210 M A 
dilation. The heat of the molt on the kiin, when fit for 
pale malt, was 120 degrees, and when it was fit for brown 
malt, 147. The obfervation, that malt is fit for what is 
called pale when its heat is 120 degrees, fuggefts a cau¬ 
tion which fhould be carefully attended to ; namely, that 
whatever colour it be intended to give the malt, the heat 
at firft fhould be the fame : thus, for example, malt which 
is dried to the degree of high brown, fhould firlt be ren¬ 
dered pale malt, then amber, and fo on progreffively ; not 
by a fudden increafe of the fire, but by a longer continu¬ 
ance of it. In this manner the whole body of the grain 
is equally and gradually dried ; whereas a ftrong and 
quicker fire would parch, or, as it were, finge the outfide, 
while the internal parts remained moift; and, as that 
inoifture is afterwards evaporated, it mutt crack the fur¬ 
rounding hardened cruft, and damage the grain in another 
refpeft. 
There can be little doubt that the grain may, at a me¬ 
dium, be faid to lofe by malting one-fourth of its weight, 
including what is feparated from it by the fpires fcreened 
off; but this proportion varies according as it is more or 
lefs dried. The condition of the barley, as to its green- 
nefs or ripenefs, at the time of its being gathered in, is 
clearly difcernable when it is malted. If it was gathered 
green, it rather lofes than gains in quantity ; the malt be¬ 
comes of a fmaller body, appears ftariveiled, and often is 
unkindly hard ; whilft, on the contrary, that which was 
cut at full maturity increafes in malting, appears plump, 
bright, and clear, if properly carried through the procefs, 
and, on being cracked, readily yields that fine mealy fub- 
ftance fo much defired by the brewers. 
It is fuggefted that the goodnefs of malt may be known 
by the following marks : When a grain of it is broken, and 
it taftes mellow and fweet, breaks foft, and is full of flour 
from one end to the other, it is good. If it has a round 
full body, and, upon putting foine grains into water, they 
fwim on the furface, it is good. Barley finks in water; 
and malt that is not well made will do the fame ; but it is 
to be obferved that this is not an invariable proof; becaufe, 
if the malt be broken, or in the leaft cracked, it will take 
in water, and fink. Malt that is rightly made will not be 
hard, but of fo mellow a nature, that, if drawn over an oak 
board, acrofs the grain, it will leave a white line upon the 
board, like a mark of chalk. Its fmell alfo may be con¬ 
futed ; for malt, though otherwife good, may have con- 
trafted an ill-fcent from the fuel, or from the water ufed 
. in the Keeping. 
In converting this fubftance to the purpofeof brewing, 
it fhould be freed from the tails and duft before it is 
ground, which would otherwife heighten the colour of the 
wort, render the liquor muddy, and give it a bad tafte, 
■which cannot afterwards be got rid of. A cylindrical fieve 
will be ufeful for this purpofe. 
In addition to what has been ftated above, on the dry¬ 
ing of malt, an experienced maltfter remarks, that his 
conftant praftice has been to give his malt as much dry¬ 
ing as he could on the Jloor-, this is not only a great faving 
of fuel, but alfo attended with feveral other advantages. 
The malt, by being thus gradually diverted of its outward 
inoifture, does not (hrink fo much when it comes to be 
laid on the kiln ; and of courfe it meafures to more ad¬ 
vantage, and is befides of a better quality, having ac¬ 
quired no foreign tafte. It is fuppofed that, where malt is 
laid very damp on the kiln, a thick fmoky vapour imme¬ 
diately arifes from the furface of it, which, being repelled 
and condenfed by the cold circumambient air, falls again 
on the malt, where, by the heat from the furnace, it is a 
fecond time rarefied, and afcends in clouds of fleam ; and 
that this alternate rarefaftion and condenfation of the 
inoifture is of great diftervice to the malt, by often giving 
it a difagreeable mufty flavour, and making it more unfit 
for keeping. But, by the method of fuffering the malt to 
receive a part of its drying on the floor, this inconvenience 
is, it is believed, in a great meafure avoided ; as the grofs 
Hio'ifture is evaporated before it is laid on the kiln, and that 
L T. 
which remains creates no great degree of fleam, provided 
the fire in the furnace is not at firft made to burn too fierce. 
