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The Theory and Practice of Brewing
THE
THEORY AND PRACTICE
OF
BREWING.
BY MICHAEL COMBRUNE, BREWER.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION OF THE MASTER, WARDENS,
AND COURT OF ASSISTANTS OF THE WORSHIPFUL
COMPANY OF BREWERS.
A NEW EDITION.
CORRECTED AND GREATLY ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR.
_LONDON_:
PRINTED FOR VERNOR AND HOOD, LONGMAN AND REES, CUTRELL
AND MARTIN, AND J. WALKER,
_By J. Wright, St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell_.
1804.
TO
DOCTOR PETER SHAW,
_PHYSICIAN TO HIS MAJESTY_,
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON,
AND OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
SIR,
The brewing of malt liquors has hitherto been conducted by such vague
traditional maxims, that an attempt to establish its practice on truer
and more fixed principles must, like every new essay, be attended with
difficulties.
Your works, Sir, will be lasting monuments, not only of your great
abilities, but also of your zeal for the improvement of the arts,
manufactures, and commerce of your country. You will therefore permit
me to place under your patronage this treatise, which, if it can boast
no other merit, has that of having been undertaken and finished by your
advice and counsel.
Some favor, I hope, will be shewn for this distant endeavour to imitate
the laudable example you have set, and whatever be the success, I shall
ever glory in the opportunity it has given me of professing myself
publicly,
Sir,
Your most obedient,
And most obliged humble Servant,
MICHAEL COMBRUNE.
_Hampstead, Middlesex,
December 15, 1761._
THE
CONTENTS.
Page
PART I.
Explanation of technical terms, 1
SECTION I.
Of Fire, 13
SECTION II.
Of Air, 19
SECTION III.
Of Water, 24
SECTION IV.
Of Earth, 33
SECTION. V.
Of Menstruums or Dissolvents, 34
SECTION VI.
Of the Thermometer, 39
SECTION VII.
Of the Vine, its fruits, and juices, 50
SECTION VIII.
Of fermentation in general, 66
SECTION IX.
Of artificial fermentation, 80
SECTION X.
Of the nature of Barley, 89
SECTION XI.
Of Malting, 94
SECTION XII.
Of the different Properties of Malt, and of the number
of its fermentable Parts, 113
SECTION XIII.
Observations on defective Malts, 131
PART II.
SECTION I.
Of the heat of the Air, as it relates to the practical
part of Brewing, 145
SECTION II.
Of Grinding, 157
SECTION III.
Of Extraction, 160
SECTION IV.
Of the nature and properties of Hops, 201
SECTION V.
Of the lengths necessary to form malt liquors of the
several denominations, 217
SECTION VI.
Method of calculating the height in the Copper at
which worts are to go out, 220
SECTION VII.
Of Boiling, 224
SECTION VIII.
Of the quantity of Water wasted; and of the application
of the preceding rules to two different processes
of Brewing, 230
SECTION IX.
Of the division of the Water for the respective
Worts and Mashes, and of the heat adequate to
each of these, 234
SECTION X.
An enquiry into the volume of Malt, in order to reduce
the Grist to liquid measure, 253
SECTION XI.
Of the proportion of cold Water to be added to
that which is on the point of boiling, in order
to obtain the desired heat in the extract, 271
SECTION XII.
Of Mashing, 286
SECTION XIII.
Of the incidents, which cause the heat of the extract
to vary from the calculation, the allowances
they require, and the means to obviate
their effects, 289
SECTION XIV.
Of the disposition of the Worts when turned out of
the Copper, the thickness they should be laid at
in the Backs to cool, and the heat they should
retain for fermentation, under the several
circumstances, 304
SECTION XV.
Of Yeast, its nature and contents, and of the manner
and quantities in which it is to be added to
the Worts, 311
SECTION XVI.
Of practical fermentation, and the management of
the several sorts of Malt liquors, to the period
at which they are to be cleansed, or put into
the casks, 318
SECTION XVII.
Of the signs generally directing the processes of
Brewing, and their comparison with the foregoing
Theory and Practice, 327
SECTION XVIII.
An enquiry, into what may be, at all times, a proper
stock of Beer, and the management of it in the
cellars, 331
SECTION XIX.
Of Precipitation, and other remedies, applicable to
the diseases incident to Beers, 334
SECTION XX.
Of Taste, 342
Appendix, 349
THE PREFACE.
_The difference that appears in the several processes of brewing,
though executed with the same materials, by the same persons, and
to the same intent, is generally acknowledged. The uneasiness this
must occasion to those who are charged with the directive part of
the business, cannot be small: and the more desirous they are of
well executing the duty incumbent on them, the greater is their
disappointment, when frustrated in their hopes. To remove this
uncertainty, no method seems preferable to that of experiments, as it
is by this means alone, any art whatever can be established upon a
solid foundation: but these require caution, perseverance, and expence;
they must be multiplied and varied both for the same and for different
purposes. The operations of nature elude superficial enquiries, where
we have few or no principles for our guides, many experiments are
made, which tend only to confound or deceive. Effects seen, without a
sufficient knowledge of their causes, often are neglected, or viewed
in an improper light, seldom faithfully reported, and, for want of
distinguishing the several circumstances that attend them, many times
become the support of old prejudices, or the foundation of new ones._
_Whoever is attentive to the practical part of brewing, will soon be
convinced that heat, or fire, is the principal agent therein, as this
element, used in a greater or less degree, or differently applied, is
the occasion of the greatest part of the variety we perceive. It is but
a few years since the thermometer has been found to be an instrument
sufficiently accurate for any purposes where the measure of heat is
required. And, as it is the only one with which we are enabled to
examine the processes of brewing, and to account for the difference
in the effects, a theory of the art, founded on practice, must be of
later date than the discovery of the instrument that guides us to the
principles._
_So long since as the year 1741, I began this research, and never
neglected any opportunity to consult the artists of the trade, or to
try such experiments as I conceived might be conducive to the purpose.
It is needless, perhaps shameful, to mention their number, or to speak
of the many disappointments I met with in this pursuit. Error admits
of numberless combinations. Truth alone is simple, and confirmed by
continuity. At last, flattering myself with having collected the true
theory, assisted and encouraged by men of abilities, I thought it fit
the public should judge whether I had succeeded in my endeavours; and
in 1758 the Essay on Brewing was submitted to them, either for their
approbation, or that the errors therein might be pointed out. I have
had no reason to repent of my temerity, though perhaps the novelty,
more than the merit of this performance, engaged the attention, I may
add the favor and advice of some good judges. They have allowed my
principles to be at least plausible, and their agreement with practice
has since repeatedly convinced me they were not far from truth._
_The Essay just mentioned, revised and corrected, naturally forms
the first part or theory of the present treatise. The second part is
entirely practical. After giving a short idea of the whole process, I
resume its different branches in as many chapters, and endeavour in
such manner to guide the practitioner, that he may, in every part, at
all times, and under a variety of circumstances, know what he is to do,
and seldom, if ever, to be disappointed in his object._
_From the investigation of so extensive a business, some benefit, it
is hoped, must accrue to the public; from the process of brewing being
carried on in a just and uniform manner, our malt liquors, probably,
will in time better deserve the name of wine._
_Boerhaave, Shaw, Macquer, _and most of the great masters in chymistry
are far from limiting that name to the liquors produced from the juice
of the grape: they extend it to all fermented vegetable juices, which,
on distillation, yield an ardent spirit, and look on the strength
and faculty wine has to cherish nature, and preserve itself, to be
in proportion to the quantity it possesses of this liquid, generally
termed spirit of wine. This, when thoroughly pure and dephlegmated,
is one and the same, whatever different vegetable it is produced
from. Barley wines possess the same spiritous principle, which is the
preservative part of the most valuable foreign wines, with a power of
being brewed superior or inferior to them in quality, and the other
constituent parts of beer, beside this ardent spirit, will not, I
believe, be esteemed less wholesome than those which make up the whole
of grape wine._
_The reasons why Great Britain hath not hitherto furnished foreign
nations with this part of her product, but more especially her seamen,
are obvious. Our mariners, when at home, do not dislike beer, either
as to their palates, or its effects on their constitution; but when
abroad, spiritous liquors, or new wines, often the product of an
enemy’s country, are substituted in lieu thereof. The disuse of beers,
on these occasions, has been owing to the uncertainty of the principles
on which they were brewed; the maintaining them sound in long voyages
and in hot climates, could not sufficiently be depended upon; and
it has been supposed they could not be procured at so easy a rate
as wines, brandies, or rums, purchased abroad. The first of these
objections, the author hopes, by this work, to remove; and, were all
the duties to be allowed on what would be brewed for this purpose, our
seamen might be furnished with beer stronger than Spanish wine, and at
a less expence, the mean price of malt and hops being taken for seven
years. It is true that, in times of peace, the seamen in his Majesty’s
service are not very numerous, but the number of those then employed
by merchants is considerable. I should not have presumed to mention
this, but on account of the encouragement given to the exportation of
corn, and to many manufactures of British growth or British labor. It
is computed that, in England and Wales, are brewed three millions five
hundred thousand quarters of malt yearly, for which purpose upwards of
one hundred and fifty thousand weight of hops are used. The improvement
of the brewery might become a means of increasing the consumption of
the growth of our country, viz. of barley, to more than one hundred
thousand quarters, and of hops to between fourteen and fifteen thousand
weight annually._
_Whether this be an object deserving the attention of the legislative
power, or of the landed interest, and what might be the proper means
to put it successfully in practice, are considerations which do not
belong to this place; it being sufficient here to point out, how
universally beneficial it is to establish the art of brewing on true
and invariable principles._
_This being the first attempt, that has been made, to reduce this
art to rules and principles, the Author hopes he has a just claim
to the indulgence of the public, for any errors he unwillingly may
have adopted; far from believing that there is no room left for
future improvements, he recommends it to those, who, blessed with
superior talents and more leisure than himself, may be inclined
to try their skill in the same field, to watch closely the steps
of_ NATURE; _after the strictest enquiry made, it will be
found, the success of brewing beers and ales wholly depends on a true
imitation of the wines she forms._
_This second edition, it may be observed, in many respects, differs
considerably from the first. I have endeavoured to convert to use every
advice, every opinion I received, and having put these to the test of
farther practice, flatter myself it will be found improved._
A COPY OF DOCTOR SHAW’S LETTER.
ON PERUSING THE ESSAY BEFORE MENTIONED.
DEAR SIR,
_I HAVE, with pleasure and improvement, read over your manuscript; and
should be glad to see some other trades as justly reduced to rules
as you have done that of brewing: which would not only be making
a right application of philosophical knowledge, but, at the same
time, accommodate human life, in many respects, wherein it is still
deficient. Perhaps your example may excite some able men, to give us
their respective trades, in the form of so many arts. For my own part,
having long wished to see some attempts of this kind, for the good
of society in general, I cannot but be particularly pleased with the
nature, design, and execution of your essay, and am,_
_Dear Sir,
Your obliged Friend,
And humble Servant,
PETER SHAW._
Pall-Mall, July 20,
1758.
AN
EXPLANATION
OF THE
TECHNICAL TERMS.
The intent of every brewer, when he forms his drink, is to extract
the fermentable parts of the malt, in the most perfect manner; to add
hops, in such proportion as experience teaches him will preserve and
ameliorate the beer; and to employ just so much yeast as is sufficient
to obtain a complete fermentation.
Perhaps it may be said, these particulars are already sufficiently
understood, and that it would be a much more useful work to publish
remedies for the imperfections, or diseases, beer is naturally or
accidentally subject to, and which at present are deemed incurable. But
if the designs just now mentioned be executed according to the rules
of chymistry, such imperfections and such diseases not existing, the
remedies will not be wanted; for beer brewed upon true principles,
is, neither naturally nor accidentally, subject to many disorders
often perceived in it. Hence it is evident, that some knowledge of
chymistry is absolutely necessary to complete the brewer, as, without
the informations acquired from that science, he must be unqualified to
lay down rules for his practice, and to secure to himself the favor
of the public; for which purpose, and to make this treatise useful to
those concerned in the practical part of brewing, it has been thought
adviseable to avoid, as much as possible, the technical terms of art,
to prefix an explanation of those that necessarily occur, and, in as
short a manner as possible, to trace the properties of fire, air,
water, and earth, as far as they relate to the subject.
ACIDS are all those things which taste sour, as vinegar, juice
of lemons, spirit of nitre, spirit of salt, the oil and spirit of
vitriol, &c. and are put in a violent agitation, by being mixed with
certain earths, or the ashes of vegetables. An acid enters, more or
less, into the composition of all plants, and is produced by, or rather
is the last effect of, fermentation. Mixed in a due proportion with an
alkali, it constitutes a neutral salt, that is, a salt wherein neither
the acid nor alkali prevail. Acids are frequently termed acid salts,
though generally they appear under a fluid form.
ALKALIES, or alkaline salts, are of a nature directly contrary
to the acids, and generally manifest themselves by effervescing
therewith: they have an urinous taste, and are produced from the ashes
of vegetables, and by several other means. They, as well as testaceous
and calcarious substances, are frequently made use of by coopers, to
absorb the acid parts of stale beer, by them called _softning_.
AIR is a thin elastic fluid, surrounding the globe of the earth; it is
absolutely necessary to the preservation both of animal and vegetable
life, and for the exciting and carrying on fermentation.
ALCOHOL is the pure spirit of wine, generally supposed to be without
the least particle of water or phlegm.
ANIMALS are organized bodies, endued with sensation and life. Minerals
are said to grow and increase, plants to grow and live, but animals
only to have sensation.—Animal substances cannot ferment so as to
produce by themselves a vinous liquor; but there may be cases wherein
some of their parts rather help than retard the act of fermentation.[1]
ATMOSPHERE is that vast collection of air, with which the earth is
surrounded to a considerable height.
ATTRACTION is an indefinite term, applicable to all actions whereby
bodies tend towards one another, whether by virtue of their weight,
magnetism, electricity, or any other power. It is not, therefore,
the cause determining some bodies to approach one another, that is
expressed by the word _attraction_, but the effect itself. The space,
through which this power extends, is called the _sphere of attraction_.
BLACKING is a technical term used by coopers, to denote sugar
that is calcined, until it obtains the colour that occasions the name.
BREWING is the operation of preparing beers and ales from malt.
BOILING may thus be accounted for. The minute particles of fuel being
by fire detached from each other, and becoming themselves fire, pass
through the pores of the vessel, and mix with the fluid. These,
being perpetually in an active state, communicate their motion to the
water: hence arises, at first, a small intestine motion, and from a
continued action in the first cause, the effect is increased, and the
motion of the liquor continually accelerated; by degrees, it becomes
sensibly agitated, but the particles of the fire, acting chiefly on
the particles that compose the lowest surface of the water, give them
an impulse upwards, by rendering them specifically lighter, so as
to determine them to ascend, according to the laws of equilibrium.
Hence there is a constant flux of water from the bottom to the top
of the vessel, and reciprocally from the top to the bottom. This
appears to be the reason why water is hot at the top sooner than at
the bottom, and why an equal heat cannot be distributed through the
whole. The thermometer therefore can be of little service, to determine
immediately the degree of heat, especially in large vessels, on which
account it is better for brewers to heat a certain quantity just to
the act of boiling, and to temper it, by adding a sufficient quantity
of cold water. Boiling water is incapable of receiving any increase of
heat, though acted on by ever so great a fire, unless the atmosphere
becomes heavier, or the vapours of the water be confined. It occasions
the mercury to rise, according to Farenheit’s scale, to 212 degrees.
CHARR. A body is said to be charred when, by fire, its volatile or most
active parts are drove out; its coarse oils, by the same means, placed
chiefly on the external parts; and so deprived of color as to be quite
black.
CLEANSING is the act of removing the beer from the ton, where
it was first fermented, into the casks.
CLOUDY is an epithet joined to such beers, which, from the
violent heat given to the water that brewed them, are loaded with more
oils than can be attenuated by fermentation, and incorporated with
the water; from whence a muddy and grey oil is seen floating on the
surface of the liquor, though the body is often transparent; this oil
is frequently extracted in such quantity as to exceed the power of any
known menstruum.
COHESION is that action by which the particles of the same body adhere
together, as if they were but one.
COLD is a relative term in opposition to heat. Its greatest degree is
not known, and it is supposed that the colder a body is, the less is
the agitation of its internal parts.
COLOUR; a greater or less degree of heat causes different colours in
most bodies, and from a due observation of the colour of malt, we may
determine what degree of heat it has been impressed with.
DENSITY expresses the closeness, compactness, or near approach of the
parts of a body to one another: the more a body weighs in proportion
to its bulk, the greater is its density. Gold is the densest body in
nature, because there is none known of the same bulk, which weighs so
much.
EARTH is that fossil matter or element, whereof our globe partly
consists.
EBULLITION is the boiling or bubbling of water, or any other liquor,
when the fire has forced itself a passage through it. Brewers suppose
water to be just beginning to boil, when they perceive a small portion
of it forced from the bottom upwards in a right line, so as to disturb
the surface: when the liquor is in this state, they call it _through_,
or upon the point of ebullition. The vulgar notion that the water is
hotter at this time than when it boils, is without any foundation.
EFFERVESCENCE is a sudden agitation, arising in certain bodies upon
mixing them together; this agitation most commonly generates heat.
ELASTICITY, or springiness, is that property of bodies, by which they
restore themselves to their former figure, after any pressure or
distension.
EXPANSION is the swelling or increase of the bulk of bodies from heat,
or any other cause.
EXTRACT consists of the parts of a body separated from the rest, by
cold or hot water.
FERMENTATION is a sensible internal motion of the particles of
a mixture: by the continuance of this motion, the particles are
gradually removed from their former situation, and, after some visible
separation, joined together again in a different order and arrangement,
so as to constitute a new compound. No liquors are capable of
inebriating, except those that have been fermented.
FIXED BODIES are those, which, consisting of grosser parts, cohering by
a strong attraction, and by that means less susceptible of agitation,
can neither be separated nor raised, without a strong heat, or perhaps
not without fermentation.
FIRE is only known by its properties, of which the chief are to
penetrate and dilate all solid and fluid bodies.
FREEZING POINT is the degree of cold, at which water begins to be
formed into ice, which, according to Farenheit’s scale, is expressed by
32.
FOXED is a technical term, used by brewers, to indicate beers in a
putrid state.
GUMS are concreted vegetable juices, which transude through the bark
of certain trees, and harden upon the surface; they easily dissolve in
water, and by that means distinguish themselves from balsams or resins.
HERMETICALLY SEALED is a particular method of stopping the mouth of
vessels, so close that the most subtil spirit cannot fly out, which is
done by heating the neck of the bottles, till it is just ready to melt,
and then with hot pinchers twisting it close together.
HOMOGENEOUS is an appellation given to such parts or subjects, which
are similar or of the same nature and properties.
ISINGLASS is a preparation from a fish called huso, somewhat bigger
than the sturgeon; a solution of which in stale beer is used, to fine
or precipitate other beers: it is imported from Russia by the Dutch,
and from them to us.
LIGHT consists of particles of matter inconceivably small, capable of
exciting in us the sensation of colours, by being reflected from every
point of the surface of luminous bodies; but, notwithstanding they are
so exceeding small, Sir Isaac Newton found means to divide a single
ray into seven distinct parts, viz. red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, and violet.
MALT, in general, is any sort of grain, first germinated, and then
dried, so as to prevent any future vegetation: that generally used, is
made of barley, which experience has found to be the fittest for the
purpose of brewing.
MEDIUM is that space, through which a body in motion passes: air is
the medium through which the bodies near the earth move; water is the
medium wherein fish live; glass affords a medium or a free passage
to light.—This term is also made use of, to express the mean of two
numbers, and sometimes the middle between several quantities.
MUSTS are the unfermented juices of grapes, or of any other vegetable
substances.
MENSTRUUM is any fluid, which is capable of interposing its parts
between those of other bodies, and in this manner either dissolves them
perfectly, or extracts some part of them.
OIL is an unctuous, inflammable substance, drawn from several animal
and vegetable substances.
PRECIPITATION. Isinglass dissolved becomes a glutinous and heavy body;
this put into malt liquors intended to be fined, carries down, by its
weight, all those swimming particles, which prevent its transparency;
and this act is called fining, or precipitation.
REPULSION; “Doctor Knight defines it to be that cause which makes
bodies mutually endeavour to recede from each other, with different
forces at different times.” In this case they are placed beyond the
sphere of each other’s attraction or cohesion, and mutually fly from
each other.
RESINS, or balsams, are the oils of vegetables inspissated and combined
with a proportion of the acid salts; as well as they mix with any
spirituous liquor, as little are they soluble in water; but they become
so, either by the intervention of gums or soaps, or by the attenuating
virtue of fermentation.
SALTS are substances sharp and pungent, which readily dissolve in
water, and from thence, by evaporation, crystallise and appear in a
solid form. They easily unite together, and form different compounds.
Thus salts, composed of acids and alkalies, partake of both, and are
called neutral.
