820 BEER 



of tho wort ; that this attenuation should approach to two-thirds of the whole weight ; 

 and that after tunning and cleansing, tho alo itself should weigh about one-fourth of 

 tho original gravity of tho wort. Thus, if tho fermenting tun be set with wort of 27 Ibs., 

 then tho attenuation should bring it down to 9 or 10 Ibs., and the subsequent operations 

 produce an ale weighing from 6 to 7 Ibs. When these conditions are fulfilled, without 

 much extra trouble or attention, tho ale is pretty certain to turn out well, though, in 

 some localities, ale is never attenuated to more than one-half its original gravity : 

 this kind of ale is, however, very apt to become sour in hot weather and ropy 

 in cold. 



Some additional remarks on the brewing of porter, which differs from that of ale both 

 in the nature of the materials used and in the mode of finishing the fermentation, are 

 required. Porter owes its peculiar colour and flavour to burnt saccharine or starchy 

 matter ; and this was formerly obtained by burning sugar until it exhaled tho odour 

 called by French writers caramel. At present, however, nothing but highly-torrefied 

 malt is used ; and of this there are several kinds, as brown malt, imperial malt, and 

 black malt ; all of which are used by some brewers, whilst others employ only the 

 brown and black, and a few the black alone, for giving colour and flavour. The 

 fermentative quality or saccharine is, however, the same as that of alo, and is derived 

 from pale or amber malt. As a general rule, the ratio of the colouring and flavouring 

 malts are to the saccharine as about 1 to 5 or 1 to 4 ; but where black malt only is 

 used, tho proportion does not exceed 1 to 10. 



The employment of these burnt malts permits a singular act of injustice on the part 

 of the Excise, as regards the drawback on exportation. By the Excise regulations, it 

 is assumed that a quarter of malt will produce four barrels of ale browed from wort of 

 the sp. gr. 1'054, or 19 '4 Ibs. per barrel ; but, although this is hopeless even with pale 

 malt, yet with an admixture of brown and black malt the assumption becomes absurd 

 in the extreme. Admitting that, by good management, on the average, four barrels 

 of wort, weighing 20 Ibs., can be obtained from one quarter of fine pale malt, yet, in 

 the operations of cooling, fermenting, tunning, skimming, and cleansing, a loss of fully 

 10 per cent, occurs under the most vigilant superintendence ; and, taking the great 

 bulk of our metropolitan breweries, it would be nearer the truth to estimate this loss 

 at 12 per cent. In plain words, 100 gallons of wort will not, by any management, 

 produce more than about 88 gallons of saleable beer, though no allowance is made for 

 this by the Excise ; and the brewer who has paid duty upon 100 gallons gets a draw- 

 back upon but 88. This, however, is tho most favourable view of tho case ; and we 

 solicit attention to tho force with which the argument returns in the instance of 

 porter. 



If a quarter of pale malt be assumed at 84 Ibs. of saccharine strength, then such an 

 admixture of brown and black malt as is usually employed by brewers of porter will 

 not give more than about 24 Ibs. ; and as this constitutes at least one-fifth of the -whole 

 bulk used in porter-brewing, we see that a quarter of such mixed malt can never give 

 more than 70 Ibs. ; that is to say, 80 parts of pale malt, mixed with 20 of brown and 

 black, instead of giving at the rate of 84 Ibs., as pale malt alone does, would give but 

 70 Ibs., or produce a difference between the actual return and that taken for granted 

 by tho Excise authorities, of no less than 16 -6 per cent. ; to which, if we add the loss 

 previously mentioned as arising from fermentation, yeast, &c., and which wo have 

 called 12 per cent., a total difference ensues of 28'6 per cent, between the duty paid 

 by the brewer and the drawback allowed by Act of Parliament. But the grievance 

 does not stop here ; for the only return allowed by Act of Parliament is based upon the 

 malt duty, and nothing whatever is said of the duty on hops. This, however, is at 

 the rate of 19s. Id. per cwt. ; and since hops yield only about 35 per cent, of their 

 weight of soluble matter, it would require 168 Ibs. of hops to produce a barrel of fluid 

 or wort weighing 19'4 Ibs., or having the requisite parliamentary specific gravity 

 of 1-054. Upon this barrel, when exported, the drawback is 5s. ; but, as may 

 easily be seen .on calculation, the duty paid by the brewer has been 29s. 3d. In fact, 

 upon every 168 Ibs. of hops consumed by the export brewer, ho suffers a dead loss of 

 24s. 3d. independently of the waste incidental to his various processes. These things 

 may seem startling ; but tho whole Board and Staff of the Excise are unable to prove 

 that they are in the least over-estimated. At the samo time, the intelligent reader will 

 gather that the profits of brewing are not by any means so large as a cursory glance at 

 tho subject might appear to warrant. No doubt tho brewing business is at times very 

 remunerative ; but a continued high price of the raw materials sometimes proves ruinous 

 to the large brewer, as it must not be forgotten that the capital required is large, and 

 invested in very perishable materials, such as casks and other wooden utensils, tlio 

 wear and tear upon which is a very largo item ; nor, again, as wo have shown, must a 

 speculator begin by assuming, with tho Excise authorities, that a quarter of malt will 

 produce four barrels of beer, for he will be much nearer the truth if he estimates his 



