394 FOUL AND ROPY BEER COLOURING PRICKED. 



and turbid beer, and that he prefers taking the op- 

 portunity of brewing, when he starts his pricked 

 beer upon the grains in the mash, after the small 

 beer, running it off directly : it will then run clear of 

 the acidity and foulness, which are left behind in 

 the grains. He afterwards puts into it the boiled 

 and used hops, and perhaps a few fresh, casking all 

 together. His beer is kept in butts placed upright, 

 and he finds that two bushels of malt absorb ten 

 gallons of water. 



For FOUL and VAPID drink three quarters of a 

 pound of BEAN FLOUR (as above) with one pound of 

 RAISINS, stoned and chopped, the whole made into 

 balls with the beer, and put into the cask, which 

 must be bunged, but a vent-hole left, as a fermen- 

 tation will arise, and perhaps continue twenty-four 

 hours. For ROPY beer, two handfuls of bean flour, 

 with one handful of salt, are recommended as suffi- 

 cient for a butt. After all, it will be easily conceiv- 

 ed, by the reflecting reader, that PREVENTION, com- 

 pared with the best of these ancient nostrums, is as 

 strong beer to pump-water. Elderberry juice was 

 formerly much used in the country, to heighten the 

 colour, and give a peculiar flavour to old beer. 



Instead of believing in the following receipts, let 

 the reader recur to the old saying, and go about to 

 prove them. To keep drink from being PRICKED IN 

 THE CASK Put an iron pad over the bung-hole ; 

 over that pad, work a piece of clay, big enough to 

 cover all, and exclude the air. This will preserve the 

 beer sound, during thunder, or under exposure in the 