SETT: a grist of malt is by brewers said to be sett, when, instead
of separating for extraction, it runs in clods, increases in heat,
and coagulates. This accident is owing to the over quantity of fire
in the water, applied to any of the extractions. The air included in
the grist, which is a principal agent in resolving the malt, being
thereby expelled, the mass remains inert, and its parts, adhering too
closely together, are with difficulty separated. Though an immediate
application of more cold water to the grist is the only remedy, yet, as
the cohesion is speedy and strong, it seldom takes effect.—New malts,
which have not yet lost the heat they received from the kiln, are most
apt to lead the brewer into this error, and generally in the first part
of the process.
SUGAR, or saccharine salts, are properly those that come from the sugar
canes; many plants, fruits and grains give sweet juices reducible
to the same form; they are supposed to be acids smoothed over with
oils; all vegetable sweets are capable of fermenting spontaneously
when crude; if boiled, they require an addition of yeast to make them
perform that act. Malt, or its extracts, have all the properties of
saccharine salts.
SULPHUR. Though by sulphur is commonly understood the mineral
substance called brimstone, yet in chymistry it is frequently used
to signify in general any oily substance, inflammable by fire, and,
without some saline addition, indissoluble in water.
SOAP OR SAPONACEOUS JUICES. Common soap is made of oil mixed with
alkaline salts: this mixture causes a froth on being agitated in water.
The oils of vegetables are, in some degree, mixed with their salts;
and according to the nature of these salts, appear either resinous
or saponaceous, that is, soluble or indissoluble in water.— Sugar
is a kind of soap, rendering oil miscible with water; and therefore
all bodies, from which saccharine salts are extracted, may be termed
saponaceous.
VEGETABLE is a term applied to plants, considered as capable of growth,
having vessels and parts for this purpose, but generally supposed to be
without sensation.
VINEGAR is an acid penetrating liquor, prepared from wine, beer, cyder,
or a must, which has been fermented as far as it was capable.
VITRIOL is, in general, a metalline substance combined with the
strongest acid salt known. This acid, being separated from the metal,
differs in nothing from that which is extracted from alum or brimstone.
It is improperly called spirit of vitriol, when diluted with water,
and, with as little propriety, oil, when free from it.
VOLATILE BODIES are those, which, either from their smallness or
their form, do not cohere very strongly together, and being most
susceptible of those agitations, which keep liquors in a fluid state,
are most easily separated and rarified into vapour, with a gentle heat,
and on the contrary condensed and brought down with cold.
WINE is a brisk, agreeable, spirituous, fluid cordial, formed from
fermented vegetable bodies. In this sense beers and ales may be called,
and really are, barley wines.
WORTS are the unfermented extracts of malt.
YEAST is both the flowers and lees of a fermented wort, the former of
these being elastic air enveloped in a subject less strong and less
consistent than the latter.
_PRINCIPLES OF THE THEORY OF BREWING._
SECTION I.
_OF FIRE._
Though fire is the chief cause and principle of almost every change
in bodies, and though persons untaught in chymistry imagine they
understand its nature, yet, certain it is, few subjects are so
incomprehensible, or elude so much our nicest research. The senses are
very inadequate judges of it; the eye may be deceived, and suppose no
fire in a bar of iron, because it does not appear red, though at the
same time it may contain enough to generate pain: the touch is equally
unfaithful, for a body, containing numberless particles of heat, will
to us feel cold, if it is much more so than ourselves.
The great and fundamental difference among philosophers, in respect
to the nature of fire, is, whether it be originally such, formed by
the Creator himself, at the beginning of things; or whether it be
mechanically producible in bodies, by inducing some alteration in the
particles thereof. It is certain that heat may be generated in a body,
by attrition; but whether it existed there before, or was caused
immediately by the motion, is a matter of no great import to the art of
brewing; for the effects, with which we are alone concerned, are the
same.
Fire expands all bodies, both solid and fluid. If an iron rod just
capable of passing through a ring of the same metal, is heated red-hot,
it will be increased in length, and so much swelled as not to be
able to pass through the ring, as before:[2] if a fluid is put into
a bellied glass, with a long slender neck, and properly marked, the
fluid, by being heated, will manifestly rise to a considerable height.
The expansion of fluids, by heat, is different in different fluids;
with some exceptions, it may be said to be in proportion to their
density. Pure rain water, gradually heated to ebullition, is expanded
one 26th part of its bulk,[3] so that 27 gallons of boiling water,
will, when cold, measure no more than 26, and 27 gallons of boiling
wort will not yield so much, because worts contain many oily particles,
which, though less dense than water, have the property of being more
expansible: hence we see the reason why a copper, containing a given
number of barrels of wort, when cold, is not capable to hold the same
of beer, when boiling.
Bodies are weakened or loosened in their texture by fire: the hardest,
by an increased degree of heat, will liquify and run; and vegetables
are resolved and separated by it into their constituent parts. It must
be owned vegetables seem at first, on being exposed to the fire, to
become rigid or stiff; but this is owing to the evaporation of the
aqueous particles, which prevented a closer adhesion of the solid
matter. It is only in this manner fire strengthens some bodies which
before were weak.
That the texture of bodies should be loosened by fire, seems a
consequence of expansion; for a body cannot be expanded but by its
particles receding farther from one another; and if these be not able
to regain the situation they had when cold, the body will remain looser
in its texture than before it suffered the action of fire. This is the
case of barley when malted.
Fire may be conveyed through most bodies, as air, water, ashes, sand,
&c. The effect seems to be different according to the different
conveyances. A difference appears between boiling and roasting, yet
they answer the same purpose, that of preserving the subject; and
this, in proportion to the degree of heat it has suffered. A similar
variety appears, even to our taste, from the different conveyance of
fire to malt: for acids having a great tendency to unite with water,
if this element does not naturally contain any itself, is the reason
why a great heat is conveyed through water, and applied to extract the
virtues of pale malt; the water gaining from the grain some of these
salts, or possessing them itself, the effect of this great aqueous heat
is not to imprint on the palate a nauseous burnt taste, as is the case
of great heats, when conveyed through air to the same grain. The salts
the water has obtained, or perhaps had, being sheathed by the oils it
draws from the malt, rather become saccharine, which cannot be the case
when oils are acted upon by a strong heat, entirely void of any such
property; but malt, the more it is dried, the longer is it capable of
maintaining itself in a sound state, and the liquor brewed with it
will, in proportion to its dryness, keep the longer sound, the hotter
the water is, applied to malt, provided its heat doth not exceed the
highest extracted degree, the more durable and sound will the extract
be.
The last consideration of fire or heat, relative to brewing, is the
knowledge of its different degrees, and how to regulate them. Till
of late, chymists and all others, were much to seek in this respect;
they distinguished more or less fire in a very vague and indeterminate
manner, as the first, second, third, and fourth degree of heat,
meaning no precise heat, or heat measured by any standard; but, by
the invention of the thermometer, we are enabled to regulate our
fires with the utmost precision. Thermometers are formed on different
scales; and therefore, when any degree of heat is mentioned, in order
to avoid confusion, the scale made use of should be indicated. I have
constantly employed Fahrenheit’s, as it is the most perfect, and the
most generally received. According to this instrument,[4] by the author
of it, an artificial cold was made so as the mercury stood at 72
divisions below the first frost. The gentlemen of the French Academy,
in the winter of the year 1736, observed, at Torneao, Latitude 65°
51´, the natural cold to be 33 degrees below 0: these are proofs there
are colds much more intense than the first frost, or 32 degrees, where
water first begins to harden into ice; from 32 to 90 degrees are the
limits of vegetation, according to the different plants that receive
those or the intermediate heats. The 40th degree is marked by Boerhaave
as the first fermentable heat, and the 80th as the last: 47 degrees I
have found to be generally the medium heat of London, throughout the
year, in the shade; 98 degrees is said to be that of our bodies when
in health, as from 105 to 112 are its degrees when in a fever. Hay
stacked with too much moisture, when turned quite black, in the heart
of the rick, indicated a heat of 165 degrees. At 175 the purest and
highest-rectified spirits of wine boil, and at this degree I have
found well-grown malts to charr, at 212 degrees water boils, at 600
quicksilver and oil of vitriol. Gold, silver, iron, and most other
metals in fusion exceed this heat; greater still than any known is
the fire in the focus of the burning lens of Tschirnhausen, or of the
concave mirror made by Villette; they are said to volatilise metals and
vitrify bricks. Thus far experiments have reached; but how much more,
or how much less, the power of this element extends, will probably be
forever hid from mankind.
SECTION II.
_OF AIR._
None of the operations, either of nature or art, can be carried on
without the action or assistance of air. It is a principal agent in
fermentation; and therefore brewers ought to be well acquainted with
its principal properties and powers.
By air we mean a fluid, scarcely perceptible to our senses, and
discovering itself only by the resistance it makes to bodies. We find
it every where incumbent on the surface of the globe, rising to a
considerable height, and commonly known by the name of atmosphere. The
weight of air is to that of water as 1 to 850, and its gravitating
force equal to that of a column of water of 33 feet high; so that an
area of one foot square receives, from air, a pressure equal to 2080
pounds weight.
Elasticity is a property belonging only to this element, and this
quality varies in proportion to the compressing weights. We scarcely
find this element, (any more than the others) in a pure state; one
thousandth part of common air, says Boerhaave, consists of aqueous,
spiritous, oily, saline, and other particles scattered through
it.—These are not, or but little, compressible, and in general prevent
fermentation: consequently, where the air is purest, fermentation is
best carried on. The same author suspects, that the ultimate particles
of air cohere together, so as not easily to insinuate themselves into
the smallest pores, either of solids or fluids. Hence, those acquainted
with brewing, easily account, why very hot water, which forces strong
and pinguious particles from malt, forms at the same time extracts
unfavourable for fermentation, as oils are an obstruction to the free
entrance of air; and, from an analogous reason, extracts which are much
less impressed with fire, in them fermentation is so much accelerated,
that the whole soon becomes sour.
Air, like other bodies, is expanded and rarified by heat, and exerts
its elasticity in proportion to the number of degrees of fire it has
received; the hotter therefore the season is, the more active and
violent will the fermentation be.
Air abounds with water, and is perpetually penetrating and insinuating
itself into every thing capable of receiving it. Its weight, or
gravitating force, must necessarily produce numberless effects. The
water contained in the air is rendered more active by its motion;
hence the saline, gummous, and saponaceous particles it meets with
are loosened in their texture, and, in some degree, dissolved. As
principles similar to these are the chief constituent parts of malt,
the reason is obvious why such, which are old, or have lain a proper
time exposed to the influence of the air, dissolve more readily, or,
in other words, yield a more copious extract than others.
All bodies in a passive state, remaining a sufficient time in the same
place, become of the same degree of heat with the air itself. On this
account the water, lying in the backs used by brewers, is nearly of
the same degree of heat as the thermometer shews the open air in the
shade to be. When this instrument indicates a cold below the freezing
point, or 32 degrees, if the water does not then become ice, the reason
is, because it has not been exposed long enough to be thoroughly
affected by such a cold. For water does not immediately assume the
same degree of temperature with the air, principally on account of its
density, also from its being pumped out of deep and hot wells, from
its being kept in motion, and from many other incidents. Under these
circumstances, no great error can arise to estimate its heat equal to
35 degrees.
Air is not easily expelled from bodies, either solid or fluid. Water
requires two hours boiling to be discharged of the greatest part of its
air. That it may be thus expelled by heat appears from hence; water, if
boiled the space abovementioned, instead of having any air bubbles when
it is froze, as ice commonly has, becomes a solid mass like crystal.
Worts or musts, as they contain great quantities of salts and oils,
require a greater degree of heat to make them boil: consequently more
air is expelled from boiling worts, than from boiling water in the same
time; and as air doth not instantaneously re-enter those bodies,[5]
when cold, they would never ferment of themselves. Were it not for the
substitute of yeast, to supply the deficiency of air lost by boiling,
they would fox or putrify, for want of that internal elastic air, which
is absolutely necessary to fermentation.
As air joined to water contributes so powerfully to render that fluid
more active, that water which has endured fire the least time, provided
it be hot enough, will make the strongest extracts.
Though there is air in every fluid, it differs in quantity in different
fluids; so that no rule can be laid down for the quantity of air, which
worts should contain.—Probably the quantity, sufficient to saturate one
sort, will not be an adequate proportion for another.
Air in this manner encompasses, is in contact with, confines, and
compresses all bodies. It insinuates itself into their penetrable
passages, exerts all its power either on solids, or fluids, and finding
in bodies some elements to which it has a tendency, unites with them.
By its weight and perpetual motion, it strongly agitates those parts
of the bodies in which it is contained, rubs, and intermixes them
intimately together. By disuniting some, and joining others, it
produces very singular effects, not easily accomplished by any other
means.—That this element has such surprising powers, is evident from
the following experiment. “Fermentable parts duly prepared and disposed
in the vacuum of Mr. Boyle’s air-pump will not ferment, though acted
upon by a proper heat; but, discharging their air, remain unchanged.”
SECTION III.
_OF WATER._
As water is perpetually an object of our senses, and made use of for
most of the purposes of life, it might be imagined the nature of this
element was perfectly understood: but they who have enquired into it
with the greatest care, find it very difficult to form a just idea of
it. One reason of this difficulty is, water is not easily separated
from other bodies, or other bodies from water. Hartshorn, after having
been long dried, resists a file more than iron; yet, on distillation,
yields much water. I have already observed, that air is intimately
mixed with, and possibly never entirely separated from it, but in a
_vacuum_; how is it possible then ever to obtain water perfectly pure?
In its most perfect state, we understand it to be a liquor very fluid,
inodorous, insipid, pellucid, and colourless, which, in a certain
degree of cold, freezes into a brittle, hard, glassy ice.
Lightness is reckoned a perfection in water, that which weighs less
being in general the purest. Hence the great difficulty of determining
the standard weight it should have. Fountain, river, or well waters,
by their admixture with saline, earthy, sulphureous, and vitriolic
substances, are rendered much heavier than in their natural state; on
the other hand, an increase of heat, or an addition of air, by varying
the expansion, diminishes the weight of water. A pint of rain-water,
supposed to be the purest, is said to weigh 15 ounces, 1 drachm, and 50
grains, but, for the reasons just now mentioned, this must differ in
proportion as the seasons of the year do from each other.
Another property of water, which it has in common with other liquors,
is its fluidity, which is so great, that a very small degree of heat,
above the freezing point, makes it evaporate. Experiments to ascertain
the proportion steamed away of the quantity of water used in brewing,
is an object worthy of the artist’s curiosity; but the purer the water
is, the more readily it evaporates. Sea-water, which is supposed to
contain one fortieth part of salt, more forcibly resists the power of
fire, and wastes much less, than that which is pure.
The ultimate particles of this element, Boerhaave believed to be
much less than those of air, as water passes through the pores and
interstices of wood, which never transmit the least elastic air; nor is
there, says he, any known fluid, (fire excepted, which forces itself
through every subject) whose parts are more penetrating than those of
water. Yet as water is not an universal dissolver, there are vessels
which will contain it, though they will let pass even the thick syrup
of sugar, for sugar makes its way by dissolving the tenacious and oily
substance of the wood, which water cannot do.
Water, when fully saturated by fire, is said to boil, and by the
impulse of that element, comes under a strong ebullition. Just before
this violent agitation takes place, I have already observed, it
occupies one seventy-sixth more space than when cold: so the brewer
who would be exact, when he intends to reduce his liquor to a certain
degree of heat, must allow for this expansion, abating therefrom the
quantity of steam exhaled.
As water, by boiling, may be said to be filled or saturated with fire,
so may it be with any other substance capable of being dissolved
therein; but, though it will dissolve only a given quantity of any
particular substance, it may, at the same time, take in a certain
proportion of some other. Four ounces of pure rain water will melt
but one ounce of common salt, and after taking this as the utmost of
its quantity, it will still receive two scruples of another kind of
salt, viz. nitre. In like manner the strongest extract of malt is
capable of receiving the properties belonging to hops: but in a limited
proportion. This appears from the thin bitter pelicle, that often
swims on the surface of the first wort of brown beers, which commonly
are overcharged with hops, by putting the whole quantity of them at
first therein; the wort not being capable of suspending all that the
heat dissolves, it no sooner cools but these parts rise on the top.
This may serve as a hint to prevent this error, by suffering the first
wort to have no more hops boiled therein than it can sustain: but as
this incident must vary, in proportion to the heat of the extracts and
quantity of water used, some few experiments are necessary to indicate
the due proportion for the several sorts of drink. This however should
always be extended to the utmost, for the first wort, which, from its
nature and constituent parts, stands most in need of the preservative
quality the hops impart.
Water acts very differently, as a menstruum, according to the quantity
of fire it contains: consequently its heat is a point of the utmost
importance with regard to brewing, and should be properly varied
according to the dryness and nature of the malt, according as it is
applied either in the first or last mashes, and in proportion also to
the time the beer is intended to be kept. These ends, we hope to shew,
are to be obtained to a degree of numerical certitude.
Nutrition cannot be carried on without water, though likely water
itself is not the matter of nourishment, but only the vehicle.
Water is as necessary to fermentation as heat or air. The farmer,
who stacks his hay or corn before it is sufficiently dried, soon
experiences the terrible effects of too much moisture, or water,
residing therein: all vegetables therefore intended to be long kept,
ought to be well dried. The brewer should carefully avoid purchasing
hops that are slack bagged, or kept in a moist place, or malt that has
been sprinkled with water soon after it was taken from the kiln. By
means of the moisture, an internal agitation is raised in the corn,
which agitation, though soon stopped, for want of a sufficient quantity
of air, yet, the heat thereby generated remaining, every adventitious
seed, fallen from the air, and resting on the corn, begins to grow,
and forms a moss, which dies, and leaves a putrid musty taste behind,
always prevailing, more or less, in beer made from such grain.
That water is by no means an universal solvent, as some people have
believed, has been already observed. It certainly does not act as such
on metals, gems, stones, and many other substances: it is not in itself
capable of dissolving oils, but is miscible with highly rectified
spirits of wine, or alchohol, which is the purest vegetable oil in
nature. All saponaceous bodies, whether artificial or natural, fixed
or volatile, readily melt therein; and as many parts of the malt are
dissoluble in it, they must either be, or become by heat, of the nature
of soap, that is, equally miscible with oils and water.
When a saponaceous substance is dissolved in water, it lathers,
froths, and bears a head; hence, in extracts of malt, we find these
signs in the underback. Weak and slack liquors, which contain the
salts of the malt without a sufficient quantity of the oils, yield no
froth. Somewhat like this happens, when the water for the extract is
over-heated, for then as more oils are extracted than are sufficient to
balance the salts, the extract comes down as before, with little or no
froth or head. This sameness of appearance, from two causes directly
opposite to each other, has many times misled the artist, and shews the
necessity there is to employ means less liable to error.
This might be a proper place to observe the difference between rain,
spring, river, and pond waters; but as the art of brewing is very
little affected by the difference of waters, if they be equally soft,
but rather depends on the due regulation of heat; and as soft waters
are found in most places, and become more alike, when heated to the
degree necessary to form extracts from malt; it is evident, that any
sort of beer or ale may be brewed with equal success, where malt and
hops can be procured proper for the respective purposes. If hitherto
prejudice and interest have appropriated to some places a reputation
for particular sort of drinks, it has arose from hence; the principles
of the art being totally unknown, the event depended on experience
only, and lucky combinations were more frequent where the greatest
practice was. Thus, for want of knowing the true reason of the
different properties observed in the several drinks, the cause of their
excellencies or defects was ignorantly attributed to the water made use
of, and the inhabitants of particular places soon found an advantage,
in availing themselves of this local reputation. But just and true
principles, followed by as just a practice, must render the art more
universal, and add dignity to the profession, by establishing the merit
of our barley wines on knowledge, not on opinion void of judgment. To
place this truth in a fuller light, and to communicate to the brewer
the readiest means to examine any waters he may have occasion to use,
I have extracted from Doctor Lucas’s Essay on Waters, the experiments
he made on the Thames, New River, and Hampstead company’s waters, but
without closely adhering to the accuracy this gentleman prescribed to
himself; such exactness much better suiting a man of his abilities: for
the purposes of brewing it is not of absolute necessity.
_Experiments on the Thames, New River, and Hampstead Waters, which in
general are in use in the Cities of London and Westminster.
_Subjects |_Thames, at |_Inferences |_New River._ |_Hampstead._
employed._ | Somerset | from the | |
| House._ | experiments | |
| | on Thames | |
| | water._ | |
| | | |
|Quantity of | |Quantity of |In 24 hours
|insoluble | |insoluble |discharges air,
|matter in one | |matter in one |lets some light
|pint, one | |pint, one |sediment fall,
|grain and a | |grain and a |and grows
|half. | |half. |clearer.
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
|Quantity of | |Quantity of |Quantity of
|water used | |water used |water used
|two ounces. | |two ounces. |two ounces.
| | | |
Twenty drops |Produced--a |A small |Produced a |Produced, 1st
syrup of |sea-green. |quantity of |paler green. |a sea-green;
violets. | |alkaline | |upon standing,
| |principle. | |heightens; in
| | | |12 hours
| | | |becomes
| | | |yellowish.
