BREWING 



liquor made by them, however, resembled more 

 our sweet and mucilaginous ales, the use of hops 

 being of modern invention. 



Beer is made of an extract produced from malt 

 and hops by boiling ; and this extract is after- 

 wards fermented by adding yeast to it. 



Malt is made from barley by a process which 

 is called malting* Barley is a grain consisting of 

 fecula, or starch, albumen, and a little gluten. 

 By the process of malting, its fecula is converted 

 into sugar, a substance essential to the production 

 of ardent spirit or alkohol, which is the substance 

 that gives the intoxicating quality to every liquor. 

 To prepare malt, the grain is put into a trough 

 with water, to steep for about three days ; it is 

 then laid in heaps, to let the water drain from it, 

 and afterwards turned over and laid in new heaps. 

 In this state, the same process takes place as if the 

 barley were sown in the ground 5 it begins to 

 germinate, puts forth a shoot, and the fecula of 

 the seed is converted into 'saccharine matter. 

 When this is sufficiently accomplished, which is 

 known by the length of the shoot, (about I of the 

 length of the grain) this process of germination 

 must be stopped, otherwise the sugar would be 

 lost, nature intending it for the nourishment of 

 the young plant. The malt is, -therefore, spread 

 out upon a floor, and frequently turned over, 

 which cools it, and dries up its moisture, without 

 which the germination cannot proceed. When it 

 is completely dried in this manner, it is called air- 

 dried malt, and is very little altered in colour. 

 But when it is dried in kilns, it acquires a brownish 

 colour, which is deeper in proportion to the heat 

 applied ; it is then called kiln-dried. This malt is 

 then coarsely ground in a mill. 



