BRETON 



916 



BREWING 



city derives its importance chiefly from the 

 naval docks, and the principal industries are 

 connected with the manufacture of naval sup- 

 plies. In the War of the Nations the city was 

 the principal port in France for the use of 

 the Americans. In ancient times Brest was 

 the most important town of Brittany (which 

 see), and it changed hands many times, some- 

 times being held by the English, sometimes 

 by the French. There was an old saying to 

 the effect that "He is not lord of Brittany who 

 is not lord of Brest." Population in 1911, 

 90,540. 



BRETON, bretoN', JULES ADOLPH (1827- 

 1906), a French painter of peasant life, born at 

 Courrieres. He began as a painter of historical 

 subjects, but soon discovered that his genius 

 lay in depicting the life of the peasants among 

 whom he was born. His works are character- 

 ized by tender feeling, but they lack that 

 strength and power which mark Millet's work. 

 Among Breton's principal paintings are Blessing 

 the Grain, now in the Luxembourg, in which the 

 rendering of sunlight is so admirable; Return 

 oj the Gleaners, his most celebrated work; 

 Erecting a Calvary; and Song of the Lark; the 

 original of this last is one of the most popular 

 pictures in the Chicago Art Institute. Breton 

 also wrote both poetry and prose. Among his 

 literary works are Jeanne, The Life of an 

 Artist, A Peasant Painter and The Fields and 

 the Sea. The Song of the Lark, one of his fin- 

 est paintings, is faithfully reproduced here. 



BREVET, brevet', a military title con- 

 ferred on a commissioned officer who receives 

 honorary rank higher than that which he holds 

 in his regiment. It does not carry with it any 

 increase of pay and does not entitle the recip- 

 ient to seniority over officers of equal rank 

 except when in the field. In the United States 

 army officers are addressed by the title of their 

 brevet rank. In the British army, officially 

 both titles are used. For instance, a captain 

 receiving a brevet majority would be styled 

 "Captain and Brevet Major ." 



BREVIARY, bre' viari, a book containing 

 the prayers, mostly Psalms, which in all sacred 

 Orders of the Roman Catholic Church must 

 recite daily, unless excused by Papal permis- 

 sion. The breviary is printed in four volumes, 

 one for each season of the year. The Missal 

 contains the various prayers which must be 

 read or sung by the celebrant in the celebration 

 of mass. The Ritual contains the prayers and 

 various blessings used in funerals, baptisms and 

 marriages. 



BREWING, broo'ing, the process of making 

 from barley and other cereals such beverages 

 as beer and ale, which are fermented but not 

 distilled. In popular usage the term brewing 

 includes all the steps in the process, but tech- 

 nically this is untrue. The manufacturers dis- 

 tinguish between malting and brewing, which 

 are really two separate processes. In order to 

 make the explanation as simple as possible, the 

 distinction will be kept in this article. 



Malting. The first step is to generate the 

 ferment, diastase, which will change the starch 

 in the barley or other grain to maltose and 

 dextrin. This is done by malting, or causing 

 the grain to germinate. It is first steeped in 

 water for forty-eight to seventy-six hours, the 

 water being drawn off and renewed at least once 

 a day during this period. When the grain has 

 absorbed enough water to soften it, it is taken 

 from the steeping tanks and piled in a nicely 

 leveled heap about two feet deep on the "ger- 

 minating floor." This is called couching. The 

 grain then begins to sprout, and must be care- 

 fully watched. As soon as the rootlets appear 

 it is floored; that is, spread out to a depth of 

 ten inches or less. The sprouting must be 

 regular, not too fast or too slow; the tempera- 

 ture must be varied for different grains, and 

 germination must be checked when the sprouts 

 are two-thirds the length of the grain. The 

 checking is done by heating the grain in a 

 dry kiln. The temperature is raised by stages 

 to 150 F. for light beer and to 220 F. for 

 dark beer. The malt is then left dry and 

 crisp. 



Brewing. When the malt is thoroughly dry 

 it is ready for brewing, and this is the second 

 process. It is crushed (bruised is the technical 

 term) between iron rollers, and is then mixed 

 with warm water, forming a mash, which in the 

 German process has the consistency of a break- 

 fast porridge, but in the English is much thin- 

 ner. Both processes are used in America. The 

 mixture is placed in mash tubs, and sufficient 

 hot water added to bring the mixture to the 

 desired temperature. Diastase is most active 

 at 145 F. and for some time the mash is kept 

 at about that temperature. Eventually, how- 

 ever, it is further heated, reaching 158 in the 

 English and 167 in the German process. Dur- 

 ing the heating the mash is stirred by a me- 

 chanical device. At last- the liquid is drawn 

 off from the grain, or grist. The liquor in this 

 stage is called the wort. 



The next step is to boil the wort with hops, 

 from one to twelve pounds of hops being used 



