BREWING. 157 



first mashing, or six or eight gallons, is to be em- 

 ployed. 



Brewers make use of an instrument called a 

 sacchrometer, to ascertain the strength and good- 

 ness of the wort. This instrument is a kind of 

 hydrometer, and shows the specific gravity of the 

 wort, rather than the exact quantity of saccharine 

 matter which it contains. 



The next process in brewing is boiling and 

 hopping. The hop plant is well known : hops con- 

 tain an aromatic and essential oil, having an agree- 

 able bitter flavour. Hops are necessary to prevent 

 the beer from passing into the acetic fermentation, 

 which would take place after the vinous ferment- 

 ation had ceased. They check the fermentation 

 in a great degree, so as to occasion it to go on 

 slowly, and thus to acquire strength ; and the quan- 

 tity of hops depends upon the length of time the 

 beer is intended to be kept. Hops are best when 

 new, as they lose much of their flavour by keeping. 



If only one kind of liquor is made, the produce 

 of the three mashings is to be mixed together ; but, 

 if ale and table beer are required, the wort of 

 the first, or first and second mashings, is appropri- 

 ated to the ale, and the remainder is set aside for 

 the beer. 



All the wort destined for the same liquor, after 

 it has run from the tun, is transferred to the large 

 lower copper, and mixed with a certain proportion 

 of hops. The better the wort, the more hops are 

 required. In private families a pound of hops is 

 generally used to every bushel of malt ; but in public 

 breweries, a much smaller proportion is deemed 

 sufficient. When ale and table beer are brewed 

 from the same malt, the usual practice is to put 

 the whole quantity of hops in the ale wort, which, 



