\ qa 
406 
toxicating property depends, however, a great 
deal on the bitter and narcotic substance of the 
hops. From wine, it differs not only in this re- 
spect, and in its smaller proportions of alcohol, 
but also in containing a much larger quantity of 
nutritive matter. 
The following table shows the quantity of al- 
cohol in some beers. 
Proportion of Spirit of sp. gr. 0°825. 
Per ct. by meas. Per ct. by wt. 
Ale, Burton, ° 
7°326 
average, . Mou (Ortsi/( 5:'667 
Brown stout, 5 6°80 5°610 
London porter (average), 4°20 3°465 
Small beer, 1:28 1:056 
The difference in the different varieties of beer 
_ depends upon a difference in the materials em- 
ployed, or in the process and management of the 
brewing. In regard to the materials, beers differ 
according to the different kinds of malt employ- 
ed, and its proportion to the quantity of hops 
and of water. ‘To the class of ¢able or small beers, 
all those may be referred, whose specific gravity 
does not exceed 1:025, and which contain about 
5 per cent. of malt extract. Beers of middling 
| strength have generally a spec. grav. of from 1°025 
| to 1:040. Some of the Scotch and English ales 
form some of the strongest and heaviest kinds of 
beer. 
The following table indicates the spec. grav. of 
some of the English beers. 
Spec. gray. 
Ale, Burton, 1st sort, 1111 to 1°120 
us Ddveryes 1:097 to 1-111 
GC Odin 1:077 to 1:092 
Common, 1:070 to 1:073 
OC ; : 1:058 
Porter, common sort, . 1:050 
es double, 1°045 
Brown stout, : 4 1:064 
6 ‘s best, 1:072 
Beer, common small, 1:014 
66 
1-033 to 1:039 
The colour of the beer depends upon the colour 
of the malt and the duration of the boil in the 
copper. Pale ale is made from steam or sun-dried 
malt, and the young shoots of the hop, the deep 
yellow ale from a mixture of pale yellow and 
brown malt, and the dark brown beer from well 
kilned and partly carbonized or parched malt, 
mixed with a good deal of the pale, to give body. 
The longer and more strongly the malt has been 
heated in the kiln, the smaller is the quantity of 
extract it yields, ceterts paribus. Porter is gene- 
rally prepared from high-dried or rather charred 
malt, which, therefore, has had much of its sac- 
charine matter destroyed by heat. Hence its 
deep colour, and the absence of any sweet taste, 
while ale has a sweetish taste, and contains a 
much larger quantity of saccharine matter. 
The greater or less rapidity of the temperature, 
and the manner in which the worts are made 
to ferment, have a remarkable influence upon 
the quality of the beer, especially in reference to 
its fitness for keeping. Under the article Fur- 
MENTATION, it will be shown that two kinds of 
good table, 
BEER. 
fermentation may be distinguished, the upper 
and the lower or bottom-fermentation. The for- 
mer is a much more active fermentation, by 
which, according to Liebig, the gluten is only 
partly oxidized, at the expense of the oxygen of 
a portion of the sugar, while a great portion re- 
mains dissolved in the liquor, and by its subse- 
quent oxidation is apt to transfer oxygen to the 
alcohol, and render it sour, unless it be kept at a 
very low temperature. This is still more the 
case, if during a too violent fermentation the 
temperature rises too high, and especially if the 
air be not perfectly excluded, and a considerable 
quantity of acetic acid be formed, by which an 
additional quantity of glutinous matter is dis- 
solved, and it thus is not only rendered apt to spoil 
from the slightest causes, but loses also its lim- 
pidity and assumes a disagreeable taste, or be- 
comes yeast bitten. By the lower fermentation, 
on the contrary, the conversion of the sugar into 
alcohol is performed very slowly and without any 
considerable rise of temperature, so that the 
gluten is completely oxidized and precipitated by 
the oxygen of the air and without conversion of 
any alcohol into acetic acid, so that the resulting 
beer—as is the case with Bavarian beer—is not | 
liable to become sour, or to undergo the acetous | 
Where this is not the case, the | 
tendency to become sour is generally remedied | 
fermentation. 
by a large addition of hops, and a greater propor- 
tion of malt, by which the beer becomes more 
narcotic and intoxicating, and less agreeable to 
the taste, and such beer is then often considered 
as drugged. 
A main feature of good beer is its fine colour 
4 
| | 
and transparency, the production of which, there- | 
fore, is an object of great interest to the brewer. | 
Attempts to clarify the beer in the casks seldom 
fail to do it harm. The only thing that can be 
used with advantage for fining a muddy or foul 
beer, is isinglass. For porter, as commonly brew- | 
ed, it is frequently had recourse to. To ascertain 
whether the beer is in a state fit for fining, put 
some of it in a long cylindrical glass vessel, and 
add to it a teaspoonful of the fining, and shake 
it well with it, closing the mouth of the vessel 
with the finger or the palm of the hand. Its ap- 
titude to become bright will then soon be evident, 
by the mixture first becoming curdy, and then 
on repose separating, the finings generally rising 
to the top, and leaving the liquid below clear and 
brilliant. 
That beer is nutritive, and, when used in mo- 
deration, salubrious, can scarcely be doubted. It 
proves a refreshing drink and an agreeable and 
valuable stimulus and support to those who have 
to undergo much bodily fatigue. The hop ope- 
rates as a tonic, and assists digestion. With 
dyspeptics, beer as well as other fermented liquors 
are very apt to disagree, and should therefore be 
avoided. It is also objectionable to those liable 
to lithic acid deposits, and for plethoric persons, 
who have a tendency to apoplexy. Ale contain- 
