one
quarter of malt have been used with success.
208 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
at 40 degrees, three pounds to every quarter has been
found sufficient to preserve drinks from four to six weeks,
as six pounds are to keep them the same term when the
thermometer is so high as 60 degrees. From these facts,
founded on informations obtained from long practice,
we shall hereafter ascertain the proper quantities to'
be used in all cases.
Having premised these observations, sufficiently accu-
rate for the government of this art, the construction as
well as utility of the following tables will be obvious.
A TABLE of the value of the hops, expressed
in degrees, to be added to the medium of the
dryness of the malt, and of the heat of the
extracts.
Hops. New or strong. Pale, low dried,
or old.
ISlb. equal 5 3|
12 4 3
8 2 2
4 ... .. 1 .- ,. 1
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 20$
A TABLE of the quantity of hops requisite
for every quarter of Malt brewed for porter,
supposed to be Jit for use from eight to
twelve months.
:w»ocl
Ib.
Old ordinary hops started over old beer, 14 per Qr.
Ditto, neat guiles, 12JL
Strong good old hops, when started over old
beer, 121.
Ditto, neat guiles, 12
New strong hops, when started over old beer, 12
Ditto, neat guiles, 11£
New ordinary hops started over old beer, .... 121.
Ditto, neat guiles, 12
N. B. The quantity of old beer to be blended with
new is here supposed never to exceed one eighth part of
the whole.
O
210 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE of the quantity of hops requisite for
common small beer, for each quarter of malt,
in every season.
Heat in the air. New hops. Old hops.
lb. oz. Ib. oz.
35°. ..28.. ..28
40 ................... 3 ° ................. 3 °
45 .................... 3 8 ................. 3 8
50 ..... . .............. 4 4 ................ :. 4 8
55 .................... 5 O .................. 5 8
.
60 .................... 6 0 .................. 6 8
,'.
65 ....... , ............ 6 12
70 .................... 7 8
•
75 .................... 8 4
80 ......... .. 9 O
The medium heat of the hottest days in England, in
the shade, seldom, at any time, exceeds 60 degrees, but
I continued the table proportionably, as what is here set
down is from repeated experiments, and from thence it
appears, at the lowest fermentable degree of heat, three
pounds of hops are required for each quarter of malt ;
at the highest, nine pounds of hops should be allowed for
the same quantity ; this, in some measure, determines
the effect of a greater activity in fermentation.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 211
A TABLE of the quantity of hops necessary to
each quarter of malt> in brewing amber or
two-penny.
Heat of the air. New hops. Old hops.
Ib. oz. Ib. oz.
35° ,.-•• 2 8 2 8
•:f\i •
40 3 0 3 0
45 , 3 8 3 8
I. >.(;• -ft;
50 4 0 4 4
55 4 8 , 4 12
..;o .ul
60 5 0 5 4
Amber is a liquor which, by repeated periodical fer-
mentations, is 90 attenuated, as to be soon fit for use,
and, by its strength, is supposed to resist the impres-
sions of the air Longer than common small beer, especially
in winter ; for this reason, it wants fewer hops than that
drink does, and in the summer both require equal quan-
tities, on account of the fermentation of amber being
carried to a greater degree.
The hops once boiled in amber, but used afterwards
for small beer, may be estimated equal to one fourth of
their original quality.
When twelve shilling small beer is made after amber,
the quality of the hops used should at least be equal in
value to the quantity of ten pounds fresh hops to every
five barrels of beer, when brewed from entire grists of
malt for this purpose.
02
212 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE of the quantity of hops necessary
for each quarter of malt, in brewing Burton
ale.
This liquor requires fewer hops than such ales as are
more diluted by water : as it is always brewed in the
winter, the quantities here set down are for the number
of months it is supposed to be kept, before it is drank or
bottled.
Months. Ib. oz.
i •:.:.: ...................... i o
joivjq £ j 8
>i ill r • j 0 Q
i o «
4 ........................... Z o
5 30
6 ................... . ....... 3 8
7 ........................... 4 0
8 48
9 ........................... 5 0
10 ........................... 5 8
11 ........................... 6 0
12 ............................ 6 8
Though common amber, keeping amber, and Burton
ales require the same degree of heat to govern the whole
of their processes, yet some small difference will be
found in the heats of their extracts, on account of the
different quantity of hops used.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 213
Besides the use of hops for keeping the musts of malt,
they may also, with great propriety, be employed both
to strengthen and preserve sound the extracts. One or
two pounds, in a net suspended in the water the mash is
to be formed with, are sufficient for this purpose.
Though the purchasing the materials, used in manu-
facture, does not immediately relate to its practical part,
yet as, in this case, it is of great importance to the brew-
er to know what stock it is prudent for him to keep, of
an ingredient equally necessary and variable in its value,
I hope the attempt of a calculation on this subject, will
easily be pardoned.
The amount of the duty upon hops, for sixteen years,
from 1748 to 1765, was £.1,171,227, which sum, esti-
mating the duty at 2ls. per bag, gives 1,1 15,454 bags,
used in that time. At the beginning and expiration of
this interval, hops sold at such high prices, as no consi-
derable stock can be supposed to have remained in
hand, viz. from jC.S to £.10 per hundred. If, there-
fore, to the aforesaid quantity of 1,1 15,454 bags, which
may be supposed to have served for the whole consump-
tion during this period, we add what may have escaped
paying duty*, the annual consumption of hops may be
* If, of the whole quantity of hops grown in one year, one half is
put into bags, whose tare is one tenth of their whole weight, and the
other half is put in pockets, whose tare is one fortieth of their whole
weight ; if the excise office allows one tenth for tare upon the whole,
and the excise or weighing officers, are content with one ninth, as by
their marks, and the weight when sold to the brewer, appears to be
OS
21* THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
estimated at 70,000 bags, including what is exported to
Ireland or elsewhere. From these premises, the follow-
ing table was constructed, which, though not capable of
absolute certainty, may be of some service to the brew-
ers, in informing them of the quantities, that probably
remain in band at any time, and the stock which prudence
will suggest to them to lay in.
the fact; then somewhat like one twentieth part more hops are
grown, than what pays duty, or than the excise officers report to
be the case.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 215
A TABLE, shewing the medium price Hops
should bear, in proportion to the growth,
and determining the quantity to be pur-
chased, in proportion to the stock in hand.
Prices of hops Stock of new and Quan
at a medium*, old hops in the hops
per cwt. whole kingdom, as ma:
after the harvest. consu
30 Shill 1 30000 hatr«?
tity of
equal to
ny weeks
mption.
70
65 *
61
57
53
47
44
40
36
32
28
24
35
40
125000
120000
45
145000
50 ...
110000
55
105000
:
100000 •..
60
70
95000
80
90000 . .. .
9O
85000
100
80000
75000 ...
110 ...
120 75000 20
130 70000 16
140 67000 12
150 65000 8
160 62000 4
170 6000O
180 57000
190 55000
200 52000
* Forty shillings per hundred weight, are supposed to be the mean
difference between new and old hops, and ought to be estimated in
proportion to the quantity of old left in hand, and that of new hops
grown, in order to ascertain the value of the last.
04
216 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
This chapter should not be dismissed without remind-
ing the brewery, of the gross imposition they submit to
in purchasing hops. The tare which justice requires to
be allowed in the sale of all packed merchandize, by the
hop-factors is refused, who exact payment for the bag-
ging, at the same price as for the commodity itself. If
the consumption of hops, in England, is yearly 172,268
cwt. and these be packed one half in bags and the other
half in pockets, taking the mean price of hops to be
3l. 1 4s. per cwt. in this case the consumers are defrauded
at least of 39,834-1. per annum ; that, on a just regula^
tion of this matter, the commodity itself would rise in
price, there is not the least foundation for. The present
practice of monopolizing hops, by much too frequent, is
a farther reason to induce the brewery to exert the influ-
ence they ought to have with superior power, to obtain
a right so justly due to them.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 211
SECTION V.
ri\ i. f.feHftri; >'
vv -
OF THE LENGTHS NECESSARY TO FORM MALT-
LIQUORS OF THE SEVERAL DENOMINATIONS.
.DY length, in the brewery, is understood the quantity
of drink made from one quarter of malt. Beers and ales
differ in this respect ; and the particular strength al-
lowed to every sort of drink, varies also somewhat, ac-
cording to the prices of the materials. This increase or
abatement is, however, never such as to make the profits
certain or uniform ; for the value of the grain being
sometimes double of what it is at other times, a propor-
tionable diminution in strength, can by no means take
place.
It might be expected to find here tables determining
the differences in strength and quality of each drink, in
proportion to their prices, and the expences of the brew-
er. But this, for many reasons, would be inconvenient,
and in some respects impracticable. He, who chuses to
be at this trouble, ought not only to take into the ac-
count, the prices of malt and hops, but the hazards in
the manufacturing them, those of leakage, of bad cellars,
and of careless management, the frequent returns, attend-
ed with many losses, the wearing out of utensils, and es-
218 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING,
pecially of casks, which last article, engrosses at least one
fifth of the brewer's capital, the charges of servants,
horses, and carriages, for the delivery of the drinks, the
duties paid immediately to the government, without any
security for the reimbursement, the large stock and
credit necessary to carry on this trade, and many other
incidents, hardly to be estimated with a sufficient accu-
racy, and never alike to every brewer. In general it ap-
pears, when malt and hops are sold at mean prices, the
value of what is employed of these, is equal to the charge
attending the manufacture, or of about half the value of
the drinks. Hence this conclusion, sensibly felt by every
honest trader, that, from change of circumstances, the
reputation of the profits has outlived the reality of
them, and that a trade, perhaps the most useful to the
landed interest, to the government, and to the public, of
any, seems distinguished from all, by greater hazards,
and less encouragement.
But, in a treatise like this, where only the rules upon
which true brewing is founded, are laid down, I would
avoid any thing that might, though undesignedly, give
handle to invidious reflections, and ill-timed controversies.
I therefore content myself with setting down the lati-r
tudes of the lengths which should be made for drinks of
every denomination.
*o bns
-#» i>ic
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
219
Lengths of beers, according to the excise
gauges, observed within the bills of mortal'*
ty, or the JTinchester measure.
Lengths of common small beer.
4^ Barrels to 5?,
Lengths of keeping small beer.
4£ Barrels to 5i,
Lengths of amber, or pale ale.
li Barrel to If,
Lengths of brown strong, or porter,
2£ Barrels to 2|,
Lengths of Burton ale.
1 Barrel to l
from one quar-
ter of malt.
220 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
SECTION VI.
METHOD OF CALCULATING THE HEIGHT IN THE
COPPER AT WHICH WORTS ARE TO GO OUT.
JL HE expected quantities, or lengths of beer and ale,
can only be found by determining at what height in the
copper the worts must be when turned out.
Brewers have several methods of expressing to what
part they would have the worts reduced by boiling.
Brass, is the technical appellation for the upper rim of
the copper ; it is a fixed point, from which the estimation
generally takes place, either by inches, or by the nails,
which rivet the parts of the copper together. These
last are not very equal, either in the breadth of their
heads, or their distances from each other. Inches then,
though not specified on the copper, but determined by
the application of a gauge, on which they are marked,
claim the preference. The necessity of coppers being
gauged, and the contents of what they contain on every
inch, both above and below brass, must appear in a
stronger light, the nearer \ve bring the art to exactness.
The following tables will shew the most useful manner in
which I conceive this gauging should be specified.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
221
Gauges of Coppers.
Great Copper, set up Nov. 30,
1750.
*B. F.
17 15 3
16
15
14
13
« 12
I I*
P3 10
I 3
15 2
15 0
14 2
14 1
13 3
13 2
13 0
12 3
12 1
12 0
11 2
II 0
10 3
10 1
10
. 9
0
2
Brass 9 1
1 8 3
2 8 2
8 1
8 0
7 2
7 1
7
G.
4 Full
1
5
8
4
7
3
6 -d
2 I
5 _2
1 rt
4 fe
8 &
35
7 «
2 §
6 O
1 <o
6 §
4 a
u o
£ 9
0
6 3
6 2
Little Copper, set up Aug. 3,
1753.
B. F. G.
15 11
11
1 6
B. stands for Barrels, F. for Firkins, G. for Gallons.
222 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
By the foregoing table, it is seen that my great cop-
per holds nearly nine barrels of water to brass, and as the
difference of the volume between boiling worts, of most
denominations, and cold water, is nearly as 7 to 9, the
quantity it will yield of boiling worts will be but seven
barrels. The diameter of this copper, just above brass,
is sixty-eight inches, at a medium, and at that mean it
holds twelve gallons seven pints of cold water, or nearly
eleven gallons of boiling worts, upon an inch.
Hops macerated, by being twice boiled, take up for
every six pound weight a volume, in the copper, equal
to four gallons and a half of water, or a pin.
In a copper, the' gauges of which have just been set
down, it is required to know what number of inches a
length of twenty-four barrels must go out at, with fif-
teen pounds of hops, the guile of beer to be brewed at
two worts.
24 Barrels, length of beer.
14 Barrels, for two full brass,
10
34 Numbers of gallons to a barrel ac-
counted by the excise, out of the
bills of mortality.
40 Hops twice put in 15lb. is 30
30
6lb. [ 30
340
Gallons of 22
boiling wort - Equal to gallons
upon an inch 11 [362
22
33 Inches above brass, the two worts
to go out togethe r.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 223
When three worts are boiled, the amount of three full
brasses must be deducted from 'the length; and as the
hops go into the copper three times, they become more
macerated, and take up much less room. The propor-
tion is then nearly thirteen or fourteen pounds of hops
for each four gallons and a half.
Thus in coppers, which have never been tried or used,
we are able, by the gauges alone, to determine our
lengths; but, as their circumferences are not always
<xact, and the worts are of very different strengths, we
should never neglect such trials as may bring us nearer
to accuracy and truth.
lo
n;
-qua <
- -.'
*ni
sri*
224 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION VII.
OF BOILIXG.
IT has been a question, whether boiling is necessary to a
wort ; but as hops are of a resinous qualitv, the whole of
their virtues are not yielded by extraction ; decoction or
boiling is as needful as the plant itself, and is, together
with extraction and fermentation, productive of that uni-
formity of taste in the compound, which constitutes
good beer.
Worts are composed of oils, salts, water, and perhaps
some small portion of earth, from both the malt and
hops. Oils are capable of receiving a degree of heat
much superior to salts, and these again surpass, in this
respect, the power of water. Before a wort can be sup-
posed to have received the whole of the fire it can ad-
mit of, such a degree of heat must arise, as will be in a
proportion to the quantity of the oils, the salts, and the
water. \Vhen this happens, the wort may be said to be
intimately mixed, and to have but one taste. The fire,
made fiercer, would not increase the heat, or more ex-
actly blend together the constituent parts ; this purpose
once obtained, the boiling of the wort is completed.
It follows from thence, that some worts will boil
sooner than others, receive their heat in a less time, and
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 325
be saturated with less fire ; but, as it is impossible, and,
indeed, unnecessary, to estimate exactly the quantities
of oils, salts, and water contained in each different wort,
it is out of our power previously to fix, for any one, the
degree of heat it is capable of. This renders the ther-
mometer in this case useless, and obliges us to depend
entirely on experiment, and to observe the signs which
accompany the act of ebullition.
Fire, as before has been mentioned, when acting upon
bodies, endeavours to make its way through them in right
lines. A wort set to boil, makes a resistance to the
effort of fire, in proportion to the different parts it is com-
posed of. The watery particles are, it is imagined, the
first, which are saturated with fire, and becoming lighter
in this manner, endeavour to rise above the whole. The
salts are next, and last of all the oils. From this struggle
proceeds the noise heard when the wort first boils, which
proves how violently it is agitated, before the different
principles are blended one with another. While this
vehement ebullition lasts, we may be sure that the wort
is not intimately mixed, but when the fire has penetrated
and united the different parts, the noise abates, the wort
boils smoother, the steam, instead of clouding promis-
cuously as it did at first round the top of the copper,
rises more upright, in consequence of the fire passing
freely in direct lines through the drink, and when the
fierceness of it drives any part of the drink from the body
P
226 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
of the wort, the part so separated ascends perpendicu-
larly. Such are the signs by which we may be satisfied
the first wort, or the strongest part of the extracts, has
been so affected by the fire, as to become nearly of one
taste. If, at this time, it is turned out of the copper, it
appears pellucid, and forms no considerable sediment.
The proper time for the boiling of a wort hitherto has
been determined, without any regard to these circum-
stances ; hence the variety of opinions on this subject ;
greater, perhaps, than on any other part of the process.
While some brewers would confine boiling to so short a
space as five minutes, there are others who believe two
hours absolutely requisite. The first alledge, that the
strength of the wort is lost by long boiling ; but this ar-
gument will not hold good against the experiment of
boiling a wort in a still, and examining the collected
steam, which appears little else than mere water. Those
who continue boiling the first wort a long time, do it in
order to be satisfied that the fire has had its due effect,
and that the hops have yielded the whole of their virtue.
They judge of this by the wort curdling, and depositing
flakes like snow. If a quantity of this sediment is col-
lected, it will be found to the taste both sweet and bitter,
and if boiled again in water, the decoction, when cold,
will ferment, and yield a vinous liquor. These flakes,
therefore, contain part of the strength of the wort ; they
consist of the first and choicest principles of the malt
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 327
and hops, and, by their subsiding, become of little or
no use.
It appears, from these circumstances, that boiling a
first wort too short or too long a time, is equally detrU
mental, that different worts require different times, and
these times can only be fixed by observation.
The first wort having received, by the assistance of
the fire, a sufficient proportion of bitter from the hops, is
separated therefrom. The hops, being deprived of part
of their virtues, are, on the other hand, enriched with
some of the glutinous particles of. the malt. They are
afterwards, a second, and sometimes a third time, boiled
with the following extractions, and thereby divested not
only of what they had thus obtained, but also of the re-
maining part of their preservative qualities. The thin-
ness and fluidity of these last worts render them ex-
tremely proper for this purpose. Their heat is never so
intense as that of the first, when boiling ; for, as they
consist of fewer oils, they are incapable of receiving so
great a degree of heat. This deficiency can only be
made up by doubling or tripling the space of time the
first wort boiled, so that what is yranted in the intense-
ness of heat, may be supplied from its continuance.
The following table is constructed from observations
made according to the foregoing rules.
P2
228 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE shewing the time each wort re-
quires to boil for the several sorts of beer, in
every season.
Brown beer, keeping
pale strong and keep-
ing small beer.
Small beer.
small
A
al'ter
after
hourt hours hours.
hours hours hours.
amber
Burton
amber,
hours
amber
hours
hours
lours
i
J 35° 1 24
4r 2
i
T
t
af
1
2
.3 40 I 24
1 2
i
0"
•5-
1
2
8 45 1 24
4. 2
1
2
•g 50 1 24
2. 2
t
|
1
^2
§ 55 24
£ 3
|.
2
1
2
& 60 24
14: 3
|
1
H
2
^ 1 wort 2 wort* 3 wort
1 wort 2 wort 3 wort.
