470 



BREWING. 



Process of 

 mashing. 



Brewing, proper for some kinds of beer, we shall state in ano- 

 ther place. 



In the process of mashing, the hot liquor is let in- 

 to the tun, beneath the false bottom ; and as soon as 

 it appears above the surface of the grist, the mashing 

 machine is put in motion, and continues till the grist 

 and liquor are thoroughly incorporated. It is then 

 left at rest a certain time, before it is run off into the 

 underback, and this time is called the standing of the 

 mash, and varies with the nature of the liquor to be 

 brewed. The first mash stands longer, and is taken 

 at a lower heat than the second, which again bears 

 the same relation to the third. After the mash has 

 stood the proper time, the tap is t,ct, that is, the 

 cocks are opened to draw cii the wort into the un- 

 derback. The time whidi the goods are allowed to 

 drain themselves of the wort, in this manner, varies 

 according to the preceding circumstances. If the 

 goods are glutinous, a longer time will be required 

 for the spending of the tap, as the drawing off the 

 goods is called. The wort should not be suffered to 

 rest long in the underback, before it is pumped up 

 into the copper pan, to be kept hot ; and brewers who 

 have not this convenience, are frequently troubled in 

 their operations, from being obliged to hurry them in 

 some stages, that the wort of a previous mash may 

 not wait in the underback till its temperature is 

 lowered ; for this would produce a premature fer- 

 mentation, called by the brcwerjbzing, and the beer 

 produced from such wort will ever be nauseous and 

 unpalatable. 



foxing. 



Reasons for 

 boiling 

 the wort. 



SECT. III. Of boiling the Worts. 



The wort, after receiving in the mash tun the ex- 

 tract of fermentable matter from the malt, requires 

 to be boiled With the hops, that it may imbibe the 

 essential oil of those plants. Another object of the 

 boiling is, to coagulate the excess of mucilage which 

 is unavoidably extracted from the malt in mashing, 

 for if this were suffered to remain in solution in the 

 beer, it would never become fine, but would always 

 be cloudy, in spite of the most powerful preci- 

 pitants. The boiling hardens this mucilage in the 

 same manner, probably, as the white of an egg ac- 

 quires solidity by boiling ; and for the same reason, 

 perhaps, as albumen is one of the consituent parts of 

 malt ; the boiling curdles the mucilage, before sus- 

 pended, and equally dispersed through the wort into 

 distinct fecula, leaving the fluid between them clear 

 and transparent. These fecula are afterwards deposi- 

 ted in the coolers, thrown out in the form of yeast 

 in fermenting, and, lastly, in the lees of the beer, 

 thus freeing it from matters which would otherwise 

 have remained in solution. The heat which is given 

 is that of boiling. In an open copper a greater haat 

 than this cannot be given ; but in the close copper, 

 the heat is somewhat increased, by forming steam of 

 sufficient elastic force to raise a column of water, of 

 the depth of the pan. A considerable quantity of 

 water is boiled off in steam, which tends to concen- 

 trate the wort, and render it stronger. It is by the 

 quantity thus evaporated that some brewers form 

 their judgment of the wort being sufficiently boiled. 

 Others draw their conclusion from the transpa- 



rency of the wort, or from its containing fecula. This Brew 

 is called breaking of the wort, or curdling. The du- v ~ ~ 



ration of the boiling is very various among different v '!?. e 

 i . -i MI i boihni 



brevvers. It must always be continued till the break- 

 ing appears ; and perhaps a much longer continuance 

 of the boiling is injurious, for the fecula or flakes of 

 coagulated matter are observed to become larger, the 

 longer the process continues ; and from an experiment 

 of Mr Combrune, it appears, that, if these flakes are 

 collected, and boiled in water, the extract will fer- 

 ment, and yield a viscous liquor. Hence they con- 

 tain a portion of the fermentable matter, and there- 

 fore should not be separated by boiling, farther than 

 is necessary, reserving the minute separation of such 

 matters from the beer to be effected by the fermen- 

 tation, in the form of yeast and lees. 



Thus boiling the wort too short a time, leaves in it 

 more of the gross parts o the extract of the malt 

 than can be thrown out by the fermentation ; and at 

 the same time the virtue of the hops will not be suf- 

 ficiently extracted. On the other hand, too much, 

 boiling causes a waste of fermentable matter, by 

 producing more fecula than is necessary for the for- 

 mer condition ; and the hops, by being boiled too 

 much, after having given out their agreeable essential 

 oil, communicate a gross bitter oil, which is unfa- 

 vourable to a sufficient fermentation for producing the 

 requisite spirit in the beer. It will readily be seen, 

 that the medium cannot be attained, without attend- 

 ing to the circumstances of the previous process of 

 the mashing, and the nature of the malt, and also to 

 the quantity and quality of the hops, and the length of 

 beer drawn, that is, the quantity of beer intended to 

 be produced from a certain quantity of malt. The 

 greater the portion of the farinaceous matter which, 

 has been extracted from the malt, the longer boiling 

 will be necessary to curdle it. This will happen 

 from malt imperfectly made, or from too low heat 

 for the mashing. The first wort is generally boiled 

 a much shorter time than the succeeding one, that 

 the hops may not be so much impaired at the first, 

 but that they may yield sufficient oil to the second 

 and third worts. One hour for the first wort, two 

 for the second, and four for the third wort, are re- 

 commended for beers, which are intended to be kept 

 twelve months, having a large proportion of hops, 

 that is 121b. to the wort produced by one quarter of 

 malt, and which is intended to be fermented at about 

 40 degrees of temperature. For small beer only half 

 an hour is necessary for the first wort ; one hour for 

 the second ; and two hours for the third. The quan- 

 tities to be evaporated during the boiling are equally 

 various for different kinds of beer ; and therefore we 

 cannot say any thing of it in this place, further than that 

 its extremes are from j-th the quantity of wort to -^th. 



SECT. IV. Of Hops. 



Hops contain a fine essential oil, which has an Uses 

 agreeable bitter flavour. They are requisite to pre- hops, 

 serve the beer from the acetic fermentation, which 

 would otherwise take place immediately after the spi- 

 rituous fermentation ceases. The addition of the 

 hops checks the disposition to ferment in such a de- 

 gree, that the beer may be kept a sufficient time in. 



