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who drink it to be greatly troubled with that disorder call-
ed the heart-burn.
What we have here said with respect to malt refers only to that made of barley, for wheat-malt, pea-malt, or high-coloured liquor, will keep some years, and drink soft and smooth, but they are very subject to have the flavour of mum.
Malt high-dried should not be used in brewing till it has been ground ten days or a fortnight, as it will then yield much stronger drink than from the same quantity ground but a short time before it is used. On the con-
trary, pale malt, which has not received much of the fire, must not remain ground above a week before it is used.
With respect to hops, the newest are by far the best. They will, indeed, remain very good for two years, but after that they begin to decay, and lose their flavour, unless great quantities are kept together, in which case they will keep good much longer than in small quantities. In order the better to preserve them, they should be kept in a very dry place, contrary to the practice of those who deal in them, who making self-interest their first considera-
tion, keep them as damp as they can, to increase their weight.
It will happen, in the course of time, that hops will grow stale, decayed, and lose their natural bitterness; but this defect may be removed, by unbagging them, and sprinkling them with aloes and water.
From what has been said, it is evident, that every one of the particulars mentioned should be judiciously chosen before you commence brewing, otherwise you will sus-
tain a loss, which will be aggravated by your labours being in vain. It is likewise to be observed, that the yeast or barm, with which you work your liquor, must be well considered, for otherwise, even by that alone, a good brewing may be totally destroyed. Be always par-
ticularly careful that you are provided with every neces-
sary article previous to your commencing the business of brewing, for if the wort waits for any thing that
IX. should
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should be immediately at hand, it will be attended with very bad consequences.
S E C T. VII.
The Process, or Practical Part of Brewing.
HAVING, in the preceding sections, fully explained the necessary precautions to be taken previous to the commencement of this very important business, we shall now proceed to give a concise detail of every thing that is necessary to be observed and attended to in the regular process of it, from the malt being first malted, to the liquor being turned off for the cellar.
Your utensils being all properly cleansed, and scalded, your malt ground, your water in the copper boiling, and your pentstaff well set, you must then proceed to mash, by putting a sufficient quantity of boiling water into your tub, in which it must stand until the greater part of the steam is gone off, or till you can see your own shadow in it. It will be then necessary, that one person should pour the malt gently in, while another is carefully stirring it; for it is equally essential that the same care should be ob-
served when the mash is thin as when thick. This being effectually done, and having a sufficient reserve of malt to cover the mash, to prevent evaporation, you may cover your tub with sacks, &c. and leave your malt three hours to sleep, which will be a proper time for the extraction of its virtues.
Before you let the mash run, be careful to be prepared with a pail to catch the first flush, as that is generally thickish, and another pail to be applied while you return the first on the mash, and so on for two or three times, or, at least, till it runs fine.
By this time, your copper should be boiling, and a convenient tub placed close to your mash-tub. Let into it through your spout half the quantity of boiling water you mean to use for drawing off your best wort; after which you must instantly turn the cock to fill up again, which, with a proper attention to the fire, will boil in
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due time. During such time, you must slop the mash with this hot water out of the convenient tub, in mode-
rate quantities, every eight or ten minutes till the whole is consumed; and then let off the remaining 'quantity, which will be boiling hot, to the finishing process for strong beer.
Having proceeded thus far, fill your copper, and let it boil as quick as possible for the second mash, whether you intend it either for ale or small beer. Being thus far prepared, let off the remaining quantity of water into your tub, as you did for the strong beer; but if you would have small beer besides, you must act accord-
ingly, by boiling a proper quantity off in due time, and letting it into the tub as before.
With respect to the quantity of malt, twenty-four bushels will make two hogsheads of as good strong beer as any person would wish to drink, as also two hogsheads of very decent ale. The strong beer made from this quantity of malt should be kept two or three years before it is tapped, and the ale never less than one. If your mash is only for one hogshead, it should be two hours in running off; if for two hogsheads, two hours and a half; and for any greater quantity, three hours.