It may, perhaps, be objected, that, by a long boiling
of the last worts, the rough and austere parts of the hops
may be extracted, and give a disagreeable taste to the
liquor; but it should be observed, this only happens,
either in beers to be long kept, or in such as are brewed
in very hot weather. In the first case the roughness
-wears off by age, and grows into strength, and in the
last, it is a check to the proneness musts have in such
seasons to ferment.
* When there are but two worts in brown strong, keeping strong,
keeping pale small, or common "small, the boiling is to be observed as
marked for the second and third wort?.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 229'
One observation more is necessary under this head ;
most coppers, especially such as are made in London, and
set by proper workmen, "waste or steam away, by boil-
ing, about three or four inches of the contained liquor,
in each hour. The quantity wasted being found on
trial, and knowing how much water the copper holds
upon an inch, what is steamed away by boiling in each
brewing, may easily be estimated.
P3
330 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION VIII.
Of the Quantity of Water wasted ; and of the Appli-
cation of the preceding Rules to two different processes
of Brewing.
WASTE water, in brewing, is that part which, though
employed in the process, yet does not remain in the beers
or ales when made. Under this head is comprehended
the water steamed away in the boiling of the worts ; that
which is lost by heating for the extracts ; that which
the utensils imbibe when dry; that which necessarily
remains in the pumps and underback ; and more than all,
the water which is retained in the grist. The fixing to
a minute exactness how much is thus expended, is both
impossible and unnecessary. Every one of the articles
just now mentioned varies in proportion to the grist, to the
lengths made, to the construction and order of the uten-
sils, and to the time employed in making the beer. To
these different causes of the steam being lessened or in-
creased, might be added every change in the atmosphere.
However, as, upon the whole, the quantity of water lost
varies from no reason so much, as from the age and
dryness of the malt, experience is, in this case, our sole
and surest guide. I have, in the following table, placed
under every mode of brewing, how much I have found
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 231
necessary to allow for these several wastes and evapora-
tions.
Brown strong and pale strong beers.
Barrels pins.*
For old malts allow 1 5 per quarter.
For newf malts 2 0 per quarter.
Keeping small and common small beers.
For either new or old malt allow .... 2 4 per quarter.
Amber or pale ales.
For either new or old malt allow .... 1 5 per quarter.
Keeping small or common small after amber.
Allow for waste 0 2 per quarter.
It is now time to begin the account of two brewings,
which admit of the greatest variety, both in themselves,
and in the season of the year. The same processes will
be carried on, in the sequel of this work, until they be
completed. J
* The small cask, called 9. pin, is one eighth part of a barrel.
.«' cgf '
f By new malt, I understand such, as has not lost the whole of the
heat received on the kiln, and by old, such as is of equal heat with the
;iir, or such which has laid a sufficient time to imbibe part of its
moisture.
J At the time when the first edition of this work was published,
porter or brown beers were brewed with very high dried malts ; expe-
rience has shewn to the generality of the trade and to the author, this
practice to be erroneous, the reasons why have before, and perhaps
hereafter will again, be spoken of. In compliance with tins improve-
ment (though between |he two proposed brewings, so great u variety
P4
232 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
On the tenth of July a brewing for common small beer
is to be made with 6 quarters of malt.
By pagre 1 50 the medium heat of the air at ) ,
this time is } 60 de^ees-
By page 184 the malt to be used for this ) ,
purpose should be in dryness at j L
By page 210 the proper quantity of new hops is 6
pounds per quarter. The length, according to the ex-
cise gauge without the bills of mortality, may be rated
at 5 barrels | per quarter, or from the whole grist at 30
barrels £. See page 219.
By page 222, the inches required in the copper, to
bring out this length, at 2 worts, will be, for coppers as
gauged page 221, 56 inches in the 2 worts above brass.
The state of this part of the brewing is, therefore,
six quarters of malt dried to 1 30 degrees, 36 pounds of
hops for 30 barrels | to go out at 56 inches above brass.
30| Length
/Boiling by page 228
•< 1 wort 1 hour ^ or 5 inches.
5£ v-2 wort 3 hours or 9 inches.
1 5 waste water page 23 1
5 1 barrels ; whole quantity of water
to be used.
And by page 191 we find the heat of the first extract
to be 154 degrees, and the heat of the last 174 degrees.
The other brewing, of which I purpose to lay down
will not appear) I have founded my calculations for porter, on malts
dried so as best will answer this purpose.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 233
the process in this treatise, is one for brown beer or
porter of 1 1 quarters of malt, to be brewed on the 20th
of February.
By page 1 50 the medium heat of the air at ) . ,
130 degrees,
By page 209 the quantity of hops is 12 pounds per
quarter. The length I would fix for this liquor, accord-
ing to the excise gauge without the bills of mortality, is
2 barrels and 4 pins from a quarter, or from the Avhole
grist 27 barrels i. See page 219.
By page 222, the inches required, in a copper, such
as I have specified page 221, to bring out this length at
3 worts, are 31 above brass.
The state of this brewing, so far as we have considered
it, is therefore 11 quarters malt dried to 130 degrees, 132
pounds of hops for 21 barrels i to go out at 31 inches
above brass.
27^ barrels the length,
/ boiling by page 228,
i 1 wort 1 hour or 4 inches.
J 2 wort 2 hours or 6 inches.
8? \3 wort 4 hours or 12 inches.
18 waste water page 231 old
malt 1| per quarter.
54 barrels, whole quantity of water
to be used.
And by page 177 we find the heat of the first extract
to be 155 degrees, and the heat of the last extract 165,
234- THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION IX.
Of the Division of the Water for the respective Worts
and Mashes, and of the Heat adequate to each of these.
1HAT the whole quantity of water, as well as that of
heat required, ought not, in any brewing, at once to be
applied to the grist, is obvious, both from reason, and
from the example of nature, who, in forming the juice
of the grape, divides the process, and iocreasing succes-
sively both the moisture and the heat, gives time to each
degree to have its complete effect. A division of the
water and heat to form malt liquors is equally necessary,
but previous to this division the following general rules
may be laid down.
The grist, if possible, is at no time to be left with less
water than what will cover the malt, to put all its parts
in action. In the first mashes for strong beer, an allow-
ance is to be made for nearly as much water as the grist
will imbibe ; and, lastly, the whole quantity of water
used in brewing should be divided, in a proportion ana-
logous to that of the degrees of heat.
Processes for brewing are carried on either with one
copper or with two. Though the first of these methods
is almost out of use, it may be necessary to give an ex-
ample or two of the division of the water used in this
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 235
case, the doing which will point out the absurdity of this
practice.
In brewing with one copper, scarcely more than three
mashes can be made ; otherwise the time taken up in
boiling the worts, and preparing the subsequent waters
for extraction, would be so long, as to cause the grist to
lose great part of its heat, and, in warm weather, per-
haps, to become sour. The whole water required might
naturally be divided into three equal parts, was it not for
the quantity at first imbibed by the grist ; but as, in this
way of brewing, the best management is to make the
first wort of pne mash, and the second wort of the other
two, it will be found necessary to allow, for the first ex-
tracting water, four parts out of seven of the whole quan-
tity required, and to divide the remainder equally for the
other two mashes. Thus, if the whole quantity of wa-
ter required was fifty-one barrels, the lengths of the
extracting waters would be as follow :
1 Liquor 2 Liquor 3 Liquor.
29 1 1 1 1 Barrels.
1 Wort. v v '
2 Wort.
The water imbibed and retained by the malt is allowed
for in this computation, which will be found just to every
purpose, for small beer brewed in one copper only.
But in strong beers and ales, with three mashes, whe-
ther brewed at one, two, or three worts, the case will be
somewhat different, as care should always be taken to
236 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING^
reserve for every mash a sufficient quantity of water to
apply to the grist. For this reason, no greater propor-
tion ought to be used in the first mash than that of three
parts out of seven, as the volume of the malt is in a
greater proportion to the quantity of water than in the
preceding case. If, therefore, the whole quantity of
water used was thirty-five barrels, the length of the li-
quors would be :
1 Liquor 2 Liquor 3 Liquor.
15 10 10 Barrels.
Employing1 only one copper, must from hence appear,
and is allowed to be, bad management ; for$ in some part
or other of the process, however well contrived, the bu-
siness must stand still, and consequently the extracts be
injured, by the air continually affecting them. The best
and most usual practice, and that which here will be set
in example, is to brew with two coppers. Other rules
consequently are necessary to be observed, and I shall be
more particular in the explanation of them.
To preserve order, and to convey our ideas in the
clearest manner, we shall make use of the four modes of
brewing we mentioned, in the fourth section.
The first of these, which implies keeping pale strong
and keeping pale small beers to become spontaneously
fine, are best brewed with two worts and four mashes,
to allow for what is imbibed by the grist, and what is
steamed away during the first part of the process, four
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 237
sevenths of the whole of the water employed, and con-
sequently a like proportion of the number of the degrees
which constitute the difference between the first and last
heats of the whole brewing, are required for the first
wort, and the remainder to the last or second. The pro-
portion as to the water is permanent, but having now
only a division of heat in a progressive state, for the tem-
perature to be given to the extracts, to put in practice
the principles laid down in pages 64, 65 j the first wort,
however, composed of several mashes, must be of one
uniform heat, though less than that of the second, whose
extracts, though more powerful, must, notwithstanding,
be of equal heat among themselves.
According to the rules laid down in section 8, the
whole quantity of water requisite for a guile of keeping
pale strong, or keeping pale small beer, is fifty-one bar-
rels. In page Hi, we found, including the heat lost at
the time the extract separates from the grist, the first
heat to form this process to be 144 degrees, and the last
158 degrees; the quantity of water, and the difference
between these two degrees, are required to be divided in
such proportions as are best applicable to the purpose
we intend.
238 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Water 51 Barrels, multiplied by
4
Divided by 7) 204
Gives 29 Barrels for the first Wort, and
this deducted from 5 1 ,
Leaves 22 Barrels for the second Wort.
The twenty-nine barrels, equally divided between the
two first mashes, is fourteen barrels and a half for each;
and the twenty-two barrels, equally divided between the
two last mashes, is eleven barrels for each.
The last heat for pale keeping beers is 160 degrees.
And the first is , 146 degrees.
Their difference is 14
This, as above, multiplied by 4
And divided by 7) 56
Leaves 8 degrees.
the proportion to be allotted to the first wort, and 6 de-
grees, the remainder, to the last, in a regular progressive
state; the elements for this brewing would stand as
under.
Malt's Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth
dryiiess. hops. medium, mash mash. mash. mash.
Degrees 119 3 133 ... 146 ... 154 ... 157 ... 160
Barrels. 14? 14| 11 11
. THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 239
But more exactly to imitate the fermented liquors
formed by nature, our first wort, answering to the ger-
minating part of her processs, must be of one uniform
heat in the extracts, as must likewise our second wort :
(See page 165) the mean, then, of the progressive heats
of the first wort will be that which must be applied both
to the first and second mashes, and the mean of the pro-
gressive heats of the second wort, that which must direct
the third and fourth mashes ; from whence are deduced
Elements for forming keeping pale strong and
keeping pale small beers.
Malt's Value Whole First Second Third Fourth
dryness. ofhops. medium. Mash. Mash. Mash. mash.
Degrees 119 3 138 .. 150 .... 150... 158-L .. 158^
Barrels 14j 14i 11 11
First wort. Second wort.
That this method of applying the heats to the mashes
corresponds to the medium heat which is to govern the
whole process, the circumstances required m page 165,
the following operation will prove.
29 Barrels, the first wort.
Heated to 1 50
1450
29
4350
240 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
22 Barrels, the second wort.
Heated to 1 58±
11
176
110
22
Whole 3487
quantity 4350
of water,
Barrels 51 )7837( 153 The mean heat of the 4 mashes.
51 2 Deducted for the heat lost at the
tap.
273 151 Heat of the tap's spending.
255 119 Malt's dryness.
187 270
153
135 Mean heat of Malt's dryness and
of the extracts.
3 Value of hops.
138 Mean heat of the whole process.
Admitting of the necessary variations in the medium
heats which are to govern processes for different pur-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 241
poses, and of those in the number of degrees forming the
constituent parts of the must, in proportion as the drinks
are to be formed, either to become spontaneously fine,
or made so by precipitation, or intended for a longer or
shorter duration. This rule will be found universally
true, when beers are brewed with two worts : but when,
for the benefit of the drink, or on account of the
smallness of the utensils, as is often the case, when
the second mode of extraction is put in practice, we are
obliged to carry on the process with three worts, these
proportions must necessarily be altered, and the follow-
ing have, in this case, been found most advantageous.
The first and second wort ought to have two thirds of
the water ; the first wort two thirds of this quantity, the
second the remainder of this, and the third wort one
third part of the whole.
Porter or brown beer is the sort of drink, in which
this division is most commonly observed. Let the whole
quantity of water to be used be that of the brewing, of
which the elements have been laid down, (page 233) ov
54 barrels.
242 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
54
2
3) 108
36
2
3) 72
24 Barrels of water for the first wort,
12 Barrels for the second wort.
1 8 Barrels for the third wort.
54
The last degree
for this drink is,
with malt dried
to 130 degrees, 165 Degrees.
The first, as per
page 178 155 Degrees.
Their difference 10 Degrees.
2
3) 20
3)14
5 Heat of first wort.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 243
Five degrees to be proportioned in the first wort, and
these deducted from 7 degrees, the number allowed for
the first and second wort, there remains two degrees for
the second wort ; and seven degrees deducted from ten,
the whole difference, leaves three degrees, to be propor-
tioned in the third and last wort.
A grist of eleven quarters of malt is too large, to ad-
mit of the water allowed for the first wort to be equally
divided between the first and second m#sh ; therefore,
rather than use the whole 24^ barrels in one mash, a
sufficient qtiantity only must be applied to the first
mash, both to work it, and to get as much of the extract
to come down, as will save the bottom of the copper it
is to be pumped into. By this management, there will
be enough left to form the second extract with, or what
by the brewers is termed the piece liquor. The exact
quantity of water the first mash should have, might be
referred to the following section, but the order we have
laid down, will excuse our anticipating thereon.
It has been found, and will hereafter be proved, that a
volume of eleven quarters of malt, dried to 130 degrees,
is equal to 6,32 barrels of liquid measure, that malt in
general requires twice its volume of water to wet it, and
this quantity of water is retained after every tap is spent.
Q2
244 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
6,32 Barrels, volume of the 1 1 quarters of
malt.
18,96
6,32
12,64 Barrels of water imbibed by the grist,
which, deducted from
24,00 Whole quantity of water allowed for
the first wort.
Remains 3) 11,36 Extract, which will be yielded from
the first and second mash.
3,78 Length of the first piece, which is
sufficient to save the copper.
3,78
12,64 Quantity imbibed as above.
16,42 Quantity of water for the first mash.
7,58 Quantity of water for the second mash.
24,00
The elements of this brewing, as we have them (page
178) placed in a progressive state, will be as under,
where the quantity of water allowed for the first wort is
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 245
divided into two mashes, according to the circumstances
just now taken notice of, where the second wort is
formed by one entire mash, and the water allotted for
the third wort is separated equally into two parts, for the
two last mashes, and when the ten degrees of heat, tne
difference between the first and last heats employed, are
as near as possible proportioned to the lengths of the
worts.
Malt's Value Whole First Second Third fourth Fifth,
dryness. of hops, medium, mash. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Deg. 130 ... 4 ... 148 ... 155 ... 16o-... 162 ... 164 .. 165.
Barrels 16 ... 8 ... 12 ... d .. 9.
But, for the reasons alledged in page 236, they admit
of the following variation.
Elements for brewing brown beer or porter*
Malt's Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth Fifth
dryness. hops. medium. mash. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Deg. 130 ....4.... 148 ... 1514; - 15fi.. 162.. 164 .. 165
Barrels 16 .. 8 .. 12.. 9.. 9
1 wort 2 wort 3 wort.
And, if proved as before, the same correspondence
will be found with the medium governing heat.
The third mode of extraction is intended for a drink
which is soon to be ready for use, in which, in the coldest
season of the year, transparency is expected, and, in the
hottest months, soundness : to procure these intents, we
have already shewn (page 191) it was necessary to vary
Q 3
246 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
the medium heats governing these several processes, in
proportion as the seasons of the year differed as to heat
and cold. Our present business is a proper division of
the whole quantity of water necessary for brewing, into
the respective worts and mashes, and to apply to each,
the adequate degree of heat : one single example will
suffice for the operation, and the whole variety this drink
is subjected to, will be expressed in the table subjoined.
The general practice to brew common small beer, and
which is best, is to form it with two worts and four
mashes, and, in this case, as was before practised for
keeping pale beers, in order to allow for the water at
first absorbed by the grist ; four sevenths of the whole
quantity is required for the first wort, and the remainder
for the second wort, dividing these quantities again into
equal parts, for their respective mashes. As a speedy
spontaneous pellucidity is expected in every season of
the year, and as every means for producing this without
affecting the soundness of the drink, must be put in
practice, the whole number of constituent parts are not
only applied, but likewise the progressive heats suffered
to take place: for here, through necessity, we are com-
pelled to forsake the rules nature pointed out, (as in
pages 64, 65); the reasons why are obvious; this drink
receives no benefit by the slow progress nature recom-
mends, and therefore very little by the impressions of
time.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 247
In page 232, we found the whole quantity of water to
be used for the brewing there specified, fifty-one barrels,
and in page 191, we find when the heat of the air is at
60, the first heat is 154, the last 174 degrees.
Water 5 1 Barrels, multiplied by
4
Divided by 7) 204
Gives 29 for the first Wort, and this de-
ducted from 51,
Leaves 22 for the second Wort.
The twenty-nine barrels, divided into the first and
second mashes, will be fourteen barrels and a half for
each; and the twenty-two barrels, equally divided be-
tween the third and fourth mashes, is eleven barrels
each.
The last heat for this brewing of common small beer
is (see page 191) 174 degrees.
The first heat, 154 degrees.
Their difference ».... 20
Multiplied by ' 4
And divided by 7) 80
Leaves (to avoid fractions) nearly 12 degrees,
Q 4
248 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING,
to be proportioned in the first wort, and 8 degrees,
the remainder of the 20, to the second wort, in a regular
progressive state : the elements for this brewing are :
Malt's Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth
dryness. -hops. medium, masb mash. mash. mash.
Degrees 130 ..... 2 ...... 148 ... 154 ... 166 ... 170 ... 174
Barrels 14| 14^ 11 11
First wort. Second wort.
The quantity of water used for brewing small beer is
in proportion to the largeness of the grist, and the price
of the grain ; this admitting of almost an endless variety,
it is needless to pursue it : but the dryness of the malt,
the value of the hops, the medium governing the pro-
cesses, and the heat of the extracts being fixed, and con-
stant degrees of heat in proportion to that of the air, I
have constructed the following table, which will be
found useful to the practitioner in every season of the
year.
Heat of Malt's Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth,
air. dryness. hops, medium, mash. mash. mash. mash.