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
Infusion of |A pink color |A calcarious |A paler pink; |A pink bloom;
campechy wood |heighten to |earth dis- |but heightens |upon standing
to a dark |crimson. |solved in a |as Thames. |heightens; after
orange. | |marine acid, | |fades, and
| |perhaps | |comesto the
| |something of a| |color of old
| |volatil | |Canary Wine.
| |alkaly, whence| |
| |the water | |
| |appears unfit | |
| |for the | |
| |scarlet dye. | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
1 grain of |A pink bloom |Confirms the |The same as |A very beautiful
cochinelle, |heightens to |preceding |the Thames |crimson;
in powder. |crimson; fades|experiment. |water. |heightens upon
|to a pale | | |standing; in 12
|muddy purple, | | |hours suffers
|letting fall | | |no diminution
|obscure green | | |of color.
|clouds. | | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
Alcaline lye, |Slight milky |Charged with |Less milky, |Of alkaline lye
5 drops. |cloud; becomes|terrine parts,|with less |used ten drops.
|milky all |dissolved by |sediment. |--Worked no
|over; a light |means of an | |sensible change
|sediment of |acid; at high | |in this water.
|pale earth |water more | |
|coats the |acid in the | |
|glass, and is |water than at | |
|found at |low, and the | |
|bottom. |alkaline | |
| |principle in | |
| |this river | |
| |more at low | |
| |water than | |
| |at high. | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
Solution of |A pearl- |Confirms the |Less milky; no|Mixes smoothly,
Soap. |colored |former |coagulation. |and causes a
|milkiness, |observation. | |slight
|but no | | |lactescence.
|coagulation. | | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
A diluted acid|No perceptible|Shews an |No sensible |Upon standing
of vitriol. |change. |alkaly not |change. |shews some air
| |predominant. | |bubbles, and
| | | |seems somewhat
| | | |brighter.
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
Mercury |No change; |The quantity |The same |The same
sublimate |upon standing,|of alkaly in- |appearance as |appearance, but
dissolved in |a mother of |considerable. |Thames; rather|rather slighter
pure water, |pearl colored | |slighter |than any of the
10 drops. |pellicle | |precipitation.|other two.
|covered the | | |
|surface; the | | |
|liquor beneath| | |
|slightly | | |
|milky. | | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
A solution of |Pale clouds at|Shews some |The same as |Upon dropping,
mercury in the|every drop; |absorbent |Thames, but |no change
acid of nitre.|1st white and |earth, by |slighter. |appears; upon
|milky, then |means of an | |standing grows
|yellowish |acid, | |milky, then to
|four drops |suspended in | |a pale yellow,
|more got the |the water. | |with a slight
|same color | | |pearl-colored
|all over; upon| | |pellicle; shews
|standing, a | | |no air nor
|slight pale | | |sediment; the
|pellicle | | |glass slightly
|arose, and a | | |coated upon
|muddy ochre- | | |standing;
|colored | | |precipitated
|sediment | | |fairly.
|subsided. | | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
A solution of |A bright milky|Confirms the |The same as |The same as
lead in |cloud, which, |preceding |Thames, but in|New River.
distilled |growing more |observation. |a lower |
vinegar, at |opac and | |degree. |
every drop as |white, | | |
far as 4 |subsided; upon| | |
drops. |being stirred,| | |
|had a milky | | |
|opacity all | | |
|over; upon | | |
|standing, | | |
|threw up a | | |
|pale pellicle,| | |
|and let fall | | |
|white | | |
|precipitate. | | |
---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ----------
A solution of |Caused a |Shews some |The same |Pale bluish
silver in the |pearled |portion of |effects, but |white clouds;
acid of nitre,|milkiness; |sea-salt, of |slighter; the |the
4 drops. |upon standing |which the |precipitate of|precipitate,
|subsided a |Thames has |a pale violet |a bluish slate
|violet purple |more at high |color. |color, thinly
|colored |water than at | |covered the
|precipitate. |low. | |sides and
| | | |bottom of the
| | | |glass.
All these waters appear to be sufficiently pure for the common uses of
life; the difference between them is very trivial, if any: those of
Hampstead approach nearest to the simple state this element is to be
wished for. Although it cannot be said to have an immediate relation to
this work, yet it may not, perhaps, be disagreeable or useless here to
add the quantities of water the cities of London and Westminster, and
the adjacent buildings, are daily supplied with.
From the New River Company 57897 Tons per Day.
London Bridge, 8500
Chelsea, 1740
Hampstead, 1200
York Buildings, 849
Hartshorn Lane, 205
------
70391 Tons required
every 24 hours.
SECTION IV.
_OF EARTH._
Regularity requires some notice should be taken of this element.
The great writer on chymistry, so often mentioned, defines it to be
a simple, hard, friable, fossil body, fixed in the fire, but not
melting in it, nor dissoluble in water, air, alcohol, or oil. These
are the characters of pure earth, which, no more than any of the other
elements, comes within our reach, free from admixture. Though it is
one of the component parts of all vegetables, yet as, designedly, it
is never made use of in brewing, except sometimes for the purpose of
precipitation; it is unnecessary to say any thing more upon it: whoever
desires to be farther informed concerning its properties may consult
all, or any of the authors before mentioned.
SECTION V.
_OF MENSTRUUMS OR DISSOLVENTS._
By menstruums is understood a body which, in a fluid or subtilised
state, is capable of interposing its small parts betwixt the small
parts of other bodies. This act so obviously relates to the art of
brewing, especially where the extracting of the malt and the boiling of
the hops are concerned, that it should not be passed unheeded by.
The doctrine of menstruums, as laid down by Boerhaave, seems most
intelligible and applicable to our purpose. He says, the solutions of
bodies in general are the effect only of attraction and repulsion,
between the particles of the menstruums and those of the body
dissolved, the whole action depending on the relation between these
two; of consequence, there cannot be any body, natural or artificial,
which, without distinction, will dissolve all bodies whatsoever; nor is
the cause assignable why certain menstruums dissolve certain bodies:
the effects of alcaline, acid, neutral, fixed, or volatile salts, any
more than those of oils, water, alcohol, fire, or air, are not to
be accounted for by any general rule, that universally holds true;
nor even, in many cases, doth the dissolution of a body depend on
the purity or simplicity of the menstruum: the nearest path then to
success, is cautiously to apply every menstruum we know of to the body
whose solvent we want to discover.
The elements of fire and air greatly promote the action and effect
of menstruums, and in this light they are admitted as such. Water
dissolves most salts, all the natural sapos of plants, and the ripe
juices of fruits; for in these, the oils, salts, and spirit of the
vegetables, are accurately mixed and concreted together, and malts,
having the same constituent parts with them, this element becomes a
proper menstruum to extract this grain: though malts, by being dried
with heats which greatly exceed what is necessary to bring barley to a
state of maturity, do, from hence, require greater, though determinate
heats, yet inferior to that at which water boils; but such heats
must be applied in proportion to their dryness, to extract their
necessary parts. Even earths, by the intervention of acids, dissolve
in water; but having treated of the four elements already, as far as
we conceived was requisite for the art of brewing, we shall, in this
chapter, confine ourselves to oils and salts, and view these acting as
menstruums only.
To the definition already given of oils, it may be necessary to add,
in general, they contain some water, and a volatile acid salt; that
they receive different appellations, and have different properties
in proportion to their respective spissitudes. Oils from vegetables
are obtained by expression, infusion, and distillation; in either of
which methods, a too great heat is to be avoided, as this gives them
a prejudicial rancidness, and where water does not interpose, alters
their color until thereby they are turned black.
In general oils unite with themselves, but, excepting alcohol, not with
water, unless when combined with salts, for salts attract water, and so
they do oils: hence arises many elegant preparations both natural and
artificial, from which wines are formed.
The power of oils in dissolving bodies is in a proportion to their
heat, and being capable, when pure, of receiving a quantity of fire
equal to 600 degrees, it is not surprising this liquid should mix with
gums and with resinous bodies; but the color of these, and of every
subject when thrown into boiling oils, changes in proportion to the
impression made on them by heat, either to a yellow, a red, or a black.
Oils which are inspissated, or thickened by heat, are termed balsams.
Do not the oils of malt, from the heat they have undergone, resemble
these? and from the circumstance of their having endured a heat
superior to that necessary for putrefaction, may they not be suspected
to possess a volatile alcaline salt? Beyond doubt, the extracts from
malt (though they boil at a heat of 218 degrees only) yet do they, in
great measure, dissolve hops, which are gum resinous.
Salt may well be denominated a menstruum, as it is easily diluted
with water; fixed alcaline salts we have already seen appear to be the
produce of fire alone.—Such are never distinguished in the composition
of vegetables in their natural state; though a volatile alcalious
salt (the effect of heat equal or superior to that necessary for
putrefaction) is found in many, and especially in such as are putrified.
The power of a fixed alcali as a solvent is great, applied (says
Boerhaave) to animal, vegetable, or fossil concretions, so far as they
are oils, balsams, gummy, resinous, or of gummy resinous nature, and
therefore concreted from oily substances: these, this salt intimately
opens, attenuates, and resolves: disposing them to be perfectly
miscible with water: oils of alcohol leaving however the impression of
taste naturally belonging to this salt.
Vegetable acid salt dissolves animal, vegetable, fossil, and metalline
substances, except mercury, silver, and gold. In most terrestrial
vegetables this salt is evident; ripe mealy corn has the least
indication of it, yet extracts therefrom, when fermented, and sometimes
before they are fermented, discover sensibly their acidity. Sea-plants
in general have not their roots inserted in the earth at the bottom
of the sea, and these in distillation yield an oily volatile alcali;
but more subtil than the native acids of vegetables, are the vinous
acids produced by fermentation; they dissolve equally most matters
put into them, and render the whole homogene. Into a must or wort,
when under this act, by means of an elæosaccharum, might be introduced
the choicest flavors, and the aromatics of the Indies be applied to
heighten the taste and flavor of our barley wines. The laws of England
at present subsisting are indeed opposite to any improvement of this
sort, from the apprehensions of abuse: but where elegance alone is
intended, undoubtedly the merit of our beers and ales might thereby be
increased. As such, this is a part of chymical knowledge well worth the
enquiry and attention of the brewer.
Neutral salts have already been mentioned; these are very various,
and very different when acting as menstruums. Resins and gum-resins
are generally said to be most effectually dissolved by alcohol; but
Boerhaave informs us, that sal-amoniac (a very salutary subject and
a neutral salt) if boiled with gums, resins, or the gum-resins of
vegetables, intimately resolves, and disposes them to be conveniently
mixed in aqueous and fermenting spiritous menstruums. Of this class of
salts thus much is sufficient. This observation perhaps is of too much
consequence to escape the notice of the artist.
SECTION VI.
_OF THE THERMOMETER._
This instrument is designed for measuring the increase or decrease of
heat. By doing it numerically, it fixes in our minds the quantity of
fire, which any subject, at any time, is impregnated with. If different
bodies are brought together, though each possesses a different degree
of heat, it teaches us to discover what degree of heat they will
arrive at when thoroughly mixed, supposing effervescence to produce no
alteration in the mixture.
The inventor of this admirable instrument is not certainly known,
though the merit of the discovery has been ascribed to several great
men, of different nations, in order to do them and their countries
honor. It came to us from Italy, about the beginning of the sixteenth
century. The first inventors were far from bringing this instrument
to its present degree of perfection. As it was not then hermetically
sealed, the contained fluid was, at the same time, influenced by
the weight of the air, and by the expansion of heat. The academy of
Florence added this improvement to their thermometers, which soon made
them more generally received; but, as the highest degree of heat of
the instrument, constructed by the Florentine gentlemen, was fixed
by the action of the strongest rays of the sun in their country, this
vague determination, varying in almost every place, and the want of a
fixed universal scale, rendered all the observations made with such
thermometers of little use to us.
Boyle, Halley, Newton, and several other great men, thought this
instrument highly worthy of their attention. They endeavoured to fix
two invariable points to reckon from, and, by means of these, to
establish a proper division. Monsieur des Amontons is said to have
first made use of the degree of boiling water, for graduating his
mercurial thermometers. Fahrenheit, indeed, found the pressure of the
air, in its greatest latitude, would cause a variation of six degrees
in that point; he therefore concluded, a thermometer made at the time
when the air is in its middle state, might be sufficiently exact for
almost every purpose. Long before the heat of boiling water was settled
as a permanent degree, many means were proposed to determine another.
The degree of temperature in a deep cave or cellar, where no external
air could reach, was imagined by many a proper one; but what that
degree truly was, and whether it was fixed and universal, was found too
difficult to be determined. At last the freezing point of water was
thought of, and though some doubts arose, with Dr. Halley and others,
whether water constantly froze at the same degree of cold, Dr. Martine
has since, by several experiments, proved this to be beyond all doubt,
and this degree is now received for as fixed a point as that of boiling
water.
These two degrees being thus determined, the next business was the
division of the intermediate space on some scale, that could be
generally received. Though there seemed to be no difficulty in this,
philosophers of different countries have not been uniform in their
determinations, and that which is used in the thermometer at present
the most common, and, in other respects, the most perfect, is far from
being the simplest.
The liquid wherewith thermometers were to be filled, became the object
of another enquiry. Sir Isaac Newton employed, for this purpose,
linseed oil; but this, being an unctuous body, is apt to adhere to the
sides of the glass, and, when suddenly affected by cold, for want of
the parts which thus stick to the sides, does not shew the true degree.
Tinged water was employed by others; but this freezing, when
Fahrenheit’s thermometer points 32 degrees, and boiling, when it rises
to 212, was, from thence, incapable of denoting any more intense cold
or heat.
Spirit of wine, which endures much cold without stagnating, was next
made use of; but this liquor, being susceptible of no greater degree
of heat than that which, in Fahrenheit’s scale, is expressed by 175,
could be of no service where boiling water was concerned.
At last the properest fluid, to answer every purpose, was found to be
mercury. This had never been known to freeze[6]; and not to boil under
a heat of 600 degrees, and is free from every inconveniency attending
other liquors.
As the instrument is entirely founded on this principle, that heat or
fire expands all bodies, as cold condenses them, there was a necessity
of employing a fluid easy to be dilated. A quantity of it is seated in
one part in the bulb. This being expanded by heat, is pushed forward
into a fine tube, or capillary cylinder, so small, that the motion
of the fluid in it is speedy and perceptible. Some thermometers have
been constructed with their reservoir composed of a larger cylinder;
but in general, at present, they are made globular. The smaller the
bulb is, the sooner it is heated through, and the finer the tube, the
greater will be the length of it, and the more distinct the degrees.
It is scarcely possible that any glass cylinder, so very small, should
be perfectly regular; the quicksilver, during the expansion, passing
through some parts of the tube wider than others, the degrees will be
shorter in the first case, and longer in the latter. If the divisions,
therefore, are made equal between the boiling and freezing points, a
thermometer, whose cylinder is irregular, cannot be true. To rectify
this inconveniency, the ingenious Mr. Bird, of London, puts into the
tube about the length of an inch of mercury; and measuring, with a
pair of compasses, the true extent of this body of quicksilver in one
place, he moves it from one end to the other, carefully observing where
it increases or diminishes in length, thereby ascertaining the parts,
and how much the degrees are to be varied. By this contrivance, his
thermometers are perfectly accurate, and exceed all that were ever made
before.
I shall not trouble my reader with numerous calculations that have been
made, to express the quantity of particles of the liquor contained
in the bulb, in order to determine how much it is dilated. This, Dr.
Martine seems to think a more curious than useful enquiry. It is
sufficient, for our purpose, to know how the best thermometers ought to
be constructed: they who have leisure and inclination, may be agreeably
entertained by the author last cited.
By observing the rise of the mercury in the thermometer, during any
given time, as, for instance, during the time of the day, we ascertain
the degree and value of the heat of every part of the day, from whence
may be fixed the medium of the whole time, or any part thereof. By
repeated experiments, it appears, the medium heat of most days is
usually indicated at eight o’clock in the morning, if the instrument is
placed in the shade, in a northern situation, and out of the reach of
any accidental heat.
Though water is not so readily affected as air by heat and cold, yet,
as all bodies long exposed in the same place, become of the same degree
of heat with the air itself, no great error can arise from estimating
water, in general, to be of the same heat as the air, at eight o’clock
in the morning, in the shade.
The thermometer teaches us that the heat of boiling water is equal to
212 degrees, and by calculation we may know what quantity of cold water
is necessary to bring it to any degree we choose; so, notwithstanding
the instrument cannot be used in large vessels, where the water is
heating, yet, by the power of numbers, the heat may be ascertained with
the greatest accuracy. The rule is this: multiply 212, the heat of
boiling water, by the number of barrels of water thus heated, (suppose
22) and the number of barrels of cold water to be added to the former,
(suppose 10,) by the heat of the air at eight o’clock, (suppose 50,)
add these two products together, and divide by the sum of the barrels;
the quotient shews the degree of heat of the water mixed together.
212 heat of boiling water.
22 barrels to be made to boil.
----
424 50 deg. heat of air at eight.
424 10 barrels of cold water.
---- ---
22 4664 500
10 500
-- ----
sum 32) 5164(161⅓ degrees will be the heat of the water
of barrels 32 when mixed together.
----
196
192
----
44
32
----
12
The calculation may be extended to three or more bodies, provided
they be brought to the same denomination. Suppose 32 barrels of water
to be used where there is a grist of 20 quarters of malt, if these
20 quarters of malt are of a volume or bulk equal to 11 barrels of
water, and the malt, by having lain exposed to the air, is of the same
degree of heat with the air, in order to know the heat of the mash, the
calculation must be thus continued.
161⅓ heat of water 50 degrees of heat of malt
32 barrels of water 11 barrels, volume of malt
---- ---
333 550
483
----
32 water 5163
11 malt 550
-- ----
43 ) 5713 (132 degrees, which will be the heat of
43 the mash.
----
141
129
----
123
86
----
37
We shall meet hereafter with some incidents, which occasion a
difference in the calculations made for the purpose of brewing, but of
these particular mention will be made in the practical part.
The thermometer, by shewing the different degrees of heat of each part
of the year, informs us, at the same time, how necessary it is the
proportions of boiling water to cold should be varied to effect an
uniform intent; also that the heat of the extracts of small beer should
differ proportionably as the heats of the seasons do: it assists us to
fix the quantity of hops necessary to be used at different times; how
much yeast is requisite, in each term of the year, to carry on a due
fermentation; and what variation is to be made in the length of time
that worts ought to boil. Indeed, without this knowledge, beers, though
brewed in their due season, cannot be regularly fermented, and whenever
they prove good, so often may it be said fortune was on the brewer’s
side.
Beers are deposited in cellars, to prevent their being affected by
the variations of heat and cold in the external air. By means of the
thermometer, may be determined the heat of these cellars, the temper
the liquor is kept in, and whether it will sooner or later come forward.
The brewing season, and the reason why such season is fittest for
brewing, can only be discovered by this instrument. It points out
likewise our chance for success, when necessity obliges us to brew in
the summer months.
As all vegetable fermentation is carried on in heats, between two
settled points, we are, by this instrument, taught to put our worts
together at such a temperature, as they shall neither be evaporated by
too great a heat, nor retarded by too much cold.
If curiosity should lead us so far, we might likewise determine, by it,
the particular strength of each wort, or of every mash; for if water
boils at 212 degrees, oil at 600, and worts be a composition of water,
oil and salt; the more the heat of a boiling wort exceeds that of
boiling water, the more oils and salts must it contain, or the stronger
is the wort.
A given quantity of hops, boiled in a given quantity of water, must
have a similar effect, consequently the intrinsic value of this
vegetable may, in the same manner, be ascertained.
The more the malts are dried, the more do they alter in color, from a
white to a light yellow, next to an amber, farther on to a brown, until
the color becomes speckled with black; in which state we frequently see
it. If more fire or heat is continued, the grain will at last charr,
and become intirely black. By observing the degrees of heat necessary
to induce these alterations, we may, by the mere inspection of the
malt, know with what degree of fire it has been dried; and fixing upon
such which best suits our purpose, direct, with the greatest accuracy,
not only the heat of the first mash, but the mean heat the whole
brewing should be impressed with to answer our intent, circumstances of
the greatest consequence to the right management of the process.
If I had not already said enough to convince the brewer of the utility
of this instrument, how curious he ought to be in the choice, and how
well acquainted with the use of it, I should add the heat gained by the
effervescing of malt, is to be determined by it alone; the quantity of
heat lost by mashing, by the water in its passage from the copper to
the mash ton, and by the extract coming down into the underback, these
can be found by no other method; and, above all, that there is no other
means to know with certainty the heat of every extract.
I know very well good beers were sometimes, perhaps often, made before
the thermometer was known, and still is, by many who are entirely
ignorant of it; but this, if not wholly the effect of chance, cannot
be said to be very distant from it. They who carry on this process,
unassisted by principles and the use of the thermometer, must admit
they are frequently unsuccessful, whereas did they carefully and
with knowledge apply this instrument, they certainly would not be
disappointed.—It is equally true, the brewing art, for a long space
of time, has been governed by an ill-conveyed tradition alone; if
lucky combinations have sometimes flattered the best practitioners,
faulty drinks have as often made them feel the want of certain and
well established rules. It is just as absurd for a brewer to refuse
the use of the thermometer, as it would be for an architect to reject
the informations of his plummet and rule, and to assert they were
unserviceable because the first house, and probably many others, were
built without their assistance.