Particular attention must be paid to the time of steep-
ing your mashes. Strong beer must be allowed three hours; ale, one hour; and, if you draw small beer after, half an hour. By this mode of proceeding, your boilings will regularly take place of each other, which will greatly expedite the business. Be careful, in the course of mash-
ing, that it is thoroughly stirred from the bottom, and especially round the muck-basket; for being well shaken, it will prevent a stagnation of the whole body of the mash. This last process demands peculiar attention, for without it your beer will certainly be foxed, and, at best, will have a very disagreeable flavour.
In the preparation for boiling, the greatest care must be taken to put the hops in with the first wort, or it will cher, in a few minutes. As soon as the copper is full enough, make a good fire under it; but be careful in filling it to leave room enough for boiling. Quick boil-
ing
is part of the business that requires very particular attention. Great caution should likewise be observed when the liquor begins to swell in waves in the copper. If you have an attendant, be particularly attentive to its motions; and being provided with an iron rod of a proper length, crooked at one end, and jagged at the other, then with the crook you are enabled to open the furnace, or copper-door, and with the other end push in the damper, without stirring from your station; but on the approach of the first swell you will have sufficient time to proportion your fire, as care should be taken that it is not too fierce. When the boil is properly got under, you may increase the fire so that it may boil briskly.
In order to ascertain the proper time the liquor should boil, you may make use of the following expedient: Take a clean copper bowl dish, dip out some of the liquor, and when you discover a working, and the hops sinking, then conclude it to be sufficiently boiled. Long and slow boiling is not only pernicious, but it likewise wastes the liquor; for the slower it boils the lower it drops, and singes for your copper; whereas quick boiling has a contrary effect. Essence of malt is extracted by length of boiling, by which you can make it to the thickness of honey or treacle. In some parts of York-
shire they value their liquor for its great strength, by its affecting the brain for two or three days after intoxication. This is the effect of long boiling; for in that county they boil liquor for three hours; and what is still worse, when it sinks in the copper, from the waste in boiling, they every now and then add a little fresh wort, which, without doubt, must produce stagnation, and, conse-
quently, impurities.
When your liquor is properly boiled, be sure to tra-
verse a small quantity of it over all the coolers, so as to get a proper quantity cold immediately to set to work; but if the airiness of your brewhouse is not sufficient to expedite a quantity soon, you must traverse a second quantity over the coolers, and then let it into shallow tubs. Put these into any passage where there is a tho-
rough draft of air, but where no rain or other wet can
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get to it. Then let off the quantity of two baring-tubs full from the first one, the second and third coolers, which may be soon got cold, to be ready for a speedy working, and then the remaining part that is in your copper may be quite let out into the first cooler. In the mean time mend the fire, and also attend to the hops, to make a clear passage through the strainer.
Having proceeded thus far, as soon as the liquor is done running, return to your business of pumping; but be careful to remember, that, when you have got four or five pails full, you then return all the hops into the copper for the ale.
By this time the small quantity of liquor traversed over your coolers being sufficiently cooled, you must proceed to set your liquor to work, the manner of doing which is as follows:
Take four quarts of barm, and divide half of it into small vessels, such as clean bowls, basons, or mugs, add-
ing thereto an equal quantity of wort, which should be almost cold. As soon as it foments to the top of the vessel, put it into two pails, and when that works to the top, put one into a baring-tub, and the other into an-
other. When you have half a baring-tub full together, you may put the like quantity to each of them, and then cover them over, until it comes to a fine white head. This may be perfectly completed in three hours, and then put those two quantities into the working guile. You may now add as much wort as you have got ready; for if the weather is open, you cannot work it too cold. If you brew in cold frosty weather, keep the brewhouse warm, but never add hot wort to keep the liquor to a blood heat, that being a bad maxim; for hot wort put to cold, as well as cold to hot, is so intemperate in its nature, that it stagnates the proper operation of the barm.
Be particularly careful that your barm be not from foxed beer, that is, beer heated by ill management in its working; for in that case it is likely to carry with it the contagion. If your barm be flat, and you cannot pro-
cure that which is new, the method of recovering its working.