35 ... 122 .... 1 .... 135 .. 138 .. 150 .. 154 .. 158
40 ... 124 .... 1 .... 137 .. 140 .. 152.. 156.. 160
45 ... 125 .... 1 .... 140 .. 145 .. 157.. 161 .. 165
50 ... 127 .... 1 .... 143 .. 149 .. 161 .. 165... 169
55 ... 129 .... 1|... 146 .. 152 .. 164 .. 168 .. 172
«0 ... 130 .... 2 .... US .. 154 .. 166 .. 170 .. 174
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 243
The last business of this section is to divide the quan-
tity of water requisite to brew pale ales or amber, and to
apply to such divisions their necessary degrees of heat.
This liquor is rather an effort of art, than an exact imi-
tation of nature, as in it the greatest transparency, joined
to the greatest strength, is expected in a very short
time. To obtain these ends, the whole number of the
constituent properties of malt and two mashes only are
employed. In the first, in order to favor its pellucidity,
the lowest adequate extracting degree must be used;
and in the second, to cause the malt to yield the whole
of its necessary parts, the highest fitting heat must be
applied ; the whole of the process is, nevertheless, sub-
jected to the governing medium heat of 138 degrees, the
highest which admits of voluntary brightness. But where
a drink is formed with two mashes only, and boiled off
in one entire wort, to keep the due proportion between
the quantity of water used, and the heat required in the
extracts, and at the same time to allot the proper quan-
tity for what is imbibed by the grist, the most conve-
nient division found, will be three-fifths of the whole
quantity of water to be applied to the first mash, and the
remaining two -fifths to the other. I know to this, cus-
tom may be objected, that the first mash for amber
should be a stiff one, in order the better to retain the
heat ; but this, in the division here proposed, may
equally b<* obtained by a proper allowance made in the
250 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
attemperating of the water, without affecting the pro-
portion of the heats required, as otherwise must be the
case.
From 8 quarters of malt to make 13 barrels of fine ale.
13 Length.
i Boiling half hour.
26 Whole water employed, multiplied by
3
Divided by 5) 78
Gives 1 6 Barrels for the first mash, and leaves
10 Barrels for the second mash,
the lowest heat being required in the first extract, and
the highest in the last, according to page 194 ; for the
16 barrels it will be 144, and for the 10 barrels it will
contain 164 degrees.
But as the heat of the air occasions a difference in the
quantities of hops to be used, and as from hence the ex-
tracts are somewhat varied : it has been judged conve-
nient to add the following table :
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 25 1
A TABLE of the elements for forming pale
ale or amber, at every degree of heat in the
air, with the allowance of two degrees of
heat, in the first and last extractions.
Heat of Malt's Value of Medium heat of the extracts. First Last
air. drjness. hops. and of malt's dryness. heat, heat
35 120.... 4; 138 147. 167
40 120 .... | 138 146 . 167
45 120.... 1 138 146. 166
50 120 .... li 138 145 . 165
55 120 .... li ...7.^.'..Z.... 138 145 . 165
60 120 .... 2 138 144 . 164
In summer time, it is sometimes thought better to
brew this drink with malts more dried ; for conveniency
sake, I here insert two examples.
Heat of Malt's Value of Whole Heat of Heat of
air. drvness. hops. Medium, first mash, last mash.
60 122 2 138 142 162
60 124 2 138 140 160
For the management of small beer made after amber,
see page 197.
Thus having shewn how to ascertain the quantities of
the malt, the hops, the water, and the heat to be used,
and to proportion them to each other, as the good or
bad properties of beers arise from the extracts, and fire
2
252 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
is the governing agent, we must now seek the means
to administer the right portion of heat, and so to tem-
per the water that is to form the extracts, as not to be
disappointed of our intentions. In the calculations made
for this purpose, not only the water in the copper, but
the value and effect of the grist, as to heat and cold, must
be considered.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 253
SECTION X.
An enquiry into the Volume of Malt, in order to reduce
the Grist to liquid Measure.
1 HE gallon, by which malt is measured, though less,
is nearly of the same capacity with that, which is used
for beer or water. The quarter of malt, contains 64-
gallons of this measure, and the barrel, within the bills
of mortality, according to the gauges used by the ex-
cise, contains 36 gallons, but without the bills, 34;
though the first quantity is the measure for sale through-
out the kingdom. Hence it would appear, that propor-
tioning the grain to the barrel of water would be no diffi-
cult undertaking. This however is so far from being
the case, that, after having made use of several calcula-
tions to help us to the true proportions, we shall find,
they want the corroborating proofs of actual experience,
to be entirely depended upon.
The ultimate parts of water are so very small, as to
make this, as well as all other liquids, appear to the eye
one continued uniform body, without any interstices.
This cannot be said of malt laying together either whole
or ground ; there are numbers of vacancies between the
corns, when whole, and between the particles when
ground, but for our present purpose the volume occupied
354 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
by any quantity of malt is properly no more, than the
space which would be occupied by every individual corn,
either whole or cut asunder, were they as closelj- joined
together as water.
To determine, with precision, the quantity of cold
•water to be added to that, which is brought to the boil-
ing point, (an act by the brewers called cooling in}
it is necessary to know, what proportion a quarter of
malt bears to the measure of a barrel of water. Several
operations will be found requisite to come to this know-
kdge ; viz. to take several gauges of different brewings,
more especially in the first part of the process ; to be
well acquainted with the degree of dryness of the malt
used, the heat of the first extract, and the quantity of
liquor the mash tun holds upon every inch ; to find out
what degrees of expansion are produced by the different
degrees of heat in the first mash, how much less water
the mash tun holds upon an inch when hot, than it does
when cold, what quantity of water is lost by evaporation,
and in what proportion at the several terms of the pro-
cess. In order to put this in practice, the gauges of the
following brewings were taken.
5 quarters of malt dried to 125 degrees.
B * F. G.
The quantity of water used for the first ) . 0
masb was )
* B. stands for barrel', F. for firkins, G. for gallous, and the num-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 255
The malt and water gauged together in ^
the mash tun just before the tap was >25, 00 inches.
set .................................................... )
Allowance for the space under the false ")
bottom boards of the mash tun, as near > 0, 66 inches.
as could be computed ...................... )
The goods gauged in the mash tun, after ) . ,
the first tap was spent ....................... f 15' 4
B. F. G.
First piece gauged in the copper .......... 802
B. F. G.
The water employed for the second mash )
was
The grist gauged with this water just be- j . ,
fore the tap was set j 6(J> 6
And just after the tap was spent 15, 63 inches.
B. F. G.
The first wort consisting of these two) _.
pieces gauged in the copper ,,.. j
B. F. G.
The water used for the third mash was ... 8 S 6
Just before the tap was set the grist with ) „„ „ • ,
this gauged in the mash tun ?. | 24' 60 mches«
And just after the tap was spent 15, 20 inches.
B. F. G.
The water used for the fourth mash was 836
hers past the comma, where the inches are expressed, for decimals;
3 1 gallons are here allowed to the barrel, in compliance to the ex-
cise gauging, as these calculations were made without th« bills.
256 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
The mash gauged just before the tap j Q^ g
And just after the tap was spent 15, 16 inches.
The heat of the first extract was 136 degrees, to which
adding two degrees, for what is lost by the tap spending,
the true heat of the mash is 138 degrees.
The first extract, before it is blended with hops, may
be estimated to be nearly as strong as a first wort of
common small beer. This, when under a strong ebulli-
tion, raised the thermometer to 216 degrees, and seven
barrels of such a wort, when boiling, occupied an equal
space with nine barrels of cold water, at the mean tem-
perature of 60 degrees. Now, if the degrees of expan-
sion follow the proportion of those of heat, the following
table, constructed upon this supposition, will shew how
many barrels of cold water would be necessary to oc-
cupy the same space with seven barrels of wort of diffe-
rent heats.
Degrees of heat
Barrels of cold water.
Barrels of v»»rf .
216
9,00 ,
7
206
8,87
7
196
,. 8,75
7
186
8,62
7
117
8,50
7
167
8,37
7
158
8,25
7
148
8,12
7
138
8,00
7
127
7,87
7
119
7,75
7
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 25t
The quantity of water evaporated in a brewing, whett
not in immediate contact with fire, is more considerable
than it is generally apprehended to be ; after repeated
trials, I have found that what was lost in this manner
amounted nearly to one fifth.
Now since the heat of the first tap was 138 degrees,
and my mash tun holds 20,2£ gallons upon an inch, the
following proportion may be deduced from the preceding
table*
If 8 - 7 - 20,25
8,00)141,7500
17,71 Gallons j
and this is the true quantity contained in one inch, at a
heat of 138 degrees.
The quantity of water used for the first mash, was
12 B. 2F. 3 G. or 428 gallons, of which one fifth is sup-
posed to be steamed away, when the first liquor is gone
through the whole process of the extraction : but as the
gauges of the malt and water together are taken before
y
the tap is set, ifi the beginning of the process, the whole
evaporation ought not to be deduced, and onB sixth
seems to be a sufficient allowance on this account. We
may therefore suppose 357 gallons to be in the mash
tun at the time of gauging, which number being divided
R
258 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
by 17,71, will shew how many inches are taken up by
the water at that heat.
17,71)357,0000(20,15
3542
2800
1771
10290
8855
1435
The mash gauged just before the tap was
set, 25,00lnches.
Allowed for the space under false bottoms, 0,66
25,66
Deduct the inches taken up by the water, 20,15
Remainder for the five quarters of malt, ... 5,51 Inches,
or 1,10 inch for one quarter. This number being mul-
tiplied by 17,71, the quantity of gallons contained upon
one inch at this heat, will give 19,48 gallons for the vo-
lume of one quarter of this malt. There now remains
nothing but to bring a barrel of water of 34 gallons,
under like circumstances, as to expansion and evapora-
tion, with these 19,48 gallons, with this difference only,
that as the proportion required is, at the time the water
and malt first come in contact, and not after the mash
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 259
has been worked, a less allowance for steaming will be
sufficient, and may well, be fixed at one seventh.
Gauge within the bills of Gauge without the bills of
mortality. mortality.
If 7,00 8,00 ,.,. 36 If 7,00 .... 8,00 .... 34
36 34
7,00)288,00 7,00)272,00
41,14
5,87 Lost by steam.
35,24
The barrel of water reduced ; and as 19,48 gallons, under
the same circumstances, were found equal to one quarter
of malt, the following division will shew the proportion
"between them.
19,48)35,2400(1,81 19,48)33,3000(1,70
1948 1948
15760 13820
15584 13636
1760 184
1948
Thus, in malt dried to 1 25 degrees, the quantity of
1,70 quarters is required to make a volume equal to 34
gallons, or a barrel of water, according to the excise
R2
260 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
gauging without the bills of mortality ; and the quantity
of 1,81 quarters is required to make a volume equal to
36 gallons, or a barrel of water, according to the excise
guaging within the bills of mortality.
The more the malt has been dried, the larger the in-
terstices are between its parts ; the quantity of water it
admits will consequently be greater than what is absorbed
by such as is less dry* More of this last malt will be ne-
cessary to make a volume, equal to that of the barrel of
water ; and every different degree of dryness must cause
a variety in this respect. It will therefore be proper to
repeat the operation with a high-dried grist.
Gauges of a brewing of eight quarters of malt dried to
1 40 degrees.
' . • ., -ids
B. F. G,
) tJlBIfI 1C
The water used for the first mash, ...... ... 11 2 4
Malt and water gauged together in the ~l _ . „ r ,
mash, just before'the tap was set, ..... j 26>2> Inche!-
B. F. G.
First piece gauged in the copper, ............ 5 0 0
B. F. G.
The water for the second mash was 11 24
The mash gauged just before the tap was set, 35, 7Q Inches.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 261
Just after the tap was spent, v 22,19 Inches.
B. F. G.
The wort made of these two pieces |
gauged in the copper,
B. F. G.
The water used for the third mash was .... 8 3 6
The mash gauged just before the tap was set 31,10 Inches.
And just after the tap was spent, 21,77 Inches.
B. F. G.
The water used for the fourth mash was ... 8 3 6
The mash gauged just before the tap was set 30,50 Inches.
And just after the tap was spent 21,60 Inches.
The heat of the first extract was 142 degrees. Now,
by the table of expansions (page 256).
G.
If 8,05 7,00 20,25 of cold water, upon
700 an inch in mash tun.
8,05)1417500(17,60 will be the real
805 quantity of water
upon an inch in the
6 1 25 mash tun , when heat-
5635 ed to 142 degrees.
262 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
B. F. G.
Quantity of water in the first mash, 11 24
34
44
33
17
4
395
Deduction for the evaporation at this
period, one sixth, 65,83
329,17 true quantity
of the water for the first mash, which must be divided
by the real quantity of water contained upon an inch in
the mash tun.
17,60)329,1700(18,70 inches taken up
1760 in the mash tun, by
'• — the water used in
15317 the first mash.
14080
12370
12320 '
50
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 26S
The mash gauged just before the tap
was set 26,25 Inches.
Allowed for the space under the false
bottoms ,.. 0,66
26,91
Inches taken up by the water of the
first mash 18,70
Space occupied by these 8 quarters of
malt ..8) 8,21 Inches of
mash tun.
Space occupied by one quarter 1,02
17,60
6120
714
102
17,9520 Gallons of
water equal in volume to one quarter of this malt.
Excise gauge without the bills of mortality.
If 7,00 8,05 34
34
3220
2415
7,00) 273,70
39,10 Expansion of the barrel of
water, out of which yth, 5,58, is to be deducted for
evaporation.
Remains, 33,52 for the barrel of water re-
duced, which the quarter of malt, or 17,95, is to be com-
pared to.
R4
264 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING,
Excise gauge within the bills of mortality.
If 7,00 8,05 36
36
4830
2415
7,00)289,80(41,44 Expansion of one barrel of
2800 water,
592 |th to be deducted for eva-
980 poration.
700 35,52 Barrel of water reduced,
— - rr — which the quarter of malt,
280O- or 17,95 is to be compared
2800 to.
17,95)33,5200(1,86 Quantity of malt dried to 140 de-
1795 grees equal to one barrel of water.
15570
1436O
1330
17,95)35,3700(1,97 Quantity of malt dried to 140 de^
1795 grees, equal to one barrel of
water, according to the excise
17420 gauge within the bills of mor-
16155 tality.
12650
12565
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 265
Having found the volume of malt at two distant terms
of dryness, we might divide the intermediate degrees in
the same manner as we have done before, could the cer-
tainty of these calculations be entirely depended upon ;
but as some allowances have been made without imme-
diate proof, how near soever truth the result thereof may
from experiments appear, it may be proper to point out
what is wanting to make our suppositions satisfactory.
Some part of the calculation depends on the quantity
evaporated ; this, in the same space of time, may be
more or less, as the fire under the water is brisk or slow,
or as the weight of the atmosphere differs. The gauges
are taken at the time the malt and water are in contact,
and more or less water may be imbibed in proportion,
both of the dryness and age of the malt ; water as a fluid,
malt as a porous solid body, must differ in their expan-
sion, but in what proportion is to me unknown ; effer-
vescence may be another cause of want of exactness ; the
different cut the malt has had in the mill, its being or
not being truly prepared, and lastly the difference as to
time, of the mashing or standing of the grist, prevent
our relying wholly upon the calculation. It is, how-
ever, not improbable that some of these incidents correct
one another. Since 1 ,70 quarter of malt dried to 1 25 de-
grees are equal to one barrel of water, and 1,86 quarter
of malt dried to 140 have the same volume, the diffe-
rence being but 16 parts out of 100, the whole of the
266 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
error cannot be very great, and one quarter six bushels
of malt may, at a medium, be estimated of the same vo-
lume with one barrel of water. But, as experience is the
surest guide, I have, from a very great number of diffe-
rent brewings, collected the following proportions, and
repeatedly found them to be true. I have added, in the
table, the weight malt ought to have, at every degree of
dryness.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 267
A TABLE shewing the quantity of malt of
every degree of dryness, equal to the volume
of one barrel of water, and of the mean
weight of one quarter in proportion to its
dryness.
Excise gauge Excise gauge
Degree of without the bills. within the bills. Weight in
dryness. Volume of grain. Volume of grain. pounds.
Barley 80 1,56
. 1,59
376
100 1,62
1,63
306
105
1,62 ...
, 1,67 ...
301
no
1,65 .;,
1,71 ..
296
115
1,67
1,15
291
Malt 119
1,68 ..
1,79 ..
286
124
i/n
1,83 ..:
281
129
1,74
1,87
276
134
1,T7
1,91
271
138
1,80
1,95
266
143
1,83
2,00
261
148
1,86
2,03
256
152
1,89
2,07
251
157
1,92
2,11
246
162
1,95
2,15 .
241
167
1,98
2,19
236
171
2,01
2,23
231
176 2,04 2,27 226
268 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
With a table thus constructed, it is very easy to re-
duce every grist to its proper volume of water. Sup-
pose those of the brewings we have already mentioned ;
that of the small beer consists of 6 quarters of malt dried
to 130 degrees, the proportion of which in the table is as
1,75 to 1.
Quarter of malt Barrel of water. Malt. Water.
If 1,75 1 6 3,42.
These six quarters of malt occupy therefore an equal
volume with 3,42 barrels of water. A brown beer grist
of 1 1 quarters dried to 1 30 degrees ; the proportion of
this in the table is as 1 ,74 to 1 .
Malt. Water, Malt. Water.
If 1,74 1 11 6,32
The volume of these 1 1 quarters, of malt is therefore
the same with that of 6, 3 2. barrels of water, and the whole
being brought to one denomination, we are enabled to
find the heat of the first mash ; but the effervescence oc-
casioned by the union of the malt and water must prevent
this calculation being strictly true, the consideration of
which shall take place hereafter.
The circumstances are different in the other mashes :
the waters used for these, meet a grist already saturat-
ed, and the volume is increased beyond the quantity
found for dry malt. The quantity to be allowed for
this increase cannot be determined by our former catcu-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
lations, and new trials are to be ittade^ in order to fix
upon the true proportion.
Gauging is undoubtedly the most certain method of
proceeding in these researches ; but even this become*
less sure, on account of the expansion, evaporation,
effervescence, and other incidents already mentioned. —
Our errors however cannot be very considerable, when
we deduce our conclusions from numerous and suffici-
ently varied experiments.
The volume of the grist of pale malt was found, after
the parting of the first extract, to be 15,41 inches,
though the space occupied by the malt, when dry, was
only 5,51 inches: and the volume of the brown grist,
at the same period, was 22,36 inches, though the dry
malt filled only a space of 8,21 inches. The proportion
in both these cases, and in all those which I have tried,
answers nearly to one third, so that the volume of the
grist, in the second and all subsequent mashes, may be
estimated at three times the bulk of the malt when dry,
and this is sufficiently accurate for the operations of
brewing, in which, for conveniency sake, the applica-
tion of whole numbers should be effected.
As it is found, by the gauges, that the goods, after the
several taps are spent, remain sensibly of the same vo-
lume, or at least very little diminished ; may we not con-
clude, the parts absorbed by the water, in which the vir-
tue of the grain and the strength of the beer consist,
270 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
are contained in an amazing small compass ? It is indeed
true that hot waters and repeated mashes do swell some-
what the hulls and skins of the malt, but no allowance
made for this increase will be sufficient, to remove the
cause of our surprise.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 271
SECTION XL
Of the Proportion of cold Water to be added to that
which is on the point of Boiling, in Order to obtain the
desired heat in the Extract.