SECTION VII.
OF THE VINE, ITS FRUITS, AND JUICES.
After these short accounts of the principles and instrument necessary
to the right understanding of the brewing art, we should now draw near
to the particular object of this treatise, but as the most successful
method to investigate it, must be first to inspect the great and
similar example nature has set before us, our time will not be lost by
making this enquiry.
Any fermented liquor, that, in distillation, yields an inflammable
spirit miscible with water, may be called wine, whatever vegetable
matter it is produced from.—As beer and ales contain a spirit exactly
answerable to this definition, brewing may justly be called the art
of making wines from corn. Those, indeed, which are the produce of
the grape, have a particular claim to the name, either because they
are the most ancient and the most universal, or that a great part of
their previous preparation is owing to the care of nature itself. By
observing the agents she employs, and the circumstances under which
she acts, we shall find ourselves enabled to follow her steps, and to
imitate her operations.
Most grapes contain juices, which, when fermented, become in time as
light and pellucid as water, and are possessed of fine spiritous
parts, sufficient to cherish, comfort, and even inebriate. But these
properties of vinosity are observed not to be equally perfect in the
fruits of all vines; some of them are found less, others not at all
proper for this purpose. It is therefore necessary to examine the
circumstances which attend the forming and ripening of those grapes,
whose juices produce the finest liquors of the kind.
All grapes, when they first bud forth, are austere and sour, therefore
of a middle nature. And this can be no other than the effect of the
autumnal remaining sap, mixed with the new raised vernal one, the
consequence of which mixture will be found greatly to merit our
inquiry. As far as our senses can judge, at first, it appears that the
juice, in this state, consists of somewhat more than an acid combined
with a tasteless water. When the fruit is ripe, it becomes full of
a rich, sweet, and highly flavoured juice. The color, consistency,
and taste of which shew, that, by the power of heat, a considerable
quantity of oil has been raised, and, sheathing the salts, is the
reason of its saccharine taste and saccharine properties.
In England, grapes are probably produced under the least heat they can
be raised by. They discover themselves in their first shape, about
June, when the medium heat of the twenty-four hour’s shade is 57,60.
This, with what more should be added for the effect of the sun’s
beams, are the degrees of heat which first introduce the juices into
this fruit.
The highest degrees of heat, in the countries where grapes come to
perfect maturity, have been observed to be, in various parts of
Italy, Spain, and Greece 100, and at Montpelier 88, in the shade; to
which, according to Dr. Lining’s observations, 20 degrees must be
added for the effect of the sun’s beams. The greatest heat in Italy
will then amount to 120 degrees, and in the south of France to 108.
These approach nearly to the strongest heats observed in the hottest
climates, which, in Astracan, Syria, Senegal, and Carolina, were from
124 to 126 degrees.
Those countries, where the heat is greatest, in general produce the
richest fruits, that is, the most impregnated with sweet, thick and
oily juices. We are told, among the Tockay wine-hills, there is one
which, directly fronting the south, and being the most exposed to
the sun, yields the sweetest and richest grapes. It is called the
_sugar-hill_, and the delicious wines extracted from this particular
spot, are all deposited in the cellars of the imperial family. Those
grapes, some in the Canaries, some in other places, being suffered to
remain the longest on the tree, with their stems half cut through, by
this means procure their juices to be highly concentrated, and produce
that species of sweet, oily, balmy wines, which, from this operation,
are called _sack_, a derivation of the French word _sec_ or _dry_.
In all distillations of unfermented vegetables, water and acid salts
rise first. A more considerable degree of fire is required for the
elevation of oils, and a still greater one for the lixivial salts,
which render those oils miscible with water.
A plant, exposed to a very gentle heat, at first yields a water which
contains the perfect smell of the vegetable blended with a subtile
oil; if more heat be added, an heavier oil will come over: from some a
volatile alkali, from others a phlegm will rise, which gradually grows
acid; and, last of all, with the farther assistance of fire, the black,
thick, empyreumatic sulphur. Nature, in a less degree, may be said
to place a like series of events before our eyes, in the forming and
maturating of grapes, and it is by imitating what she does, that the
inhabitants of different countries may improve the advantages of their
soil and of their air.
In order to illustrate the doctrine, that grapes are endued with
various properties, in proportion to the heat of the air they have been
exposed to, let us remember what Boerhaave has observed, that, in very
hot weather, the oleous corpuscles of the earth are carried up into the
air, and, descending again, cause the showers and dews in summer to be
very different from the pure snow of winter. The first are acrid, and
disposed to froth, the last is transparent and insipid. Hence summer
rain, or rain falling in hot seasons, is always fruitful, whereas in
cold weather it is scarcely so at all. In winter the air abounds with
acid parts, neither smoothed by oils nor rarified by heat: cold is
the condensing power, as heat is the opener of nature. In summer, the
air, dilating itself, penetrates every where, and gives to the rain
a disposition to froth, occasioned by the admixture of oleous and
aërial particles. Thus the acid salts, either previously existing, or
by the vernal heat introduced into the grapes, and necessary to their
preservation, are neutralized by coming in contact with the juices
the foregoing autumn produced; after which a hotter sun, covering or
blending these juices with oils, changes the whole into a saccharine
form. In proportion as these acids are more or less sharp, and
counterbalanced by a greater or lesser quantity of oils, the juices
of grapes approach more or less to the state of perfection, which
fermentation requires.
There are many places, as Jamaica, Barbadoes, &c. in which experience
shews the vine cannot be cultivated to advantage. By comparing the heat
of these places with those in Italy and Montpelier, it appears this
defect is not owing to excessive heats, but to their constancy and
uniformity; the temperature of the air of these countries seldom being
so low as the degree necessary for the first production of the fruit.
Whenever the cultivation of the vine is attempted in these parts of
the West Indies, the grapes, on their first appearance, are shaded and
skreened from the beams of the sun, which, in their infancy, they are
not able to bear.
Hence we learn, though nature employs both the autumnal and vernal
seasons, yet there are lesser heats with which she prepares the first
juice of grapes, a stronger power of the sun she requires to form the
fruit, and a greater than either to ripen it. We have investigated the
lowest degrees of heat, in which grapes are produced, and nearly the
highest they ever receive to ripen them. Let us call the first the
_germinating_ degrees, and the last those of _maturation_. If nearly
58 be the lowest of the one, and 126 the highest of the other, and
if a certain power of acids is necessary for the germination of the
grapes, which must be counterbalanced by an equal power of oils raised
by the heat of the sun for their maturation, then the medium of these
two numbers, or 92, maybe said to be a degree at which this fruit
cannot possibly be produced, and inferior to that by which it should
be maturated. At Panama the lowest degree of heat in the shade is 72,
to which 20 being added, for the sun’s beams, the sum will be 92, and
consequently no grapes can grow there, except the vines be placed in
the shade.
If we recollect that we can scarcely make wine, which will preserve
itself, of grapes produced in England, we shall be induced to think,
that the reason of this defect is the want of the high degrees of heat.
Our sun seldom raises the thermometer to 100 degrees, and that but for
a short continuance. Our medium heat is far inferior to 92, and hence
we see, at several distant terms in summer, new germinated grapes, but
seldom any perfectly ripe. These observations, the use of which, in
brewing, we will endeavour to apply, likewise point out to us, what
part of our plantations are fit to produce this fruit, and to what
degree of perfection.
A research made for each constituent part forming grapes, as well as
the proportion they bear to one another, at first sight, appears to
be an eligible method to discover the nature of wines; but in every
vegetable their parts are mixed and interwoven, and every degree of
heat, acting on them, finds these so blended, as to render their
division too imperfect for such enquiry to be made with sufficient
accuracy, to deduce therefrom the rules of an art. In the producing,
ripening, and fermenting the juice of the grapes, as well as in forming
beers and ales, the element of fire so superlatively influences
and governs every progressive act, as to occasion some remarkable
difference in their appearance: from, hence, then, we may expect the
information we want, and be enabled to discover the laws by which
Nature forms her wines.
When the constituent parts of a subject are to be estimated by heat
alone, the number of degrees comprehended between the first heat
which formed it, and the last which brought it to a perfect state,
must express the whole of its constituent parts. Complete finished
substances, must have been benefited by the whole latitude of degrees
applicable thereto; and in proportion as part of the whole latitude is
wanting, will their nature be different, and themselves less perfect.
This variety is remarkable in the fruit we are now treating of. A
country endued with the lowest germinating, and with the highest
maturating degrees of heat for grapes, would produce them in the utmost
perfection; that is, they would possess all the several properties they
could obtain from this circumstance; consequently such are capable of
forming wines that would preserve themselves a very long time, and
would also become spontaneously fine. From the several heats we have
observed that this fruit is capable of enduring, it is reasonable to
believe the greatest number of degrees of heat employed to form all
their constituent parts, must be where, during the whole space of
vegetation, the heat in the shade varies from 60 to 106 degrees, and
constitutes a difference of 46 degrees. So great a latitude, ordered by
nature, most certainly denotes the general utility of the plant.
The climate of the southern part of France approaches nearest to this;
but Spanish wines are richer; their grapes are formed by a warmer sun;
their vernal and maturating heats exceed those of France; but, at the
same time, their wines are more stubborn, and, to be made fine, require
the help of precipitation. This variety increases according to the heat
of climates: thus we see wines which come from the coast of Africa,
whose richness and stubbornness are beyond the reach of any menstruum
employed to fine them. Let us endeavour to reduce this apparent
inconstancy to rule, in order to assist our art.—If the lowest heat
which forms the grape, in the southern parts of France, be 60 degrees,
and if 88 degrees, in the shade, be the mean of their maturating heat,
the difference between 60 and 88, or 28 degrees, is the number which
includes the constituent parts of grapes in this country, as these
degrees imply the whole space of their progress. If like juices were to
be imitated by art, as in our hot-houses, it is clear half the number
of the degrees of heat which form the whole of the constituent parts,
or 14, deducted from 74, the mean heat of their whole vegetation, would
give 60, for the first heat to be employed, and this to be raised, for
maturation, to 88, the greatest heat, nature in this case, permits, or
14 degrees to be added to the same whole mean. To liken the wines of
Spain, where the autumnal and vernal heats are greater than in France,
the heat forming the first juices must be more, as also the maturating
heats; but with such practice, the number of constituent degrees would
be found to be fewer, and spontaneous brightness could no more be
expected, than it is found, in their wines.
A strict enquiry after the heats first and last applied to grapes, is
of such consequence to ascertain the principles by which malt liquor
should be formed, that, though grapes produced in England scarcely
make wines which can maintain themselves sound, yet, as the rule is
universal, even from them we shall be able to establish not only its
certainty, but also the application of the number of the degrees found
between the heats which germinate the fruit, and those which ripen them.
From twelve years observation, we have found
the mean heat in the shade, from the 1st of
June, to the 15th, when grapes with us first Deg.
bud forth, to be 57.60
Our greatest heat, under like circumstances,
from the 15th to the 31st of July, to be 61.10
-----
Their difference, 3.50
-----
Their medium, 59.35
-----
If, from their medium, 59.35, we subtract 1.75, half their difference,
or half their constituent parts, we must have left 57.60 for the
germinating heat; and if to their medium, 59.35, we add 1.75, half the
number of their constituent parts, we shall have 61.10, the highest
mean heat, in the shade, at the time the richest juices of our grapes
are formed. It is true, in July, nor even in the following months, when
the heat continues nearly alike, our grapes are not ripe, nor gathered;
the properties raised by our greatest sunshine, as yet have not reached
the fruit, and though the mean heat of the air in September and October
is less, yet it is sufficient to place in the grapes the juices raised
by the preceding hot sun, which concentrate and grow richer, by
remaining on the plant, though, for want of a sufficient heat, they do
not reach that perfection obtained in warmer climates.
The want of grapes in many parts both of America and Africa, and the
reason we gave for this, (See page 55,) warrants the truth of the
division we have just now made, between the germinating and maturating
heats; and if the effects caused by a hot sun do not immediately
benefit the fruit, by a parity of reason, after the grapes are
gathered, the plant must possess, (and surely for some longer space, by
a continued heat, equal, and often superior, to the vernal sun,) juices
which Nature is too frugal not usefully to apply; these juices, we
apprehend, assist in forming the embryo of the leaves which are fully
to expand the ensuing year, and serve, by their oleaginous quality,
to preserve these and the whole plant during the cold of the winter;
which cold, at the same time that it contracts the pores of the vine,
condenses and thickens these richer juices, from whence few, if any of
them, are lost or expended by perspiration. The heat of the following
spring renews their activity, when blending with those this season
attracts, the leaves open, the flowers appear, and the fruit forms.
Thus far we conceive the act of germination extends, provided for and
assisted both by the autumnal and vernal heats, and which, in point of
power, are nearly equal and uniform.
The heat of the sun, during summer months, and if to this we add the
more constant heat at the roots of the vine, retained there by the
density of the earth; these (though superior to the germinating heat)
produce a like uniformity for maturating the fruit: thus nature, in
order to implant in wines an original even taste, and to facilitate
the fermentable act, amidst the great variety that appears to us in
the heat of the air, seems, upon the whole, to act by steady and equal
motions; or rather, perhaps, this is the best manner by which we can
reduce to rule; the inconstancy of the atmosphere.
I am sensible these facts had been represented in a more natural light,
had I observed the degrees of heat impressed on the vine in every
season of the year; the difference of the sun’s heat, in every hour of
the day, a variety exceeding that in the shade; that between night and
day; the aspect of the plant; the heat of the earth at its surface, as
well as at the roots of the vine; all these would have increased the
circumstances to a prodigious extent; which, though perhaps requisite
to satisfy philosophic investigation, might, from their number and
variety, have been the means rather to induce us to error, than to
discover the general rules by which nature acts.
From the above-related process we are taught, that nature, in forming
wines, is not confined to a certain fixed number of degrees, but
admits, for this act, of a considerable latitude, according to the
extent of which the wines vary in taste and properties; and that she
affects an equality of heat in each period of vegetation; from whence
the brewer is taught, if he form his malt-liquors with four mashes,
as in the autumn and spring the vine is impressed with heats nearly
uniform, so ought his two first mashes to be; the third, in imitation
of the high heat of summer, should be much hotter, and the heat of his
last mash the same with this; and this general rule has been found
universally true, for beers expected to preserve themselves sound a
sufficient time; and admits but of a proportional variation, when fewer
or more mashes are employed, as the degrees of heat denominating the
constituent parts of the grain, must be applied in proportion to the
quantity of water used to each mash; but in malt liquors speedily to
be drank, or when we deviate greatly from the more perfect productions
of nature, we are then compelled to swerve from her rules; a practice
never profitable, and which nothing but necessity can justify.
The nature of the soil proper for the vine, might, in another work,
be a very useful enquiry. It will be sufficient here, barely to hint
at the effect, which lixivial soils produce in musts. The Portugueze,
when they discovered the Island of Madeira in 1420, set fire to the
forests, with which it was totally covered. It continued to burn for
the space of seven years, after which the land was found extremely
fruitful, and yielding such wines, as, at present, we have from thence,
though in greater plenty. It is very difficult to fine these wines,
and, though the climate of this island is more temperate than that of
the Canaries, the wines are obliged to be carried to the Indies and the
warmer parts of the globe, to be purged, shook, and attenuated, before
they can arrive to an equal degree of fineness with other wines; were
the Portugueze acquainted with what may be termed the artificial method
of exciting periodical fermentation, much or the whole of this trouble
might be avoided. Hence we see, that soils impregnated with alkaline
salts will produce musts able to support themselves longer, and to
resist acidity more, than other soils, under the same degree of heat.
Grapes have the same constituent parts as other vegetables. The
difference between them, as to their tastes and properties, consists in
the parts being mixed in different proportions. This arises, either
from their absorbent vessels more readily attracting some juices than
others, or from their preparing them otherwise, under different heats
and in different soils.
We find, says Dr. Hales, by the chymical analysis of vegetables, that
their substance is composed of sulphur, volatile salts, water, and
earth, which principles are endued with mutual attracting powers. There
enters likewise in the composition, a large portion of air, which has
a wonderful property of attracting in a fixed, or of repelling in
an elastic state, with a power superior to vast compressing forces.
It is by the infinite combinations, actions, and reactions of these
principles, that all the operations in animal and vegetable bodies are
effected.—Boerhaave, who is somewhat more particular with regard to the
constituent parts of vegetables, says, that they contain an oil mixed
with a salt in form of a sapo, and that a saponaceous juice arises from
the mixture of water with the former.
Thus we see, from the composition of grapes, that they have all the
necessary principles to form a most exquisite liquor, capable, by a
gentle heat, to be greatly attenuated. They abound with elastic air,
water, oils, acid, and neutral salts, and even saponaceous juices.—The
air contained in the interstices of fluids is more in quantity than is
commonly apprehended. Sir Isaac Newton has proved that water has forty
times more pores than solid parts; and the proportion, likely, is not
very different in vegetable juices. When the fruit is in its natural
entire state, the viscidity of the juices, and their being enveloped by
an outward skin, prevent the expansion of the inclosed air; it lies as
it were inactive. In this forced state, it causes no visible motion,
nor are the principles, thus confined, either subjected to any apparent
impressions of the external atmosphere, or so intimately blended as
when they are expressed. A free communication of the external air, with
that contained in the interstices of the liquor, is required to form a
perfect mixture. By what means this is effected, what alterations it
produces, or, in general, in what manner the juice of the grape becomes
wines, must be the subject of our next inquiry.
The process of a perfect fermentation is undoubtedly the same (where
the due proportions of the constituent parts, forming the must,
are exactly kept) whatever vegetable juices it is excited in. For
this reason, we will observe the progress of this act in beers and
ales, these being subjects we are more accustomed to, and where the
characters appear more distinct, in order to apply what may be learned
from thence to our chief object, the business of the brewer.
SECTION VIII.
_OF FERMENTATION IN GENERAL._
Vegetable fermentation is that act, by which oils and earth, naturally
tenacious, by the interposition of salts and heats, are so much
attenuated and divided, as to be made miscible with, and to be
suspended in, an homogeneous pellucid fluid; which, by a due proportion
of the different principles, is preserved from precipitation and
evaporation. According to Boerhaave, a less heat than forty degrees
leaves the mass in an inert state, and the particles fall to the bottom
in proportion to their gravity; a greater heat than eighty degrees
disperses them too much, and leaves the residuum a rancid, acrimonious,
putrid mass.
It is certainly very difficult, if not impossible, to discover the
true and adequate cause of fermentation. But, by tracing its several
stages, circumstances, and effects, we may perhaps perceive the agents
and means employed by nature to produce this singular change; a degree
of knowledge, which, we hope, is sufficient to answer our practical
purposes.
The must, when just pressed from the grapes, is a liquid, composed of
neutral and lixivial salts, oils of different spissitude, water, earth,
and elastic air. These, irregularly ranged, if I may be permitted the
expression, compose a chaos of wine. Soon after the liquor is settled,
a number of air bubbles arise, and at first adhere to the sides of the
containing vessel; their magnitude increases as they augment in number,
so that at last they cover the whole surface of the must.
It has been long suspected, and, if I mistake not, demonstrated, that
an acid, of which all others are but so many different species, is
universally dispersed through, and continually circulating in, the
air; and that this is one of nature’s principal agents, in maturating
and resolving of bodies. Musts, like other bodies, being porous, the
circulating acids very powerfully introduce themselves therein by the
pressure of the atmosphere, in proportion as the pores are more or less
expanded by the heat they are exposed to. The particles of acids are
supposed by Newton to be endued with a great attractive force, in which
their activity consists. By this force, they rush towards other bodies,
put the fluid in motion, excite heat, and violently separate some
particles in such manner as to generate or expel air, and consequently
bubbles.
From hence it appears that, as soon as the acid particles of the air
are admitted into the must, they act on the oils, and excite a motion
somewhat like the effervescence generated, when acids and oils come in
contact, though in a less degree. This motion is the cause of heat, by
which the included elastic air, being rarefied, occasions the bubbles
to ascend towards the surface.—These, by the power of attraction, are
drawn to the sides of the vessel; at first they are small and few,
but increase, both in number and magnitude, as the effect of the air
continues, till, at last, they spread over the whole surface. The
first stage of vegetable fermentation shews itself to be a motion
excited by the acids floating in the air, acting on the oleous parts
of the liquor, which motion gives an opportunity to the divided minute
parts of air, dispersed throughout the whole, to collect themselves
in masses: from hence they become capable to exert their elasticity,
and to free themselves from the must. (See Arbuthnot on air p. 116.)
It may, perhaps, be proper to observe, that all musts, which ferment
spontaneously, contain for this purpose a large portion of elastic air.
