BREWING. 



677 



the next place, it is ground a great deal finer than in 

 brewing. If the brewer were to grind his grist as 

 fine as the distiller, he would run great risk of setting 

 his mash, as the phrase is; that is, he would make 

 paste of his grain, and entangle the solution of sugar 

 so effectually, that he could not get it out again. 

 The distiller does not run the same risk, because he 

 does not use such hot water as the brewer, and he 

 can mash and stir his goods a great deal longer with- 

 out injury, and even with benefit to his liquor. Again, 

 he does not need to boil or add hops to his worts, for 

 lie does not care about precipitating the mucilage, or 

 making his beer keep. In the next place, he adds a 

 great deal of yeast, and ferments violently and rapid- 

 ly, so as to decompose the sugar as quickly as possi- 

 ble, and is quite indifferent whether the worts even 

 become somewhat sourish in the process, as, when 

 sufficiently fermented, the alcohol is removed at once 

 by distillation. If raw grain be ground, mixed with 

 water at a certain heat, and allowed to stand, the 

 change of the starch into starch sugar, or the combi- 

 nation of starch and water, takes place in the same 

 way as in malting. It takes some time, however, 

 and hence the distillers' mashes stand longer than the 

 brewers'. It would seem, therefore, from this, that 

 the malting of grain is not necessary for the making 

 of beer ; and, accordingly, this method of proceeding 

 has been recommended by an eminent chemist, one 

 who has paid much attention to this subject, and 

 there can be no doubt that a certain description of 

 small beer may be so made. But the process is not 

 applicable to the finer and more valuable kinds of 

 malt liquors, for reasons which it would require too 

 many details to explain perfectly. 



Besides the kinds of beer and wash already men- 

 tioned, there are others in common use. These are 

 made by mixing honey, molasses, or sugar, with 

 water, and fermenting with yeast, or some other 

 leaven. Beers made in this way are commonly 

 mingled with some vegetable substance, as ginger, 

 spruce, sarsaparilla, &c. to give them a particular 

 flavour, and are familiar to all by the names of gin- 

 ger leer, spruce beer, sarsaparilla mead, c. &c. The 

 wash of tin's kind is made from molasses and water, 

 fermented in large vats under ground, by means, not 

 of yeast, but the remains or returns of former fermen- 

 tations. The liquor thus fermented is pumped up at 

 once into the still, and the product is common under 

 the name of rum. Of the beers manufactured from 

 grain, as an article of consumption in that state, there 

 are a great many varieties. These, however, may be 

 all comprehended under three principal ones beer, 

 ale, and porter. Beer differs from the other two in 

 the circumstance of its being made for immediate 

 consumption. There are two or three kinds of it, 

 known by the names of strong beer, table beer, half- 

 and-half, &c. These differ only in their relative 

 strength, being all brewed upon the same general 

 principle, and adapted to be used soon after they are 

 made. It is of no consequence, so far as regards the 

 principle of brewing beer, whether the malt of which 

 it is made be of one colour or another: it may be 

 pale, or high-dried, or amber, or any thing else. It 

 is not even of the first consequence whether the malt 

 be good or bad, for the beer is drunk soon after it is 

 made, and if it is not, it is lost ; so that there is little 

 opportunity to discover any particular flavour. More- 

 over, it is a common and necessary practice to colour 

 it so highly with burned molasses or sugar, that the 

 original taste of the liquor is, in a great measure, 

 concealed. There is also a sort of fulness of taste 

 which is given to beer, by this practice in part, but 

 still more by the mode of fermentation. This mode 

 is to stop the progress of the latter before the sweet 

 taste is entirely gone, by removing the beer from the 



fermenting tun to the smaller casks. In some places, 

 indeed, where the beer is to be sent out. very weak, 

 it does not go into the fermenting tun at all, but the 

 yeast is mingled with the worts in the small casks, 

 and it is sent out at once in full fermentation, and 

 drunk up, in fact, before this has time to subside en- 

 tirely. Ordinarily, however, it is fermented a little 

 in the tun, and then cleansed and racked in a very 

 short time. When beer is sent out in this state, it is 

 always necessary to mingle with it a quantity of what 

 are called finings, that is to say, isinglass, or some- 

 thing of the sort, which has the same effect as the fish- 

 skin or isinglass commonly put into coffee it settles 

 it ; that is, it causes the dregs to subside to the bot- 

 tom. Beer made in this way is an agreeable liquor, 

 and well adapted to the purposes of draught in cold 

 weather, especially when its briskness is increased, as 

 it usually is, by warming it a little. However, beer, 

 properly so called, is an imperfect liquor. The pro- 

 cess is not complete, and very slight variations alter 

 its character. 



The other varieties of malt liquor are ale and por- 

 ter, or, as they are commonly called, stock liquors. 

 These are not intended for immediate consumption, 

 but to be kept for a longer and shorter period, during 

 which they do or ought to improve in quality. Ale is 

 a sweeter liquor than porter, and much stronger, the 

 best London brown stout being about 25 per cent, 

 weaker than Burton ale. The first part of the process, 

 on which the difference in the liquors depends, is the 

 drying of the malt : for ale it must be dried very care- 

 fully and slowly, so as to be of a pale colour ; and the 

 article is inferior if any of the grains are scorched or 

 burned, so as to communicate a harsh taste to the li- 

 quor. In the next place, the heat of the water, when 

 poured on the grain or mash, must be higher. The 

 reason given for this is, that it renders the worts 

 clearer when they are drawn off from the mash- 

 tun. It is not clear why this is of any consequence, 

 for it would seem that the boiling, to which the worts 

 are afterwards subjected, would be sufficient to curdle 

 and precipitate any mucilage dissolved during the 

 mashing. Such, however, is not the case ; and a low 

 heat in mashing is always apt to be followed by vio- 

 lent fermentation, very difficult to check, and very apt 

 to produce acidity. The higher the heat of the mash- 

 ing-water the better, provided it is not so high as to 

 set or make paste of the mash. The exact point can 

 be determined only by experiment, and must vary 

 with the comparative softness of the water and com- 

 parative paleness of the malt. In the next place, the 

 mashing or stirring must not be long continued, as it 

 is only desirable to dissolve the sugar ; and the effect 

 of long mashing is to mix the starch and mucilage 

 with the worts, and, of course, to diminish their com- 

 parative sweetness. For the same reason, the first 

 mash only is proper for fine ales, as the last always 

 contains much more starch and mucilage. These ales 

 thus acquire a sweetness which cannot be removed, 

 except by very long fermentation, and, therefore, they 

 long continue more generally palatable than porter. 

 The fermentation ot ales is conducted very differently 

 from that of beer. They are let down, or put into the 

 fermenting tun, at a lower temperature, and the fer- 

 mentation is made to go on slowly and gradually. 

 They are then drawn off clear, and cleansed, till the 

 yeast is as much as possible removed. Hence these 

 liquors, when well made, require no finings, but are 

 racked off so clear that they become fine of them- 

 selves, and much higher flavoured than they can pos- 

 sibly be when finings are used. Lastly, ale can only 

 be had in perfection from bottles. Its sweetness, high 

 flavour, and effervescing quality cannot long be pre- 

 served on draught, any more than the fine qualities of 

 Champagne. 