1 HE degree of heat, which causes water to boil is de-
termined, by Farenheit's scale, to 212. It is in our
power to give to any part of the extracting water this
degree of heat ; and by adding to it a sufficient propor-
tion of water of an equal heat with that of the air, and
blending these two quantities with the grist, to bring the
whole to the required temperature. The rules for ob-
taining this end are extremely simple, and cannot be
unknown to those, who are skilled in arithmetical opera-
tions. But as our view is to render this part of our
work generally useful, we think it will be proper briefly
to lay down these rules, and to illustrate them by the ex-
amples of our two brewings.
Rule to ascertain the heat of the first Mash.
Let a express the degree of boiling water, b the actual
heat of the air, c the required degree for the extract,
m the whole quantity of water to be used, n the volume
of the malt ; JT, that part of the water, which is to be made
to boil, will be determined by the following equation.
1
272 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
b x m + n
The quantity of water used, added ( -f ) to the volume
of the grist.
Their sum (z) multiplied ( X ) by the heat required,
less ( — ) the heat of the air. rr,
This produce divided (-f-) by the heat of boiling wa-
te (212) less (— ) the heat of the air will quote how
much is to be made to boil or brought through (212)
that is how high the copper is to be charged, the re-
mainder of the length of the whole liquor for this mash,
. , . , , , . v-'J iJtjyrb -L
is the quantity to be cooled in.
jf »dl oi Dlmfw
The first example is that of a brewing of small beer,
when the heat of the air is at 60, (see page 232.) The
volume of the 6 quarters of malt was estimated at 3,42
barrels, (see page 268 ;) the first liquor is 144; barrels, (see
page 247) and the heat required for the first mash 154
degrees, (seepage 247.)
i -o\ rAv/iV
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 273
First Mash.
Hi r= 14,50 Barrels of water
n — 3,42 Volume of grist
m + w= 17,92 c— 154 Heat of the first
mash*
94 b = 60 Heat of the air,
(a) heat of c— b — 94
boiling water, 212 7168
b heat of the
air, 60 16128
a— b ±r 152 ) 168448 (1108 barrels of water, to
152 be made to boil out of
the 14 -f -barrels which
164 are allotted for the first
152 mash. The incidents to
be mentioned, are not
1248 considered in this calcu-
1216 lation.
The next example of a brewing is that of a grist of
eleven quarters of malt for porter or brown beer ; the
medium heat of the air is forty degrees, the volume of
the grist, 6,32 barrels, (see page 268) the first liquor to
mash with sixteen barrels, (see page 245) and the heat
' S
274 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
expected in the mash, one hundred and fifty-seven and
a half * degrees. (See page 245).
First Mash of brown strong beer. .
} 6,00 Barrels of water
6,32 Volume of malt
« 157 Heat required in the
22,32 mash, vide page 247.
117 40 Heat of the air.
heat of boil- 15624 117
ing water, 212 2232
Heat of air, 40 2232
172 ) 26 11 44 (15,18 barrels of water, to be
172 made to boil out of the
16 barrels.
891
860
314
1324
The half degree omitted in this mash will be added to the next.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 275
I will give one proof of the certainty of this rule, by
setting down the state of this first mash from it.
15,18
212
A. 3218,16 Number of degrees of heat in 14,66 barrels
of boiling water.
16,00 Barrels of water to first mash.
15,18 Barrels made to boil.
,82 Barrel to cool in.
40 Heat ofcold water.
B. 32,80 Number of degrees of heat in 1,34 barrels of
eold water.
15,18 Boiling water.
,82 Cold water.
6,32 Volume of grist.
C. 22,32 Barrels, volume of the whole mash.
6,32 Barrels, volume of the 11 quarters of
malt.
,40 Heat of the grist.
252,80 Number of degrees of heat in the
grist.
32,80 B.
3218,16 A.
C. 22,32 ) 350376 (157 degrees of heat required in the
2232 first mash, as above.
12717
11160
15576
15624
S 2
276 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
So long as the mixture consists only of two quantities
of different heat, as is always the case of the first mash,
the preceding solution takes place. But in the second
and other mashes, where three bodies are concerned,.
each of different heat, viz. the boiling water, the cold
water, and the mash, are to be mixed, and brought to a
determinate degree, the rule must be different ; yet, like
the former, it is the same with what is used in similar
cases of allaying, when different metals are to be melted
down into a compound of a certain standard, or different
ingredients of different value to be blended, in order to
make a mixture of a determinate price. What the dif-
ferent density of the metals, or the different value of the
ingredients are, in these cases, the different degrees of
heat of the boiling water, the grist, and the air, are in
this.
Rule to ascertain the heat of the second mash,
and of the subsequent ones.
Let the same letters stand for the things they signified
before, and d express the actual heat of the grist, then
— c — b xw+ c — d x »
a — b
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 277
or in plain terms, the heat required less (— ) the heat of
the air, multiplied ( x ) by the quantity of water used.
The heat required less (— ) the heat of the goods, mul-
tiplied ( X ) by the volume of the goods.
Their sum (z) divided (-h) by the heat of boiling
water, (212) less (— ) the heat of the air.
Will quote the quantity to be made to boil, or to be
brought through (212) the remainder part of the whole
liquor for the mash is consequently the quantity to be
cooled in.
We may now collect the circumstances of the two
brewings, and find the quantity of boiling water, required
for their second and subsequent mashes, exclusively of
the incidents which will hereafter be mentioned.
The first mash for the six quarters of small beer, had
154 degrees of heat, but this and every mash looses, in
the time the extract is parting from it, 4 degrees, which
reduces the heat to 150 degrees. The volume of this
grist, in its dry state, was 3,42 barrels, but now, by being
expanded, and having imbibed much water, it occupies
three times that space, or 10,26 barrels; the air is sup-
posed to continue in the same state of 60 degrees of
heat. The length and heat to be given to the three re-
maining mashes, are as follows. (See page 247.)
Degrees of heat, 154 166 170 174
Barrels of water, 14£ 14i 11 11
Liquors, 1st 2d 3d 4th
wort. 2 wort.
S 3
278 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
Second Mash for Small Beer,
c zr 166 Heat required in the mash.
d— 150 Heat of the goods.
c — d= 16
n = 1026 Volume of the goods,
96
32
160
c — d x W=: 16416
c ~ 166 Heat required in the mash.
6=60 Heat of the air.
c — b — 106
m := 1 450 Barrels of water.
5300
424
106
c — b X m= 153700
c — dxn= 16416
a — 6 = 152)170116(11,19 Barrels of water to be made to
1 52 boil out of the quantity allotted
a — 212 r for the second mash.
l>= 60 181
— - 152
152
291
152
1396
1368
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
279
Third Mash.
170 Heat of mash. 170 Heat of 3rd mash.
60 Heat of air. 162 Heat of goods*
110
1 100 Barrels of water
3d mash.
<j
1026 Volume of* grist.
8208
152)129208(8,50 Barrels to be made to boil out of the
1216 quantity of water allowed for the
third mash
760
760
8
Fourth Mash.
174 Heat of 4-th mash. 174 Heat of 4th mash,
60 Heat of air. 166 Heat of goods.
114 8
1 1 ,00 Barrels of water 1026 Volume of goods,
• for 4th mash. -^ — -
11400
114
48
16
8O
8208
152 ) 133608 ( 879 Barrels to be made to boil out of the
1216 quantity of water allowed for the
fourth mash.
1200
1064
1368
1368
S4
380 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The liquors of this brewing of common small beer,
when the mean heat of the air is 60 degrees, must there-
fore be ordered in the following manner (the incidents
hereafter to be noticed, excepted.)
1 Liqr/ 2 Liqr. 3 Liqr. 4 Liqr.
Lengths of liquors, 14|. 14| ...... 11 11
Boiling water ; barrels, . 1 1 11-| 8i 8|
Cold water; barrrels, ... 3^ 3| 24. 2±
14? 14^ 11 11
The heat of the first mash for the 1 1 quarters of brown,
beer, was 157 degrees, (see page 245) and after the
parting of the extract from it) 153 ; the volume of the
grist, in its dry state, was valued at 6,32 barrels of
water, (see page 268) but, for the reasons before menr
tioned, it now occupies three times that space, or 18,9S
barrels. The air is supposed to continue at 40 degrees,
and the length and heat to be given to the different
mashes, were determined as follows: (see page 245.)
Degree of heat, 157 .... 158 .... 162 .... 164 .... 165
Barrels of water, 16 .... 8 .... 12 .... 9 .... 9
JJquors, 1st... 2d.... 3d.... 4th.. 5th
1 wort. 2 wort. 3 wort.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 281
Becond Mash of Porter, or brown strong,
212 Boiling water.
40 Heat of air.
172
158 Heat of 2nd mash
1 5 3 Heat of the grist or goods,
5
1896 Volume of goods.
- 158 Heat of 2nd mash 30
40 Heat of air 45
40
118 5
8,00 Barrels of •
water. 9480
94400
9480
172)103880(6,03 Barrels of water *o be ma.de to boil for
1032 the second mash.
680
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Third Mash.
21 2 Heat of boiling water.
4O Heat of air.
f 62 Heat of 3rd mash.
40 Heat of air.
1 62 Heat of 3rd
154 Heat of goods
8
18,96
122
12,00 Bar. of water.
48
12
64
8
146400
15168 • i^
15168
112)161568(9,45 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1548 third mash.
688
888
86O
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 2«3
Fourth Mash.
164 Heat of 4th mash.
158 Heat of goods.
6
18,96 Volume of grist wetted.
164 Heat of 4th mash.
40 Heat of air. 36
54
124 48
9,00 Bars, of water. 6
111600 11376
11376
172) 122976(7,14 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1204 the fourth mash.
257
172
856
688
168
2S4 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Fifth Mash.
165 Heat of 5th Mash.
160 Heat of Goods.
5
18,96
1 65 Heat of 5th mash.
40 Heat of air. 30
45
125 40
9,00 Barrels of water. 5
114500 9480
948O
172) 123980(7,20 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1204 the 5th mash.
358
344
14O
The liquors of this brewing of brown beer must there-
fore be ordered in the following manner :
Barrels of boiling water, 15^ 6 ....... 9? 7 7
Barrels of cold water, .... £ 2 2i 2 2
16 8 12 99
Liquors, ,.... 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th.
3
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 285
What in the brewery is generally called cooling in,
must be settled for this brewing according to the number
of barrels of cold water specified as above, the incidents
hereafter to be noticed excepted.
Each of these calculations may be proved in the same
manner as was done before. This method of discovering
the proportion of water to be cooled in, deserves, on
account of its plainness and utility, to be preferred to
any other, which depend only upon the uncertain de-
fermination of our senses.
286! THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION XII.
OF MASHING.
OF late years, great progress has been made towards
perfecting the construction and disposition of brew-house
utensils, which seem to admit of very little farther im-
provement. The great copper, in which the waters for
two of the extracts receive their temperature, is built
very near the mash tun, so that the liquid may readily
be conveyed to the ground malt, without losing any
considerable heat. A cock is placed at the bottom
of the copper, which being opened, lets the water have
its course, through a trunk, to the real bottom of the
mash tun. It soon fills the vacant space, forces- itself a
passage through many holes made in a false bottom,
which supports the grist, and, as the water increases in
quantity, it buoys up the whole body of the corn.
In order to blend together the water and the malt,
rakes are first employed. By their horizontal motion,
less violent than that of mashing, the finest parts of the
flower are wetted, and prevented from being scattered
about, or lost in the air.
But as a more intimate penetration and mixture are
necessary, oars are afterwards made use of. They move
nearly perpendicularly, and by their beating, or mashing,
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 2$7
the grains of the malt are bruised, and a thorough im*.
bibition of the water procured,
The time employed in this operation cannot be settle4
with an absolute precision. It ought to be continued,
till the malt is sufficiently incorporated with the water,
but not so long as till the heat necessary to the grist b0
lessened. As bodies cool more or less speedily, in pro*
portion to their volume, and the cohesion of their parts,
a mash which has but little water, commonly called a.
stiff mash, requires a longer mashing to be sufficiency
divided, and, frorn its tenacity, is less liable to lose jl$
heat. This accounts fpr the general rule, that the first
mash ought always to be the longest.
After mashing, the malt and water are suffered to stand
together unmoved, generally for a space of time equal
to that they were mashed in. Was the extract drawn
from the grain as soon as the mashing is over, many of
the particles of the malt would be brought away undis-r
solved, and the liquor be turbid, though not rich. But,
by leaving it some time in contact with the grain, withr
out any external motion, many advantages are gained.
The different parts of the extract acquire an uniform
heat, the heaviest and most terrestrial subside, the pores
being opened, by heat, imbibe more readily the water,
and give Avay to the attenuation and dissolution of the
oils. When the tap comes to be set, or the extract to
be drawn from the grist, as the bottom of the mash U
238 THE PRACTICE dF BREWING?.
become more compact, the liquor is a longer time in its
passage through it, is in a manner strained, and conse-
quently extracts more strength from the malt, and be-
comes more homogeneous and transparent.
Such are the reasons why the grist should not only be
mashed pretty long, but likewise be suffered to rest an
equal time. It is the practice of most brewers, and ex-
perience shews it is best, to rake the first mash half an
hour, to mash it one hour more, and to suffer it to stand
one hour and a half. The next extract is commonly
mashed three quarters of an hour, and stands the same
space of time ; the third, and all that follow, are allowed
one half hour each, both for mashing and standing.
The heat of the grist being in this manner equally
spread, and the infusion, having received all the strength
from the malt, which such a heat could give it, after
every mashing and standing, is let out of the tun. This,
undoubtedly, is the fittest time to observe whether our
expectations have been answered. The thermometer is
the only instrument proper for this purpose, and ought
to be placed, or held, where the tap is set, adjoining to'
the mouth of the underback cock. The observation is
best madt, when the extract has run nearly half ; and as,
by it, we are to judge with what success the process is
carried on, it is necessary to examine every incident,
which may cause a deviation from the calculated heat.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. £89
*y><n-t-:itf^jpjjp-? .--
SECTION XIII.
Of the Incidents, which cause the Heat of the Extract to
vary from the Calculation, the allowances they require,
and the means to obviate their effects.
JjY incidents, I understand such causes as effect either
the malt, the water, or the mash, during the time the
brewing is carrying on, so as to occasion their heat to dif-
fer from what is determined by calculation* As these
might frequently be a reason of disappointment, an in-
quiry into their number and effects will not only furnish
means to prevent and rectify the errors they occasion,
but also serve to confirm this practice.
In our researches on the volume of malt, some notice
was taken of the increase of bodies by heat, and the loss
occasioned by evaporation. Water, when on the point
of ebullition, occupies the largest space it is susceptible
of; but contracting again, when cold water is added to
it, the true volume of both, when mixed together, re-
mains uncertain, and may cause a difference between the
calculated and real degree of heat. This cause, however,
producing an effect opposite to, and balanced in part by
evaporation, becomes so inconsiderable, as hardly to de-
serve any farther consideration.
Water, just on the point of ebullition, may be esteem-
T
290 tHE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
ed heated to 212 degrees. Though, by the continuation
of the fire, or by any other cause*, the heat never goes
beyond this, yet was cold water added to that, which vio-
lently boils, the degree expected from the mixture
would be exceeded ; for the cold water absorbing the
superfluous quantity of fire, which otherwise flies off,
becomes hot itself, and frustrates the intent. The time,
therefore, of adding the eold water to the hot is immedi-
ately before the ebullition begins, or when it is just
ended ; and in proportion as we deviate from this prac-
tice, the heat in the extract will differ from the calcu-
lated degree.
The Water, for every mash, should, as near as possible,
be got ready to boil, and be cooled in just before it is to
be used. A liquor, which remains a long time after the
ebullition is over, and the fire has been damped up,
loses part of its heat, if cold water is applied to it, the
effect cannot be the same as it would have been at first.
On the contrary, if the liquor is got ready too soon, and
cold water immediately added to it, in order to gain the
proper degree of temperature, by leaving the mixture
long together, though the fire is stopped up, more heat
* Different quantities of water are differently affected by the same
portion of fire ; when the ebullition is just over, and the surface of
the liquor is become smooth ; if some of it is, by a cock, drawn from
the bottom of the copper, where the coldest water always is, the re-
maining part, having a greater proportion of fire than before, again
begins to boil, though not affected by any increase of heat.
1
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 291
than necessary will be received from the copper and
brickwork, especially if the utensils are large. In both
cases, the degree in the extract will not answer the
intent.
The effect of effervescence next deserves our conside-
ration, but this takes place only when the water first
comes in contact with the malt. Germinated grains
must, to become malt, be dried so, that their particles
are made to recede from one another, thus deprived of
the parts, to which their union was due, when they come
in contact with other bodies, (as water) they strongly at-
tract the unitive particles they want, and excite an in-
testine motion, which generates heat. This motion and
this heat are more active in proportion as the grain has
more strongly been impressed by fire, and the extracting
water is hotter.
A large quantity of liquor applied to the grist is less
heated than a small one, by the power of effervescence.
The least quantity of water, necessary to shew that
power, must be just so much as the malt requires to be
saturated, which we have seen to be double the volume
of the grain. When more water than this is applied to
the grist, the real effervescing heat is by so much lessen-
ed, being dispersed in more than a sufficient space.
A table shewing the heat of effervescence for every de-
gree of dryness in the malt, can only be formed from
observations. To apply this table to practice, and to
T2
2S>ft THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
find out, for any quantity of water used in the first
mash, the degrees of heat produced by effervescence,
three times the volume of the grist must be multiplied by
the number expressing the effervescing heat for malt of
such a degree of dryness, and this produce be divided by
the real volume of the whole mash.
A TABL& shewing the heat occasioned by the
effervescing of malt, for its several degrees
of dryness.
*/ j
Dryness
of malt.
119° .....
•
Heat of
' effervescence.
, o
124 .....
129 ....
7
134 ....
138
, 14
143 ....,
148 ....
21
152 ....
241
157 ....
28
162 .....
, 3i
167
35
171
176 ,
...40
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 293
Malt dried only to 119 degrees, raises no efferves-
cence, and the strongest is generated by malt dried to
176 degrees; the beat produced by this amounts to 40
degrees, but the number of effervescing degrees, in this
or any other case, are reached but from success attend-
ing our endeavours, ultimately to penetrate the malt by
heated water, or not until the grist is perfectly saturated,
which, in point of time, generally takes up the whole
space of the first mashing and standing ; tfce air, there-
fore, cannot cause any diminution of heat, an incident
winch affects considerably every subsequent mash.
The little copper being- more distant from the mash
tun than the other, the water there prepared, in its pas»
sage to the goods, loses some part of its heat. And in
proportion to the quantity of water used, to the number
of the extracts that have been made, and according as
the mashes have more or less consistency, in the same
time do they part with more or less of their heat. Ob*-
servations made separately upon strong and small beer,
have shewn the proportions of this loss to he as follows r
For strong beer.
