BREWING. 



471 



or- 

 of 



press 



act of 



ig- 



)tra 

 >f 



a state of slow fermentation, to acquire strength and 

 spirit, and to precipitate the farinaceous matter sus- 

 pended in it, without becoming sour. On this ac- 

 count, the quantity of hops which are put to the 

 beer, depends upon the length of time it is intended 

 to be kept before it is drunk, on the length tlniirn, 

 and also on the heat at which the beer is intended to 

 be set to work in 'J.o gyle tun. The hops are put 

 in the copper and boiled with the first wort, and are 

 again used to boil with the succreding worts. The 

 quantity is as various as the different kinds of beer. 

 Twelve pounds to the porter produced from 1 quar- 

 ter of malt is judged sufficient to preserve such beer 

 for 12 months, when fermented at 10 degrees ; but, 

 in the heat of 60 degrees, double the quantity of hops 

 will scarcely preserve the beer during the same time. 

 For small beer to be fermented at 40 degrees, 3 Ib. 

 to the quarter will be sufficient ; but at 60 degrees, it 

 will require 6 Ib. of new hops, or 6'} Ib. of old hops, 

 which are such as have been kept one year, and have, 

 in consequence of this, lost some of their good quali- 

 ties ; but this difference is not worthy of notice, when 

 only small quantities are used. It ought to be ob- 

 served, that small beer is not generally intended for 

 keeping any considerable length of time. Some 

 breweries, from the great space necessary to store their 

 hops, have in some seasons, when they required a 

 great stock, adopted a method of pressing the bags 

 in a strong press to about \ their original space, and 

 confining them in this state by cords ; a process which 

 is thought to preserve them better than if they were 

 unconfined. 



Mr Long, in his patent dated 1790, has recom- 

 mended the hops to be boiled or macerated in water, 

 sufficient to cover them for 10 hours ; at which time, 

 the heat (increased by degrees from the beginning,) 

 is to be only 175. This gradually increasing heat 

 is to be continued 1 hours longer, and made to boil 

 slowly for the last ten minutes: the extract thus pro- 

 duced is to be let on through a cooler or worm pipe, 

 into the gyle tun, where it is to be mixed with the first 

 wort, which has been boiled a very short time with- 

 out hops. The hops are to be boiled again twice, 

 in order to make extracts for the second and third 



worts. 



SECT. V. Cooling. 



This operation is performed by spreading out the 

 boiling wort in a thin sheet exposed to the action of 

 the air. that it may be brought to the proper heat 

 for working or fermenting. It is a great object, 

 that the cooling should be performed as expeditiously 

 as possible ; for the taint Ol foxing, before mentioned, 

 is otherwise in danger of overtaking the beer in this 

 process, if it continues as much as 12 hours. The 

 wort, therefore, should be laid at such a deptk in the 

 coolers, that they will cool it in about 7 or 8 hours 

 to the temperature of nearly 60 degrees, which, gene- 

 rally speaking, is about the average temperature for 

 pitching or setting to work. To effect this, the wort 

 in summer should not be laid at a greater depth than 

 one, two, or three inches j but in winter, it maybe as 

 deep as 5 inches. In the hot summer months the 

 worts must be got as cold as the weather will permit ; 



and it is found that the coldest period of the 21 hours Brewing 

 is about 3 o'clock in the morning, at which time, -f ' 



therefore, they should be set to work. In tin- win- 

 ter they may be let down at any hour when they 

 arrive at the proper temperature. 



The wort should not In- :.nf!i-ieil to remain in the 

 coolers after they are sufficiently cold, or a blow fer- 

 mentation may commence, from the sediment left in 

 the cooler by a former process. This, which is called 

 xct/iinf the backs, is very prejudicial. 



SECT. VI. Of Fermentation in the Gyle Tun. 



From this process, the beer obtains its strength and Ue of 

 spirit, by converting the sugar extracted from the fcrmenu- 

 malt, into alcohol and spirit, and separating the rcdun- tlon ' 

 dant part of the mucilage in the forms of yeast and 

 lees. In this process, an immense quantity of car- 

 bonic acid gas, or fixed air, is given out from all 

 parts of the fluid. During fermentation, the con- 

 stituent parts of the wort are at first decomposed, 

 and afterwards a recomposition takes place in a new 

 order, causing the change above mentioned. The 

 sweet taste of the wort disappears; it loses its vis- 

 cidity, from the separation of mucilage and gluten, 

 which takes place ; its specific gravity is consider- 

 ably diminished ; and a spirituous and inebriating 

 quality is given to the liquor. When the wort is let 

 down at the proper temperature from the coolers, in- 

 to the gyle tun or square, a requisite proportion of 

 yeast is added to it, and in a short time the fermenta- 

 tion commences. Its first appearance is a white line Si- 

 or border on the surface of the liquor, commencing I 5 rmcnt *' 

 at the sides of the tun, and gradually advancing into t10 "' 

 the middle, till the whole surface is covered over with 

 a white scum, formed of very minute bubbles 

 gas, which increase in size as the fermentation advan- 

 ces, and cover the liquor to a depth of several inches 

 with a froth of yeast. The temperature of the f! 

 increases considerably ; and during all this time, the 

 rising of the bubbles of gas, causes an incessant sound 

 and a great agitation of the fluid. Part of the bub- 

 bles burst as they arrive at the surface, and the film of 

 yeast which enveloped them, sinks until it is borne up 

 again by the ascending bubbles. These films form at 

 first a yellow, and, as the process advances, a brown 

 dirty covering to the head of yeast, giving it the ap- 

 pearance of rocks. In this state the fermentation i 

 considered as at its crisis, and afterwards diminish 

 The yeast, which was at first a thin watery substance, 

 quickly melting down into a fluid, has now become 

 viscid and tenacious, which is the cause of the in- 

 creased size of the bubbles, as they will bear greater 

 distension without bursting. When the head begins 

 to sink, which it does, first in the middle of the tun, 

 the fermentation is to be checked by cleansing, that 

 is, dividing it into small casks, and allowing any far- 

 ther yeast which it may produce, to flow off as fast 

 as it is formed. '1 V proper management of the fer- 

 mentation, intir upon the temperature 

 to which the wort ii cooled, when the yeast is put 

 to it. The violence of the fermentation is increased fVrmeii!. 

 with the heat ; and if this is too great, the p -heat. 

 advances so quick, as not to be readily checked when 

 at its proper stage, but will go on to produce the ace- 