Bubbles still continue to rise after the must is entirely covered with
them; and a body of bladders is formed, called, by the brewers, the
_head of the drink_; as the bubbles increase, the head rises in height,
but the oils of the must, being as yet of different spissitudes,
those which are least tenacious soon emit their air; others, somewhat
stronger, being rarefied by the fermenting heat, rise on the surface
higher than the rest, while such aerial bubbles as are more dense,
take their place below them. From hence, and from the constituent
parts of the drink not being as yet intimately mixed, the head takes
an uneven and irregular shape, and appears like a beautiful piece of
rock work. After this, it requires some time, and it is by degrees,
that the particles dispose themselves in their due order, to be
farther attenuated by the act of fermentation, which, when effected,
the saline, oily, and spiritous parts become perfectly miscible with
the water. The head of the liquor then is more level; heterogeneous
bodies, as dirt, straw, corks, &c. assisted by bubbles of air adhering
to them, are now buoyed on the surface, and should be skimmed off,
lest, when the liquor becomes more light and spiritous, they should
subside. About this time, such parts of the must as are too course to
be absorbed in the wine (as they consist chiefly of pinguious oils,
mixed with earth, though they strongly envelope much elastic air) from
their weight, sink to the bottom, and form the lees. But the internal
motion increasing, the air bubbles grow larger; some, not formed of
parts so strong as the others, which generally are the first, burst and
strengthen the rest; and thereby a heat is retained in the fermenting
liquor, which carries the act on to a farther degree. The particles of
the must become more pungent and spiritous, because more fine and more
active; some of the most volatile ones fly off; hence, that subtle and
dangerous vapor, called _gas_, which extinguishes flame and suffocates
animals. The wine, by these repeated acts, being greatly attenuated,
is at last unable to support, on its surface, the weight of such a
quantity of froth, rendered more dense by the repeated explosions of
the air bubbles. Now, lest the liquor should be fouled by the falling
in of the froth, it is put in vessels having only a small aperture,
where it continues to ferment, with a slower and less perceptible
motion, which gradually diminishing until it reaches the period when it
neither attracts or repels air, it admits of its communication with it
to be cut off; not that thereby, in a strict sense, the fermentation
can be said to be completely ended: the least heat is sufficient to
renew, or rather to continue the act, more especially if by any means
the atmosphere can gain any admittance, however small.
The alteration caused in the liquor, by the pressure of the external
air, from the very first of its fermenting, not only occasions the
particles of the must to form themselves in their due order, but also,
by the weight and action of that element, grinds and reduces them into
smaller parts. From hence they more intimately blend with each other,
the wine becomes of an equal and even taste, and if the constituent
parts of the must be in a perfect proportion, it will continue to
ferment, until, these being disposed and ranged in right lines, a fine
and pellucid fluid is produced.
That this operation subsists, even after the liquor becomes fine, is
evident; for every fretting is a continuance of fermentation, though
often almost imperceptible. Thus, the component parts of the liquor are
continually reduced to a less volume, the oils become more attenuated,
and less capable of retaining elastic air. As these frettings are often
repeated, it is impossible to determine, by any rule, the exact state
in which wine should be, in order to be perfect for use. It would seem,
however, that the more minutely the parts are reduced, the more their
pungency will appear, and the easier their passage be in the human
frame. Both wines and beers, when new, possess more elastic air, than
when meliorated by age; to be wholesome, they must be possessed of the
whole of the fermentable principles. For these reasons, beers and ales,
when substituted for wines in common, and more especially when given
to the sick, should always be brewed from entire malt: for the last
extracts, possessing but the inferior virtues of the grain, have by so
much less the power to become light, spiritous, and transparent.
Wines never totally remain inactive; fermentation in some degree
continues, and in time the oils, by being greatly attenuated,
volatilise, fly off, and permit a readier admission of the external air
into the drink. In proportion as this circumstance takes place, the
latent acids of the liquor shew themselves, the wine becomes sour, and
in this state is termed vinegar.
Its last stage or termination is, when the remaining active principles,
which the vinegar possessed, being evaporated in the air, a pellicle
forms itself on the surface of the liquor, and dust and seeds,
which always float in the atmosphere, depositing themselves thereon,
strengthen this film into a crust, on which grows moss, and many other
small plants. These vegetables, together with the air, exhaust the
watery parts; after which no signs of fermentable principles remain
but, like the rest of created beings, all their virtues being lost,
what is left is a substance resembling common earth.
Upon the whole, then, it appears, that a liquor fit for fermentation
must be composed of water, acids smoothed over with oils, or saccharine
salts, and a certain portion of elastic air; the heat of the air
the liquor is fermented in, must be in proportion to the density
of its oils; and lastly, that the pores are to be expanded by slow
degrees, lest the air, by being admitted too hastily, should cause an
effervescence rather than a fermentation, and occasion the whole to
become sour. Wines, therefore, fermented in countries where the autumn
is hot, require their oils to be more pinguious, than where the season
is cooler. For the same reason beers are best made, when the air is at
forty degrees of heat, or below the first fermentable point, because
the brewer, in this case, can put his wort to work, at a heat of his
own chusing, which will not be increased by that of the air; on the
contrary, when, by its internal motion, the heat becomes greater, it
will again be abated and regulated by the cold of the medium.
The pores of a wort are expanded in proportion to the heat it is
impressed with; on which account common small beer, brewed in summer,
when the air and acids more easily insinuate themselves into the
liquor, ought to be enriched with oils obtained by hotter extracts, to
sheath these salts; and in winter the contrary method must be pursued.
From this history of fermentation, we can, with propriety, account
for the many accidents and varieties that accompany this act; and a
comparative review of some of them may not be unnecessary.
A cold air, closing the pores of the liquor, always retards, and
sometimes stops, fermentation; heat, on the contrary, constantly
forwards this act; but, if carried too high, immediately prevents it.
A must, loaded with oils, will ferment with more difficulty than one
which abounds with acids; it likewise is longer before it becomes
perfectly fine; but, when once so, will be more lasting.
If the quantities of oil are increased, they will exceed the power both
of the acids naturally contained in the must, and of those absorbed
from the air in fermenting; the liquor will therefore require a longer
time before it becomes pellucid, unless assisted by precipitation: and
there may be cases where even precipitation cannot fine it.
These considerations naturally lead us to a general division of
wines into three classes: First, of such as soon grow fine, and soon
become acid, being the growth of cold countries. Secondly, of those
which, by a due proportion of heat, both when the grapes germinate,
and when they come to maturity, form a perfect must; and not only
preserve themselves, but, in due time, (more especially when assisted
by precipitation,) become transparent; and, thirdly, of such as, having
taken their first form under the highest degrees of _germination_, (as
I termed them) are replete with oils, disappoint the cooper, and render
the application of menstruums useless, unless in such quantities as to
change the very nature of the wine.
This remarkable difference in wines appears chiefly to arise from the
climate; and it will confirm the observation before made, that, as
wines are neither naturally nor uniformly perfect, they must be subject
to many diseases.
All vegetable substances possess fermentable principles, though
in a diversity of proportions; for those juices only, whose
constituent parts approach to the proportion necessary for the act of
fermentation, can be made into wines. I would not, however, from what
I have attributed to a difference of heat in different climates, be
understood, as if I thought that vegetables are more or less acid, more
or less sulphureous, or in general more or less fermentable, merely
from the heat of the country they grow in. This, though likely one
of the principal causes of their being so, is by no means the only
one; the form and constitution of the plant is another. In very hot
climates, we find acid fruits, such as limes, tamarinds, lemons, and
oranges; the proportions of fermentable principles in these fruits
are such, as to render them incapable of making sound wines, though
their juices may, in some degree, be susceptible of fermentation. In
countries greatly favored by the sun, some vines and other fruit trees
there are, which attract the acids from the air, and possibly from the
earth, so greedily, that, when their juices are fermented, they soon
become sour. On the contrary, in cold climates, we see warm aromatic
vegetables grow, as hops, horse-raddish, camomile, wormwood, &c. whose
principles cannot, without difficulty, and perhaps not perceptibly, be
brought to ferment. But these instances must be accounted the extremes
on each sides; for in cold, as well as in hot countries, fruits are
produced susceptible of a perfect natural fermentation: with us, for
example, apples; some species of which are endued with such austere and
aromatic qualities, that their expressed juices ferment spontaneously,
until they become pellucid, and are capable of remaining in a sound
state many years. From hence it appears, that proper subjects, which
will naturally ferment, for making wines, may be found in almost every
climate. England, says Boerhaave, on this account, is remarkably
happy: her fruits are capable of producing a great variety of wines,
equal in goodness to many imported, were not our tastes but too often
subservient, not to reason, but to custom and prejudice.
A similar want of perfection to that observed in wines, may be noticed
in our beers and ales, and it chiefly has its origin in the different
degrees of heat the malt has been impressed with, both in drying
and extracting; where, in the processes of malting and brewing, a
sufficient heat has not been maintained, the liquor undoubtedly must
become acid; in proportion as the contrary is the case, or that the
beer is overcharged with hops, if this is in no great excess, it
retains still a greater tendency to fermentation than to putrefaction,
acids not being wanting, but only enveloped. In this case, time will
get the better of the disease; like to the wines made from the growth
of too hot a sun, these liquors, at a certain period, sicken, smell
rancid, and have a disagreeable taste, but, by long standing, they
begin to fret, and, receiving more acids from the air, recover their
former health, and improve in taste.
But should the quantity of oils exceed this last proportion, in wines
formed from corn, the must, instead of fermenting, would putrify, even
though, by some means, elastic air has been driven into them. In this
case, the over proportion of the oil, and its tenacity, prevents the
entrance of the acids, the wort receives no enlivening principle from
without, and the air, at first conveyed into it, is enveloped with oils
so tenacious as to be incapable of action. Nothing so much accelerates
putrefaction as heat, moisture, and a stagnating air; and all
substances corrupt, sooner or later, in proportion to the inactivity of
the contained air, to the want of a proper vent, and to the closeness
of their confinement. Besides these cases, beers and ales, as well as
wines, sometimes are vapid and flat, without being sour; this does not
so much arise from the imbibing the air of the atmosphere, as from
their fermenting, generating and casting off too much air of their own.
To prevent this accident, they are best preserved in cool cellars,
where their active invigorating principles are kept within due bounds,
and not suffered to fly off. These facts ought to convince us of the
truth, deduced by Dr. Hales, from many experiments, that there is a
great plenty of air incorporated in the substance of vegetables, which,
by the action of fermentation, is roused into an elastic state, and is
as instrumental to produce this act, as it is necessary to the life and
being of animals.
I should here close this short and imperfect account; but as, in the
art of brewing, there is no part so difficult, and at the same time so
important to be in some measure understood, as the cause and effects of
fermentation; and as the examination of this act, in all the different
lights in which it offers itself to our notice, can hardly be thought
uninteresting, these few detached thoughts I hope will be allowed of.
The effect of the act of fermentation on liquors is, so to attenuate
the oils; as to cause them to become spiritous, and easily inflammable.
When a wine is dispossessed of such oils, which is nearly the case
in vinegar, far from possessing a heating or inebriating quality,
it refreshes and becomes a remedy against intoxication. The term of
fermentation ought, perhaps, only to be applied to that operation which
occasions the expressed juices of vegetables to become wine: but as
several acts have assumed the same name, it may not be improper here to
notice the difference between them.
Vegetation, one of them, is that operation of nature wherein more air
is attracted than repelled. I believe all that has been said above,
concerning the juice of grapes, is a convincing proof thereof.
Fermentation is, where the communication of the external and internal
air of a must is open, and in a perfect state; when the power of
repelling, is equal to that of attracting, air.
Putrefaction is when, by the power of strong oils, or otherwise, the
communication between the external and the internal air of the must is
cut off, so that the liquor neither attracts the one nor repels the
other, but, by an intestine motion, the united particles separate and
tend to fly off.
Effervescence is when, by the power of attraction, the particles of
matter so hastily rush into contact, as to generate a heat which expels
the enclosed air; and this more or less in proportion to the motion
excited.
SECTION IX.
_OF ARTIFICIAL FERMENTATION._
By what has been said, it appears, that, though fermentation is
brought on by uniform causes, and productive of similar effects, it is
subject to many varieties, both in respect to its circumstances and to
its perfection. One difference is obvious, and seems to deserve our
attention, as it furnishes a useful division between _natural_ and
_artificial_ fermentation. The first rises spontaneously, and requires
nothing to answer all the necessary purposes, but the perfection of the
juices, and the advantage of a proper heat. The other, at first sight
less perfect, wants the assistance of ferments, or substitutes, without
which the act could, either not at all, or very imperfectly, be excited.
There are undoubtedly liquors, which, though they have of themselves a
tendency to fermentation, and are naturally brought to it, yet, from
some defect in the proportions of their constituent parts, either do
not acquire a proper transparency, or cannot maintain themselves in a
sound state for a sufficient time. These disadvantages, inbred with
them, can hardly ever be entirely removed; they gain very little,
especially the latter, from age, and therefore are really inferior
to liquors, which require the assistance of substituted ferments,
to become real wines. In some artificial fermentations, the ferments
are so duly and properly supplied, and so intimately blended with
the liquor, that in the end they approach very near to, and even vie
with, the most perfect natural wines. Were I to enter into a more
minute detail, it might be shewn, that wines, when transported from a
hot climate to a cold one, are often hurt and checked in the progress
of the repeated frettings they require; from whence they become or
remain imperfect, unless racked off from their grosser lees, or
precipitated with strong menstruums; whereas beers may be so brewed, as
to be adapted either to a hot or a cold region, not only without any
disadvantage, but with considerable improvements.
Hitherto I have considered grapes as a most pulpous fruit, sufficient
to furnish the quantity of water necessary for extracting its other
parts; but the natives of the countries where this fruit abounds, in
order to preserve them, as near as possible in their primitive state,
after they are gathered, suspend them in barns, or place them in ovens,
to dry. Thus, being in great measure divested of their aqueous parts,
these grapes remain almost inactive, and without juices sufficient to
form wines.
In all bodies, the various proportions of their constituent parts
produce different effects; hence they remain more or less in a durable
state, and tend either to inaction, fermentation, or putrefaction.
Now, by a judicious substitution of such parts as shall be wanting,
they are nearly, if not wholly, restored to their pristine nature,
as may be proved by the observations and experiments communicated to
the public by Dr. Pringle. Thus grapes, though dried and exported
from their natural climate to another, by the addition of water only,
ferment spontaneously, and form wines very near alike to such as
they would have produced before. It may, with confidence, be said,
that, when any considerable difference appears, it arises from the
injudicious manner in which the water is administered, from the fruit
not being duly macerated, or from want of such heat being conveyed
to the water and fruit, as the juices would have had, if they had
been expressed out of the grapes when just gathered; often from the
whimsical mixture of other bodies therewith, and perhaps too from the
quantity of brandy, which is always put to wines abroad, to prevent
their fretting on board a ship. Upon the whole, though, from what
just now has been observed, some small difference must take place, it
rather proves than contradicts the fact, that, a due quantity of water
being applied to dry raisins, an extract may be formed, which will
be impregnated with all the necessary constituent parts the grapes
had in them when ripe upon the vine, consequently will spontaneously
ferment, and make a vinous liquor. Water then, in this case, becomes a
substitute, and the liquors produced in this manner may be accounted
of the first class of artificial wines.
Vegetables, in their original state, are divisible into the pulpous and
farinaceous kinds, both possessing the same constituent parts, though
in different proportions. If from the farinaceous such parts be taken
away as they superabound in, and others be added, of which they are
defective, these vegetables may, by such means, be brought to resemble,
in the proportion of their parts, more especially in their musts,
the natural wines I have before been treating of: and these being
universally acknowledged to be the standard of wines, the nearer any
fermented liquor approaches thereto, by its lightness, transparency,
and taste, the greater must its perfection be.
To enquire which of the pulpous or which of the farinaceous kinds of
vegetables are fittest for the purpose of wine-making, would here be
an unnecessary digression. Experience, the best guide, hath, on the
one side, given the preference to the fruit of the vine, and on the
other to barley. To make a vinous liquor from barley, having all the
properties of that produced from the grape, is a task, which can only
be compassed by rendering the wort of these, similar to the must of the
other.
As malt liquors require the addition of other substitutes, besides
water, to, become perfect wines, they can only be ranked in the
_second_ class of _artificial_ fermentation. These substitutes are
properly called _ferments_, and merit the brewer’s closest attention.
Ferments, in general, such as yeast, flowers or lees of wine, honey,
the expressed juices of ripe fruits, are subjects more or less replete
with elastic air, and convey the same to musts, which stand in need
thereof. Boerhaave has ranged these, and several others, in different
classes, according to their different powers, or rather in proportion
to the quantity of air they contain for this purpose.
The juice of the grape, when fermented, forms more lees than the
extracts of malt. May we not, from thence, infer that, in the fruit,
the elastic air is both more abundant, and contained in a greater
number of stronger, though smaller, vesicles, than it is in the malt?
The barley, being first saturated with water, germinated only, and then
dried with a heat far exceeding that which ripened it, or that which
fermentation admits of, has its air in part driven out. The expulsion
of air from the worts of beers and ales is still farther effected by
the long boiling they undergo. Hence the necessity of replacing the
lost elastic air, in order that these extracts may become fermentable.
This is effected by means of the yeast, which, consisting of a
collection of small bubbles, filled with air, and ready to burst by a
sufficient heat, becomes the ferment, which facilitates the change of
the wort into a vinous liquor.
The musts of malt generally produce two gallons of yeast from eight
bushels of the grain, whereas, in the coldest fermentable weather,
and for the speediest purpose, one gallon of yeast is sufficient to
work this quantity of malt. Much elastic air still remains in beer, or
wine from corn, after the first part of the fermentation is over; for
the liquor, separated from the yeast above mentioned, is, at the time
of this separation, neither flat, vapid, nor sour; but as yeast, the
lees and flowers of malt liquors are of a weaker texture than those
of grapes, all artificial fermentations should be carried on in the
coolest and slowest manner possible: and beers, but more especially
such as are brewed from high-dried, brown malts, (the heat of whose
extracts approaches much nearer to that which dried the grain, than is
the case in brewing pale malt) ought not to be racked from their lees,
as it is frequently practised for natural wines, unless, on account
of some defect, they are to be blended with fresh worts under a new
fermentation.
As all ferments are liable to be tainted, great care ought to be
taken in the choice of them, every imperfection in the ferment being
readily communicated to the must. It would not, therefore, be an
improper question to be determined by physicians, whether, in a time
of sickness, the use of those which have been made in infected places
ought to be permitted, and whether, at all times, a drink fermented in
a pure and wholesome air is not preferable to that which is made among
fogs, smoke, and nauseous stenches.[7]
Wines from corn are distinguished by two appellations, viz., those of
ale and beer. As each of these liquors have suffered in character,
either from prejudice or want of a sufficient enquiry, it may be proper
to levy the objections made against their use, before we enquire into
the means of forming them. The most certain sign of the wholesomeness
of wines is transparency and lightness; yet some, which are rich,
more especially ales, though perfectly fine, have been said to be
viscid.—Transparency appears indeed in many wines, before the oils
are attenuated to their highest perfection, and some viscidity may
therefore be consistent with some degree of brightness. Where the
power of the oils and the salts are equal, which is denoted by the
transparency of the liquor, viscidity can only arise from the want of
age: this cannot be said to be a defect in, but only misapplication of
the liquor, by being used too soon.
That beers retain igneous or fiery particles, seems equally a mistake.
Malt dried to keep, has undoubtedly its particles removed by fire, so
far as the cohesion of them is thereby destroyed, otherwise it would
not be in a fit state to preserve itself sound, or readily to be
extracted. For this reason, when the grain comes in contact with the
water, which is to resolve it, an effervescent heat is generated, which
adds to the extracting power, and should be looked on by the brewer as
an auxiliary help; but it is impossible that the malt, or the must,
should ever inclose and confine the whole or part of fire employed to
form them. Fire is of so subtile a nature, that its particles, when
contained in a body, continually tend to fly off, and mix with the
surrounding air; so that only an equal degree, with what is in the
atmosphere, can be continued in the grain, or any liquor whatever,
after it has been, for some time, exposed thereto.—Brown beers, made
from malt more dried than any other, from experience, are found to
be less heating than liquors brewed from pale malt; which probably
arises from hence, that brown beers contain a less quantity of elastic
air than pale beers, as pale malt liquors contain less than wines,
produced from vegetables in their natural state: and as malt liquors
contain their elastic air in bubbles of a weaker consistence than those
made from the juices of the grape, the effect of beer, when taken in
an over-abundant quantity, is neither of so long a continuance, nor
so powerful as that of wine, supposing the quality and quantity of
each to be equal. This may appear to some persons to be the effect of
prejudice, yet it is but a justice due to the produce of my country,
to add, that some physicians have given it as their opinion, that
strong drinks from malt are less pernicious than those produced from
grapes. As far as these gentlemen have, I hope I may advance, without
being thought guilty of assuming too much, or countenancing debauch, by
pointing out the wines that occasion the fewest disorders.
SECTION X.
