804 BEER 



Malt is generally distinguished by its colour as pale, ambor, brown, or black malt 

 arising from the different degrees of heat and management in the process of 

 drying. The first is produced when the highest heat to which it has boon subjected 

 is from 90 to 100 F., the amber-coloured when the heat has been raised to 120 

 or 125, and the brown at a heat of from 150 to 170. The black malt, commonly 

 called patent malt, is prepared by roasting in cylinders, like coffee, at a heat of from 

 360 to 400, and is the only legal colouring-mattor that may bo used in the brewing 

 of porter. 



The action of the kiln in drying is not confined to the mere expulsion of the 

 moisture from the germinated seeds, but it serves to convert into sugar a portion of 

 the staivh which remained unchanged, not only by the action of the gluten upon the 

 fecula at an elevated temperature, but also by the species of roasting which the 

 starch undergoes, which renders it of a gummy nature. We have a proof of this 

 if wo dry one portion of the malt in a naturally dry atmosphere, and another 

 portion in a moderately warm kiln ; wo shall find the former yield a less saccharine 

 extract than the latter. Moreover, kiln-dried malt has a peculiar, agreeable, and 

 faintly-burned taste, probably from a small portion of empyreumatic oil formed in 

 tho husk, which not only imparts its flavour to the beer, but also contributes to its 

 preservation. 



AB the quality of the malt depends much on that of the barley, so its skilful pre- 

 paration has the greatest influence both on the quantity and quality of the worts mado 

 from it. If the germination has been imperfect or irregular, a portion of the malt 

 will bo raw, and too much of its substance remain unchanged and flinty ; if it has 

 been pushed too far, a part of the extractible matter is wasted. 



If not thoroughly dried, tho malt will not keep, but becomes soft and liable to 

 mildew ; and if too highly kiln-dried, a portion of its sugar will be caramelised and 

 become bitter. 



Good malt possesses the following characteristics : The grain is round and full, 

 breaks freely between the teeth, and has a sweetish taste, an agreeable smell, and 

 is full of a soft flour from end to end. It affords no unpleasant flavour on being 

 chewed ; is not hard, so that when drawn along an oaken board across the fibres it 

 leaves a white streak like chalk. It swims upon water, while unmalted barley sinks 

 in it. 



The bulk of good malt exceeds that of the barley from which it is made by from 

 5 to 8 per cent., but at the same time it becomes lighter in weight, 100 Ibs. of good 

 barley, judiciously malted, weighing, after being dried and screened, no more than 

 about 80 Ibs., the loss being about 12 per cent, of water, 5 per cent, waste, and about 

 3 per cent, by the growth of the roots, which, in drying, have been rendered brittle, 

 and are removed by passing the malt over a wire screen. 



Tho change which the barley has undergone by malting will bo readily seen in, tho 

 following comparative analysis by Proust: 



Barley Malt 



Gluten 3 . . 1 



Hordeine 55 . .12 



Starch 32 . .56 



Sugar , 6 . .15 



Mucilage 4 . .15 



Resin ....... 1 . . I 



100 100 



We thus see the amount of the convertible starch and sugar has been nearly doubled 

 at the expense of the hordeine, a portion of which has also passed into tho condition of 

 mucilage, or a soluble gum, while the gluten is much diminished. 



The researches of Payen and Persoz show there is also a new proximate principle 

 formed during the malting, which may be considered as a residuum of the gluten or 

 vegetable albumen, in the germinating grain. 



If we moisten the malt-flour for a few minutes with cold water, press it out strongly, 

 filter the solution, and heat the clear liquid in a water-bath to the temperature of 158, 

 the greater part of the albuminous azotised substance will bo coagulated, and should 

 be separated by a fresh filtration, after which the clear liquid is to be treated with 

 alcohol, when a flocky precipitate appears, to which has been given the name of 

 diastase. To purify it still further, especially from tho nitrogenous matter, we should 

 dissolve it in water, and precipitate again with alcohol. When dried at a low tem- 

 perature it appears as a solid white substance, which contains no nitrogen, is insoluble in 

 alcohol, but dissolves in water and proof spirit. Its solution is neutral 1 and tasteless ; 

 it changes with greater or less rapidity according to the temperature, and becomes 



