November 3. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
generous spirit to their own rapacious maws and all grasp¬ 
ing cupidity. Pity ’tis, but we know it is true, indignities 
must be suffered; lucky, indeed, when at such tiroes a 
friend and adviser can be found to relieve and support us 
under them. John Barleycorn! — deny it who can 3 'on 
are one of the surest and safest props for your country; a 
long vista of years must be seen through, ere you cease to 
provide for her one of her principal sources of revenue. . I 
find no fault with persons who refuse to drink your mild 
Metheglin; but I decry those who misuse and abuse you. 
Justly treated and considered, there remains not a home or 
cottage in the land where you would not become thoroughly 
appreciated, in conjunction with a home-baked loaf and a 
Cheshire cheese ! It is in this light, my friend, I take you 
by the hand and encourage you: also that other, in which 
the young Persian Prince, Cyrus, answered his grandfather, 
Astyages, King of Media, who, when the latter thought to 
induce him to become intoxicated, refused, giving as a 
reason, how, at an orgie not long before, he had been pained 
at beholding him, a king, humiliating himself in the eyes of 
Iris subjects, through being too drunk to stand upon his legs. 
“ Why,” replied Astyages, astonished, “ have you never seen 
the same, thing happen to your father ?” “ No, never,” says 
Cyrus. “ What, then! how is it with him when he drinks ? ” 
“Why, when he has drank, his thirst is quenched, and that 
is all.” England requires steady sons, with sinews and 
strength and common sense ; these qualities can never be 
gained in our modern pot -houses; and the idea of a man 
wasting his substance and impoverishing his family at 
those places, merely to favour and enrich such worthies as 
the “ twelve kings,” is a matter most difficult for me to un¬ 
derstand ; yet, still it is so. 
I am not an old man, and I hope to live to see the day 
when landlords will consider a copper as necessary an ap¬ 
pendage for their cottages as a chimnej', and to find in¬ 
dividuals, who wish well for their country, in possession of 
brewing utensils, to lot out for moderate hire to their poorer 
brethren (to insure a clean and speedy return for them 
fines should be imposed), thus enabling them to brew their 
own beer. I fear no evil in broaching this idea. Place a 
man in a position to understand himself; assist him to those 
means which create a responsibility and interest for him 
around his own domestic hearth, and the natural results 
arising therefrom will, if anything, lead him to despise the 
drunkard's course; he becomes aware that all excess is sin, 
and that the moderate use of the bounties of the Giver of 
all good is conducive, not only for his present, but of the 
first importance towards his future, happiness. 
“ Every man his own brewer,” would be a maxim prema¬ 
ture in me to insist on; or that I should with prejudice 
claim a precedence for the plan of my adoption, would be 
equally egotistic; the adage about the roasting of eggs 
would rise up in judgment against me; nevertheless’, for 
those who should feel inclined to try the system I am about 
to point out (and I do think the process of. brewing is 
among one of the most useful occupations in domestic 
economy with which a man can make himself acquainted), 
I assure them a glass of nut-brown ale as a result, such 
as would serve to cheer and not inebriate. 
This paper is intended as a means to assist and point out 
the intention of a small brewing, although its rule would be 
found equally applicable in a multiplied sense for the pur¬ 
pose ; the latter and larger feature would necessarily include 
an assistant, therefore, the moment of preparation does not 
call, perhaps, for so much consideration ; but where, as I am 
about to suppose, a man is his own factotum, it is well to 
take twenty-four hours by the forelock : a preparatory hard 
days’ work running into the same night that one brews, 
is not, so far as my experience warrants me to speak, over- 
advisable. But, if you are not your own workman, and, 
unless you are quite confident in your brewer, lend a hand 
for the mashings, give an eye to the boilings, and set the 
beer to work yourself; these three points attended to, the 
rest may he confided to the tender mercies of an unin¬ 
terested person. You will, probably, from the latter class, 
get plenty of advice, as to the inutility of mashing and 
boiling, for so long periods as I recommend ; but be fore- 
anned—“ a slow brewer, and a quick baker,” is a proverb. 
Insist upon it, that clear, well-flavoured beer, to stand the 
proof of keeping, cannot be had, unless it be well-boiled; 
nor can the virtue be extracted from the malt unless it be 
well mashed. 