_OF THE NATURE OF BARLEY._
Barley is a spicated, oblong, ventricose seed, pointed at each end,
and marked with a longitudinal furrow. The essential constitution
of the parts, in all plants, says Dr. Grew, is the same: thus this
seed, like those which have lobes, is furnished with radical vessels,
which, having a correspondence with the whole body of the corn, are
always ready, when moistened, to administer support to the plume of
the embryo, usually called the _acrospire_. These radical vessels,
at first, receive their nourishment from a great number of glandules
dispersed almost every where in the grain, whose pulpous parts strain
and refine this food, so as to fit it to enter the capillary tubes; and
such an abundant provision is made for the nourishment of the infant
plant, that the same author says, these glandules take up more than
nine tenths of the seed.
Barley is sown about March, sooner or later, according to the season
or soil that is to receive it, and generally housed from ten to twenty
weeks after. Most plants, which so hastily perform the office of
vegetation, are remarkable for having their vessels proportionably
larger; and that these may be thus formed, the seed must contain a
greater quantity of tenacious oils, in proportion to those seeds, whose
vessels being smaller, require more time to perform their growth and
come to maturity. This grain, as may be observed, grows and ripens with
the lower degrees of natural heat; from whence, and from the largeness
of the size of its absorbent vessels, it must receive a great portion
of acid parts. It is said to be viscid, though, at the same time, a
great cooler, water boiled with it being often drunk as such; and,
however it be prepared, it never heats the body when unfermented.
From these circumstances, of its being viscous and replete with acids,
it would at first appear to be a most unfit vegetable, from which
vinous liquors, to be long kept, should be made; and, indeed, the
extracts from it, in its original state, are not only clammy, but soon
become sour.
When the grain is at full maturity, its constituent parts seem to be
differently disposed than when in a state of vegetation. By germination
alone all its principles are put in action; the fibrous parts possess
themselves of a great quantity of tenacious oils, leaving the glandules
and finer vessels replete with water, salts, and the purest sulphur.
If, in this state, the corn is placed in such a situation, that, by
heat, the acid and watery parts may be evaporated, the more such heat
is suffered to affect it, the more dry, and less acid, will the corn
become; its parts will be divided—its viscidity removed; its taste
becomes saccharine, by the acids being sheathed or covered over with
oils; and these last be rendered more tenacious in proportion to
the greater quantity of heat they are made to endure. This process,
regularly carried on, is termed _malting_, and will hereafter be
explained more at large.
But, before we enter thereon, it is necessary to consider the state
of the grain as it comes from the field.—When mowed, though, upon the
whole, it may be said to be ripe, yet every individual part, or every
corn, cannot be so. In some seasons, this inequality is so remarkable,
as to be distinguished by the eye. The difference in the situation,
the soil, and the weather, the changes of the winds, the shelter some
parts of the field have had from such winds, are sufficient to account
for this, and a much greater variety. When the greater part of the
corn is supposed to have come to maturity, it is cut and stacked; the
ripest parts having the least moisture, and the fewest acids, as the
greenest abound in both. In this state the unripe grains of the corn
communicate, to such as are more dry, their moisture and acid parts,
which, coming in contact with their oils, an agitation ensues, more or
less gentle, in proportion to the power of the acids and water; and
from hence is generated a heat, the degree whereof is with difficulty
determined.
When this sweating in the mow is kept within its proper limits, the
whole heap of the corn, after this internal emotion is over, becomes of
one equable dryness, and is not discoloured; but if the grain be put
together too wet or too green, the effervescence occasioned thereby
will produce such a violent intestine heat, as to charr and blacken the
greatest part thereof, nay often make it burst into actual flame.
The effect which a moderate and gentle heat has on the corn, is that of
driving the oils towards the external parts of its vessels and skin:
by this means, it becomes more capable to preserve itself against the
injuries of the weather. The more it is in this state, the backwarder
will it be to germinate, when used to this purpose; and if this act is
carried too far, or to somewhat like what we have just now mentioned,
the plume and root of the enclosed embryo must be scorched, the corn
become inert, and incapable of vegetation. This effect is produced by a
motion sufficient to remove the particles of the grain from each other
beyond their sphere of attraction; and the heat, by which this motion
is excited, has been found, in malted corn, to be at about 120 degrees.
It is likely, that vegetables, in general, are susceptible of a large
latitude in this respect, according to their different textures. The
degree of heat just now mentioned may, perhaps, be applicable to barley
alone; the seeds of some grapes endure 126 degrees of heat, and may
be capable of being impressed with more, and yet vegetate. But, with
corn, if their oils have endured so great a heat, as thereby to be
discolored, the seed can by no means be revived. The color of the grain
properly indicates the healthy state of the embryo, or future plant;
but this, more immediately, is the business of the farmer and maltster,
than that of the brewer.
Thus, though it may be disadvantageous to the maltster to steep grain
which has not sweated in the mow, as, for want of this, it will not
equally imbibe the water; so barley, that is over-heated, or _mow
burnt_, cannot be fit for his purpose. It is, in fact, scarcely
possible that any large quantity of barley, from the same stack,
should make equally perfect malt, as, on its being put together, the
heat generated is always greatest in the centre of the rick, and
considerably more there than in its exterior parts.
SECTION XI.
_OF MALTING._
This process is intended to furnish proper means, for setting the
constituent principles of the grain in motion: so that the oils, which
before served to defend the several parts, may be enabled to take their
proper stations.—This is effected by steeping the barley in water,
where it strongly attracts moisture, as all dry bodies do; but it
requires some time before the grain is fully saturated therewith.[8]
Two or three days, more or less, are necessary, in proportion to
the heat of the air; for vegetables receive the water only, by its
straining through the outward skin, and absorbent vessels, and their
pores are so very fine, that they require this element to be reduced
almost to a vapor, before it can gain admittance. Heat hath not only
the property of expanding these pores, but perhaps also that of adding
to the water a power more effectually to insinuate itself.
By the water gaining admittance into the corn, a great quantity of
air is expelled from it, as appears from the number of bubbles which
arise on its surface when in contact with the grain, though yet much
remains therein. A judgment is formed that the corn is fully saturated,
so as not to be able to imbibe any more water, from its turgidity and
pulpousness, which occasions it readily to give way to an iron rod
dropped perpendicularly therein. At this time the water is let to
run, or drawn off, the grain taken out of the cistern, and laid in a
regular heap, in height about two feet. We have before accounted why
moist vegetables, when stacked together, grow hot; so doth this heap
of barley. The heat, assisted by the moisture, puts in motion the
acids, oils, and elastic air remaining in the corn, and these not only
mollify and soften the radical vessels, but, with united power, force
the juices from the glandular parts into the roots, which are thereby
disposed to expand themselves, and impowered to convey nourishment
to the embryo enveloped in the body of the grain. The corn in this
heap, or couch, is however not suffered to acquire so great a degree
of heat, as to carry on germination too fast, by which not only the
finer but also the coarser oils would be raised and entangled together,
and the malt when made become bitter and ill tasted; but before the
acrospire is perceived to lengthen, the barley is dispersed in beds
on the floor of the malt house, and, from being at first spread thin,
gradually, as it dries, and as the germination is thereby checked in
its progress, it is thrown into larger bodies; so that, at the latter
part of this operation, which generally employs two days, much of the
moisture is evaporated, its fibres are spread, and the acrospire near
coming through the outward skin of the barley. By these signs the
malster is satisfied that every part of the barley has been put in
motion and separated. It is of great consequence, in making of malt,
that the grain be dried by a very slow and gradual heat: for this
purpose it is now thrown into a large heap, and there suffered to grow
sensibly hot, as it will in about 20 or 30 hours: thus prepared for
drying, in this lively and active condition, it is spread on the kiln;
where, meeting with a heat superior to that requisite for vegetation,
its farther growth is stopped; though, in all probability, from the
gentleness of the first fire it ought to be exposed to, none of the
finer vessels are, by this sudden change, rent or torn, but, by drying,
only the cohesion of its parts removed, rendered inactive, and put in a
preservative state. Often, to a fault, the drying of a kiln of malt is
performed in 6 or 8 hours: it would be to the advantage of the grain
that more than double this time was employed for any intent whatever.
It may here be observed, that those oils, which in part form the roots,
being with them pushed out from the body of the corn, and dried by
heat, are lost to any future wort, not being soluble in water; which is
likewise true of those oils which are contained in the shoot or plume;
so that the internal part of the malt has remaining in it a greater
proportion of salts to the oils than before, consequently are less
viscid, more saccharine, and easier to be extracted.
In this process, the acid parts of the grain, though they are the most
ponderous, yet being very attractive of water, become weaker, and, by
the continued heat of the kiln, are volatilized and evaporated with the
aqueous steam of the malt. Thus, by malting, the grain acquires new
properties, and these vary at the different stages of dryness; in the
first it resembles the fruits ripened by a weaker sun, and in the last
those which are the growth of the hottest climates.
When the whiteness of the barley has not been greatly changed by the
heat it has been kept in, it is called pale malt, from its having
retained its original color; but when the fire in the kiln has been
made more vehement, or kept up a longer time, it affects both the
oils and the salts of the grain, in proportion to the degree of the
heat, and to the time it has been maintained, and thus occasions a
considerable alteration in the color. Actual blackness seldom is,
and ought never to be, suffered in malts; but in proportion to the
intenseness of the fire they have been exposed to, the nearer do they
come to that tinge, and from the different brown they shew, receive
their several denominations.
The condition the barley was gathered in, whether green or ripe, is
also clearly discernible when it is malted. If gathered green, it
rather loses than gains in quantity; for the stock of oils in unripe
corn being small, the whole is spent in germination, from whence the
malt becomes of a smaller body, appears shrivelled, and is often
unkindly, or hard. That, on the contrary, which hath come to full
maturity, increases by malting, and if properly carried through the
process, appears plump, bright, clean, and, on being cracked, readily
yields the fine mealy parts, so much desired by the brewer.
The malts, when dried to the pitch intended by the maker, are removed
from the kiln into a heap. Their heat gradually diminishes, and, from
the known properties of fire, flies off, and disperses itself in the
ambient air, sooner or later, as the heap is more or less voluminous;
perhaps too in some proportion to the weight of the malt, and as
the fire has caused it to be more or less tenacious. Nor can it be
supposed that any of its parts are capable of retaining the fire in
such a manner as not to suffer it to get away. So subtile an element
cannot be confined, much less be kept in a state of inactivity,
and imperceptible to our senses. Bars of iron, or brass, even of a
considerable size, when heated red hot, cool and lose their fire,
though their texture is undoubtedly much closer than that of malt or
barley. The experiments made by Dr. Martine, on the heating and cooling
of several bodies, leave no room to doubt of this fact, which I should
not be so particular about, nor in some measure repeat, was it not to
explain the technical phrase used by brewers, when they say, _malts
are full of fire, or want fire_. Hence a prejudice hath by some been
conceived against drinks made from brown malts, though they have been
many months off the kiln, and have no more heat in them, either whole
or ground, than the air they are kept in. The truth of the matter
is, that, in proportion as malts are dried, their particles are more
or less separated from one another, their cohesion is thereby broke,
and, coming in contact with another body, such as water, strongly
attract from it the uniting particles they want. The more violent this
intestine motion is, the greater is the heat just then generated,
though not durable. An effect somewhat similar to what happens on malt
being united with water, must occur on the grain being masticated;
and the impression made on the palate most probably gave rise to the
technical expression just taken notice of.
The minute circumstances of the process of malting will be more readily
conceived from what will hereafter be said. The effects that fire
will have, at several degrees, on what, from having been barley, is
now become malt, are more particularly the concern of the brewer; and
that these differ, both as to the color and properties, is certain.
A determinate degree of heat produces, on every body, a certain
alteration, and hence, as the action of fire is stronger or weaker, the
effect will not be the same as what it would have been in any other
degree.
Barleys, at a medium, may be said to lose, by malting, one fourth part
of their weight, including what is separated from them by the roots
being skreened off: but this proportion varies, according as they are
more or less dried.
As the acrospire, and both the outward and inward skins of the grain
are not dissoluble in water, the glandular or mealy substance is
certainly very inconsiderable in volume and weight: but as in this
alone are contained the fermentable principles of the grain, it
deserves our utmost attention.
We have before seen, that wines, beers, and ales, after the first
fermentation, are meliorated through age by the more refined and gentle
agitations they undergo, and which often are not perceptible to our
senses. To secure this favorable effect, we must form worts capable of
maintaining themselves, for some time, in a sound state. This quality,
however, if not originally in the malt, is not to be expected in the
liquor. Some objections have been raised against this method of
arguing, and these aided by prejudices, often more powerful than the
objections themselves. It is therefore necessary, as malting may be
esteemed the foundation of all our future success, to enquire after the
best and properest methods of succeeding in this process. Let us, for
this purpose, reassume the consideration of the grain, as it comes from
the mow, trace it to the kiln, and observe every change it undergoes
by the action of the fire, from the time that it receives the first
degree of preservation, to that when it is utterly altered and nearly
destroyed.
Barley in the mow, though there its utmost heat should not much exceed
100 degrees, may be extracted or brewed without malting. This the
distiller’s practice daily evinces; but then the extracts, made from
this unchanged corn, are immediately put in the still after the first
fermentation, else they would not long remain in a sound state. Nor
is this method practicable in summer time, as the extracts would turn
sour, before they were sufficiently cooled to ferment. It is true,
by this means, all the charge of the malt duty is saved; but our
spirits thereby are greatly inferior to those of the French.—Boerhaave
recommends the practice of that nation, which is to let the wines
ferment, subside, and be drawn off fine from the lees, before they are
distilled. Was this rule observed in England, distillation would be
attempted only from malted grain, which, if properly extracted for
this purpose, the difference in the spirit would soon shew how useful
and necessary it is to give wines (either from grapes or corn) time to
be softened, and to gain some degree of vinosity before they are used
to this intent.
But might not barleys be dried without being germinated? Undoubtedly
they might; but as they abound with many acids and strong oils, they
would require a heat more intense than malt does, before they were
sufficiently penetrated, and then the oleaginous parts would become so
compact, and so resinous, as nearly to acquire the consistence of a
varnish, scarcely to be mollified by the hottest water, and hardly ever
to be entirely dissolved by that element.
Barley then ungerminated, either in its natural state or when dried,
is not fit for the purpose of making wines; but when, by germination,
the coarser oils are expelled, and the mealy parts of the grain become
saccharine, might not this suffice, and where is the necessity of the
grain being dried by fire? I shall not dwell on the impossibility of
stopping germination at a proper period, without the assistance of
fire, so that sufficient quantities of the grain, thus prepared, may
always be provided for the purposes of brewing; nor even insist upon
the difficulty of grinding such grain, as, in this case, it would
be spongy and tough. I think it sufficient to mention solely the
unfitness of this imperfect malt, for the purpose it is to be applied
to, that of forming beers and ales capable of preserving themselves
for some time. We should find so many acids blended with the water
still remaining in the grain, that, in the most favorable seasons for
brewing, they would often render all our endeavors abortive, and, in
summer time, make it impracticable to obtain from them sound extracts
in any manner whatever.
I have heard of a project of germinating grain, and drying it by the
heat of the sun, in summer time, in order, by this means, to save the
expence of fuel. Though the hottest days in England may be thought
sufficient for this act, as well as for making hay, yet, as barley
and grass are not of equal densities, the effects would not be the
same. This, however, is not the only objection: as the corn, after a
sufficient germination, should be made inactive, this very hot season,
favorable, in appearance, to one part of the process, would rather
forward, than stop or retard, vegetation; for the barley, by this
heat, would shoot and come forward so fast as to entangle too much the
constituent principles of the grain with one another, and drive the
coarser ill-tasted oils among the finer sweet mealy parts, which alone,
in their utmost purity, are the subject required for such as would
obtain good drinks.
There often appears in mankind a strange disposition to wish for
the gifts of Providence, in a different manner than they have been
allotted to us. The various schemes I have just now mentioned, if I
mistake not, have sprung from the desire of having beers and ales
of the same appearance with white wines. But as they are naturally
more yellow or brown, when brewed from malts dried by heats equal or
superior to that which constitutes them such, all such projects, by
which we endeavour to force some subjects to be of a like color with
others, are but so many attempts against nature, and the prosecution
of them must commonly be attended with disappointments. It is true,
that though the germinated grain be dried slack, yet; if they are
speedily used, and brewed in the most proper season, they may make a
tolerable drink, which will preserve itself sound for some time: but
the proportion, which should be kept between the heat which dried the
malt, and that which is to extract it, cannot, in this case, be truly
ascertained; and, as the grain will be more replete with air, water,
and acids, than it ought to be, the drink, even supposing the most
fortunate success, and that it does not soon turn acid, will still be
frothy, and therefore greatly wanting in salubrity; for an excess in
any of the fermentable principles must always be hurtful.
Barley then, to be made fit for the purpose of brewing, must be malted;
that is, it must be made to sprout or germinate with degrees of heat
nearly equal to those which the seed should be impressed with when
sown in the ground; and it must be dried with a heat superior to
that of vegetation, and capable of checking it. How far germination
should be carried on, we have already seen; the law seems to be fixed
universally, as to the extent of the acrospire: the degree of dryness
admits of a larger latitude, the limits of which shall be the subject
of our next enquiry.
Malt dried in so low a degree, as that the vegetative power is not
entirely destroyed, on laying together in a heap, will generate a
considerable degree of heat, germinate afresh, and send forth its
plume or acrospire quite green. The ultimate parts of the nourishing
principles are then within each other’s power of acting, else this
regermination could not take place; and such grain cannot be said
to be malted, or in a preservative state. Bodies, whose particles
are removed, by heat, beyond their sphere of attraction, can no more
germinate; but, coming in contact with other bodies, as malt with
water, they effervesce. The grain we are now speaking of first shews
this act of effervescence, when it has been thoroughly impressed with
a heat of 120 degrees, and a little before its color, from a white,
begins to incline to the yellow. Such are the malts, which are cured in
a manner to be able to maintain themselves sound, though in this state,
and at this degree of dryness, they possess as much air, and as many
acid and watery particles, as their present denomination can admit of.
This therefore may be termed the first or lowest degree of drying this
grain for malt.
To discover the last or greatest degree of heat it is capable of
enduring, the circumstance to guide us to it, though equally true, is
not so near at hand as effervescence, which helped us to the first. We
must therefore have recourse to the observation of that heat, which
wholly deprives the grain of its principal virtues. Dr. Shaw observes,
_alcohol is one of the most essential parts of wine_; when absent, the
wine loses its nature, and, when properly diffused, it is a certain
remedy for most diseases incident to wines, and keeps them sound and
free from corruption; from whence was derived the method of preserving
vegetable and animal substances.—The same excellent author had before
this observed, that _no subjects but those of the vegetable kingdom
are found to produce this preserving spirit_. Is alcohol, then, a new
body, created by fermentation and distillation; or did it originally,
though latently, reside in the vegetable? _I have for a good while been
satisfied, by experiments_, says Boerhaave, _that all other inflammable
bodies are so only as they contain alcohol in them, or, at least,
something that, on account of its fineness, is exceedingly like it; the
grosser parts thereof, that are left behind, after a separation of this
subtile one, being no longer combustible_.
Now, as the same author has clearly proved[9] that fire, by burning
combustible bodies, as well as by distilling them, separates their
different inflammable principles, according to their various degrees of
subtilty, the alcohol residing in the barley, when exposed to such a
degree of heat as would cause it to boil, i. e. 175 degrees, must make
great efforts to disengage itself from the grain. Is it not, therefore,
natural to conclude, that, in a body like malt, whose parts have been
made to recede from one another, (from whence it is porous, and easily
affected by fire,) prepared for fermentation, or the making a vinous
liquor, this event will probably happen at the same time when the body
of the grain has been ultimately divided by fire, or that malt charrs?
and if this is true, may not charring be termed the last degree of
dryness, when, even somewhat before it takes place, the acid parts and
finest oils, which are necessary for forming a fermentable must, fly
off, and cannot be recovered.—Charring seems to be a crisis in solid
bodies, somewhat analogous to ebullition in fluids; both being thereby
perfectly saturated with fire, their volatile and spiritous parts
tend to fly off. In charring, the subject being ultimately divided by
fire, the constituent principles are set at liberty, and escape in
the atmosphere, in proportion to their several degrees of subtilty,
and to the fire which urged them. In boiling they are equally divided,
and incline to disperse; but, even the more volatile, being surrounded
with water, a medium much denser than themselves, they are caught up
therein, and, by the violent motion caused in boiling, entangled with
it, and with other parts it contains, so as not to be extricated or
divided therefrom except by the act of fermentation. Now, as liquors
boil with a greater or less fire in proportion to their tenacity and
gravity, solid bodies may likewise be charred by various proportions
of heat. The whole body of the barley, as its different parts are of
different texture, cannot, at the same instant, become black, nor,
where any quantity of the grain is under similar circumstances, if not
equally germinated, can the whole charr with the same degree.
To the several reflections, before made, I thought proper to add
the surer help of experience. I therefore made the following trial,
with all the care I was capable of. If the effects of it appear
satisfactory, by gaining two limited and distant degrees, we may
determine and fix the properties of the intermediate spaces, in
proportion to their expansion.