The above maltfter (fates, that with this precaution he has 
often made pale malt as fine as he has feen any-where, fuch 
as was conftantly praifed. In drying it, he took care that 
there was, during the whole time it was on the kiln, but a 
very moderate, yet equal, fire in the furnace. 
_ It is fuggefted in the fifth volume of the Farmer’s Maga¬ 
zine, that the beft palemalt, for making beer, is only capa¬ 
ble of being produced by drying it with fleam ; and that 
fuch grain as is intended to be malted, fhould have its 
dampnefs correfted, and be rendered fit for keeping, only 
by the heat of fleam, as it is known that expofure to a naked 
fire, however cautioufly managed, dellroys a great part, if 
not the whole, of the embryo germs of feeds. In order to 
have malt highly dried, as fome like brown malt bet¬ 
ter than pale, when the moifture was nearly evaporated, 
the above-mentioned maltfter caufed the fire to be gradu¬ 
ally increafed till it roared in the furnace, taking care that 
the malt fhould be properly flirred, left it fhould prove kiln- 
burnt; and by this method he had a fine, fweet, brown, 
malt, fit for making harveft-beer, fuch as fome farmers are 
very fond of brewing. 
It is the opinion of fome, that brown malt, ufed in the 
fame proportion with pale, will make the flrongeft beer; 
but this is certainly a miftake, as the above maltfter has 
often made the experiment with great precifion, but could 
never find any material difference; and what difference 
there was at any time, feemed to him to be rather in fa¬ 
vour of the pale than the brown malt; this may eafily be 
accounted for, as the flour in the pale malt always remained 
found and uninjured in the drying; while the brown malt 
fometimes, notwithflanding all the care of the maltfter, is 
liable to be injured or parched by the fire, and that part 
muft, of courfe, lofe much of it* virtue. It is, however, 
noticed, that fuch pale malts as are flack-dried make a raw 
unwholefome liquor, which will not keepwell; hut, if 
pale malt be gradually and (lowly dried by an uniform gen¬ 
tle heat, it will certainly anfwer the character he has given 
of it, and, befides, keep as well as any brown malt what¬ 
ever, as he has fully experienced. 
Several regulations relating to the manufacture and fale 
of malt are enabled by various and fucceffive afts of the 
Britifh legiflature; of which the principal are as follow: 
By 12 Ann. flat. 1 .c. 2,continued yearly.and by 33 Geo. II. 
c. 7. there (hall be paid by the maker for all malt made in 
England, exceptkbe made for exportation only, (12 Geo. 
c. 4.) a duty of nine-pence a bufhel ; and by 19 Geo. III. 
c. 25. an additional duty of 15I. per cent, which duty is 
under the management of the cornmiflioners and officers of 
excife. By 43 Geo. III. c. 69. additional duties are tike- 
wife impofed. The lalt annual malt-aft is the 50 Geo. III. 
c. 1 . Every maltfter (hall take out a licenle from the office 
of excife annually, paying for the fame 5s. if the quantity 
of malt made by him fhall not exceed within the year, 
ending the 23d of June in each year previous to his taking 
out fuch licenfe, the quantity of fifty quarters. 
£. *• d. 
If above 50 and under 100 --- o 10 o 
————— 100 - 150 -- 015 o 
- IJO - 200 - I 0 o 
• - 200 ——— - 250 -• 150 
-250 --300 - I 10 o 
• - 3 00 - 35 ° - 1 15 o 
■-- 35° --400 - 200 
-400 --450 -- 250 
- 450-500 - 2 10 o 
-- 500-550 --- 2 15 o 
- 550 --300 
and a furcbarge. 
And every perfon who fhall firft become a maltfter, for 
every fuch licenfe 5s. and within ten days after the 5th of 
July next after taking out fuch licenfe, fuch further ad¬ 
ditional fum as with the faid 5s. fhall amount to the duty 
hereinbefore charged, according to the quantity of malt 
made 