It is immaterial whether we brew by night or by day, 
though, as in my case, where the brewhouse served as a 
] kitchen of all work, I preferred to begin about seven o’clock 
in the evening, in order that by the time the real business 
began, the women might be snugly ensconced upon their 
pillows ; and, before they were about in the morning, the 
beer should be out of the way, and the place set fair—no 
small consideration as regards a man’s quietude and peace! 
If the women wish the men somewhere on a washing day, 
I hope they will forgive my saying that they (the women) ! 
are happier in their beds, out of the steam and other “ mess¬ 
ing ” attendant upon a brewing. 
A supposed quantity of beer necessary to be brewed at 
one time, with the majority for whom I write, would seldom, ! 
I think, require to exceed fifty gallons. Agreeably to this j 
idea the following list of utensils, with their proportions, ! 
will be found proper to carry out the principle comfortably. : 
I consider no brewing-plant or fixtures of any description, 
with the exception of the copper; and whether this be ; 
composed of cast iron, or otherwise, I will suppose it set 
within a foot or so from off the level of the floor. It should 
hold sixty gallons :— 
Four fifty-gallon casks; one six-gallon ditto, and two 
brass taps. A mash-tub, measuring eighty gallons, with 
screw faucet, and a strainer. Two oval coolers, eleven 
inches in depth; one holding thirty^, and the other forty 
gallons. Four brewing-tubs of thirty, twenty, fifteen, and 
ten gallons respectively. Two pails, four-and-a-half gallons 
each; one tun pail four-and-a-half gallons; and a la-ding 
bucket measuring one gallon. A brewing ladder and sieve; 
the latter of two feet diameter, with its bottom composed of 
horsehair, or fine cane-work. Two tin working tubes; 
whisk, scrubbing-brush, mop, and birch besom. . A three- 
quart tin, with a cover; a pint measure, a brewing ther¬ 
mometer, and a flat-backed step triangle for tilting purposes. 
Also a stout basket, containing a cooper’s mallet, and hoop- 
driver; gimlet, bungs of sizes, corks ditto, vent-pegs, apiece 
of chalk, some stout rushes, a piece of hop bagging, a 
chisel, a knife, and a pair of shoemakers’ pinchers. It 
would also be well to keep a duplicate of iron hoops for 
your casks by you. 
If the casks and brewing utensils are out of order, and 
you are. unacquainted with their management, it would be 
advisable to call in the aid of the cooper, when, by noting 
his operations, you would, with greater facility, be enabled 
to adopt the same course personally another time; and, for 
a cottage brewer, like myself, whom we will charitably sup¬ 
pose to have no more spare cash than he knows what to do 
with, to be competent to take the ends out of his casks, and 
replace them, Ac., without being under the necessity each 
time lie brews for requiring the assistance, of a cooper, is 
decidedly an object well worthy a consideration. 
By this means 1 became initiated, and I will work my 
method out upon paper for the benefit of those of my 
readers who may feel an interest in the matter. Having 
the basket, with its contents, conveniently near, take the 
piece of chalk, and form a distinguishable mark down the 
side of the cask, as a guide for their positions when re¬ 
placing the hoops ; then cut a notch on the end of a stave, 
and another to correspond opposite on the head; these 
will point out the place it occupied before removed. . Pierce 
the gimlet slightly into the centre of the head, it will.serve 
as a handle to lift out and replace it by; then strike oft, with 
the mallet and driver, a sufficient number of hoops to 
relieve the head, return the top hoop to reclose the staves, 
and take the grounds from the bottom of the cask to the 
hog-tub. If the inside, of the barrel appears mouldy, scrub 
this off first with cold water ; hot water is liable to drive in 
the taint that accompanies the mould, which would ulti¬ 
mately impart an unpleasant flavour to the beer. After this 
scrubbing with cold, follow up the operation with hot, and 
finish by scalding the cask; viz., enter two. or three pailsful 
of hot-water, and whirl it around well with a birch besom; again 
knockoff the hoop or two which were temporarily returned to 
close the staves, place the head at the bottom of the barrel, and 
proceed to make “ all taut,” by returning the largest hoop, 
then the next, and so on; the chalked mark serving as a 
rruide for their readjustment. Ere the hoops are driven 
