322 BEER 



every quarter of such malt 16 Ibs. of tho best hops arc used ; so that, if wo assume 

 the cost of malt at 60s. per quarter, and the best hops at 2s. per lb., wo shall have, for 

 the primo cost of each barrel of bitter beer in malt, 15s. ; in hops, 8s. ; together, 23s. ; 

 from which, on exportation, wo must deduct tho drawback of 5s. per barrel allowed 

 by tho Excise, which brings tho prime cost down to 18s. per barrel, exclusive of tho 

 expense of manufacture, wear and tear of apparatus, capital invested in barrels, 

 cooperage, &c., which constitute altogether a very formidable outlay. As, however, 

 this alo is sold as high as from 50s. to 65s. per barrel, there can be no doubt that tho 

 bitter-ale trade has long been, and still continues, an exceedingly profitable specula- 

 tion, though somewhat hazardous, from the liability of the article to undergo decom- 

 position ere it finds a market. 



The East Indian pale ale, or bitter beer, is now brewed in largo quantities for the 

 home market at Burton-on-Trent, London, Glasgow, and Leeds, but differs slightly 

 from that exported, as being less bitter and more spirituous. It is brewed solely from 

 the best and palest malts and the finest and most delicate hop, and much of its success 

 depends on the care taken in selecting the best materials for its composition. It also 

 requires the utmost care and attention at every stage of its progress to preserve tho 

 colour, taste, and other properties of this ale in their fulness and purity. 



For further description of the brewhouse and its appliances, with the various modes 

 of operations, see tho article BREWING. 



The English ale-drinkers were a few years since startled by a public report, apparently 

 well authenticated, that the French chemists were largely engaged in preparing immense 

 quantities of that most deadly poison strychnine for the purpose of drugging the pale 

 bitter ale, in such great vogue at present in Great Britain and its colonies. The follow- 

 ing are a few amongst many reasons which might bo quoted, to show the absurdity of 

 this report: 1. Strychnine is an exceedingly costly article. 2. It has a most un- 

 pleasant metallic bitter taste. 3. It is a notorious poison, and its use in any brewery 

 being known would ruin the reputation of tho brewer. 4. It cannot be introduced 

 into ordinary beer brewed with hops, because it is entirely precipitated by infusions 

 of that wholesome and fragrant herb. In fact, the quercitannic acid of hops is in- 

 compatible with strychnia and all its kindred alkaloids. Hence hopped beer becomes 

 in this respect a sanitary beverage, refusing to take up a particle of strychnia and 

 other noxious drugs of like character. Wore the mix vomica powder, from which 

 strychnia is extracted, even stealthily thrown into the mash-tun, its dangerous prin- 

 ciple would be all infallibly thrown down with the grounds in the subsequent boiling 

 with the hops. 



The varieties of beer depend either upon the difference of their materials, or upon 

 a different management of the brewing processes. With regard to the materials, beers 

 differ in the proportion of their malt, hops, and water, and in the different kinds of 

 malt or other grain. To the class of ' table ' or ' small beers,' all those sorts may bo 

 referred whose specific gravity does not exceed T025, which contain about 5 per 

 cent, of malt extract, or nearly 18 Ibs. per barrel. Beers of middling strength may 

 be reckoned those between the density of 1'025 and 1-040, which contain, at the 

 average, 7 per cent., or 25 Ibs. per barrel. The latter may be made with 400 quarters 

 of malt to 1,500 barrels of beer: stronger beers have a specific gravity of from 

 1 '050 to 1 '080, and take from 450 to 750 quarters of malt to the same quantity of beer. 

 The strongest beer found in the market is some of the English and Scotch ales, for 

 which from 18 to 27 quarters of malt are taken for 1,600 gallons of beer: good 

 porter requires from 16 to 18 quarters for that quantity. Beers arc sometimes made 

 with the addition of other farinaceous matter to the malt ; but when the latter con- 

 stitutes the main portion of the grain, the malting of the other kinds of corn becomes 

 unnecessary, for the diastase of the barley-malt changes the starch into sugar during 

 tho mashing operation. Even with entirely raw grain, beer is made in some parts of 

 the Continent, the brewers trusting tho conversion of the starch into sugar to the 

 action of the gluten alone, at a low mashing temperature, on the principle of 

 Saussure's and KirchofFs researches. 



Tho colour of the beer depends upon the colour of tho malt and the duration of the 

 boil in the copper. The pale alo is made, as wo have stated, from steam- or sun-dried 

 malt and tho young shoots of tho hop ; the deep yellow alo from a mixture of pale- 

 yellow and brown malt ; and the dark-brown beer from well-kilned and partly car- 

 bonised malt, mixed with a good deal of tho pale to give body. The longer and 

 more strongly heated the malt has been in the kiln, tho less weight of extract, cteteria 

 paribus, docs it afford. In making the fine mild ales, high temperatures ought to be 

 avoided, and the yeast ought to be skimmed off, or allowed to flow very readily from 

 its top, by means of the cleansing-butt system, so that little ferment being left in it to 

 decompose tho rest of the sugar, the sweetness may remain unimpaired. With regard 

 to porter, in certain breweries each of tho three kinds of malt employed for it ia 



