THE GRAMINii^. 



217 



changed; for privileges were then granted to 

 hop-grounds. 



In the reign of James I. the plant was not suf- 

 ficiently cultivated in England for the consump- 

 tion ; as there is a statute of 1608 against the im- 

 portation of spoilt hops. In 1830, there were 

 46,727 acres occupied in the cultivation of hops 

 in Great Britain. 



Of barley, there are above thirty million bush- 

 els annually converted into malt in Great Bri- 

 tain ; and more than eight million barrels of beer, 

 of which four-fifths are strong beer, are brewed 

 yearly. This is a consumption, by the great 

 body of the people, of a favourite beverage which 

 indicates a distribution of the national wealth, 

 satisfactory by comparison with the general po- 

 verty of less advanced periods of civilization in 

 our own country, and with that of less industri- 

 ous nations in our own day.* 



Malt. This term is applied to barley, or 

 other grain, which has been made to germinate 

 artificially to a certain extent, after which the 

 process is stopped T)y the application of heat. 

 In the manufacture of malt, the barley is steeped 

 in cold water for a period which, as regulated by 

 law, must not be less than forty hours, but be- 

 yond that period the steeping may be continued 

 as long as is thought proper. There it imbibes 

 moisture and increases in bulk, while at the 

 same time a quantity of carbonic acid is emitted, 

 and a part of the substance of the husk is dis- 

 solved by the steep water. The proportion of 

 water imbibed depends partly on the barley, and 

 partly on the length of time that it is steeped. 

 From the average of a good many trials, it ap- 

 pears that the medium increase of weight from 

 steeping may be about 47 lbs. in every 100 lbs., 

 the average increase of bulk is about a fifth. The 

 carbonic acid emitted while the barley is in the 

 steep, is inconsiderable, and probably is derived 

 from the oxygen of the steep water. The water 

 gradually acquires a yellow tinge and the smell 

 and taste of water in which straw has been 

 steeped ; these qualities are derived from the ex- 

 tractive matter of the husks of the barley. 



After the grain has remained a sufficient time 

 in the steep, the water is drained off, and the bar- 

 ley thrown out of the cistern upon the malt floor, 

 when it is formed into a rectangular heap about 

 sixteen inches in depth, called the couch. In this 

 situationitis allowed to remain about twenty-one 

 hours. It is then turned by means of wooden sho- 

 vels, and diminished a little in depth. Thisturning 

 is repeated twice a day,oroftener, and the grain is 

 spread thinner and thinner, tiU at last its depth 

 does not exceed a few inches. When placed on 

 the couch it begins gradually to absorb oxygen 

 from the atmosphere, and to convert it into car- 

 bonic acid, at first very slowly, but afterwards 



" Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 



more rapidly. The temperature at first, the 

 same with that of the internal air, begins slowly 

 to increase, and in about 96 hours the grain is at 

 an average about 10° hotter than the surround- 

 ing atmosphere. At this time the grain, which 

 had become dry on the surface, becomes again so 

 moist that it will wet the hand, and jjxhales at 

 the same time an agreeable odour, not unlike that 

 of apples. The appearance of this moisture is 

 called sweating, A small portion of alcohol ap- 

 pears volatilized at this period. The great ob- 

 ject of the maltsmen is to keep the temperature 

 from becoming excessive. This they do by fre- 

 quent turning. The temperature which they 

 wish to preserve varies from 66° to 62° accord- 

 ing to the dififerent modes of malting pursued. At 

 the period of the sweating, the roots of the grain 

 begin to appear, at first like a small white pro- 

 minence at the bottom of each seed, which soon 

 divides itself into three rootlets, and increases in 

 length with very great rapidity, unless checked 

 by turning the malt. About a day after the 

 sprouting of the roots, the rudiments of the fu- 

 ture stem, called acrospire by the maltsters, 

 may be seen to lengthen. It rises from the same 

 extremity of the seed with the root, and ad- 

 vancing within the husks, at last issues from the 

 opposite end; but the process of malting U 

 stopped before it has made such progress. 



As the acrospire shoots along the grain, the ap- 

 pearance of the kernel, or cotyledon, undergoes a 

 considerable change. The glutinous and muci- 

 laginous matter is taken up and removed, the 

 colour becomes white, and the texture so loose that 

 it crumbles to powder between the fingers. The 

 object of malting is to produce this change ; when 

 it is accomplished, which takes place when the 

 acrospire has come nearly to the end of the seed, 

 the process is stopped by drying the malt upon 

 the kUn, at first with a temperature of 90° 

 increased slowly to 140° or higher, according to 

 circumstances. The malt is then cleaned, to se- 

 parate the rootlets, which are considered as in- 

 jurious. By this process of malting, barley in- 

 creases in bulk from two to three per cent, and 

 decreasesin weight about twenty percent., twelve 

 parts of which however is merely water evapo- 

 rated by the kiln drying. The remaining eight 

 parts of loss consist of extract carried off in the 

 steep water, the roots separated in cleaning, and 

 loss by attrition on the floor and otherwise. 



The malt thus prepared is next ground in a 

 mill, and infused in the mash tun with somewhat 

 more than its own bulk of water, of a tempera- 

 ture from 160° to 180°. After a few hours the 

 infusion is drawn off, and more hot water added. 



Wort has a brownish yellow colour, a luscious 

 sweet taste, a, peculiar smell, and when pure ia 

 perfectly transparent. The water of the wort 

 holds in solution a saccharine matter analogous 

 in every respect to sugar — starch, in greater or 

 2 E 