Mashes 2d 3d 4th ,5th
Heat lost 8° ..... 12° 8° 8*
T3'
294 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
For small beer.
Mashes 2d 3d 4th
Heat lost 8° 16* 20°
A grist not perfectly malted, or one which contains many
hard corns, disappoints the expectation of the computed
degree, as the volume cannot be such as was estimated
from an equal dryness of true germinated grain. It has
been observed, that, in perfect malt, the shoot is very
near pressing through the exterior skin. By so much as
it is deficient in this particular, must it be accounted on! 7
as dried barley, or hard corn. I know no better way of
judging what proportion of the corn is hard to what is
malted, than by putting some in water, the grains not
sufficiently grown will sink to the bottom. Were this to
be done in a glass cylinder, the proportion between the
hard and malted corn might be found with exactness. —
The unmalted parts being estimated with regard to their
volume, as barley, a quarter of them will be to the bar-
rel of water as 1,56 to 1*. Supposing, therefore, that,
in the brown beer grist, before mentioned, the proportion
of hard corns is of two quarters out of eleven, to discover
the true volume of such a grist, the following rule may
be used.
* See page 267.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 295
2 quarters of hard malt
9 quarters of true malt 1,56 volume of
1,74 volume at 130° of 1 quarter
dryness 3,12
15,66
3,12 volume of 2 quarters of hard corn
Total — —
numb. 11)18,78 (1,70 true volume of one quarter of this
malt to one barrel of water, and consequently the eleven
quarters will fill a space equal to that of 6,47 barrels.
Bv means of this rule, we may find what increase of
heat any proportion of hard corns will occasion, as will
be seen in the following table.
Proportions of hard corns | ^ | -^ ^ of the grist
Greater heat of the mash 4° 3 2 1 1 degrees.
But the brewing of such malt ought to be avoided a*
much as possible, as the hard parts afford no strength to.
•
the extract.
If a grist is not well and thoroughly mashed, the heat
not being uniformly distributed in the different parts of
the extract, the liquor of the thermometer, when placed
in the running stream of the tap, will fluctuate, and, at
different times, shew different degrees of heat. In this
case, the, best way is to take the mean of several obser-
vations, and to estimate that to be the true heat of the
mash. T 4
«$« THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
If the gauges of the coppers are not exactly taken, a
variation must be expected.
Though the small and hourly variations in the state of
the atmosphere have but little influence upon our num-
bers, a difference will be observed in any considerable
and sudden changes either of the heat or of the weight of
the air. Our instruments, and in particular the thermo-
meter, are supposed to be well constructed and gradu-
ated. If the water cooled in with is more or less hot
than estimated, or if the time of mashing or standing is
cither more or less than was allowed for, the computa-
tion must be found to vary from the event.
While the malt is new, if the fire it has received from
the kiln has not sufficiently spent itself, this additional
heat is not easily accounted for. This is likewise the
case, when malt is laid against the hot brickwork of cop-
pers ; and, on the contrary, a loss of dryness may be oc-
casioned, if the store rooms are damp.
The artist should be attentive to all these incidents ;
the not pointing them out might appear neglectful ; enu-
merating more would exceed the bounds of use.
Small grists brewed in large utensils lose their heats
more readily, by laying thin, and greatly exposed to the
air ; and, on the contrary, a less allowance, for the loss
of heat, is required in large grists, and to which the
utensils are in proportion.
This really is the only difference between brewings car-
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 297
ried on in large public brewhouses, and those made in
small private places, in other respects constructed upon
the same plan, and with an equal care. Prejudice has
propagated an idea, that where the grists are large, and
the utensils in proportion, stronger extracts could be
forced from the malt, in proportion to the quantity, and
that more delicate beers could be made in smaller vessels
less frequently used. These assertions, from what has
been said, will, I hope, need no farther enquiry : the de-
grees of heat for the extracts are fixed for every intent,
and it cannot be advantageous, by any means, to deviate
from them. Brewings will most probably succeed in all
places, where the grist is not so large as to exceed the
bounds of man's labour, and not so small as to prevent
the heat from being uniformly maintained. The disad-
vantages are great on all sides, when a due proportion is
not observed between the utensils and the works carried
on.
It will now be proper to continue the delineation of
our two brewings, and to put all the circumstances re-
lating to them under one point of view.
A brewing for porter or brown strong beer, computed
for 40 degrees of heat in the air.
1 1 quarters of malt, dried to 130 degrees, 132 pounds of
hops for 27 barrels \, to go out at 3 worts, 31 Inches
above brass.
298 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Volume of grist 6,32
Water for first mash 16,00
22,32
6,32 Volume of grist 6 effervescing degrees.
3 3 degrees for hard corns.
18,96 9 degrees equal to 2
7 Effervescence, per inches^ less cooling
table. in for the first mash,
(see page 152.)
22,32) 132,72 (6 degrees of heat gained in the first mash
13392 by effervescence.
Mashes 1st
2d
3d 4th
5th
Deg. of heat, 157° .
. 158°..
162°.. 164° ..
165°
See p. 280.
Barrels of
water used, 16 ...
..... 8 ...
. 12 9 ...
.... 9
See p. 284.
Quantity
cooled in by
calculation, £ ..
2 ...
2— 2
2
See p. 284.
Boiling
water by
calculation ;
barrels, 15^.,
6 ...
. 9i 7...
....7
Allowances "} *
G.C.
L.C.
L. C
L. C.
for inci- > fLess 2 inches^, more 2 in. more 3 in. more 2 in ,
dents, ) L. C. more 2 in. J J $
t
* G. C. stands for great copper, L. C. stands for little copper.
f Deduction from the first mash for heat created by effervescence
and hard corns. See the calculation above.
J Additions to the mashes on account of heat lost, by the liquor com-
ing from little copper, and by mashing and standing. See page 293,
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
299
A brewing for common small beer, computed for €0
degrees of heat in the air.
6 quarters of malt dried to 130 degrees ; 36 pounds of
hops;
30 barrels | to go out 56 inches above brass.
Grist 3,42
Water ) 14,50
Volume
of grist
17,92
3,42
3
10,26
7 effervescing degree
for malt at 1 30
(see table page 292.)
17,92) 71,82 (4 degrees of heat
7168 gained in the mash
by effervescence.
14
Mashes 1st 2d 3d
Deg.ofheat.. 154 166 170
Whole quan-
tity of water
'
4° for effervescence.
1° for hard corns
3° for new malt hot
8(
to be deduced
from the first
cooling in.
4th
.. 174 See p. 218.
used, barrels .. 14£
14*.
.. 11
... 11 Seep. 280.
Quantity to
be cooled in,
barrels 3f
3i .
2* ....
... 2i See p. 280,
Boiling water
by calcula-
.
tion charged,
barrels 11..
Hi.
.. 8*....
... 8| See p. 280.
Allowances for *
t
t
t
incidents ; G. C.
G.C.
L. C.
L.C.
inches; less 2;
more 2 ;
more 4 ;
more 5.
* The charge of the first liquor is for 11 barrels, with a deduction
of 2 inches, according to the gauges of the coppers, page 221. These
two inches answer to the 8 degrees of heat for the effervescence, hard
corns, and new malt. See computation above.
t The second and following mashes are to be charged with as many
300 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
These computations, perhaps, will appear more trou-
blesome than they really are ; but, besides the facility
•which exercise always gives for operations of this kind,
the satisfaction of proceeding upon known principles,
will, I hope, encourage the practitioner to prefer certi-
tude to doubt. One advantage must greatly recommend
it, and at the same time secure the uniformity of our
malt liquors ; tables for each sort and season may be
made beforehand, and will serve as often as the circum-
stances are the same. The trouble of the computations
will by that means be saved, and by collecting together
different brewings of the same kind, the artist will, at
any time, have it in his power to see what effect the
least deviation from his rules had upon his operations,
and to what degree of precision he may hope to arrive.
That nothing may be wanting in this work, to facili-
tate the intelligence thereof, I shall insert the method of
keeping the account of actual brewings, made accord-
ing to the computations I have here successively traced
down. The first column contains the charges of the
coppers, and the numbers computed ; the next, the
brewings made from these numbers, with their dates,
and the degrees of heat found by observation ; the varia-
tions occasioned by unforeseen incidents are supposed
more inches of boiling water, as answer to the fourth part of the
number of degrees of heat lost by the refrigeration of the ma«hes.
See page 294.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING 301
to be allowed for, at cooling in, by the artist, upon the
principle, that each inch of cooling in answers to four
degrees of heat. Noting in this manner the elements
of every brewing we make, when the drink comes into
a fit state for use, we are enabled to compare our prac-
tice with the principles which directed it ; by this
means, experiments constantly before our eyes will be
the most certain and best foundation for improvement.
302
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Small Beer. Heat of air 60 Degrees. 6 quar-
ters of Malt, 36/6. of Hops, for 30 Barrels •-
to go out 56 Inches above Brass.
Observations.
o'S
S*c^
-T*^
_.„•
•*>
1st Liquor. Charge great copO
£Z
0
t- c
i? $j>
<£> >»
^•3"
per, 2 inches | above brass ; cool
>-J
__
^
in to 13 inches £ above brass, rake I
*. hour, mash 1 hour, stand 1 hour j
151
149
150
153
150
i, heat of the extract intended
150 degrees.
2d Liquor. Charge great cop-"j
per 7 inches above brass, cool in
to 13 inches i above brass, mash
i hour, stand | hour, heat intend- •
ed 162 degrees — 1 wort came in «
161
163
163
148
162
33 inches above brass, boiled 1
hour 4:, went out 28 inches above
brass. J
3d Liquor. Charge little cop-~]
per 8 inches \ above brass, cool J
in to 13 inches above brass, mash >
166
165
165
167
165
~ hour, stand ~ hour, heat expect-
ed 166 degrees. J
4th Liquor. Charge little cop-
per 10 inches | above brass, cool
in to 1 3 inches above brass, mash ^
hour, stand i hour, heat expect- >
169
172
170
171
172
ed 170 degrees — 2 wort came in j
39 inches above brass, boiled
down to 28 inches above brass. J
Length 3 1 barrels.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
303
Porter. Heat of the Air 40 Degrees. 1 1 quar-
ters of Malt, I32lb. of Hops for 27 Barrels -i,
to go out at 5 WortS) 31 Inches above Brass.
1761,
1761,
1761,
1st Liquor. Charge great cop-~\
per 1 3 inches above brass, cool in to /
Xov. 20.
43°
Nov. 22.
35°
\Tov .25.
40°
17 inches i above brass, rake i. hour, >
153
151
154
mash 1 hour, stand 1 hour ^, ex- V
tract expected 153 degrees. J
2d Liquor. Charge little copper^
2 inches i below brass, cool in to 3
inches above brass, mash | hour,
stand | hour, heat expected at the I
tap 1 54 degrees — 1 wort came in i
155
157
153
great copper 16 inches above brass,
boiled 1 hour, went out 13 inches i
above brass. J
3d Liquor. Charge little copper"]
10 inches above brass, cool in to 16
«'.'** !
inches above brass, mash i hour,
stand i hour, the tap to come down I
157
157
158
1 58 degrees — 2 wort came in great i
copper 1 1 inches above brass, boil-
ed 2 hours, went out 5 inches above J
brass.
4th Liquor. Charge little copper^
1 inch - above brass, cool in to 6 /
inches \ above brass, mash ^ hour, V
160
161
160
stand i hour, to come down 160 de- V
grees. )
5th Liquor. Charge little copper"^
I inch \ above brass, cool in to 6
inches \ above brass, mash ' hour, !
stand i hour, tap to come down at *
161
160
161
161 degrees — 3 wort came in 25 |
inches above brass, went out 13
inches above brass.
Length 27 barrels |.
304 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION XIV.
Of the disposition of the Worts when turned out of the
Copper, the thickness they should be laid at in the
Backs to cool, and the heat they should retain for fer-
mentation, under the several circumstances.
W HEN a process of brewing is regularly carried on
with two coppers, the worts come in course to boil, as
the extracts which formed them are produced. It would
be tedious and unnecessary to describe the minutest parts
of the practice ; which, in some small degree, varies as
brewing offices are differently constructed, or the uten-
sils are differently arranged. Without the assistance of
a brewhouse, it is perhaps impossible to convey to the
imagination the entire application of the rules before
laid down, but with one, I hope they need little, if any,
farther explanation.
The worts, when boiled, are musts possessing an in-
tended proportion of all the fermentable principles, ex-
cept air ; this was expelled by fire, and until their too
great heat is removed, cannot be administered to them,.
In musts, which spontaneously ferment, the external air
excites in their oils an agitation, which, heating and open-
ing the pores of the liquor, expands and puts in action
the internal air they possess. The case is not exactly
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. SOS
the same with regard to those musts which require fer-
ments. The air wanted in boiled worts must be sup-
plied by the means cf yeast. Was the heat of the
wort such, as to occasion the immediate bursting of all
the air bubbles contained in the yeast, an effervescence
rather than a fermentation would ensue. Now a heat su-
perior to 80 degrees has this effect, and is therefore one
of the boundaries in artificial fermentation ; 40 degrees
of heat, for want of being sufficient to free the air inclos-
ed in the yeast bubbles, and to excite their action, is the
other. Within these limits, must the wort be cooled to j
and the precise degree, which varies according to the
different circumstances they are in, and to the intent they
are to be applied to, is, together with the means of pro-
curing this heat, the purport of this section.
Worts, when in the copper, boil at a heat somewhat
superior to that of 212 degrees ; the more this is exceed-
ed, the stronger the liquor is. The instant the wort is
suffered to go out of the copper, it loses more heat than
in any other equal space of time after it has been exposed
to the air. In the course of the natural day, or in 24
hours, the heat of the air varies sometimes, (especially in
summer) as much as 20 degrees. If the wort, after hav-
ing reached the lowest heat in this interval, was suffer-
ed to remain in the coolers, till the return of a greater
in the air, it would be influenced by this increase, cx-
U
306 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
pand, and be put in action ; and, should: there be at this
time any elastic air in any part of the coolers, which
sometimes happens, either from the sediment of former
worts, from the backs not being clean swept, or from the
wood being old and spungy, the \vort supposed to be left
to cool, will, by receiving the additional heat from the
air, and blending with the incidental elastic air adhering
to the coolers, bring on, in a lower degree, the act of
fermentation ; an accident by the artist called the backs
being set*
For this reason, a wort should never be suffered to lay
so long as to be exposed to the hazard of this injury,
which generally may happen in somewhat more than
twelve hours, Thus are we directed to spread or lay our
worts so thin in the backs, as they may come to their
due temperature within this space ; in summer it is suf-
ficient if the backs be covered ; in winter a depth of two
inches may oftentimes be allowed with safety.
From the inclination of the coolers or backs to the place,
where the worts run off, from their largeness, or from
the wind and air warping them, a wort seldom, perhaps
never, lays every where at an equal depth, and cannot
therefore become uniformly cold m the same space of
time. This renders the use of the thermometer difficult,
though not impracticable. To supply the want of this
instrument with some degree of certainty, the hand
intended to feel the worts, is brought to the heat of the
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 307
body, by placing it in the bosom, until it has fully re*
ceived it. Then dipping the fingers into the liquor, we
judge, by the sensation it occasions,' whether it is come
to a proper degree of coolness to be fermented. As the
external parts of our bodies are generally of about 90
degrees of heat, some degree of cold must be felt, before
the worts are ready for the purpose of fermentation.
But that degree varies for different drinks, and in diffe-
rent seasons. I will endeavour to point out the rules to
form a judgment for the heat of small beer worts. A
greater precision, both for that and for other drinks, will
be found in the following table.
In July and August, no other rule can be given, than
that the worts be got as cold as possible. The same rule
holds good in June and September, except the season is
unnaturally cold. In May and October, worts should be
let down nearly thirty degrees colder than the hand ; in
April, November, and March, the worts should be about
twenty degrees colder than the hand, and only ten in
January, February and December.
It may perhaps be thought that the heats here speci-
fied are great, but worts cool as they run from the backs
to the working tuns, they are also affected by the cold-
ness of the tuns themselves, and perhaps these circum-
stances are not so trivial, but that an allowance should
be made for them. In general, the heat of no must
should excee4 60 degrees, because fermentation increase?
U 2
308
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
this or any other degree, in proportion to that, under
which this particular part of the process begins. To ren-
der the thermometer more useful, and to suit it to our
conveniency, AVC have before supposed every first mash for
common small beer to be made at four o'clock in the
morning : in this case, and where the worts are not laid
to cool at more than one inch in depth, the fohWing
table may be said to be a measure of time, the first and
last worts for this drink should be let down at.
A TABLE, shewing nearly the times thejirst
and last worts of common small beers should
be let down in the working tuns, supposing
the Jirst mash of the brewing to be made at
four o'clock in the morning, and no uncom-
mon change happens in the heat of the air.
Air. ]
30
st Wort.
3 o'clock
2nd Wort.
5 o'clock ^
.
35
B
1
40
. 41
i
8
•
45
4*
i
91
.5
50
51
^
.. II1
4
55
61
-5
CO
«
60
' a"
21
*
1
21
•5
'S
TO
81
«
3
1
75
9
.s
, S
80 ..
. 9 >J
|
, 4
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 309
Small beer worts being nearly alike in consistency, the
necessary variations from this table must be less frequent.
It is true, some difference may happen from the exposi-
tion of a brewhouse, or from other circumstances, ad-
mitting more or less freely the intercourse of the air, and
be such as might alter, upon the whole, the times set
down in the preceding page. Brown beer worts, which
are more thick and glutinous, and especially amber
worts, which are stronger still, will require other and
longer terms to come to their due temperature, to be fer-
mented at ; but when once observed and noted, accord-
ing to various degrees of heat in the air, at 8 o'clock each
morning, the conveniency of these observations must be
such, in this business, which requires long watchings and
attendance, that no arguments are necessary to recom-
mend what is rather indulgence than industry.
A TABLE shewing the degrees of heat worts
should be at> to be let down from the coolers
into the working tuns, according to the
several degrees of heat in the air.
Heat of the air. Common small. All-keeping beers. Amber or ales.
25 75 59 55
30 10 56 54
35 65 53 55
40 60 50 53
45 55 50 51
50 50 50 50
55 ) In these cases, when the medium heat of the air
60 1 is greater than that which the worts should fer-
U 3
310 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
ment at, the cold of the night must be made use of, to
bring them as near as possible to their temperature. It
has been observed, that the coldest part of the natural
day is about one hour before sun rising.
The consequences of worts being set to ferment at, in
an undue heat, are the following. In strong beers, or
such as are intended for long keeping, if the worts be
too cold, a longer time is required for their fermentation,
and the drinks grow fine with more difficulty ; if, on the
contrary, they are too hot, accidity, and a waste of some
of the spiritous parts must ensue. Either of these dis-
advantages appears more conspicuous in common small
beer, as, in winter, this drink is seldom kept a sufficient
time to correct the defect, and in summer, from being
too hot, it becomes putrid, or, in the terms of the brew-
ery, is hereby foxed.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 311
SECTION XV.
