January i8, 19 12] 



NATURE 



;Qr 



BREWING AND MODERN SCIENCE.' 

 'T'HE industry of brewing has earned unenviable 

 -'■ notoriety as affording a subject for every possible 

 kind of controversy : it has been also the most favoured 

 field for the application of modern science. The brewer, 

 faced by competition and by repeated increa:;es of taxation, 

 has sought the help of science in order to make the best 

 possible use of his materials ; the result has been in every 

 way a complete justification of his action. 



The industry has been more than fortunate in the men 

 it attracted in its early days — Griess, O'SuUivan, Horace 

 and Adrian Brown in this country, to name but a few, 

 have been all men of science of the very first rank. More- 

 over, the problems of brewing have been so fascinating in 

 themselves, and so intimately bound up with the study of 

 vital change, that they have attracted the interest of a 

 host of other workers not connected with the industry. 



In consequence, however much brewing may owe to 

 science, it may be claimed that the advance of modern 

 science has received material assistance from investiga- 

 tions connected with brewing. There is probably no other 

 industry which, in this respect, can exhibit as good a 

 record. 



The brewer's task — to make a fermented liquor from 

 malt, hops and yeast — does not appear at first sight to 

 present such complications, but on closer examination it 

 will be found that problems, often of the most vexed 

 nature, are experienced both in the choice of the barley, in 

 the manner of malting it, and in the methods of mashing 

 and fermenting the liquor to the best advantage. 



Any comprehensive review of the achievements of science 

 in brewing during the last forty years is impossible within 

 reasonable limits : it must suffice to indicate a few 

 instances in which the progress has been most striking. 

 The examples selected by Prof. Brown serve particularly 

 to show how diversified in character are the problems with 

 which the industry, in its successive operivtions, is faced. 



Barley. 



It is characteristic of many of our industries, and brew- 

 ing offers no exception, that there is often a lack of that 

 full sympathy which might be expected to exist between 

 the producer of the raw material and its user. This is so 

 often the case when agricultural interests are concerned, 

 the farmer preferring, for example, to grow weak wheats 

 rather than the stronger wheats in favour with the miller. 

 In the case of brewing, the estrangement is due to a variety 

 of causes, all tending, unfortunately, to diminish the con- 

 sumption and lower the value of home-grown barley ; most 

 of these are beyond the brewers' control. 



It is tempting to digress from the subject covered by the 

 title of this article and reflect on the advantages of beer 

 made entirely from malt and hops. There is a widespread 

 opinion that the quality of English beer is not what it 

 was, though it is equally tru^ that the present article is in 

 every way wholesome and suited to the public taste ; 

 Indeed, if this were not the case, its production would soon 

 cease to be possible commercially. 



Before the abolition of the malt tax in 1880 the number 

 of varieties of barley which the brewer could use with 

 advantage was comparatively small. Since this date any 

 suitable barley can be malted, and much has been done to 

 put the knowledge of the subject on a scientific basis by 

 the work of Beavan, first published so recently as 1900. 



-All barleys may be classified into two broad groups from 

 the position and character of the flowers : these are six- 

 rowed barleys and two-rowed. In addition, each group 

 may have short and broad or narrow and long heads, 

 making in all four distinct classes. These are well shown 

 in Figs. I and 2. 



In this country two-rowed barleys are the special con- 

 sideration of the farmer. " Chevalier " barley represents 

 the long, narrow-eared type, and " Goldthorpe " the short, 

 wide-eared kind. The widest difference of opinion exists 

 about their respective merits for malting and brewing. .At 

 present the evidence is in favour of Chevalier for the 

 production of the higher qualities of ale, in spite of which, 

 in many parts of the country, the culture of Goldthorpe 

 barli-y is displacing that of Chevalier. 



' Koyal .Society of Arts Cantor Leciures by Prof. Adrian J. Brown, F.R.S. 



NO. 2203, VOL. 88] 



Fig. I. — Six-rowed Barley. A, Wide-eared, 

 with short joints (//. /texasiic/itittt). 

 />, Narrow-eared, with long joints 

 (//. vu/gme). 



.An altogether mode! series of investigations to determine 

 the yield and money value of different varieties of barlev 

 has been carried on for six years by the Irish Department 

 of Agriculture, assisted by Messrs. Guinness. The vield of 

 the crop per acre for each of the varieties tested was 

 determined under strictly practical conditions, and its com- 

 mercial value ascer- 

 tained on the market. 

 From these data ili«- 

 value per acre was 

 determined for each 

 variety. .Archer, ;i 

 type of Chevalier, 

 proved to be the b( st 

 barley, being superior 

 and more profitable 

 to grow in every 

 case. Goldthorpe 

 was the best of the 

 wide-eared barlevs, 

 but from the farmer's 

 point of view it 

 always gave poorer 

 results than .Archer. 

 This conclusion 

 applies primarily to 

 Ireland, but probably 

 it is equally true of 

 F2nglish conditions. 

 Another point 

 brought out hy the 

 experiments was the 

 importance of using 

 pure seed ; indeed, it 



is claimed that an increase of yield of six huslK Is ]> i- acre*, 

 and an increase in value of aoo.oooL, would be etiected in 

 Ireland if pure selected Archer were substituted for the 

 present varieties of barley sown. 



The market values barley by empirical methods, based 

 on such characteristics as the character of the skin of the 

 grain, its size and shape, colour and relative hardness, 

 together with other factors 

 comprehended under the 

 term " maturation." It is 

 of interest that the scientific 

 investigations of Beavan 

 entirely uphold these 



methods of valuatinh, aii(i 

 enable them to be coiiirolled 

 more exactly in the lahor.i- 

 tory. 



I'he six-rowed barleys are 

 obtained from countries 

 possessing a warmer and 

 more sunny climate than 

 our own. Many of them 

 are very heavy croppers, 

 and possess valuable charac- 

 teristics ; there is obviously 

 a considerable field open for 

 the scientific plant-breeder 

 to adapt them to English 

 conditions. 



Mailing. 



The process of malting 

 involves the germination of 

 the barley grain up Xo the 

 stage when the starch 

 begins to be attacked ; 

 further action is then 

 stopped by drying the mali. 

 .Although probably the 

 germination changes of the 

 barley corn have been 



studied more thoroughly than those of any other seed, our 

 understanding of them is but of the slightest, and much 

 requires to be done before malting is placed on a scientific 

 basis. 



The food reserve of most seeds is directly associated with 

 the germ, but in cereal seeds this is not the case, the food 



Ji. 



A. 



Fk;. 2. — Two-rowed Barley. A, 

 Wide-eared, with sihort joints 

 (//. uo<fitoH, (joldthorpe). B^ 

 Narrow-earei), with long joints 

 (//. diitichnm. Chevalier). 



