386 FININGS ALE ADULTERATION. 



in his private recipe. A private brewer may be more 

 liberal at his own option. 



PORTER, it seems, must be brought forward, or 

 worked quicker than ale, and when in the casks, be 

 watched, and air given, that they do not burst. 

 Child says, they use a mixture of pale and amber 

 MALT with the brown ; and he inclines to prefer the 

 use of amber entirely. A man's experimental choice 

 will best determine this. On account of the variety 

 of ingredients, and particularly of the essentia, this 

 beer requires FININGS, which are composed of isin- 

 glass, dissolved in perfectly fine stale beer, until it 

 becomes a thin, gluey consistence, like size. One 

 pint of finings is the usual allowance for a barrel 

 (thirty-six gallons) of beer, though occasionally two 

 or three may be required; or it may happen, in 

 favourable weather particularly, that little, or even 

 none, be needed. In general, stale beer not being at 

 hand, a quantity is drawn from the cask itself, to 

 make the finings, but it may not be so effective. 



In the manufacture of ALE and small beer, Mr. 

 Child must be no longer my oracle. He unre- 

 servedly gives into the habitual adulterations of 

 beer, with sweets, seeds, (lib. coriander is supposed 

 equal to a bushel of malt,) and drugs, which neces- 

 sarily produce a spurious, and vastly inferior drink, 

 compared with the genuine product of malt and 

 hops. I will have no COUNTERFEITS in my cellar, 

 nor allow any addition to malt, hops, and liquor, 

 excepting a handful or two of SALT, which seasons 

 all things ; of this, the old rule is a handful to each 

 and every boiling of worts. Beer, in truth, may be 