Of Yeast, its nature, and contents, and of the manner and
quantities in u'hick it is to be added to the worts.
JVlUSTS, or worts, though ever so rich, when unfer-
mented, yield no spirit by distillation, nor inebriate, if
drank in any quantity. The oils, as yet not sufficiently
attenuated for this purpose, become so only by ferment-
ation. Air is absolutely necessary for this process, in
the course of which, some of the aerial parts mixing
with, and being enveloped by, oils greatly thinned, are
enclosed in vesicles not sufficiently strong to resist the
force of elasticity, or prevent a bursting and explosion.
In the progress of the act, the air joins with oils both
coarser, and charged with earthy particles, a coat is
formed capable of resisting its expansion, and if the bub-
bles cannot come to a volume sufficient to be floated in
and upon the liquor, they sink to the bottom, and take
the appellation of lees of wine.
Between these two extremes, there is another case,
when the bubbles are sufficiently strong to hold the air,
but not weighty enough to sink. After floating in, they
emerge, and are buoyed upon the surface of the liquor,
and there remaining entire, are termed the flowers of
n'ine. Both lees and flowers are, therefore, vesicle"
312 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
formed out of the must, filled with elastic air, and, either
separately, or when mixed together, they obtain the ge-
neral denomination of yeast.
We have often mentioned the power of fire, in driving
the air out of worts. Yeast, fraught with the principle
now wanted for fermentation, is, therefore, the properest
subject to be added to the must ; but its texture is vari-
ous, in proportion to the different heats of the extracts it
was formed from. Keeping drinks, extracted with hot-
ter waters, yield yeast, the oils of which have a greater
spissitude. It is consequently slower, more certain, and
most fit to promote a cool and gentle fermentation.
That, on the contrary, which is produced from small
beer, being weak, and acting at once, is apt to excite a
motion like that of effervescence ; such yeast ought,
therefore, not to be used, but when there is no possibility
to obtain the other.
The longer wines or beers are under the first act of
fermentation, the greater variety will be found in the
texture of the bubbles, Avhich compose their flower and
lees. Wines made out of grapes, in general, require a
time somewhat longer than the worts of malt, before this
first period is at an end ; and we have seen, that in them
fermentation first brings forth air bubbles, whose consti-
tuent parts are most tender, and afterwards some that
are of a stronger texture. As malt liquors require a less
time to ferment, their bubbles are more similar: on this
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 313
account, the whole quantity of yeast necessary to a wort
should not be applied at once, lest the air bladders,
bursting nearly in the same time, should prevent that
gradual action, which seems to be the aim of nature in
all her operations.
Keeping beers, formed from low dried malts, occasion
the greatest variety of heat in the extracts, and from
hence these musts form yeast, whose bubbles differ
most in magnitude and strength. A drink, then, pro-
perly made from pale malt, nearly resembles natural
wines, especially when they are so brewed as to require
precipitation to become transparent.
Cleansing is dividing the drink into several casks ; this
checks the motion occasioned by fermentation, and con-
sequently retards it. To prevent this from being too
sensibly felt, some yeast should be put to the drink,
before it is removed into the casks. As the constituent
parts, in strong beers, are more tenacious than in small,
and require a greater motion to entertain the fermenta-
tion, the drinks, before they be thus divided, should, be-
sides the addition of the yeast, be well roused with a
scoop, or by some other means, for one hour. This not
only blends all the parts together, but attenuates and
heats the liquor, and makes it more ready to begin to
ferment again, when in the casks. One sixth part of the
whole of the yeast used is generally reserved for this pur-
pose ; and the remainder is equally divided as the worts
314 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
are let down. It must be observed, that this stirring,
though as necessary to small, as to strong drinks, is only
to be continued for a space of time proportioned to their
strength.
We have before seen, when a grist of malt is entirely
extracted to form common small beer, soon to be ex-
pended, one gallon of yeast to eight bushels of grain af-
fords a sufficient supply of air to perfect the fermenta-
tion. This takes place when the heat of the air is at 40
degrees, but, at the highest fermentable degree, experi-
ence shews, that half that quantity is as much as is neces-
sary. For some ales, the whole virtue of the malt is not
extracted, and what remains is appropriated to the mak-
ing of small beer : the quantity of yeast used for these
drinks must be only in proportion to the strength ex-
tracted. From these premises, the following tables have
been formed, exhibiting the quantity of yeast proper for
the several sorts of drinks, at the different heats of the air.
• '•-.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 315
A TABLE shewing the quantities of yeast
necessary for common small beer in every
season.
Heat of Pints of yeast to one
the air. quarter of malt.
35 ................ 9-\
40 ............... 8 ^The whole quantity of yeast to be
45 ............... 8 C put into the first wort.
50 ........... „.. 1^ - - — — — -
55 ............... 7 i The first wort to have £
60 ............... 6 ) The second wort to have
65 ............ ... 6
70 5 I The first wort t6 have one half of the
75 5 r whole quantity.
80 , 4jThe second wort to have the re-
mainder.
316 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
A TABLE shewing the quantities of yeast ne-
cessary for all keeping drinks, both brown
and pale, small and strong.
Heat of Pints of yeast t&
the worts*. one quarter of malt.
30
6
35
6
40
6
45
.... 6
50
.... 6
55
.... 5
6O
65
70
.... 4
75
.... 3
80
.. 3
02,
* In beers intended for long keeping, the fermentation is to be go-
verned by the heat of the worts or musts, more than by that of the
exterior air.
f A must or wort, when under fermentation, from its internal mo-
tion, increases in heat 10 degrees, and no keeping beers, -when under
this act, should exceed a heat of 60 degrees ; for this reason, worts
of this sort should at first be set to ferment at a heat of 50 degrees,
and 50 degrees is nearly the mean of the heats these liquors are im-
pressed with, when deposited in cellars, from the time of their being
formed, to that of their coming into use. Their long continuance ia
this state is the reason why six pints of yeast per quarter of malt is a
sufficient quantity to be used when the heat of the air is at or below
50 degrees. If, through necessity, processes of this soft are to be
carried on when the mean heat of the natural day is more than this,
the quantities indicated in the table will be the fittest rule.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 311
A TABLE shewing the quantities of yeast ne-
cessary for amber and all sorts of a les, after
which small beer is made.
Heat Pints of yeast
of the air. to one quarter of malt
30 .......................... 7i
35 .......................... 7
40 .......................... 7
45 ........................... 61
50 .......................... 6
55 .......................... 5i
€0 .......................... 5
10 .......................... 4
^5 .......................... 3i
80 .......................... 3 ^.y
This table is founded on the supposition that, the vir-
tue or strength extracted from one quarter of malt for
amber, is equal to { of the whole. In every heat of the
air, the quantity of yeast to be used for common small
beer made after ale, must be one fifth part of the quanti-
ty which the ale required, the additional strength obtain-
ed from rebelling the hops, requiring further proportion ;
if, for keeping small beer, nearly in the proportion of six
pints of yeast to five barrels of beer, this will be found
to correspond with the rule delivered in the foregoing
table.
318 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION XVI.
Of practical Fermentation, and the management of the
several sorts of Malt Liquors, to the period, at which
they are to be cleansed or put into the Casks.
IHE laws of fermentation are universal and uniform ;
and when it proceeds regularly, its different periods are
known by the different appearances of the fermenting
liquor. As a particular appellation is given to each
of these, it may not be unnecessary here to describe
them.
1 . The first sign of a wort fermenting is a fine white
line, composed of very small air bubbles, attached to the
sides of the tun ; the wort is then said to have taken
yeast-
2. When these air bubbles are extended over the
whole surface of the must, it is said to be creamed over.
3. Bubbles continuing to rise, a thin crust is formed ;
but as the fermentation advances rather faster near the
. sides of the tun, than in the middle, this crust is continu-
ally repelled ; from which arises the denomination of the
wort parting from the tun side.
4. When the surface becomes uneven, as if it \vere
rock work, this stage of fermentation, which has no par-
ticular use, is distinguished by its height.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 319
5. When the head becomes lighter, more open, more
uniform, and of a greater depth, being round or higher
in the middle, than in any other part, and seeming to
have a tendency still to rise, the liquor is denominated to
be of so many inches, head not fit to cleanse.
6. This head having risen to its greatest height, be-
gins to sink, to become hollow in the middle, and, at the
same time, more solid, the colours changing to a stronger
yellow or brown ; the wort is then said to be jit to
cleanse.
After this, no farther distinctions are made ; if the fer-
mentation is suffered to proceed in the tun, the head
continues to sink, and the liquor is often injured.
As the denominations and tastes of liquofs brewed
from malt are numerous, it is impossible to specify each
separate one ; we shall therefore only particularize such
sorts of drinks, as were taken notice of in the section of
extraction, they being most in use ; but, from what will
be said concerning them, the method of managing any
other malt liquor may easily be deduced.
Spontaneous pellucidity arises from a due proportion
of the oils to the salts, in the worts, but the advantage of
long keeping depends not only on the quantity of oils
and hops the musts possess, but also on the fermentation
being carried on in a slow and cool manner. All drinks,
intended long to be kept, are therefore best formed in
cold weather, and made to receive their veast at such
320 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
temperature, as is set forth in the table. The yeast is to
be divided in proportion to the quantities of wort let
down, until the whole, being mixed together, receives
its allotted portion, except so much as is to be put in
just before cleansing. Under these circumstances,
drinks, which are brewed for keeping, are suffered to go
through the first process of fermentation, till they are so
attenuated, that the liquor becomes light, and the head,
or the yeast, laying on the surface of the beer, begins to
sink. When, or somewhat before, this head has fallen
to nearly half the greatest height it reached to, a remark-
able vinous smell is perceived, and the liquor, at this
term, is to be put into casks, being first well roused with
the remaining part of the yeast, in the manner mentioned
in the preceding section.
By the description given of the origin of yeast, it ap-
pears that it is formed rather of the coarser oils of the
worts. If the cleansing is not done when the head is sunk
down to half the greatest height it rose to, by falling
lower, some part of these coarser oils return into the
beer, then under fermentation, and gives it a flat, greasy
taste, technically termed yeast bitten. When, on the
contrary, beers or ales are removed too soon from the
first tumultuous fermentation, for want of having been
sufficiently attenuated, and from not having deposited
their lees, nor thrown up in flowers their coarser oils,
they are less vinous, than otherwise they would have
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 321
been, appear heavy, aley, and are said not to have their
body sufficiently opened.
The fermentation of common small beer isj through
necessity, carried on so hastily, that it is hardly possible
to wait for the signs, which direct the cleansing of other
beers. This drink being generally brewed and ferment-
ed within twenty four hours, its state, with regard to
fermentation, is best judged of, by the quantity of its
froth or head at the time of cleansing, which, in propor-
tion to the heat of the air, may be determined by the fol-
lowing table.
A TABLE shewing the depth of head, which
common small beer should have to be proper-
ly cleansed, in every season of the year.
Heat Head on the beer
of the air. in the tun.
25 Degrees .............. 6 inches.
30 ................... . ...... 5
35 .......................... 4|
40 .......................... 3i
45 .............. * ........... 2-1
50 ....................... ;.. 2
55 ..................... ..... li
CO .......................... 1
65 ..........................
80 .......................... just taken.
X
322 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
As it is chiefly by the action of the air that wines are
formed, if we contrive to shift this powerful agent on the
surface of a must under fermentation, and to convey it
more forcibly and hastily into the wort, its efficacy will
be renewed, the fermentation accelerated, the liquor
quickly become ti'ansparent, and soon ba brought to the
state of maturity age might slowly make it arrive at.
Amber, or pale ales, require the hottest extracts pel-
lucidity admits of to be made strong, and at the same
time soft and smooth to the palate ; but, as ales do not
admit of any large quantity of hops, which would alter
their nature, there is a necessity to perform hastily the
act of fermentation, and to carry it on to a higher degree
than is common in other malt drinks. The method of
exciting and conducting repeated fermentations, with
success, is perhaps not only the most difficult, but the
most curious, part of the process, I shall therefore con-
clude, with an account of it, what I have to say with re-
gard to the practice of fermentation.
The amber wort being let down, at its proper degree
of heat, into the fermenting tun, out of the whole quan-
tity of yeast allowed for this drink, in the table, page 317,
one seventh part must be kept to be used as hereafter
shall be mentioned. Suppose the heat of the air is at 40
degrees, and eight quarters of malt have been brewed
for this purpose ; the whole of the yeast required is seven
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 323
gallons, from which one is to be reserved.* Of the six
remaining gallons^ one halfj or three, are to be put to
the wort on its first coming down, when the whole must
be well roused, or mixed, thoroughly to disperse the en-
livening principle the yeast conveys, hereby to prevent
putrefaction, or foxing in any partj and of the last thrct
gallons, about three quarts must be added to the drink,
every twelve hours, until it ferments to the highest pitch
of the period mentioned in article 5, page 319. This
successive putting in of yeast is called \ -feeding the drink ;
* Though the air bubbles produced From rilalt liquors are more
uniform, as to their size or consistence, than those of natural wines,
yet they are not perfectly so ; for this reason, and because it requires
a greater power td cause a wort or must of malt to ferment, than it
does to keep this act continued, after it is once b«gun, it is neces-
iary, at first, to apply such a sufficient quantity of yeast as will obtain
this purpose; therefore, one half of the remaining six gallon? of yeast
is put to the wort on its first coming down.
t The yeast or air bubbles produced from natural wines, vary not
only in their consistence, but also in their volume ; so that, in their
act of fermentation, a progressive effect is the consequence of this
want of uniformity. The yeast or air bubbles of barley wines are more
uniform; to imitate nature, it is necessary to apply this principle «f
fermentation by degrees, to cause a progressive effect only. Feeding
bf drink is the only means to gain this end; thereby the newly ap-
plied yeast maintains the drink in its required agitation, in a similar
manner as the increased heat and action raised by fermentation causes
the air bubbles in natural wines to act and explode, iu proportion to
their consistence, and to the quantity of elastic air the bubbles con-
tain ; and so requisite it is periodically to apply more yeast to this
sort of liquor, or regularly to feed it with this enlivening principle,
that, in very hot weather, when this, through carelessness, has been
X2
324 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
before and about the time the head is got to this height,
all the dirt or foul yeast, that rises on the surface, must
be carefully skimmed off; it is easily distinguished from
the pure white froth, by its color, and by the sinking of
the head occasioned by its weight. Length of time might
attenuate some of these coarser oils, in a less artificial
fermentation, but as this help is not to be waited for,
and every obstacle to pellucidity must be removed, the
brewer's attention to this point cannot be too great. —
The head of the drink having reached its utmost height,
the reserved gallon of yeast is to be used, in order to
give to the ale a sufficient power to bear the repeated fer-
mentations it is to undergo, by being beat in, every two
hours, with a jett or scoope, for one quarter of an hour,
so that the head on the drink is each time to be reduced
to the least height it is capable of. This striking in be-
ing continued, the drink will periodically require it,
and be damaged if it be neglected. After it has under-
gone more or less of these fermentations, in proportion
to the heats of the worts and of the air, the brewer is
carefully to observe, when the head ceases to rise to its
accustomed height, and then to examine the drink, by
omitted, I have known this ale to besome foxed or putrefied, and eould
attribute this accident to no other cause but to a neglect of this sort,
as the worts had been regularly brewed, laid thin in the coolers, re-
ceived all the cold the night could give them, and the tun in which the
drink was worked wag perfectly clean.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 325
having the jett filled with it at the bottom, and brought
through the whole body to the top, a small part of
which being poured in a handgatherer, he will see whe-
ther the lees form themselves in large white flakes, and
readily subside, and be informed, by the taste, whether
the sweet of the wort is gone oft', and the ale become vi-
nous. If these two circumstances concur, the drink is to
be beat in with the jett as before, but not roused as
porter or other beers are ; for the lees, which in this
drink arc in greater quantity, would, by this manage-
ment, so intimately be mixed with it, as with difficulty
to separate themselves again, if at all. It is then time
to cleanse it ; but the casks, at all times, more espe-
cially in summer, must be well filled up with clean
drink, that is, part of the very drink, which was cleansed,
avoiding that produced in the stillings, as this, for want
of standing a sufficient time, is always yeasty, and the
yeast, being greatly attenuated by the working of the
drink, easily dissolves in the ale, and renders it foul and
ill-tasted.
As the right forming of amber ales is looked upon to
be the highest pitch of the art of pale beer brewing, I
have dwelt longer on this article than otherwise it might
seem necessary, to shew the connexion there is between
every sort of malt liquors : but it should be observed,
the same method of fermenting it, is to be practised both
winter and summer, varying only the quantities of yeast
X3
32« THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
in proportion to the season ; for where, in winter time,
this drink is fed with three quarts of yeast every twelve
hours, half a gallon will answer the same intent in sum-,
met. Upon the whole, the process is contrived to ac-
celerate fermentation, yet, the more cooll)r and gently
it is performed, the better will the ales be. I have before
hinted, jf Madeira wines were fermented in this manner,
they would sooner become fit for use, more especially
as they need no ferment to excite them. However,
this method of forming drink to be soon fit for use, has,
either through interest or prejudice, been taxed with
being unwholesome, but upon what grounds, I must
confess I could never yet discover, as no reason of any
moment has ever been alled^ed for this assertion.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 3«1
-JV| «•-.««!» •*
SECTION XVII.
Of the signs generally directing the processes of Brewing,
and their comparison with the forgoing Theory and
Practice.
W E have now brought our barley wines into the casks,
and this on principles, it is thought, agreeable and con-
sonant to each other. As the charge of novelty may be
alledged, to invalidate what has been offered, it is but
just to pay so much regard to a long, and, upon the
whole, successful practice, as to recite, if not all, at
least the principal maxims and signs in brewing, which
hitherto have guided the artist. By comparing these
with the present method, they will not only illustrate
each other, but perhaps cause both to be better under-
stood ; and though, with respect to the art itself, this
may be thought rather a curious than an instructive part,
yet we may learn, from hence, that such practice, which
long experience has proved to be right, will always cor-
respond with true theory.
1 . When a white ftour settles, either in the underback
or copperback, which sometimes is the case of a first ex-
tract, it is a sure sign such an extract has not been made
sufficiently hot, or, in technical terms, that the liquor
has been taken too slack.
X 4
328 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING
Malt, when dried, has its oils made tenacious, in pro-
portion to the power of heat it has been affected with ;
the grain, though ground, if the water for the extrac-
tion is not at least as hot as what occasioned this tenacious-
ness, must remain in great measure undissolved in the
first extract, and deposit itself as just now was men-
tioned.
2. The first extract should always have some froth or
headintheunderback.
The oils and salts of the malt, being duly mixed,
form a saponaceous body, the character of which is that,
on being shook, it bears a froth on its surface.
3. The head or froth in the underback appearing red,
blue, purple, or fiery, shews the liquors to have been taken
too hot.
