BREWING. 155 



The quality of the beer depends upon the way in 

 which the malt has been prepared as well as the 

 quantity. There are three kinds of malt generally 

 used, pale, brown, and amber. Pale malt is dried 

 by a slow fire, and only so much as just to check 

 the future germination of the grain : it is dried 

 sometimes upon hair or wire sieves, which are made 

 to form the bottom of the kiln. Brown malt is 

 dried with a quick fire, and the outside is in fact a 

 little charred. Amber malt is intermediate be- 

 tween these two. 



Pale malt is used for fine ales and pale beer : 

 brown malt is used for porter ; and amber is em* 

 ployed for brown ale and beer, and also to mix with 

 brown malt for porter, a practice which many prefer. 



Mashing is the next step in the process of brew- 

 ing. This is performed in a large circular wooden 

 vessel called the mash-tun, shallow in proportion 

 to its extent, and furnished with a false bottom, 

 pierced with small holes, and fixed a few inches 

 above the real bottom. There are two side open- 

 ings in the interval between the real and false 

 bottom : to one is fixed a pipe, for the purpose of 

 conveying water into the tun, and the other is for 

 drawing the liquor out of it. The malt is to be 

 strewed evenly over the false bottom of the same, 

 tun, and then, by means of the side pipe, a proper 

 quantity of hot water is introduced from the upper 

 copper. The water rises upwards through the 

 malt, or, as it is called, the grist, and when the 

 whole quantity is introduced, the mashing begins, 

 the object of which is to effect a perfect mixture of 

 the malt with the water, so that the soluble parts 

 may be extracted by it : for this purpose, the grist 

 is sometimes incorporated with the water by iron 

 rakes, and then the mass is beaten and agitated by 



