BREWING. 
It is further a common opinion, that hops 
cider. 
add to the intoxicating qualities of the article; 
and this opinion is probably well founded.—After 
the worts are sufficiently boiled, they are poured 
out into large shallow cisterns or coolers, till they 
become cool and deposit much of the curdled | distiller, he would run great risk of setting his 
mucilage. They are then allowed to run into a 
deep tub or vat to ferment. If left to themselves, 
however, the process would take place very im- 
perfectly, and it is therefore assisted by the ad- | again. 
dition of yeast. The true nature of this sub- 
stance, notwithstanding much attention and some 
laborious analyses, is not yet understood. It ex- 
cites fermentation, however, which continues for | benefit to his liquor. 
a period of time longer or shorter, according to 
the fancy of the brewer, and is then checked by 
drawing off the liquor into barrels or hogsheads. 
In these the fermentation still goes on, but it is 
now called by brewers cleansing. With a view 
to take advantage of this process, the casks are 
placed with their bung-holes open, and inclined 
a little to one side. The scum as it rises, works 
out at the bung, and runs over the side, and thus 
the beer is cleansed from a quantity of mucilage, 
starch, and other unfermented matters. What 
does not run out at the bung subsides at the bot- 
tom, and constitutes the dees. After this cleans- 
ing is completed, the clear beer is racked off into 
barrels, and preserved for use. The scum and 
lees are collected, and the former constitutes the 
yeast for the next brewing. 
the product is to be beer, ale, porter, or wash, 
except that in the latter the cleansing is not ne- 
cessary.—Even this racking, however, does not 
remove all the unfermented matter. Some starch 
and gluten still remain; of course, the liquor | may be so made. 
soon begins to ferment again in the barrels; but, 
BREXIA. ddl 
place, the grain is not all malted: in England, 
only a part of it is so; in the United States, 
generally, none at all. In the next place, it is 
ground a great deal finer than in brewing. If 
the brewer were to grind his grist as fine as the 
mash, as the phrase is; that is, he would make 
paste of his grain, and entangle the solution of 
sugar so effectually, that he could not get it out 
The distiller does not run the same risk, 
because he does not use such hot water as the 
brewer, and he can mash and stir his goods a 
great deal longer without injury, and even with 
Again, he does not need 
to boil or add hops to his worts, for he does not 
care about precipitating the mucilage, or making 
his beer keep. In the next place, he adds a great 
deal of yeast, and ferments violently and rapidly, 
so as to decompose the sugar as quickly as pos- 
sible, and is quite indifferent whether the worts 
even become somewhat sourish in the process, 
as, when sufficiently fermented, the alcohol is 
removed at once by distillation. If raw grain 
be ground, mixed with water at a certain heat, | 
and allowed to stand, the change of the starch 
into starch sugar, or the combination of starch 
and water, takes place in the same way as in 
malting. It takes some time, however, and 
hence the distillers’ mashes stand longer than 
the brewers’. It would seem, therefore, from 
this, that the malting of grain is not necessary 
Such is the general history of brewing, whether | for the making of beer; and, accordingly, this 
method of proceeding has been recommended by | 
an eminent chemist, one who has paid much at- | 
tention to this subject, and there can be no | 
doubt that a certain description of small beer 
But the process is not appli- 
cable to the finer and more valuable kinds of 
as these are closely stopped, the carbonic acid | malt liquors, for reasons which it would require 
gas, or fixed air, cannot escape, but becomes 
mingled with the beer. Every successive fer- 
mentation causes some lees, from which the beer 
may be racked off, and, by repeated racking, the 
fermentative matter may be completely removed, 
and such beers become clear, transparent, and 
somewhat like the German wines, as, for instance, 
that commonly called hock. But, the disposition 
to ferment being thus entirely destroyed, they 
are, like these wines, perfectly still, and acquire 
no disposition to froth by being bottled. Hence 
old sound beers may remain in bottles for years 
without coming up, as it is technically called. 
The object of the brewer is to produce an agree- 
able beverage, distinguished not so much for ab- 
solute strength, or quantity of alcohol, as for 
colour, flavour, transparency, liveliness, and 
power of keeping well. Some of these qualities 
are not compatible with the development of the 
greatest quantity of alcohol or ardent spirit, 
which is the main object of the whisky-distiller. 
To effect this purpose, he makes a kind of beer, 
which is called wash. This differs from brewers’ 
beer in some important particulars. In the first | 1812, and another, B. chrysophylla, from Mada- 
too many details to explain perfectly. 
Besides the kinds of beer and wash already | 
mentioned, there are others in common use made | 
by mixing honey, molasses, or sugar with water, | 
and fermenting with yeast, or some other leaven. 
Beers made in this way are commonly mingled 
with some vegetable substance, as ginger, spruce, 
sarsaparilla, &c., to give them a particular, fla- 
vour, and are familiar to all by the names of 
ginger beer, spruce beer, &c. Of the beers manu- 
factured from grain, as an article of consump- 
tion in that state, there are a great many varie- 
ties. See article Brmr. 
BREXIA. A genus of very fine, ornamental, 
evergreen trees, with the habit of the beautiful 
shrub Theophrasta. It does not hold any pro- 
perly defined place in the Jussieuan system, and 
has hitherto been treated as constituting an or- 
der of its own. Its leaves throw off rain, and its 
flowers have a white colour, and are produced in 
axillary bunches. Two species, 6. madagascari- 
ensis and B. spinosa, were introduced to Great 
Britain from the Mauritius and Madagascar in 