The hotter the water is, when applied to the malt, the
more must the extract abound with oils, and conse-
quently be more capable to reflect colors in a strong
manner. But how precarious this method of estimating
the quality of an extract is, in comparison to that which
the thermometer affords, will appear from the following
observation of Sir Isaac Newton : " Saponaceous bub-
" bles will, for a while, appear tinged with a variety of
" colors, which are agitated by the external air, and
" those bubbles continue until such time as, growing ex-
" cessive thin, by the water trickling down their sides,
" and being no longer able to retain the enclosed air,
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 329
*f they burst." Now as these bubbles vary in their den-
sity, in proportion to their duration, the colors they rer
fleet must continually change, and therefore it is not
possible to form an accurate judgment of the condition
and saponaceousness of the extracts, by the appearance
of their froth.
4. When the grist feds slippery, it generally is a sign
that the liquors have been taken too high.
This appearance proceeds from an over quantity of oil
being extracted, and is the effect of too much heat.
5. Beer ought always to work kind, out of the cask,
'when cleansed, but the froth, in sinmner time, will be
somewhat more open than in winter.
The higher and hotter the extracting water is, the
more oils doth it force into the must ; when a wort is
full charged with oils, the fermentation is neither so
strong nor so speedy, and consequently the froth, espe-
cially the first, is thin, open, and weak. This improves
as the liquor is more attenuated, and heat, which expands
all bodies, must rarify the yeasty vesicles, the prin-
cipal part of which is elastic air ; but this open head,
even in summer time, improves to one more kind, as
the first, the most active period of fermentation, draws
nearer to its conclusion.
.However vague and indeterminate these signs are, it
would not be impossible to bring them to some degree
330 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
of precision ; but, upon the whole, this method would
increase our difficulties, and yet, as to certitude, be in-
ferior to the rules we have endeavoured to establish, we
think it unnecessary to pursue any farther a research
most likely neither entertaining nor useful.
.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 331
SECTION XVIII.
V-. - -•,...' :..
4n enquiry into what may be, at all times, a proper stpfk
of Beer, and the management of it in tiie cellars.
1 HE business of a brewer is not confined to the mere
manufacture of his commodity ; his concerns, as a trader,
Reserve no less regard, and, in a treatise like this, should
not be entirely omitted.
As it is a fault not to have a sufficient stock of beers
it the cellars, to serve the customers, it is one also to have
more than is needful. By the first of these errors, the
freers would be generally new and ill disposed for preci-
pitation ; by the other, quantities of stale beer must re-
main, which, becoming hard, will at last turn stale, and
be unfit for use, unless blended with new brewed beers,
to their detriment. These faults, if continued, may ii>
time affect a whole trade, and ought therefore carefully
to be avoided. For these reasons, the whole quantity to
be moved, or expected to be supplied from the brewer's
store cellars, during the space of one twelvemonth, should
be calculated, as near as possible; half this quantity
ought to be the stock kept up from November to May
inclusive, and nearlytone third part thereof be remaining
in September. From hence a table may be formed, by
which it will be easy, at one view, to know the quantity
3
$52 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
tbat should be maintained at every season of the year,
and to avoid almost every inconveniency, which other-
wise must arise. Suppose, for example, the number of
casks expected to be moved in a year, to be 320 butts,
and 249 puncheons, the store cellars ought to be sup-
plied, as to time and quantity, in the following propor-
tion.
.
Butts.
Puncheon?.
160 ,
, 124
February
160 .
124
March
160 .
124
April ....*.....
160 .
124
9& ««ai
May
160 .
124
June
146 .
113
July-
133
103
August
120 .
93
September 107 82
October 133 103
November 160 124
December 160 124
After beers have been started in the cellars, the casks
should be well and carefully stopped down, as soon as
the repelling force of fermentation is so much lessened1,
as not to be able to oppose this design. Otherwise the
elastic air, which is the vivifying principle of the drink,
being lost, it would become vapid, and flat ; and if left a
long time in this condition, perhaps grow sour.
3
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 333
It has already been observed, that cellars, in winter,
are more hot than the exterior air by 10 degrees, and
more cold in summer by 5 degrees. But besides this
general difference, repositories of beer vary surprisingly
in their temperature ; from the nature of the soil in
which they are built, from their exposition to the sun, or
from other incidental causes. As heat is a very power-
ful agent in accelerating fermentation, it is by no means
surprising, not only that some cellars do ripen drinks
much sooner than others, but also that a difference is
often perceived in the same cellar. The persons «n^
trusted with the choice of beers, with Avhich the custom^
ers are to be served, should not be satisfied to send out
their guiles in the progressive order in which they were
brewed, but ought, on every occasion, to note any alt.e»
ration that happens in the drink, as this is doing justice
both to the commodity, and to the consumer, who has 4
.constant right to expect his beer in due order.
334 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING,
SECTION xix.
Of Precipitation, and other remedies, applicable to the
diseases incident to Beers.
accident can be so detrimental as leaky or stinking
casks, which lose or spoil the whole or part of the con-
tained drink. The necessity of having, on these occasi-
ons, a remedy at hand, was undoubtedly the reason, why
coopers were first introduced in store cellars. Constant
practice might have qualified their palates so as to make
them competent judges of the tastes of wines and beers,
and to enable them to know which were the fittest
for immediate use. The preparing or forcing them for
this service, was a matter, which the profit gained
thereby made them ready enough to undertake. Chy-
mists, whom they consulted on this occasion, gave them
some informations, from whence the c6opers became the
possessors of a few nostrums, the effects of which they were
supposed to have experienced. But, ignorant of the causes
of most, if not all the defects they undertake to remedy,
and unacquainted with the constituent parts of beers,
it is not to be expected that their success should be con-
stant and uniform. The brewer, earnest to do his duty,
and to excel, ought to keep a particular account of every
brewing ; by this means he best can tell how he formed
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 33$
the drink, and ought consequently, in any disorder, to be
prepared to direct th« properest remedy.
The intent of this treatise has been to discover the
means by which errors may be avoided. Chymical ap-
plications are intended to remedy thostf errors, which
may be occasioned either by carelessness or accident.
The wholesomeness or propriety of the applications,
which will be indicated, must be left to the judgment of
my readers ; it is most likely that there is sufficient room
for improvement, and we might expect it from those,
whose profession it is to study every thing, that may be
conducive to the safety of mankind.
Whatever vegetables wines are produced from, when-
ever they deviate from the respective perfection, a well,
conducted fermentation might have made them arrive at,
they may be said to be distempered. Foulness, or want
of transparency, is not the least evil, but, according to its
degree, it obtains various appellations, and requires diffe-
rent helps. From what has been said, nothing can be
more plain, than that it is always in our power to form
beers and ales, which will be bright. Yet porter or
brown beer is constantly so brewed as to need precipita-
tion : the reasons for this management have before been
offered. Were we to wait till the liquor became transpa-
rent by age, a more real disorder would ensue, that of
acidity. Precipitation is then serviceable, especially when
beers are to be removed from one cellar to another, a
336 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
short space of time before they are to be used. By being
shook, and the lees mixed with the liquor, a strong acid
taste is conveyed therein, and the power of subsiding,
which is wanted, renders the forcing them, in that case,
of absolute necessity. In beers brewed with liquors suf-
ficiently heated, no flatness is occasioned thereby ; as the
case is, under like circumstances, with liquors produced
by low extracts, from grain not sufficiently dried. The
degree of foulness in porter should however be limited ;
its bounds ought not to exceed the power of one gallon
of dissolved isinglass, to a butt. Isinglass is dissolved in
stale beer, and strained through a sieve, so as to be of
the consistence of a jelly. The beer is set in motion
with a stick, which reaches one third part down the cask,
before and after this jelly is put in ; and a few hours
should be sufficient to obtain the desired effect. We have
before observed, that this quantity of jelly of isinglass is
equal to a medium of 10 degrees dry ness in the malt, and
heat of the extracts. When the opacity exceeds this, the
liquor is termed stubborn ; the same quantity of dis-
solved isinglass repeated, is often sufficient, if not, six
ounces of the oil of vitriol are mixed with it. An effer-
vescence is, by this addition, produced ; the oils of the
drink become more attenuated, and the weight added to
the precipitating matter, is a means to render it mose
efficacious. Instead of the oil of vitriol, six or eight
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 337
ounces of the concrete of vitriol, pounded and mixed
with the isinglass, are sometimes used with success.
A foulness in beer beyond that which is called stub-
born, gives to the drink the denomination of grey beer.
This arises from the oils which float upon the surface,
and which the liquor has not been able to absorb. In
this case, the same methods as before mentioned are
repeated ; the quantity of dissolved isinglass is often in-
creased to three gallons, that of vitriol to more than 1 2
ounces, and sometimes a small quantity of aquafortis is
added to these ingredients.
The next stage of opacity is cloudiness ; when the cooper
confesses that the distemper exceeds the power of his
menstruums" and that his attempts extend no farther than
to hide the evil, tournsol and cochineal, were they not so
expensive, might in this case be used with success ; but
what is less known, and would greatly answer the intent
of hiding the dusky colour of the drink, is madder ; —
about three or four ounces of this is the proper quantity
for a butt of beer. Calcined treacle, by the coopers
called blacking, from its acidity, is of some small service,
for, by coloring the drink, it somewhat lessens the grey
hue thereon ; a quart is generally used in a butt ; and,
to prevent the defect in the beer being noticed by the
consumer, the practice is to put thereon what is called
a good cauliflowered head. This might be done by
using as much pounded salt of steel as will lay upon a
Y
338 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
shilling ; but the difference in price between this salt anc|
copperas makes the last generally to be preferred. The
strong froth on the top of the pot, and that which foams
about it, together with somewhat of a yellow cast, are
often mistaken for the signs of a superior merit and
strength, though, in fact, they are those of deceit. A
little reflection that the natural froth of beer cannot be
yellow, nor continue a long time, especially if the liquor
has some age, would soon cure mankind of this preju-
dice. Cloudy beers, under these circumstances, though
not cured, are generally consumed.
Beers become sick, from their having so large a por-
tion of oils, as to prevent the free admission of the exter-
nal air into them. The want of this enlivefting element
makes them appear flat, though not vapid. Such beers
should not, if possible, be brought immediately into use,
as age alone would effect their cure. But when this
cannot be complied with, every means that will put the
beer upon the fret, or under a new fermentation, must
be of service. By pitching a butt head over head, the
lees of the beer, which contain a large proportion of air,
being mixed again with the drink, help to bring on this
action, and to remove the sickness.
Burnt hartshorn shavings, to the quantity of two-
penny-worth, put into a butt, are often of use.
Balls made with eight ounces of the finest flower, and
kneaded with treacle, convey likewise air to the drink,
and promote its briskness.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 339
Beers, by long standing, often acquire so powerful an
acid, as to become disagreeable. The means of cor-
recting this defect is by alkaline, or testaceous sob-
stances, and in general by all those which have the pro-
perty of absorbing acids. To a butt of beer in this con-
dition, from four to eight ounces of calcined powder of
oyster-shells may be put, or from six to eight ounces of
salt of wormwood. Sometimes a penny-worth or two- of
whiting is used, and often twenty or thirty stones of un-
slacked lime ; these are better put in separately, than
mixed with the isinglass.
From two to six pounds of treacle used to one butt of
beer, has a very powerful effect, not only to give a sweet
fulness in the mouth, but to remove the acidity of the
drink. Treacle is the refused sweet of the sugar baker,
part of the large quantities "of lime used in refining su-
gars, undoubtedly enter in its composition, and is the
occasion of its softening beers.
In proportion as beers are more or less forward, from
two to four ounces of salt of wormwood and salt of tar-
tar, together with one ounce of pounded ginger, are'
successfully employed. All these substances absorb
acids, but they leave a flatness in the liquor, which in
some measure is removed by the use of ginger.
Sometimes, in summer, when beer is wanted for use,
we find it on the fret ; as it is then in a repelling state,
it does not gire way to the finings, so as to precipitate,
Y 2
340 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
For this, about two ounces of cream of tartar are mixed
with the isinglass, and if not sufficient, four ounces of oil
of vitriol are added to the finings next used, in order to
quiet the drink.
Some coopers attempt to extend their art so far as to
add strength to malt liquors; but let it be remembered,
that the principal constituent parts of beer should be
malt and hops. When strength is given to the liqugr by
any other means, its nature is altered, and then it is not
beer we drink. Treacle in large quantities, the berries
of the Cocculus Indicus, the grains of paradise, or the In-
dian ginger pounded fine, and mixed with a precipitat-
ing substance, are said to produce this extraordinary
strength. It would be well if the attempts made to ren-
der beers strong by other means than by hops and malt,
were to be imputed to none but coopers ; Cocculus Indi-
ous, and such like ingredients, have been known to be
boiled in worts, by brewers who were more ambitious to
excel the rest of the trade, than to do justice to the con-
sumers. Were it not that pointing out vice is often the
means to forward the practice of it, I could add to this
infamous catalogue, more ingredients, it were to be wished
practitioners never knew either the name or nature of,
for fining, softening, and strengthening.
Formerly brown beers were required to be of a very
dark brown, inclinable tq black. As this color could
not be procured by malt properly dried, the juice of
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 341
elder berries was frequently mixed with the isinglass.
This juice afterwards gave way to calcined sugar ; both
are needless, as time and knowledge remove our preju-
dices, when the malt and hops have been properly chosen,
and applied to their intended purpose.
Such are the remedies chiefly made use of for brown
beers. Drinks formed from pale malts are always sup-
posed to become spontaneously fine, and when they are
so, by being bottled, they are saved from any farther
hazard. As it is impossible for any fermented liquor to
be absolutely at rest, the reason of beers being preserved
by this method, is, thereby they are deprived of a com-
munication with the air, and, without risk, gain all the
advantages which age, by slow degrees, procures, and
which art can never imitate. Were we as curious in our
ales and beers as we are in the liquors we import, did w«
give to the produce of our own country the same care
and attendance which we bestow on foreign wines, we
might enjoy them in a perfection at present scarcely
known, and perhaps cause foreigners to give to our beers
a preference to their own growth.
Y 3
342 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
SECTION XX.
OF TASTE*.
DOCTOR GREW, who has treated of this matter, di-
vides taste into simple and compound ; he mentions the
different species of the first, and calculates the various
combinations of the latter, the number of which exceeds
what at first might be expected. Without entering into
this detail, I think that the different tastes residing in
the barleys, or formed by their being malted, and brewed
with hops, may be reduced to the following ; the acid,
which is a simple taste ; the sweet, which is an acid
smoothed with oils ; the aromatic, which is the compound
ofaspiritous acid, and a volatile sulphur; the bitter,
which, according to our author, is produced by an oil
well impregnated either with an alkaline or an acid salt,
shackled with earth ; the austere, which is both astrin-
gent and bitter; and, lastly, the nauseous and rank,
which is, at least in part, sometimes found in beers,
* I confess this chapter is rather a matter of curiosity, an effusion
of fancy, than of any use to ine known ; if I have suffered it to re-
main, it has been to shew that when we have long reflected upon a suln
ject, our ideas often lead us beyond power of practice ; and with this
farther view, that, perhaps, it tnay become of service in the hands of
some more ingenious and more penetrating artist than myself. How-
ever, if I trouble my reader with it, it may be said to be in imitation
of an author far superior to myself in rank and knowledge.
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 343
which have either been greatly affected by fire, or, by
long age, have lost their volatile sulphurs; and have no-
thing left but the thicker and coarser oils, resembling the
empyreumatic dregs of distilled liquors not carefully
drawn.
The number of circumstances on which the taste of
fermented liquors depends, are so various, that perhaps
there never were any two brewings, or any two vintages,
which produced drinks exactly similar. But as, in this
case, as well as in many others, the varieties may be re-
duced under some general classes ; the better to distin-
guish them, let us enquire which taste belongs to differ-
ent malt liquors, according to the several circumstances
in which they are brewed. '' '°»^
In beers and ales, the acid prevails in proportion as the
malt has been less dried, and heat \vas wanting in the
extracting water. The sweet will be the effect of a ba-
lance preserved between the acids and the oils. When,
by the means of hotter waters, oils more tenacious are
^xtracted from the grain, whereby the more volatile sul-
phur is retained, the taste becomes higher in relish, or
aromatic. If the heat is still increased, the acids, and
the most volatile oils, will in part be dissipated, and in
part be so enveloped with stronger oils, as the bitter of
the hops appears more distinct. A greater degree of fire
will impress the liquor with an austere, rough, or harsh
taste ; and * heat beyond this so affects the oils of the
Y 4
344 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
grain, as to cause the extracts to be nauseous to the pa-
late. Besides these, there may be other causes which
produce some variation in taste ; as a' superior dryness
in the hops ; an irregularity in the ordering of the heat
of the extracts ; too great an impetuosity or slowness in
the fermentation ; the difference of seasons in which the
drink is kept ; but as these causes affect the liquor, in a
low degree, in comparison to the drying and extracting
heats of the grain, an enquiry into their consequences is
not absolute!)- material.
Beers or ales, formed of pale malt, in which a greater
portion of acids is contained, with less tenacious oils, are
not only more proper to allay thirst, but in general
more aromatic than brown drinks. The oils of these
last, being, by the effect of fire, rendered more compact,
and more tenacious of the terrestrial parts raised with
them, are attended with something of an austere and
rank taste. This seems to be the reason why brown
beers require more time, after they have been fermented,
to come to their perfection. The air, by degrees, sof-
tens and attenuates their oils, and, by causing the hete-
rogeneous particles to subside, makes them at last, unless
charring heats have been used, pleasing to the palate,
whereas they were before austere, rank, and perhaps
nauseous.
By means of the thermometer, we have endeavoured
to fix the different colors of malt, the duration of the
THE PRACTICE OF BREWING. 34*
principal sorts of drink, and the tendency each has to
become transparent. The same instrument cannot pro-
bably have the same use, when applied to distinguish
the different tastes, as these depend on a variety of
causes not easy to be ascertained. Yet something of
this nature may be attempted, upon the following prin-
ciples.
As the chief circumstance which produces a variety of
tastes in malt liquors^ is fire or heat acting on the malt
and hops, and the effect of the air, put in motion by the
same element, the table here subjoined may point out
what tastes are in general occasioned by the combination
of these two causes.
A TABLE determining the tastes of Malt
Liquors.
Heat of
the air.
Dryness and
extracting heat.
Predominant
tastes.
80°
119°
Acid.
76
124
Ac. ac. sweet.
73
129
Ac. sw.
70
134
Ac. sw. sw. bitter.
66
138
Sw. sw. bitter.
63
143
Sw. bit.
60
..I.. 148
Bit. bit. aromatic..
56 ,..
..... 152
Bit. arom.
53
157
Bit. arom. austere.
50
..... 162
Arom. aust, aust.
46
167
Aust. aust. nauseous
43
..w. 171
Aust. nau.
40 176 ....... Nauseous
346 THE PRACTICE OF BREWING.
The first column of the table shews the fermentable
degrees reversed, as the hotter the season is, the more
fermented drinks tend to acidity, the direct contrary
of which is the consequence of an increase in the heat,
malt or hops are dried or extracted with.
The assistance of this table, though small, ought per-
haps not to be entirely slighted, as it seems at least to
shew that the useful is seldom separated from the ele-
gant, and that a medium betwee'n extremes is most
agreeable both to the operations of nature, and the con-
stitution of our organs.
