46$ 



B R E W I N G. 



Brewing. 



Water. 



Wells in 

 Lyndon. 



Quantity bre&ed in one year, ending July 1807. 



By Barrels. 



Barclay and Perkins 166,600 



Meux, Reid, and Co 170,879 



Trueman, Hanbury, and Co 135.972 



F. Calvert and Co. . 83,004 



Whitbread and Co 104,251 



H. Meux and Co . 



Combe 80,273 



Brown, Parry, and Co 125,054 



Goodwynne, Skinner and Co 72,580 



J. CaUcrt 37,0:;:; 



Elliot and Co 47,388 . 



Taylor 30,273 , 



Clowes, Maddox, and Newbury 38,544 



Erewiii 



Total, 1,092,451 1,103,032 1,132,366 1,3.16,345 1,338,478 



The water used in most of these works, at least in 

 seven of them which we have visited, is pumped 

 from wells; and there is no foundation for the received 

 opinion, that the superiority of London porter arises 

 from the Thames water. This water was indeed used 

 by all of them some years ago, before the discovery 

 of the excellent and inexhaustible spring, which is to 

 be found beneath any part of London. This city 

 is situated upon a stratum of clay from 150 to 200 

 feet in thickness, lying upon a stratum of chalk, with 

 the intervention of some sand. The rain falling upon 

 the extensive range of hills which the chalk stratum 

 forms, (by running up gradually for 20 or 30 miles,) 

 is received into the fissures of the chalk, which are al- 

 ways full, up to the level of the clay strata. The 

 water thus poured up, flows over at the lowest points 

 of the clay, (covering this immense subterranean re- 

 servoir, ) forming the rivers Lea, Coin, and New Ri- 

 ver, which run upon the surface of the clay, into the 

 Thames. Now, by sinking a well 150 or 200 feet 

 deep, and piercing the whole thickness of the clay, 

 the same water may be obtained by perpendicular 

 ascent, which was conducted by the New River at 

 such an immense expense near 30 miles upon the sur- 

 face. The instant that the clay is pierced, the water 

 rushes up so violently as to fill the whole depth of 

 the well in a few minutes, and sometimes runs over a 

 great quantity. The sand between the clay and the 

 chalk is forced into the well with the water, so as 

 nearly to fill it up, and then it obstructs the free pas- 

 sage of the water. This is remedied by driving down 

 a copper pipe before the clay is quite dug through, 

 and boring out the strata within the pipe. By this 

 means the end of the pipe can be got down some 

 small distance into the sand. When the borer is re- 

 moved from this pipe, the water blows up the sand as 

 before in great quantities through the pipe ; but its 

 upper end being many feet above the bottom of the 

 well, affords room round it for lodging this sand, 

 without choking the well ; and when the well be- 

 comes filled, and runs over quietly, the sand does not 

 rise, because the great pressure of water is relieved ; 

 but if, (as frequently happens,) the demand for water 

 from the well is greater than the pipe can supply, 

 without sinking the water in the well, the sand will 

 come up. This happened a few years ago .at Messrs 

 Meux's well, which was often sunk 100 feet by the 



continued pumping of the engine ; and then the pumps 

 drew up such a quantity of sand as to fill the liquor- 

 back and condensing cibtern of the engine half full in 

 a few days. 



Much has been said of the qualities of different of hard 

 kinds of water for the purposes of brewing, and and soft 

 writers in general have recommended soft water as water, 

 preferable to hard. The latter is said to be less inclined 

 to fermentation, and therefore the beer will have less 

 spirit than if made of soft ; but, it is more easy to 

 brew transparent liquor from hard water, and it is ; not 

 so liable to turn sour. Soft water, procured from 

 rivers, often imbibes a great proportion of vegetable 

 extract, and is then so liable to fermentation as fre- 

 quently to become sour. As we see a general change 

 in the system of the London brewers, from using soft 

 river water, to hard spring water, it is a presumptive 

 proof, that the very purity and transparency ot the 

 water is of greater consequence than its hardness or 

 softness ; end the knowledge of this fact may induce 

 brewers in other situations to place less dependence 

 upon the nature of their water, but to endeavour, by 

 varying the management of their processes, to pro- 

 duce any kind of liquor from any water, (hard or 

 soft,) provided it is clear, sweet, and free from mine- 

 ral taints. 



CHAP. II. 



Brewing Utensils. 



IN describing the different utensils and vessels em. Brewin 

 ployed in a brewery, the mechanism used in the ope- utensils 

 ration of mashing comes first to be considered. The 

 mash tun is usually a large wooden tun, formed of 

 vertical staves bound by iron hoops, as shewn in Fig. 

 2. of Plate L XX VIII. It has a false bottom placed 

 a few inches above the real bottom. This is pierced Mash ' 

 with a great number of small holes, to admit the li- 

 quor, but retain the malt, which lies upon it as a 

 floor. The liquor is brought by a pipe into the tun 

 beneath the false bottom, and forces its way up 

 through the goods (malt); and when it appears 

 above them, the goods are stirred up, to expose every 

 part of them to the action of the liquor. This was 

 at one time performed by men, first using long rakes 

 to level the heaps of malt, and afterwards rowing the 



