II.] BREWING. 37 



62. When it is necessary, in case of falling short 

 in the quantity wanted to fill up the ale cask, some 

 may be taken from the small beer. But, upon the 

 whole brewing^ there ought to be no falling short ; be- 

 cause, if the casks be not filled up, the beer will not be 

 good, and certainly will not keep. Great care should 

 be taken as to the cleansing of the casks. They 

 should be made perfectly sweet; or it is impossible to 

 have good beer. 



63. The cellar, for beer to keep any length of time, 

 should be cool. Under a hill is the best place for a 

 cellar ; but, at any rate, a cellar of good depth, and dry. 

 At certain times of the year, beer that is kept long 

 will ferment. The vent-pegs must, in such cases, be 

 loosened a little, and afterwards fastened. 



64. Small beer may be tapped almost directly. It 

 is a sort of joke that it should see a Sunday; but, that 

 it may do before it be two days old. In short, any 

 beer is better than water ; but it should have some 

 strength and some weeks of age at any rate. 



65. I cannot conclude this Essay without express- 

 ing my pleasure, that a law has been recently passed 

 to authorize the general retail of beer. This really 

 seems necessary to prevent the King's subjects from 

 being poisoned. The brewers and porter quacks have 

 carried their tricks to such an extent, that there is no 

 safety for those who drink brewer's beer. 



66. The best and most effectual thing is, however, 

 for people to brew their own beer, to enable them and 

 induce them to do which, I have done all that lies in 

 my power. A longer treatise on the subject would 

 have been of no use. These few plain directions 

 will suffice for those who have a disposition to do the 

 thing, and those who have not would remain unmoved 

 by any thing that I could say. 



67. There seems to be a great number of things 

 to do in brewing, but the greater part of them require 

 only about a minute each. A brewing, such as I have 



fiven the detail of above, may be completed in a day; 

 ut, by the word day, I mean to include the morning, 

 beginning at four o'clock. 