The impressions of tastes are less in proportion as
the drinks are weak. The strongest wine yields the
most acid vinegar. Time wears away this acidity much
sooner, than it doth the nauseousness occasioned by ve-
hement heats. This circumstance shews how necessary
it is, in the beginning of the process of brewing, ta
avoid extracts which are too weak, as from hence, in its
conclusion, such would be required whose great heat
-would render the drink rank and disagreeable. That
proportion between the salts and the oils, which consti-
tutes soundness and pellucidity, is most pleasing to the
taste, and seems to be the utmost perfection of the art.
As the sun never occasions a heat capable of charring
the fruits of the vine, we never meet with wines endued
with a taste resembling the empyreumatic, which we
THE PRACTICE OF JBREWING. 341
have here represented. This error, being inexcusable
in any liquor, ought carefully to be guarded against,
and, from what lias here been said, we should learn
this important truth, that nature is the best guide, and
that, by imitating, as near as possible, her operations,
we shall never be disappointed in our ends.
APPENDIX.
1 HOUGH this work has already been carried to a
great length, I hope those of my readers, who may have
done me the honor to go attentively through the whole
of it, will pardon me the addition of a few incidental
thoughts and queries. The chain of arts is so well con-
nected, that researches originally intended for the illus-
tration of any one of them, can hardly fail of throwing
some light upon others.
1. The seed of plants cannot be put in a fitter place,
for perfect vegetation, than when buried under ground,
at a depth sufficient to defend the young shoots from the
vicissitudes of heat and cold, and the disadvantage of too
much moisture. The manuring of the earth, and the
steeping the seed into solutions of salts, have been found,
in some cases, to increase the strength of the grain, to
correct its original defects, and to prevent the noxious
impressions of a vicious ground. Plants are made to
germinate in water alone, and this experiment so suc-
cessfully carried on every Avinter, in warm apartments,
may still be improved by dissolving salts in the water. —
Could the barley used for malting be put in the ground,
its growth would be more natural, and its oils becoming
more miscible with water, by the saline nourishment de-
rived from the earth, might yield more vinous, snore
350 APPENDIX.
strong, and more lasting liquors. But as this method is
impracticable, would it be impossible to increase the ef-
ficacy of that which is used ? Consult Home on agricul-
ture : might not either nitre or salt petre be added to the
water, with Avhich the grain is moistened ? are they not
used with success to manure land ? Are not solutions of
them in water employed by the farmer to steep his sow-
ing seed .? I barely mention these as some of the sub-
stances, that might be employed in the malting of barley,
and am far from thinking there are none other. Perhaps
different salts should be used, according to the nature of
the soil, from which the corn was produced ; but a vari-
ety of experiments seems to be required, in order to dis-
cover how far art might in this case imitate and improve
Tiature.
2. A smalt quantity of malt, at all times, but especial-
ly when brewed in- large vessels, parts too readily with
the heat which extraction requires ; and, on the contrary,
if the quantity of malt be very great, the heat may not
be uniformly spread. A forward beer inclinable to
acidity is often the result of too short a grist ; a thick,
stubborn, and rank liquor many times is produced from
too large a one. Every advantage may be had in brewing,
properly, five or six quarters of malt ; it is difficult to
succeed if the number exceeds fifty.
3. The strong pungent volatile spirit, which exhales
from a must, when under full fermentation, has been
APPENDIX. 351
supposed to be a loss, which might be prevented ; and
accordingly attempts have been made to retain these fly-
ing impetuous particles, by stopping the communication
between the atmosphere and the fermenting drink. That
there is a dispersion of spirits is beyond doubt, and that
these exhaling vapors consist of the finest oils, which the,
heat forces out of the must, is equally certain. But this
loss seems to be abundantly repaid by the stronger oils,
which the same degree of heat attenuates and substitutes,
in a larger quantity, to the former. The last oils could
never come under the form of a vinous liquor, but by a
power, which sooner or later dissipates some of the first.
Pale ales or amber not only lay, for many days, exposed
to the open air, but surfer, by the periodical renewal of
the action of the air, every two or four hours, a much
more considerable loss of spirits, than when fermentation
is carried on uniformly. Yet experience shews, that so.
many oils are, by this method, attenuated, that the
strength acquired greatly surpasses that which is lost.
4. The practice of fermenting by compression, recom-
mended to distillers, seems, on this account, less useful,
than might be concluded from theory alone ; the intent
of the distiller, as well as of the brewer, is to extract the
greatest quantity of spiritous oils. It is impossible to
ferment a must in vacuo ; air is absolutely necessary to
carry on this operation, even a superabundant quantity
of oils admitted into the must, by obstructing the free
352 APPENDIX.
admission of the air, impedes fermentation, prevents the
wine from reaching pellucidity, and sometimes is the oc-
casion of its becoming putrid.
5. When the purest spirit is intended to be drawn from
the grain, the fermented wash ought to be suffered to
settle, "till it becomes transparent. The dispatch, with
which the. distillery is generally carried on, often prevents
this useful circumstance taking place, and occasions a
want of vinosity in the liquor. In many cases, the ex-
traordinary charges of extracting the grist from malted
corn, in the manner, which has been directed for drinks
intended a short space to be kept, and of suffering the
fermented wash to be meliorated by time, until it be-
comes vinous and spontaneously transparent, might be
abundantly repaid. Yet, ;f hurry must be a part of the
distiller's business, he should at least make such extrac-
tions as admit of the speediest fermentation and the rea-
diest pellucidity. He cannot expect corn spirits to equal
the brandies of France, unless his worts are similar to the
wines distilled in that kingdom, where those used for this
purpose are weak, fine, and tending to acidity.* He would
* It must be observed, the wines of France in general make the
best brandies, and of these, such which justly are termed green wines,
(and soon would become acid) this leads us to the nature of the grain,
and of the extractions to procure an equal, pure, nutty spirit.- Barley,
dried scarcely to the denomination of malt, and extracted with the
lowest medium, or perhaps one inferior to this, most likely would an-
swer this purpose. I have tried the experiment in a very imperfect
manner, and found it answer beyond expectation.
APPENDIX. 353
therefore secure to himself the greatest probability of suc-
cess, if he employed only malted corn in his grist, this of
the best kind, well germinated to form a saccharine basis,
slack dried, and resolved, with weak extracts', to preserve
into the must a proper proportion of vinosity. If he in-
tended this wash to be formed into a pure spirit, it should
be allowed time to become transparent ; he might regu-
late his extracts by such heats as have been fixed for
common small beer, brewed when the heat of the air is
at the lowest fermentable degree, though perhaps heats
Jess than these, when dispatch is 'required, might better
answer his purpose, especially as the length used in the
distillery is nearly the same with that which brewers use
for the liquor here referred to. With hot waters to at-
tempt to force from the grain more strength or more oils,
than such as will form a clean tasteless spirit, is, uTthe
distillery, a real loss and a fundamental error. By too
strong heats, more oils are forced into the must than can
be converted in spirits ; and fermentation being, by this
over charge, in some measure, clogged and impeded, a
less yield is made, and the liquor obtained of a rank and
often empyreumatic taste.
6. Why are the brandies of Spain inferior to those
prepared in France ? The wines of the last country are
the growth of a weaker sun ; they contain no more oiis
than can be assimilated by fermentation, and form a
clean, dry, nutty spirit. The Spanish wines abounding
Z
3*4 APPENDIX.
with more oleaginous than acid parts, this over propor-
tion becomes not only useless, but hurtful in the still,
and produces the rankness observed in Spanish brandies.
The cleanness of the spirit arises, in great measure, from
the weakness of the must, and its vinosity from a less
proportion of oils to the salts. This seems to be the
reason why the most grateful spirits are produced from
wines unable to bear the sea, or to be long kept.
7. The native spirits of vegetables, says Boerhaave,
are separated by heats between 94 degrees, and 212.
To obtain the whole of these, the fire must be gradually
increased ; for a superior heat dissipates the spirits raised
by an inferior one. Such parts as might be obtained by
100 degrees, are lost if the heat applied be much greater.
It is true, the parts of vegetables immersed in water,
cannot so easily be dissipated as if they were in open air,
yet, by the rarefaction of the liquid, a proportional
evaporation, however small, must ensue, or the oils raised
by a greater heat may so effectually envelope the finer
ones, as to make them hardly perceptible either to our
smell or taste. Thus, though heated water is able to
extract all the virtues residing in the vegetables, the dif-
ferent application of the fire will alter not only their
proportions, but their properties also, when we consi-
der that pure spirit of wine boils at so low a heat as 175
degrees. If the above principles be true, that surely
must be the cleanest spirit which is brought over in the
APPENDIX. 355
slowest and coolest manner ; and it is more than pro-
bable, if the rules here laid down be put in practice,
tfce grain of England will be found to yield spirits that
may vie with the brandies of France, be more pure than
those of the Indies, and excel those of Holland.
8. The vinegar maker is equally concerned with the
distiller in the brewing process. Vinegar is produced
in the last stage of fermentation, when a gross, tartare-
ous, unctous matter, consisting of the coarser oils ex-
tracted either from the grain or the grapes, generally
falls to the bottom of the liquor, and no longer prevents
its acidity, or affects its flavor. Though the best vinegar
proceeds either from the strongest wines or beers, this
strength consists in the quantity of fermentable principles,
and not in that of mere oleaginous parts. By properly
adapting the extracting waters, this hurtful impediment
may be removed, and the vinegar from malt liquors be-
come as neat and as strong as that which is made from
wine.
9. As the acid taste of vinegar is the effect of a conti-
nued fermentation, many people have thought it imma-
terial how speedily the first parts of the operation were
carried on. But violent fermentations not only dissipate
some of the fine oils, which should be retained in the
vinegar, but also cause the must to tend towards putre-
faction. Boerhaave, after he has directed a frequent
transvasion of the liquor, observes that, whenever the
Z2
356 APPENDIX.
weather or the workhouse is very hot, it is often neces-
sary to fill the half emptied vessels every twelve hours,
not only to procure a supply of acids from the air, igbt
also to cool the wine, and check the too violent fermen-
tation, which arising in the half full casks, might dissi-
pate the volatile spirits, before they are properly
secured and entangled by the acid. Hence the liquor
might be sour indeed, but at the same time fiat, and
would never become a sharp and strong vinegar.
10. Application and uses have frequently been found
for materials, Avhich before were supposed to be of no
value. The grains, after the brewer has drawn his worts
out of them, are generally used for the feeding of cattle ;
but I do not know that hops, after boiling, have been
employed to any purpose. Is there nothing more left in
this vegetable, after it has imparted the virtue wanted to
the beer ? All plants burnt in open air yield alkaline
salts, though in a greater or less quantity, according to
the quality of the plants. Boerhaave says that those
which are austere, acid, or aromatic, yield in their ashes
a great abundance of salts, and these being put in fusion,
and mixed with flint or sand, run into glass. Hops
thrown, after decoction, in no great quantity on the
fire, cause the coals to vitrify, or as it is generally
termed, to run into clinkers. If therefore the remains
of the hops were burnt in open air, or in a proper
furnace, it seems most likely that no inconsiderable
3
APPENDIX. 357
quantity of somewhat like pot ashes might be obtained,
and this, considering the many tun weight of hops em-
ployed in large cities, and thrown away as useless, might
become an object of private emolument to the brewer,
and of public benefit to the kingdom.
FINIS.
Z3
INDEX.
A.
Page
ACIDS, what 2
Air, principal agent in fermentation 19, 23
why it slacks malt 20
is not easily expelled from bodies 21
expelled from worts by long boiling 84
heat of, relative to brewing 145
Alcohol, what 2
most effectually dissolves resins 38
Algebraic rules of proportion for mixing cold and
hot water 271 — 285
Alkali, what 2
its great power as a solvent 37
B.
Backs being set, reason , 306
Barley, defined 89
viscous and replete with acids 90
consequence of its germinating 90
its state in the field 91
Effect of heating in the mow 92
heat which destroys its vegetative power 92, 93
mow-burned, unfit for malting 93
how much it loses by malting 100
may be dried M'itliout germinating 102
Beers, why deposited in cellars ... 47
best brewed in pure air 85, 86
Bird, Mr. his thermometer ,.... 43
Body of a wort not opened, what 320, 321
Z 4
360 INDEX.
Page
Boiling, how effected 3
— — - — necessary for worts, and management 224
Brandies of France and Spain compared 353
Brown ale, what 198
stout, what 199
Burton ale, what 196
£
Cellars, temperature 156, 186
management of beer 331
Cleansing keeping beers 319.
. common small 321
amber 325
Cloudy beer, how to be treated 337
Cocculus Indicus, infamous practice of using it 340
Cold greatest, at London 145
Cooling-in explained 254
Coppers, method of calculating heights 22Q
D.
Division of water for a brewing 235 — 239;
Dorchester beer^ what 200
E.
Earths defined 33
— sometimes used in precipitation 33
Effervescence, whence 79
Elements, for forming pale beers 172
brown do 177
, porter 178, 180, 245
small beer 190, 248
. . purl 194
INDEX. 361
Elements for forming amber .,. 195, 251
_ keeping small beer ...., 19?
pale keeping strong and small 239
Expansion, singular exception in 14
differs in different fluids 1&
of water just boiling ;.. 26
Experiments on Thames, New River,and Hampstead
waters 31
Extraction defined , 160
four different modes 163
1st mode ., ..» <. 169
2d ., ".. 173
3d .'. 181
4th 192
Extracts under and over -heated shew similar signs . 29
F.
Feeding drink, what 32S
Fermentation, what..... • • 6, 66
its several stages 66—73
. its effects : 78
. term too generally applied 78
artificial, defined 8(5
signs and effects : 518
Ferments, what .: • ^4
Fining beers 336
Fire, nature and properties ••••• 13
expands all bodies **
how it strengthens some bodies I*
loosens the texture of malt .......-.....* 15
• preserves bodies .....<*«..«*.«».« * **
how to regulate its degrees ., 16
362 INDEX.
Page
Flowers of wine, what 311
Foxed, what 7
G.
Germinating heats of France, Spain, &c 57 — 59
England 59
Grapes, their taste in different states 51
under what heat produced and ripened 51, 55
why not produced at Jamaica 54, 60
how to discover their properties 64
Grey beer, how to be treated 337
Grinding malt ;. : :. 157
H.
Hard corns, heat they cause in mashes 295
Heat, medium of London 17, 145, 148, 150
dissolves more parts than water can contain ... 26
difference in shade and sun 52, 156
greatest at London, in the shade ;... 145
Hops, nature and properties : 201
whence difference of Worcestershire & Kentish 203
useful in extraction 213
calculation to- regulate purchasing 213
imposition on purchasers 216
volume estimated when boiled 222
perhaps useful after being boiled 356
I.
Incidents causing heat of extracts to vary from cal-
culation 289
Isinglass, what 7
use and application 336
INDEX. 363
L. Page
Lees of wine, what : 311
Lengths in brewing, explanation 211
M.
Malting, process 94, 126
Malts, alter in color the more they are dried 48
incapable of retaining more fire than is in ex-
ternal air , *... 99
— cannot be made in hot weather 103
first degree of heat that constitutes them 105
degree which charrs them 107
effect different degrees has upon them.. 108 — 112
properties 113
defective 131—137
their virtue in wort contained in amazing small
space 270
Mashes, four, their different heats 62
last heat 293
Mashing 286
Maturating and germinating heats 57 — 59
Menstruums, doctrine of 34 — 38
water, oils, and salts, the principal in
brewing 35
Must from grapes, constituent parts 6S
O.
Oils, constituent principles «..., 35
Old hock, what ,,~, 199
P.
Precipitation, what 9
a remedy for diseased beer 334
36* INDEX.
Page
Processes of two brewings computed 271
— reduced to one point of view 297 — 303
Purl, what 193
Putrefaction, whence , 78
R.
Rain, which most fruitful 53, 54
Remedies for diseased beer 334
S.
Salts, a principal menstruum 36, 37
their nature 37, 38
Sealing hermetically, how performed 7
Sick beers, how to be treated : 338
Signs general, directing the processes in brewing .. 327
Spirits pungent, exhaling from a fermenting must 350,
351
of rnalt might equal those of wine * 352
Spontaneous pellucidity, how produced 319
Stale beers, how to be treated 339
Steeping barley, how practised in the north 94
Stock of beer proper 331
Stubborn beers, how to be treated 337
T.
Table of changes of color in malt by heat 115
— • • shewing the age beers will require with me-
dium heats 119
• shewing the tendency beers have to become
fine 124
shewing medium heat at London at eight in
the morning : 148
INDEX, S€*
Page
Table shewing medium heat of the air at London .. 150
of incidents affecting heat in brewing 155
shewing proper dryness of malt 1-62
shewing the quantity of fermentable princi-
ples residing in malt 168
to determine heat of first and last extract ... HO
ditto for porter 175
shewing color of grain 184
shewing medium heat of each process 185
shewing heat of first and last extracts in
common small beer 191
shewing value of hops in degrees 208
shewing the quantity of hops to a quarter of
malt in porter ^. 209
ditto common small beer 210
amber ^^.. 211
Burton ale 212
shewing the medium price hops should bear 215
of tengths 219
of gauges of coppers 221
of time of boiling each beer 228
of volume of malt to reduce grist to liquid
measure 254
shewinggreat evaporation of water in brewing 256
shewing volume of malt equal to one barrel
of water 267
of effervescence of malt 292
shewing the times worts should be let down 308
shewing/ieaf at which they should belet down 309
shewing depth of head in cleansing small beer 321
determining taste of malt liquors 34.5
Taste, reason of the difference in malt liquors 342
*«6 INDEX.
Page
Technical terms explained 1 — -12
Thermometer, when first known in England 39
— its improvements 40 — 43
• assists to discover the heat of bodies
when blended 45
discovers the strengh of a wort ......... 41
quality of hops 48
absurdity of brewers to reject it 49
Times proper for brewing 146
Two brewings, circumstances relating to them
brought into one point of view 297 — 303
V.
Vegetables, why fit for wines 74 — 76
Vinegar of beer equal to that of wine 355
best made from strongest liquors 355
W.
Waste water in brewing each beer 230 — 233
Water, its expansion by boiling 14
becomes of equal heat with the air 21
at what degree it changes to ice , 21
boiled, its appearance when froze 21
which makes the strongest extracts 22
being light, a good property 24
great quantities evaporated in brewing 25
its ultimate parts less than those of air, 25
necessary to fermentation 27
excellency of drinks too often attributed to 29
how examined 30
. ' ''• its division into worts and mashes * 234 — 252
INDEX. 367
Page
Water, boiling — the proper state and time for cool- '
ing in 290
Wines, general definition 50
Tockay and Canary , 52
Madeira 63
the most certain signs of their wholesomeness 86
their basis 160
Worts, sometimes over-hopped 27
height in coppers cast up to fix the length .. 223
cooling-management 304
Y.
Yeast, replaces the air lost by boiling worts 22
heat at which it acts 305
nature and contents 311
quantity for small beer , 315
strong beer and porter 316
— ales and amber 317
bitten, what 320
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