

PORTER, WINES, SPIRITS, ETC.] 



CHEMISTRY. 



413 



The malt is ciushed, and added to a proper proportion 

 of water, at a temperature of 170 Fahrenheit. In this it 

 is infused for some hours, and produces a sweet liquid, 

 called wort. This is drawn off quite clear, and, being 

 pumped up into coppers, is boded with hops, which 

 impart a bitter flavour, improve the beer, and assist in 

 keeping it from any change which might deteriorate its 

 flavour. If a considerable quantity of hops be used, 

 bitter ale is produced, in which the flavour of the hop is 

 predominant. In some beer, such as the Burton strong 

 ale, more saccharine matter is left, and less hops used. 

 Such ales have a highly feeding effect ; whilst those of the 

 bitter kind are excellent tonics. 



After the boiling with hops is completed, the liquor is 

 rapidly cooled, and yeast added to it, by which f >rraen- 

 tation is effected. The difference of beer produced at 

 the various breweries depends much on the management 

 of this part of the process, and all the skill of the brewer 

 is thereby called into exercise. When the fermentation 

 has been carried on to a certain extent, it is stopped by 

 drawing off the beer from the yeast into barrels. By 

 long keeping, ale loses its sweetness, and acquires a 

 strong taste ; hence the difference between mild, or new, 

 and old ale. 



It has long been considered that the different flavour 

 of ales is due to the water employed. But that such is 

 not the case may be proved by the fact, that whilst each 

 ale brewed by the great brewers in London, differs in its 

 flavour from the rest, all the breweries are supplied by 

 water from the same source, either Artesian wells, or the 

 Thames, or New River water companies. Again, it 

 cannot be owing to the softness of the water, for the 

 presence of a little lime is advantageous. la respect to 

 this, we may notice, that the water used by the Scotch 

 brewers is generally very soft, and yet the class of ales 

 they produce is quite different to that brewed in London, 

 and the porter is vastly inferior. 



Porter owes its dark colour to the addition of high- 

 dried malt, which contains a substance termed caramel ; 

 and this may also be procured by strongly heating sugar, 

 whicli becomes of a dark-brown colour. The high cha- 

 racter which London porter holds as a beverage, is partly 

 due to the care used in, and the extent of, its produc- 

 tion. If it be required for export, an entirely 

 different article is brewed, as that intended for London 

 use would soon turn sour. Even if sent to other parts 

 of the kingdom the same point is attended to ; hence a 

 Londoner will often find that the "London porter" ho 

 may drink in a provincial town, is much stronger than that 

 he partakes of at home. We cannot here stop to notice 

 the numerous adulterations which this beverage under- 

 goes in its transit from the brewery, through the cellars 

 of the publican, to the consumer. Sugar, copperas, 

 tobacco, Spanish liquorice, treacle, cocvlus Indicia, cum 

 multit aliii, Arc., all join with water to make every two 

 barrels of genuine porter into three of the Londoner's 

 drink; and thus, more "porter" by far is drunk in 

 London annually, than is really made at the breweries 

 which profess to supply it. Stout is merely porter 

 brewed of a greater strength and body. 



In this country, no wine, properly so called, is manu- 

 factured. The British wines owe their spirituous part 

 to the addition of brandy to the fruits after which they 

 are called. Foreign wines are the product of the grape, 

 and vary greatly in their qualities. French and 

 German wines contain from ten to eighteen per cent, of 

 alcohol, wlii 1st sherry and port have so much as twenty- 

 five per cent. 



In the south of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and 

 many parts of Germany, the vine is extensively cul- 

 tivated for the purpose of making wine ; and the colour 

 of the husks, or skins, of the grape, is the cause of the 

 colour of the wine produced from them. The nature of 

 the soil and the climate have a decided effect on the 

 quality of wine produced ; and hence a connoisseur will 

 readily detect, not only the difference in the wines, but 

 ilso of the vintage, some years being more favourable 

 than others for the production of the grape. 



When the grapes are ripe, they are carefully gathered, 



and the juice is pressed out and received in large vats. 

 No addition of yeast is required for fermentation, as the 

 grape itself contains a fermentable principla in its 

 vegetable albumen, which absorbs oxygen, and so pro- 

 motes the decomposition of the grape-sugar, and its 

 subsequent conversion into alcohol This is, however, 

 a delicate and uncertain process, as the nature of the 

 wine is materially influenced by it ; and the result de- 

 pends on the amount of vegetable fermentative matter 

 the grapes may contain. After the wine has been bottled, 

 a slight fermentation progresses in some kinds, and 

 hence the production of carbonic acid, as in champagne 

 and other sparkling wines. The gas escapes from the 

 liquid in uncorking the bottle, just as a similar result 

 takes place in opening a bottle of soda-water. Port, 

 and some other wiues, deposit a considerable quantity of 

 tartrate of potass ; and this, mixed with the colouring 

 matter, forms the crust, so well known in old port wine, 

 and which lines that side of the bottle which has been 

 laid down. Many attempts have been made to deposit 

 this substance rapidly by chemical means, but without 

 success. During the last few years the production of 

 wine has steadily increased, and the colonies of Great 

 Britain, in Africa and Australia, are producing con- 

 siderable quantities of this favourite beverage. 



The production of spirituous liquors, commonly so 

 called, depends on the processes we have already de- 

 scribed ; being supplemented by another that of dis- 

 tillation. Brandy is procured from wine by distilling 

 the spirit from that liquid. The following engraving 

 will give a general idea of the form and uses of a still. 



A represents the body or the still, containing the 

 liquor to be distilled, which is introduced through an 

 opening N. The still is built into a furnace, to the 

 action of which it should expose as much surface as 

 possible. B is the head of the still, which is connected 

 by means of a pipe c, with a metallic worm d. This 

 worm is placed in a vessel, which is kept filled with cold 

 water. Heat being applied to the liquid in the still, the 

 alcohol rises in vapour, and passing to the worm, it be- 

 comes condensed again into a liquid state, issuing from 

 the cock i into any suitable receiv.-r. 



Now, by such means, alcohol may be readily distilled 

 from any liquor containing it ; and, as we have men- 

 tioned, brandy may thus be produced from wine. 



Gin and whiskey are produced from malt in the fol- 

 lowing manner : The malt is infused in hot water, and 

 tli' >ii immediately fermented as far as possible, so as to 

 convert all the sugar into alcohol. Generally speaking, 

 the malt is mixed with a considerable proportion of raw 

 grain, and hence the cost of the spirit is lessened, and its 

 quantity increased. The "wort," thus fermented, is 

 transferred to the still, and thus whiskey is produced. 

 For making gin, the whiskey, or raw spirit, has to be 

 rectified ; that is, its fusel oil, which gives the flavour to 

 it, must be removed, and other oils substituted for it. 

 This is effected by a second distillation of the raw spirit, 

 to which salts of potass are added. Gin should be a 

 mixture of alcohol and the oil obtained from juniper 