In an earthen pan, of about two feet diameter, and three inches deep,
I put as much of the palest malt, unequally grown, as filled it on a
level to the brim. This I placed over a little charcoal, lighted in a
small stove, and kept continually stirring it from bottom to top.
At first it did not feel so damp as it did about half an hour after. In
about an hour more, it began to look of a bright orange color on the
outside, and appeared more swelled than before. Every one is sensible
that a long-continued custom makes us sufficient judges of colors, and
this sense in a brewer is sufficiently exercised. Then I masticated
some of the grain, and found them to be nearly such as are termed brown
malts. On stirring, and making a heap of them, towards the middle, I
placed therein, at about half depth, the bulb of my thermometer; it
rose to 140 degrees: the malt felt very damp, and had but little smell.
At 165 degrees, I examined it in the same manner as before, and could
perceive no damp; the malt was very brown, and on being chewed, some
few black specks appeared.
Many corns, nearest the bottom, were now become black, and burnt;
I placed my thermometer nearly there, and it rose to 175 degrees:
but, as the particles of fire, ascending from the stove, act on the
thermometer, in proportion to the distance of the situation it is
placed in, through the whole experiment an abatement of five degrees
should be allowed, as near as I could estimate.—Putting, a little
after, my thermometer in the same position, where about half the corns
were black, it shewed 180 degrees. I now judged that the water was
nearly evaporated, and observed the heap grew black apace.
Again, in the centre of the heap, raised in the middle of the pan,
I found the thermometer at 180 degrees; the corn tasted burnt, the
surface appeared, about one half part a full brown, and the rest
black. On being masticated, still some white specks appeared, which
I observed to proceed from those barley-corns which had not been
thoroughly germinated, and whose parts cohering more closely together,
the fire, at this degree, had not penetrated. The thermometer was now
more various, as it was nearer to, or farther from, the bottom; and,
in my opinion, all the true-made malt was charred, for their taste was
insipid, they were brittle, and their skins parting from the kernel.
I, nevertheless, continued the experiment, and, at 190 degrees, still
found some white specks on chewing the grain; the acrospire always
appearing of a deeper black, or brown, than the outward skin; the corn,
at this juncture, fried at the bottom of the pan.
I still increased the fire; and the thermometer, placed in the middle,
between the bottom of the pan, and the upper edge of the corn, shewed
210 degrees. The malt hissed, fried, and smoked abundantly. Though,
during the whole process, the grain had been kept stirring, yet, on
examination, the whole was not equally affected by the fire. A great
part thereof was reduced to perfect cinders, easily crumbling to dust
between the fingers, some of a very black hue, without gloss, some very
black, with oil shining on the outside. Upon the whole, two thirds of
the corn were perfectly black, and the rest of a deep brown, but more
or less so, as the grains were hard, steely, or imperfectly germinated.
This was easily discovered by the length of the shoot: most of the
grains seemed to have lost their cohesion, and had a taste resembling
that of high-roasted coffee.
In the last stage of charring the malt, I placed over it a wine glass
inverted, into which arose a pinguious oily matter, and tasted very
salt. It may, perhaps, not be unnecessary to say, that the length of
time this experiment took up, was four hours, and that the effect it
had, both on myself, and on the person who attended me, was such as
greatly resembled that of inebriation.
Though, from this experiment, the degree of heat at which malt charrs,
is not fixed with the utmost precision, yet we see that black specks
appeared, when the thermometer was at 165 degrees; some of the corns
were entirely black at 175, others at 180. In proportion as fire
causes a deficiency of color, it must occasion a want of fermentable
properties, the whole of which are certainly dispersed, when the grain
becomes of an absolute black. Thus we may conclude, with an exactness
surely sufficient for the purposes of brewing, that true germinated
malts are charred in heats, at about 175 degrees: as these correspond
to the heat at which pure alcohol, or the finest spirit of the grain
itself, boils, it seems to require this heat, wholly to extricate
itself from the more tenacious parts of the corn; which, when deprived
of this etherial enlivening principle, remains inert, incapable of
forming a fermentable must or wort, and indicates to us, that the
constituent parts of vegetables may be resolved by heats, equal to
those between the first degree which formed them, and the last, which
ultimately destroys their properties; though the extracts will possess
different qualities or virtues, according to the determinate heat which
is applied.
SECTION XII.
_OF THE DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF MALT_,
AND OF THE NUMBER OF ITS FERMENTABLE PARTS.
The consequences resulting from the before-mentioned experiment have
already been hinted at. But it is necessary to trace them farther, and
to shew how much they tend to the information and use of the brewer.
Germinated barleys, so little dried, as that their particles remain
within their sphere of attraction, are not in a preservative state, and
therefore cannot properly be termed malts.
The first degree of dryness, which constitutes them such, as we have
seen before, is that which occasions them to cause some effervescence.
This cannot be effected, when they are dried with less than 120 degrees
of heat; the highest that leaves them white. When urged by a fire of
175 degrees, they are charred, black, and totally void of fermentable
principles. Now this difference of heat, being 55 degrees, and
producing in the grain so great an alteration, as from white to black,
the different shades or colors, belonging to the intermediate degrees,
cannot, with a little practice, be easily mistaken.
White, we know, from Sir Isaac Newton’s experiments, is a composition
of all colors, as black is owing to the absence of them. These two
terms indicate the extremes of the dryness of malt. The color, which
the medium heat impresses upon it, is brown, which, being compounded
of yellow and red, the four tinges which shade malt differently, may
be said to be white, yellow, red and black. The following table,
constructed on these principles, will, on chewing the grain, readily
inform the practitioner of the degree to which his malts have been
dried. It is true some doubts have arisen, whether the increase of heat
is by equal divisions (according to the scales marked on thermometers)
or whether the degrees should not rather be in proportional parts: but
if the effect of fire on bodies (as every experiment shews) is exactly
corresponding to the expansion it is the cause of, this undetermined
question in no wise affects the brewery.
A TABLE _of the different Degrees of the Dryness of Malt, with the
Changes of Color occasioned by each Increase of the Degrees_.
Degrees.
119 White White
124 W. W. Yellow White turning to a light Yellow.
129 W. W. Y. Y. Yellow.
134 W. W. Y. Y. Red, High yellow.
138 W. W. Y. Y. R. R. Amber.
143 W. Y. Y. R. R. Light brown.
148 Y. Y. R. R. Brown.
152 Y. R. R. High brown.
157 Y. R. R. Black, Brown inclining to black.
162 Y. R. R. B. B. High brown, speckled with black.
167 R. R. B. B. Half brown, half black.
171 R. B. B. Coffee color.
176 Black, Black.
N. B. The several letters against each degree, it is apprehended, will
help in practice to fix the color.
The foregoing table not only enables us to judge of the dryness of
the malt by its color, but also, when a grist is composed of several
sorts of malt, to foresee the effect of the whole when blended together
by extraction. Some small error may possibly occur in judgments thus
formed upon the report of our senses; but as malt occupies different
volumes, in proportion to its dryness, if, in the practice of brewing,
upon mixing the water with the malt, the expected degree is observed,
such parcel of malt may be said to have been judged of rightly, in
regard to its dryness. So that the first trial either confirms or
corrects our opinion thereof.
Though malt, dried to 120 degrees, is in a preservative state, yet is
it the least so as malt: it then possesses the whole of its fermentable
principles, which, if not impeded in the extraction, would be very
speedy and active: the duration of the worts to be formed from grain
so low dried, must entirely depend on the power given to the water by
heat, to draw from the malt, oils of such consistence as shall sheath
and retard the hasty effects of the fermentable parts. By extraction,
then, malted grain, even so low dried as this, may, with very hot
waters, and with the farther assistance of hops, be made to produce
beers, which for years will be capable of maintaining themselves sound,
or for a long time to resist the effects of the hottest climates. They
may also, by a less heat being given to the extracting water, and
blended with less hops, form drinks, which shall be fit for use in
so short a time as a week, and perhaps a term much shorter: hence we
see the degree of heat which dried the malt, and the degree of heat
given to the water to extract it. The mean of these numbers (making an
allowance for the quantity of hops used) is that which directs us to
fix the properties and duration of the wort. In one sense, then, we
may consider malt, so low dried as this, as being such as would in the
shortest time furnish us with a fermented liquor, and in another, such
as would yield the most delicate and strongest drink. When malt charrs,
and becomes black, its parts are ultimately divided; it has lost the
principles fit to form a fermentable wort, and which it once possessed.
The degree of heat, prior to that which produces this effect, is the
last which still retains any part of the fermentable properties. In
worts from malt thus highly impressed by fire, fermentation would
proceed with so slow and reluctant a pace, that, in this case, they
might be said to be in the utmost state of preservation. No term
can be fixed for their duration. A liquor of this sort, brewed with
the greatest heat it would admit of, in the extracting water, might
keep many years, and become rather accommodated to the temperature
of the place it was deposited in, than to its own constituent parts.
Experience has shewn, that drinks, impressed by the drying and
extracting heat, with a medium of 148 degrees, with a proper addition
of hops, at the end of eighteen months, have been found sound, and in
a drinkable state; and at this degree we find the middling brown.—From
these two extremes, and on these principles, the following table
is formed, exhibiting the length of time drinks made from malt,
impressed with each respective degree of heat, properly brewed, in the
most favourable season, will require, before they come to their due
perfection to be used.
Equally as with hot extracting waters, low dried pale malt may be made
to yield beers which will long continue in a sound state; so high
dried malt, acted upon by cooler and low extracting water, may be made
to furnish a wort soon fit for use, though less agreeable and more
inelegant. It might here be asked, why, then, at any time, is malt
dried with heats exceeding 120 degrees? In answer to this, it might
justly be said, it would be very difficult for the malster exactly
to hit this point of drying, without deviating from it either on the
one side or on the other; and suppose this difficulty removed, still
he could not be certain every individual grain was equally affected:
if the drying was less than 120 degrees, the malt, by receiving the
moist impressions of the air, would regerminate, and be spoiled. Before
the use of hops, malt was high dried, as a means to keep the extracts
sound. To eradicate an ancient custom or prejudice requires a long
time. This, and the conveniency of keeping malts, was the reason why,
for many years, it was in general dried to excess; an error which
for some time past has been losing ground, as no reason at present
subsists, why malts should exceed in color a light amber.
A TABLE, _shewing the age beers will require, before being used, when
brewed from malts, which, in drying and extracting, have been impressd
with a medium heat corresponding to the following degrees_.
Degrees. Shortest time Longest time Shortest time with the
with 12 lb. with 12 lb. fewest quantity of
of hops. of hops. hops possible.
119 2 Weeks
124 1 Month 3 Months } Brewed { 2 Weeks
129 3 Months 6 Months } in the { 4 Weeks
134 4 Months 9 Months } proper { 6 Weeks
138 6[10] Months 12 Months } season { 6 Weeks
143 7 Months 12 Months } Brewed { 4 Weeks
148 9 Months 12 Months } in { 2 Weeks
} summer {
152 10 Months 18 Months
157 18 Months 2 Years
162 2 Years
167
171
176
It must be observed, that the foregoing table is constructed on the
supposition, that these different sorts of malt are brewed, fermented
with the utmost care, with waters heated to extract it, in proportion
to the dryness of the grain, and to intent of time there set down,
and with an adequate addition of hops; an ingredient which shall be
considered in its proper place. What is meant by the water being heated
to extract malt in proportion to the dryness of the grain, may merit
some explanation.
Grapes, when ripe, carry with them the water they have received, both
during their growing state, and that of their maturity. This quantity
is sufficient to form their musts with. To dried grapes or raisins,
water is added, to supply what they have lost; and for the same reason
it is requisite in regard to malt: but as grapes stand in no need
of artificial fire, to give to their fermentative principles a due
proportion, so what they produce themselves, or cold water applied
to them, when dry, is a sufficient menstruum. But barleys, wanting
the assistance of a great heat to bring their parts to the necessary
proportion, require, when malt, a similar or rather a greater heat to
resolve them: without which, experiment shews, the flour of the grain
would come away undissolved, and thus considerably impoverish the
grist.—Should, on the other hand, too great a heat be applied, an equal
loss would be sustained, from some of the finer parts being coagulated
or blended with oils, tenacious beyond the power of fermentation to
exhibit them. The proportioning therefore the heat of the water to the
dryness of the malt, more especially to obtain from the grain the whole
strength it is capable of yielding, as well as to cause the drink to
preserve itself sound its intended time, is of real necessity.
Well-brewed drinks should not only preserve themselves sound their due
space, in order to be meliorated by time; they should likewise be fine
and transparent.—These circumstances prove the artist’s skill and care,
as well as the salubrity of the drink; and are the surest signs of a
well-formed must, and of a perfect fermentation. If then the rules for
obtaining these ends can be deduced from the foregoing principles and
experiments, we may flatter ourselves with possessing a theory, which
will answer our expectations in practice.
According to the laws of nature discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, the
spaces between the parts of opaque bodies are filled with mediums of
different densities, and the discontinuity of parts, each in themselves
transparent, is the principal cause of their opacity. Salts in powder,
or infused in an improper medium, will intercept the light; gums make
a muddy compound, when joined to spirits; and oils, unassisted by
salts, refuse to be incorporated with water. Musts, therefore, whose
constituent parts are not capable of being dissolved by water into one
homogeneous body, are not fit, either for a perfect fermentation, or a
pellucid drink.
Length of time, which improves beers and wines, often rectifies our
errors in this respect; for the oils being, by various frettings,
more attenuated, and more intimately mixed, the liquor is frequently
restored, and becomes of itself pellucid. Yet I never found this to
succeed, where the error upon the whole of the dryness of the malt, and
the heat of the extracts, exceeded the medium by 10 degrees.
Art has also, in some measure, concurred with nature to remedy this
defect. When beers or wines have been suffered to stand, till they are
rather in an attracting than in a repelling state, that is, when their
fermentations and frettings apparently stand still; then, if they do
not become spontaneously fine, they may be precipitated, by mixing with
them a more ponderous fluid. The floating particles, that occasioned
the foulness, are, by this means, made to subside to the bottom,
and leave a limpid wine: but the power of dissolved isinglass, the
ingredient generally used for this purpose, seldom takes effect, when
the error exceeds the medium, as before, by more than 10 degrees.
Other ingredients, indeed, have been used, which carry this power
near 10 degrees farther. It is not my province to determine, whether
such be salutary: undoubtedly it would be better if there were no
occasion for them. Beyond these limits, precipitation has no effect;
the liquor, which cannot be fined thereby, if attempted, by increasing
the quantity of the precipitants, will be overpowered by the menstruum,
and injured in its taste. How frequent this last case of cloudiness is,
would answer no purpose in this place to enquire. The use of doubtful
ingredients, and such errors as have been mentioned, need no longer
blemish the art, when a constant and happy practice, will be both the
effect and the proof of a solid and experimental theory.
Beers which become bright of themselves, or by time alone, as well as
those precipitated either by dissolved isinglass, or by more powerful
means, each possess their respective properties in a certain latitude
or number of degrees; and as these effects arise wholly from the
heats employed in drying the malts, and in forming the extracts, the
following table will be of use to point out the limits, within which
each drink may be obtained.
A TABLE, _shewing the tendency beers have to become fine, when the
malt, in drying and extracting, has been impressed with heats, the
medium of which answers to the following degrees, supposed to be brewed
and kept in the most eligible manner_.
Deg.
119 White, } Immediately. } Latitude of
124 Inclining to yellow, } } musts which
} fine
129 Yellow, 2 Months. } spontaneously.
134 High yellow, 4 Months. }
138 Amber, 6 Months. } Latitude of
143 Light brown, 8 Months. } musts which
148 Brown, 10 Months. } fine by precipitation.
152 High brown, 12 Months. }
157 { Brown, inclining to } 14 Months. } Latitude of
{ black, } } heats which
} cannot form
162 { High brown speckled } 16 Months. } musts, so as
{ with black, } to answer
} the intent
167 { Half brown half 18 Months. } of becoming
{ black, } wholesome
171 Coffee color, } 20 Months. } beer.
176 Black, } }
The difference between the heat for forming grapes, and the greatest
heat which ripened them, affords to us the number of degrees answerable
to their constituent parts: the investigation of barley, in like
manner, though less important to our purpose, yet may, with some
propriety, be admitted.
Upon examination it will be found, barley ears, and the new grain
begins to form (being still in possession of its flower) about the same
time with us as grapes do, in June; when we found the mean heat of the
air in the shade to be 57.60 degrees.
Barleys in general are mowed from August to September; so that, in
their growth, they are benefited by the whole of our summer’s heat, and
for like reasons as in page 59, we estimate this 61.10 degrees: 3.50
degrees then would be the number of their constituent parts, taken from
the degrees of heat in the shade, and which perhaps would be different
if the actual sun-shine heat and what is reflected from the earth,
were accounted for. Barleys are annuals, unbenefited by the whole of
the autumn sun; but, after being mowed, they are stacked, retaining
still much of their straw, leaves, and outward skins. In these heaps
they heat, more or less, according to the condition in which they were
housed; and which heat may reach to 120 degrees or more, but in general
is equal, or somewhat superior, to that of our bodies. The properties
of the grain, by this means improved, ripen, and from hence are more
capable of preserving themselves. This might be a reason why a farther
allowance should be made to the number of degrees denoting their
constituent parts: how much, by a very great number of observations,
made from the germination, ripening, to the stacking of the barley, in
many years, and in many cases, might probably be ascertained; but the
difficulty of doing this, and afterwards the impossibility of complying
with the information such enquiries would afford, and the little need
there is for it, as nature has allowed a considerable latitude for our
deviating from what may be styled perfection, without any sensible
injury: these circumstances render such enquiries unnecessary, if not
fruitless.
Vegetables, but more particularly barley, from their first origin to
such time as they might be ultimately separated by fire, may be divided
into different periods, according to the distinct properties belonging
to each, (and each of these require again a more exact enquiry.)
Barley is under the act of germination, so long as the acrospire or
stem is within the outward skin of the parent corn; this excluded,
it vegetates so long as it receives nourishment by the interposition
of its roots. It may be said to be in a state of concentration, when
receiving but little or no support from the earth, yet it is acted upon
by such heats as do not exceed what it might bear in the vegetative
period; and in that of inaction, when, by the power of heat, it is
placed in a passive state. Now malt is barley germinated, and, by a
quick transition, is impressed with heats superior to those admitted
in vegetation, and such as places the corn in a state of inaction.
In the beginning of the process of malting, the more tenacious oils,
together with some salts, are excluded from the body of the grain, to
form the vessels requisite to forward the growth of the future plant.
What remains in the parent grain (that choice food, at first necessary
to the infant barley) are saccharine salts, alone applicable to the
brewer’s purpose, and of the nature and quantity of which, he ought
to be well acquainted. To retain these, and prevent a waste thereof,
the germinated corn is placed in such heat, as destroys the union
between its parts, from whence it becomes inactive. When this intent is
obtained by the least heat capable of effecting it, the malt retains
both its color, and the whole of its properties.
Vegetables, in no part of their growth, are ever affected by heats
so great as to disperse their constituent parts; on the contrary,
by natural heats, in general they are improved. The whole of their
elements then, must be measured from the first degrees which form
them, to the last which procure their highest perfection; and in
climates where they are not benefited by the whole of such heat, their
properties must be accounted only so many degrees, as in such places
are between the extremes of their germination and maturation. Alike
with malt, their whole number of constituent parts, denoted by degrees
of heat, must be so many as are comprehended between that degree which
leaves it in possession of the whole of their elements, and the first
heat which excludes a part; for malt more dried than this, being less
perfect, and losing some of its properties, fewer must remain.
The degree of heat which in malt divides the period of germination from
that of inaction, we have found to be 119; the grain then is perfectly
white, and shews little if any sign of effervescence; the first change,
fire occasions therein, is to impress it with a light yellow color;
this takes place at 129 degrees of heat, an alteration which can
proceed from no other cause, but, in removing its original whiteness,
to have expelled some of its primitive parts. The difference then
between these two numbers of 10, specifies, in degrees of Fahrenheit’s
scale, the number of properties constituting barley, malt.
It must be confessed this is establishing a principle of the art of
brewing, upon the uncertain report of our senses, as perhaps our
sight may deceive us in fixing this change of color exactly at 129
degrees; but we know white and black to be the two extremes of the
dryness of malt, and that the middle color between them is brown,
which being compounded of yellow and red, these four tinges, equally
divided, as we have done in the foregoing tables, will corroborate
our fixing the teint of yellow at this degree. The table shewing the
tendency beers have to become fine, was formed from experiments made
on brewings, whose governing medium heats were from 134 to 148, the
proportion in point of time given by these, justifies the division
between immediate pellucidity, at 119, and that taking place at two
months, or 129 degrees. So from hence we may be satisfied, however an
absolute perfection cannot be depended upon, yet this being the most
exact division our senses afford, it approaches so near to truth,
that if any mistake remains, it can be but trivial, compared to the
latitude of errors, fermentation and time correct. But this number,
10 degrees, denoting the quantity of fermentable parts, must lessen
in proportion as a continued, or a greater heat deprives the grain of
more properties. A speedy spontaneous pellucidity is the effect of
the whole fermentable parts; malt affected by heat, conveyed either
through air or water, or through both, (so the medium of these exceeds
not 138 degrees,) if assisted by the acids gained to the drink by
long standing, such will obtain transparency. Beers, then, intended
to be formed of themselves to become fine, in the calculations used
to discover their elements, so many of the members of the constituent
parts must be implied, as corresponds with the time the beer is
intended to be kept; but when beers are made intentionally to require
precipitation to become fine, in such proportion as we purpose to
impress opacity on the drink, we must, in the calculations made to
discover the temperature of the extracts, imply only so many of the
constituent parts, as correspond to the medium heat which will
occasion this foulness. These few observations shew the necessity of
establishing this fundamental doctrine, the use of which will obviously
appear in practice.
