BREWING. 



malt, whether pale or high dried, must 

 be bruised between rollers, or coarsely 

 ground in a mill before it is used ; and it 

 is found by experience, that malt which 

 has lain to cool for some weeks is, in ma- 

 ny respects, preferable to that which is 

 used as it comes hot from the mill. The 

 first step in the process of brewing is 



Mashing. This is performed in the 

 mash-tun, which is a circular wooden ves- 

 sel, shallow in proportion to its extent, and 

 furnished with a false bottom, pierced 

 with small holes, fixed a few inches 

 above the real bottom : when it is small, 

 it ought to have a moveable wooden co- 

 ver. There are two side openings in the 

 interval between the real and false bot- 

 toms; to one is fixed a pipe, for the pur- 

 pose of conveying water into the tun : 

 the other is fitted with a spigot, for the 

 purpose of drawing the liquor but of the 

 tun. The brewing commences by strew- 

 ing 1 the grist or bruised malt evenly over 

 the false bottom of the mash-tun, and 

 then, by means of the side pipe, letting 

 in from the upper copper the proper 

 quantity of hot water. The water first 

 fills the interval between the two bottoms, 

 then, forcing its way through the holes in 

 the false bottom, it soaks into the grist, 

 which, at first floating on the surface of 

 the water, is thus raised oft' the bottom, 

 on which it was spread. When the whole 

 of the water is let in, the process of 

 mashing, properly so called, begins. The 

 object in mashing is, to effect a perfect 

 mixture of the malt with the water, in 

 order that all the soluble parts may be 

 extracted by this fluid : for this purpose, 

 the grist is first incorporated with the 

 water by means of iron rakes, and then 

 the mass is beaten and agitated, and still 

 further mixed by long flat wooden poles, 

 resembling oars, which indeed is the name 

 by which they are technically known. In 

 some of the large porter breweries, the 

 extent of the tun is so great, that the pro- 

 cess of mashing cannot be adequately 

 performed by human labour, and re- 

 course is had to a very simple and effec- 

 tual instrument for this purpose. A very 

 strong iron screw, of the same height as 

 the mash-tun, is fixed in the centre of 

 this vessel, from which proceed two great 

 arms or radii, also of iron, and beset with 

 vertical iron teeth a few inches asunder, 

 in the manner of a double comb ; by 

 means of a steam engine, or any other 

 moving power, the iron arms, which at 

 first rest on the false bottom, are made 

 slowly to revolve upon the central screw, 

 in consequence of which, in proportion as 



they revolve, they also ascend through 

 the contents of the tun to the surface : 

 then, inverting the circular motion, they 

 descend again in the course of a few revo- 

 lutions to the bottom. These alternate 

 motions are continued till the grist and 

 water are thoroughly incorporated. When 

 the mashing is completed, the tun is co- 

 vered in, to prevent the escape of the 

 heat, and the whole is suffered to remain 

 still, in order that the insoluble parts may 

 separate from the liquor : the side spigot 

 is then withdrawn, and the clear wort is 

 allowed to run off, slowly at first, but 

 more rapidly as it becomes fine, into the 

 lower or boiling copper. The principal 

 thing 1 to be attended to is the tempera- 

 ture of the mash, which depends partly 

 on the heat of the water, and partly on 

 the state of the malt. If any quantity of 

 barley is mingled with twice its bulk of 

 water, the temperature of the mass will 

 be very nearly that of the mean tempera- 

 ture ofthe ingredients. If the palest malt 

 is subjected to the same experiment, the 

 temperature will be somt'wha; greater 

 than that of the mean heat. The most 

 eligible temperature upon the whole for 

 mashing appears to be about 185 to 190 

 of Fahrenheit : the heat of the water, 

 therefore, for the first mashing, must be 

 somewhat below this temperature, and 

 the lower in proportion to the dark co- 

 lour ofthe malt made use of. Thus, for 

 pale malt, the water of the mash may be 

 at 180 and upwards : but for high-dried 

 brown malt, it ought not much to exceed 

 170. 



The wort of the first mashing is always 

 by much the richest in saccharine matter; 

 but to exhaust the malt, a second and 

 third mashing is required ; and as no heat 

 is generated except in the first mashing, 

 the water in the succeeding ones may be 

 safely raised to nearly 190. The propor- 

 tion of wort to be obtained from each 

 bushel of malt depends entirely on the 

 proposed strength of the liquor. For 

 sound small beer, thirty gallons of wort 

 may be taken from each bushel of malt ; 

 but for the strongest ale, only the pro. 

 duce of the first mashing, or about six 

 and a half gallons per bushel, is employ- 

 ed. But whatever be the proportion of 

 wort required, it must be held in mind, 

 that every bushel of well made malt will 

 absorb and retain three and three quar- 

 ters gallons of water, and, therefore, the 

 water made use of must exceed the wort 

 required in the same proportion. 



Boiling and hopping. If only one kind 

 of liquor (whether ale or beer) is to be 



