THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 46^ 



brewed a minimum quantity of 36 gallons of worts at 1.057° for 

 every 84 lbs. of malt or corn and for every 56 lbs. of sugar used. 

 In the matter of duty, therefore, apart from other considerations, it 

 is to the interest of the brewer to have at his command such 

 apphances and skill as, within safe brewing limits, will ensure the 

 extraction of the maximum quantity and strength of worts from the 

 materials used, since if he fails to get the standard minimum and 

 is charged on the materials, the duty becomes very heavy. 



The grains which remain deposited on the false bottom are re- 

 moved from the mash-tun as soon as possible. They form the 

 most important bye-product in a brewery, and are used chiefly for 

 feeding cattle. In some breweries the sum realised by their sale 

 at one time sufficed to pay the whole of the wages bill of the estab- 

 lishment. In Dublin the grains are bought chiefly by dairymen, 

 who feed their cows upon it, and in some country districts the 

 grains are largely used for fattening ducks. Generally speaking 

 the bulk of the grains turned out is greater than the bulk of malt 

 mashed ; sometimes in Ireland the amount of gram left after 

 mashing reaches as high a figure as i^ barrels of grains for each 

 barrel of malt mashed, and the average price ranges from ^d. to 

 \s. per barrel, and in some districts a higher price is sometimes 

 obtained. 



(3) The worts are run as quickly as possible out of the underback into 



the " Copper," which in Ireland is an ordinary big copper pot or 

 large domed copper vessel. The hops and any sugar or other 

 saccharine matter that may be used are now introduced, and the 

 whole is boiled for a couple of hours. The effect of boiling is two- 

 fold. It coagulates a substance called mucilage, which is always 

 present in the worts, and which, if not eliminated, would spoil the 

 beer ; it also extracts from the hops and imparts to the liquor the 

 flavour and essence of the former. 



(4) The worts are now run into the hop-back, a vessel provided with a 



false bottom, which retains the spent hops and allows the clear 

 liquor to pass into the cooler. These spent hops form an unim- 

 portant bye-product and are occasionally used by market gar- 

 deners as manure. After the lapse of a little time to allow of 

 settling, the cooling process is rapidly carried out by means of 

 refrigerators. 



(5) After leaving the cooler or refrigerator the worts are collected in 



the fermenting vessel, where yeast or barm is added to excite the 

 fermentation. It is at this point, before fermentation, that the 

 quantity and gravity or strength of the liquor are gauged by the 

 excise officer and the duty assessed at the present rate of Js. gd 

 per 36 gallons of worts of the standard specific gravity of 1.055° 

 Soon after the introduction of the yeast the appearance of the 

 head of the beer undergoes considerable changes. There appears 

 towards the top of the fermenting vessel a creamy head ; then in 

 about another nine hours this head has grown into a deep frothy 

 mass, parts of which constantly cave in, giving to the upstanding 

 portions an appearance of rocky peaks of snowy whiteness. When 

 the fermentation reaches the most active stage, bubbles of gas may 

 be seen breaking through, the carbonic acid, mixed with air and 



