B R E W I N G. 







inf*. flavour of the beer in a great measure depends. This 

 is done by two, three, four, and oometimes li 

 peated iiiiusions of hot water; the heat of which be- 

 ing properly suited to the nature of the malt, will 

 produce the desirable mixture of fermentable matters; 

 and in this point the skill of the brewer is chiefly 

 shewn, as from the variable nature of the malt it can- 

 not be reduced to any absolute rule ; but he must in 

 all cases proceed, in a great degree, according to the 

 existing circumstances. 



tof the Cold water will extract from the malt only a por- 

 r. tion of those constituent parts which it is the object 

 of the brewer to obtain ; and on the other hand, 

 boiling water, which is the greatest heat that can be 

 employed, will have a tendency towards what is called 

 setting the goods ; and when applied to some kinds of 

 malt, will actually produce this effect. This takes 

 place, when the whole mass of malt in the mash tun 

 mixes with a certain quantity of the water, and forms 

 a pulp or paste, by dissolving the gluten contained 

 in the malt, which is so viscous as to retain almost 

 all the saccharum of the malt, and holds a great pro- 

 portion of the liquor, so that it will not run out of the 

 mash tun. The boiling liquor, therefore, will neither 

 produce wort of a good quality, nor in any consider- 

 able quantity. Between these extremes of tempera- 

 ture, a proper medium must be sought. It should be 

 so adapted to the malt, as to produce a sweet wort, 

 possessing the colour of the malt from which it is 

 taken, and at the same time transparent when in the 

 linderback. Many practical brewers form a judge- 

 ment of the proper degree of heat, from the wort in 

 the underback bearing a frothy head ; but this must 

 be considered as a vague and indefinite criterion. 

 The proper degree of heat will give the strongest 

 wort, and in the greatest quantity ; for, if the heat 

 is greater, though the strength of the wort is increa- 

 sed, a greater quantity of wort will be retained 

 among the malt, in consequence of its tenacity. A 

 heat too low will, indeed, produce more wort than 

 the proper medium ; but it will be deficient in the 

 fermentable matter which it ought to have extracted 

 from the malt, and, in consequence of this, the beer 

 will be spiritless, and liable to turn sour if kept. 



The process of brewing has, of late years, been 

 greatly improved by the application of the thermo- 

 meter, to determine the degree of heat proper for 

 mashing ; but it is extremely difficult to fix with 

 precision what this should be, as it depends upon the 

 combination of so many circumstances. The great 

 advantage, therefore, of the thermometer appears to 

 be, that, when the brewer has by experience succeed- 

 ed well in a brewing, he may know how to produce 

 the same effect another time. The circumstances to 

 be taken into consideration are, 



First, the quality of the malt, the manner in 

 which it has been dried, whether brown or pale, 

 and also the perfection of the malting, by which 

 process the gluten contained in the barley is in 

 part converted into saccharum ; and the degree in 

 which this takes place will have some effect upon 

 the mashing heat. The danger of setting the goods 

 wholly or partially, will be in proportion as the 

 malt is well or ill-made, from its containing more 

 or less gluten, in proportion to the saccharum ; 



and, therefore, well made malts may be mathcd at Brevtng. 

 the highest heats. The heat in which malt : 

 dried is, by Mr Combrune, made the ground of a 

 calculation to determine the heat of the mashing li- 

 quor. He states the lowest heat for drying malt to 

 be 120 degrees for very pale malt, and the highest, 

 which is brown malt, at 1J50; and he assumes as a 

 principle, that the heat of the extracting liquor 

 should always be in proportion to that in which the 

 malt was dried. 



Second, The manner in which the malt has been 

 ground, operates as has been before stated. 



Third. The quantity of water in proportion to the 

 malt. This is necessary, because, by admitting the 

 water into a large mass of grist, its temperature is of 

 course diminished more or less in proportion to the 

 quantity of grist, and its temperature at the time, 

 which may be assumed the same as that of the at- 

 mosphere. It is observed, that the mixture of malt 

 and water will not be exactly the same as the mean 

 heats of the two, but rather higher, and this increase 

 of temperature is greater in high dried malt than in 

 pale malts : indeed, in some cases of brown malt 

 mashed in twice its bulk of water, the temperature 

 will be as much as 24 degrees hotter than the mean 

 temperature of both water and grist. 



Fourth, The quantity of malt which is mashed at 

 one time must be considered; because a large mash 

 tun will hold its heat much longer than a small one, 

 and may therefore be mashed at rather a lower heat. 

 Fifth, The flavour and nature of the liquor to be 

 brewed has some influence; as, whether it is for keep- 

 ing or for immediate use ; for, since the different con- 

 stituent parts of the malt are soluble in different de- 

 grees of heat, it follows, that more of one and less of 

 another may be extracted by a judicious management 

 of the heat. As this is altogether arbitrary, how- 

 ever, no rule can be given for it, and it must depend 

 upon the fancy of the brewer, or the taste of his 

 customers. 



Sixth, The number of mashes which are to be taken 

 from the malt, and the purpose for which each is intend- 

 ed, are to be taken into the account. If the different 

 worts are to be mixed together to produce only one 

 beer, as in porter brewing, the object is then to make 

 all th worts in some degree similar, or, at least, it 

 is not the same, as when the first wort is intended 

 for ale, and the subsequent ones for inferior liquors ; 

 for then the utmost is to be extracted from the malt 

 at first, and the next mashes are only taken that no 

 waste may be made. 



Seventh, The time the liquor is intended to be kept 

 has an influence upon the heat; for by extracting too 

 much of those fecula which render the beer turbid, it 

 will require a longer time to precipitate them. Indeed, 

 from too low a heat, it sometimes happens that the 

 liquor will ever remain thick and unpleasant ; and, in 

 roportion as the beer is intended for lon^ keeping, 

 the heat must be increased, otherwise it will have a 

 tend ncy to become acid before it becomes fine. 



It will at once be seen, that the d.-gree of heat 

 which depends upon the combination of so many 

 circumstances, cam-it possibly be fixed by any cer- 

 tain rule : the extremes may be stated at 145 and 

 190 of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The actual heat 