Thus does the success of this art depend on the instrument so often
mentioned, which, by indicating the expansions caused by different
heats, becomes a sure guide in our operations. I shall now close this
account, by comparing with the principles here laid down, the defects
which we, but too often, meet in barley when malted.
SECTION XIII.
_OBSERVATIONS ON DEFECTIVE MALTS._
In the preceding enquiry, some of the defects of malt have been
occasionally mentioned: but as a perfect knowledge of the grain,
especially when it has undergone this process, is a matter of no small
concern to the brewer, I shall now bring such defects into distinct
view, both to compare them with the foregoing principles, and that the
knowledge of them may be more at hand, on every occasion, when wanted.
Every different degree of heat acting on bodies causes a different
effect: and this varies also, as such heat is more or less hastily
applied. The growth of vegetables is in general submitted to these
laws: but yet I conceive there is some difference between germination
and vegetation, which I beg leave to point out. The former seems to
be the act caused by heat and moisture, while the plume or acrospire
is still enveloped within the teguments of the parent corn, and it is
most perfectly performed by the gentlest action, and consequently by
the least heat, that is capable of moving the different principles in
their due order. Vegetation, again, is that act which takes place when
the plant issues forth, and, being rendered stronger by the impressions
of the air, becomes capable of resisting its inclemencies, or the
warmth of the sun-shine. Germination is the only act necessary for
malting, the intention being solely to put in motion the principles
of the grain, and not to rear up the embryo to a plant. Now, as this
begins in barley at the degree where the water first becomes fluid,
or nearly so, the cold season, when the thermometer shews from about
32 to 40 degrees, would seem the most proper for this purpose. How
far its latitude may with propriety be extended, experience alone can
determine. Maltsters continue to work so long as they think the season
permits, and leave off generally in May, when the heat of the water
extends at a medium from 50 to 55 degrees. But the nearer they come
to this medium, with the greater disadvantage must they malt: as, by
such warmth, the vessels of the corn are much distended, the motion
of the fluids violent, and the finer parts too apt to fly off. Thus
the coarser oils gaining admittance, the glandular parts become filled
with an impure and less delicate sulphur, which, instead of a sweet,
inclines to a bitter, taste. This is so manifest, and so universally
experienced, that, in general, brewers carefully avoid purchasing what
is termed _latter-made malts_.
Malt, which has not had a sufficient time to shoot, so that its plume
may have reached to the extent of the inward skin of the barley,
remains overburthened with too large a quantity of earth and oils,
which otherwise would have been expended in the acrospire and radical
vessels. All those parts of the corn which have not been separated, and
put in motion by the act of germination, will, when laid on the kiln to
dry, harden and glutinize: no greater part thereof will be soluble in
water, than so far as the stem or spire of the barley rises to, or very
little farther, and as much as is wanting thereof will be lost to the
strength of the drink.
When malt is suffered to grow too much, or until the spire is shot
through the skin of the barley, which is not often the case, though all
that is left be malt, that is, containing salts dissoluble in water,
yet as too large a portion of oils has been expended out of the grain,
such malts cannot be fit to brew drinks for long keeping.—There is,
besides, a real loss of the substance of the corn, occasioned by its
being overgrown.
Malt, the germination of which has reached and been stopped at the
proper period, and has been duly worked upon the floors, if not
sufficiently dried on the kiln, even though the fire be excited to a
proper heat, retains many watery parts. The corn, when laid together,
will be apt to germinate afresh, perhaps to heat so as to take fire;
should not this extreme be the case, at least it must grow mouldy, and
communicate an ill flavor to the drink.
Malt, well grown, and worked as before, but over-dried, though with
a proper degree of heat, will become of so tenacious a nature, as to
require a long time before it can admit of the outward impressions of
the air to relax or mellow it, that is, before it is fit to be brewed
with all the advantages it otherwise would have; and in proportion
as it has black specks on being masticated, so much of its parts
being charred is a diminution to the strength of the liquor, besides
impressing it with a burnt or nauseous taste.
Malt, dried on a kiln not sufficiently heated, must require
proportionably a longer time to receive the proper effect of the
fire; the want of which will bring it into the same state as malt not
thoroughly dried.
If too quick or fierce a fire be employed, instead of gently
evaporating the watery parts of the corn, it torrifies the outward
skin, divides it from the body of the grain, and so rarifies the
inclosed air as to burst the vessels. Such is called _blown malt_, and,
by the internal expansion, occupies a larger space than it ought. If
the fire be continued, it causes its constituent parts to harden to the
consistence of a varnish, or changes it into a brittle substance, from
whence the malt is said to be steely and glassy: it dissolves but in
a small proportion, is very troublesome and dangerous in brewing, and
frequently occasions a total want of extraction; by the brewery termed,
_setting the grist_.
Malt, just, or but lately, taken from the kiln, remains warm for
a considerable time. Until the heap becomes equally cool with the
surrounding air, it cannot be said to be mellow, or in a fit state
to be brewed: its parts being harsh and brittle, the whole of its
substance cannot be resolved, and the proper heat of the water, which
should be applied to it for that purpose, is therefore more difficult
to be ascertained.
The practice of those maltsters, who sprinkle water on malt newly
removed from the kiln, to make it appear as having been made a long
space of time, or, as they say, to _plump_ it, is a deceit which cannot
too much be exposed. By this practice, the circumstance of the heat,
and harshness of the malt, is only externally, and in appearance,
removed, and the purchaser grossly imposed on. The grain, by being
moistened, occupies a greater volume, and, if not speedily used, soon
grows mouldy, heats, and is greatly damaged.
The direct contrary is the case of malt which has been made a long
time: the dampness of the air has relaxed it, and so much moisture
has insinuated itself into the grain, that some doubt must arise how
much hotter the mash should, for this reason, be. Yet, supposing no
distemper, such as being mouldy, heated, or damaged by vermin, it is
observed, malt, under this circumstance, may more certainly be helped
in brewing, than those just abovementioned.
From what has been said, it appears how necessary it is to procure
malt which has been properly steeped, germinated to its true pitch,
and dried by a gentle, moderate heat, so as the moisture of the corn
be duly evaporated, then cured by just so much fire as to enable it
to preserve itself a due time, without being blown or burnt. How easy
it is to regulate this process in the cistern, in the couch, on the
floors, and on the kiln, when the malster, intends no artifice to save
his excise, I need not say; but with what certainty and ease the whole
might be carried on by the help of the thermometer, I leave such to
determine as are modest enough to think, that the art may be brought
to more accurate rules than those of the bare report of our unassisted
senses. As such rules may easily be deduced from the principles here
laid down, I shall not be more particular in shewing their application,
as not being my immediate purpose, nor my business as a brewer: nor
have I leisure, or the conveniency of a malt house, to make experiments
of this sort; yet with truth it may be said, that such as would not
be disappointed in their brewing, must take care not to be deceived
in their malt. This, however, being but too frequently the case, we
should constantly be on our guard against its defects, and know how to
correct them. If it is treated in the same manner as if it was perfect,
the well-malted parts alone will be digested. If too slack dried, it
may be corrected by an addition of heat, if over-dried, or injured by
fire, it may proportionably be helped. By applying the thermometer to
the extracts, more particularly to the first, the brewer thereby will
be informed, to a sufficient degree of exactness, of the defects he can
mend, and hardly be ever at a loss for the properest means to work the
grain to the greatest advantage.
As far as we have proceeded in our enquiry, though some satisfaction
must arise from our being enabled to account for the greater part
of the process of brewing, yet it may be observed, even with the
assistance of the thermometer, as yet a geometrical exactness, in
many respects, has not been attained; but nature, when the interest
and necessities of mankind are the object, apparently has supplied
our wants, and rectified our defects. In this art, fermentation, when
allowed to display itself, corrects all our errors to a considerable
latitude, though as yet, of this act, it may be said we scarcely
conceive its cause, or properly discern its effects.
PART II.
THE
PRACTICE OF BREWING.
Before I enter upon the practical, and indeed most important, part of
this work, it will not be improper to give a distinct, though general,
view of the different parts it is to consist of.
To extract from malt a liquor, which, by the help of fermentation, may
acquire the properties of wine, is the general object of the brewer,
and the rules of that art are the subject of these sheets.
An art truly very simple, if, according to vulgar opinion, it consisted
in nothing else than applying warm-water to malt, mashing these
together, multiplying the taps at discretion, boiling the extracts
with a few hops, suffering the worts to cool, adding yeast to make it
ferment, and trusting to time, cellars, and nostrums, for its taste,
brightness, and preservation!
A few notes and observations, such as are too often found to be foisted
under the articles of beer and brewing, in some books of agriculture
and others of cookery, might be sufficient, were the place and
constitution of the air always the same, the materials and vessels
employed entirely similar, and lastly, the malt drinks intended for the
same use and time; but, as every one of these particulars is liable
to variations, and can be complied with, only by the application of
different determinate heats; was the artist to submit himself to loose,
vague, and erroneous directions, like those above mentioned, they would
only serve to deceive him, and his case would be but little mended,
if he trusted to indefinite signs, and insufficient maxims, in his
deviation from them.
A more certain foundation has been laid down in the first part of this
treatise, and the principles there established will, I trust, in all
cases, answer our ends, provided we make use of proper means to settle
their application. The most elegible means to effect this, must be
to follow, as near as possible, such plan, which the rational brewer
would, in every particular circumstance, sketch to himself, before he
proceeded to business. His first attention ought to be directed not
only to the actual heat of the weather, but also to that which may be
expected in the season of the year he is in. The grinding of his malt
must be his next object, and as the difference of the drinks greatly
depends upon that of the extracts, he cannot but chuse to have distinct
ideas of what may be expected from the amount of the heat of them.
Hops, which are added as a preservative to the extracts form too
important a part to be employed without a sufficient knowledge of their
power. The strength of malt liquors depending principally on their
quantity or lengths, it is necessary to ascertain the heights in the
copper, to answer what, on this account, is intended. The difference
in boiling, for different drinks or seasons; the loss of water by
evaporation; the proper division of the whole quantity of this element
employed, and, in proportion to such division, that of the heat to
be given in each part of the process; the means to ascertain these
degrees, by determining what quantity of cold water is to be added
to that, which is at the point of ebullition, come afterwards under
his consideration. The manner and time of mashing, the many expected
incidents which must produce some small variations between the actual
and the calculated heat of his extracts, it will be incumbent upon
him to make a proper estimation and allowance for. To dispose of the
worts in such forms and at such depths, as may render the influence
of the ambient air the easiest and most efficacious, and then, by
the addition of yeast, to provide the drink with that internal and
most powerful agent it had lost in boiling, are the next requisites.
Fermentation, which follows, and which the brewer retards or forwards
according to his intentions, completes the whole process; after these
necessary precautions, to compare his operations with those of the
most approved practitioners in his art, and to find himself able to
account for those signs and established customs, which before were
loosely described, authoritatively dictated, and never sufficiently
determined or explained, must be to him an additional satisfaction. As
precipitation is requisite in certain cases, the common methods for
effecting it should be known, and likewise the means practised among
coopers to correct the real or imagined errors of the brewer, in order
to render the drink agreeable to the palate of the consumers, will
naturally lead him to consider what true taste is, and by employing
the means, by which it may safely be obtained and improved, he will
have done all in his power, to answer his customers expectation, and to
secure his success.
This arrangement, which appears the most simple, is that, which the
reader will find observed in the following sections. The proper
illustrations of tables and examples have not been omitted, and from
the complete plans for brewing, under two forms of the most dissimilar
kind, it will be found the rules are adapted to all circumstances, and
applicable to every purpose.
I must here add somewhat in justification, for publishing what may be
said to be the mysteries of an art, often too cautiously precluded
from the sight and attention of the public; but every art and science
whatever have equally been laid open, and from such communication
received greater improvements, and become more useful to mankind in
general, and the professors of them in particular. If attention is
given to the rules and practice here laid down, it will be found that
the brewer, from the large quantities he manufactures, from repeated
experience, from the conveniency of his utensils, and more than all,
from the interest he has to be well acquainted with his business,
is most likely to be successful, in preference to any one else, and
therefore can have no reason to be displeased on being presented with
a theory and practice, which, far from being the sole right of the
brewery, the discovery of the principles were certainly the property of
the author and of his friends, whose names would do his work honor if
mentioned. From the application of these principles, being convinced
of their exactness and facility in practice, he offers his labor to a
trade he esteems, with no other view than the hope he entertains of
being of some service to it and to the public.
If, notwithstanding repeated endeavours, some things, in this
treatise, should appear out of their places; others, in more than
one; if redundancies, chiefly occasioned by the natural temptation of
accounting for particular appearances, have not always been avoided; if
inaccuracies should now and then have escaped me, let it be remembered
(by the good-natured it certainly will) that, in new and intricate
subjects, digressions and repetitions are in some measure allowable,
that an over-fulness is preferable to an affected and often obscure
brevity, and that the improvement of the art, rather than the talent of
writing, must be the brewer’s merit, and was my only aim.
SECTION I.
_OF THE HEAT OF THE AIR_,
AS IT RELATES TO THE PRACTICAL PART OF BREWING.
In and about the city of London, the most intense cold that has been
observed is 14 degrees, and the greatest heat has made the thermometer
rise, in the shade, to 89. Within these limits are comprehended all the
fermentable degrees, and consequently those necessary for carrying on
the process of brewing. If the lowest degree proper for fermentation
be 40, and the highest 80, the medium of these two would, at first
sight, appear to be the fittest for this purpose; but the internal
motion, necessary to carry on fermentation, excites a heat superior to
the original state of the must by 10 degrees. Hence, if 60 degrees be
the highest eligible heat a fermenting must should arise to, 50 should
be the highest for a wort to be let down at, to begin this act; which
heat can only be obtained, when that of the air is equal thereto, so
that it denotes the highest natural heat for beers and ales to be
properly fermented. With regard to the other extreme, or the lowest
heat, however cold the air may be, as the worts, which form both beers
and ales, gain, by boiling, a degree greatly superior to any allowed
of in fermentation, it is constantly in the artist’s power to adapt
his worts to a proper state. The brewing season, then, may justly be
esteemed all that part of the year in which the medium heat of the day
is at or below 50 degrees: this, in our climate, is from the beginning
of October to the middle of May, or 32 weeks; the most elegible period
of time for brewing all kinds of beers.
But, as many incidents often make it necessary to extend these limits,
the only time for venturing to comply therewith is, when the medium
heat of the season is at 55 degrees; by which, six weeks more may be
obtained. But, under these circumstances, the quantity of beer brewed
should be less, that the worts may cool more readily, by being thinner
spread; and, to gain more time, the brewing is best carried on with
two worts only: taking these precautions, and beginning early in the
morning, the first wort, by laying long enough in the coolers, will,
towards evening, be brought to a heat of 55 degrees. The night, in this
season of the year, being generally colder by 10 or 12 degrees than the
medium heat of the whole 24 hours, the second worts may be reduced to a
cold of 43 degrees: the mean of 55 and 43, being 49 degrees, would be
the real heat of the worts in the ton; and with 10 degrees more, (the
heat gained by fermentation,) still it would not reach 60 degrees, the
highest fermentable heat, beers intended to preserve themselves long
should arrive to; but so near would it be to this, and so little is
the uniformity of the heat of the air to be relied on, that necessity
alone can justify the practice of brewing such drinks, when the heat
of the air is so high as 55, consequently, where it exceeds this, it
should never be attempted.
As the extractions are made by heats far superior to any natural
ones, though the actual temperature of the air neither adds to,
nor diminishes from, their strength, yet it is to be known for the
following reason. The proper heat given to the mash is by means of cold
added to boiling water; and cold water generally is of no other heat
than that of the air itself. Indeed, when the cold is so intense, as to
occasion a frost, and to change water into ice, that which is then used
for brewing, being mostly drawn from deep wells, or places where frost
never, or but seldom, takes place, may be estimated at 35 degrees, and
this will be sufficiently exact.
The following table shews the temperature of the air for every season
in the year, and confirms what I have just now said concerning the
season proper for brewing, and the actual heat of the water. It
was deduced from many years’ observations, made with very accurate
instruments, at eight o’clock in the morning, the time in which the
heat is supposed to be the medium of that of the whole day.
A table, _shewing the medium heat, for every Season of the year, in
and about London, deduced from observations made from 1753 to 1765, at
eight o’clock each morning_.
Degrees.
January 1 } 36′ 38 July 1 } 60′ 52
to 15 } to 15 }
to 31 } 34′ 97 to 31 } 60′ 29
February 1 } 35′ 51 August 1 } 59′ 89
to 14 } to 15 }
to 28 } 38′ 11 to 31 } 58′ 48
March 1 } 37′ 99 Septemb. 1 } 55′ 17
to 15 } to 15 }
to 31 } 39′ 72 to 30 } 54′ 13
April 1 } 43′ 13 October 1 } 48′ 66
to 15 } to 15 }
to 30 } 46′ 04 to 31 } 46′ 72
May 1 } 49′ 05 Novemb. 1 } 42′ 26
to 15 } to 15 }
to 31 } 53′ 67 to 30 } 39′ 40
June 1 } 57′ 20 Decemb. 1 } 38′ 61
to 15 } to 15 }
to 30 } 59′ 14 to 31 } 37′ 54
To ascertain the authority of this table, and to make it useful to
several purposes, I have carried to decimals the mean numbers resulting
from my observations.—But such an exactness has been found, in the
practice of brewing, to be more troublesome than necessary. I have
therefore constructed another table, similar to the former, but where
the fractions are omitted, and the whole numbers carried on from five
to five. The heats of the latter end of October, and beginning of
November, have here been set down rather higher than they really are;
as, at this time of the year, the hops fit to brew with are old and
weak, and I could not devise any means more easy to allow for their
want of strength.
A TABLE, _shewing the medium heat of the air, in and about London, for
every season of the year, applicable to practice_.
Degrees. Degrees.
January 1 } July 1 }
to 15 } 35 to 15 } 60
to 31 } 35 to 31 } 60
February 1 } August 1 }
to 14 } 35 to 15 } 60
to 28 } 40 to 31 } 60
March 1 } Septemb. 1 }
to 15 } 40 to 15 } 55
to 31 } 40 to 30 } 55
April 1 } October 1 }
to 15 } 45 to 15 } 50
to 30 } 45 to 31 } 50
May 1 } Novemb. 1 }
to 15 } 50 to 15 } 45
to 31 } 50 to 30 } 40
June 1 } December 1 }
to 15 } 60 to 15 } 40
to 30 } 60 to 31 } 35
As nothing is so inconstant as the heat of the air, we are not to
be surprised when it deviates from the progression specified in the
table. The flowing water used in the brewery, at the coldest seasons,
we have fixed at 35 degrees, and the highest heat in the air, to carry
on the process for beers brewed for long keeping, at 55 degrees. The
length proper to be drawn, or the quantity of beer to be made from each
quarter of malt being fixed, the brewer, at any time, has it in his
power to make calculations for brewings, supposing the mean heat of the
air to be at 35, at 40, at 45, at 50 and even at any degree of heat
whatever, so as never to be unprovided for any season. Water, being a
body more dense than air, requires some time to receive the impressions
either of heat or cold, for which reason the medium heat of the shade
of the preceding day, will most conveniently govern this part of the
process, unless some very extraordinary change should happen in the
atmosphere. This must make the business of the artist, in this respect,
very easy, as, in the course of his practice, he will have only to
correct the little changes that occasional incidents give rise to; and
the calculations will answer all his purposes so long as the lengths of
beer to be brewed from the same quantity of malt remain unaltered, and
with very little variation and trouble, when the coppers employed, by
being changed, are of different dimensions.
The best method to know the true heat of cold water, would be to
keep a very accurate and distinct thermometer, in the liquor back;
but as this, in every place, is not to be expected, and inaccuracies
must arise from a change in the air, to prevent their consequences in
practice, we must have recourse to experience. This has taught us that
a difference of 8 degrees, between the actual heat of the water, and
that from which the brewing was computed, will produce, in the first
extract, a difference of four degrees.
Most brewers’ coppers, though they vary in their dimensions, are
generally made in proportions nearly uniform; the effect of one inch
of cold water more or less, will therefore nearly answer alike, that
is, it will alter the heat of the tap, by 4 degrees. But this will only
hold good in such cases, where the water is in the same proportion to
the volume of the grist. In brewing brown beers, or porter, three worts
are generally made; the extracts therefore must be of different lengths
from what they are in beers brewed at two worts only. In this case, the
quantity of water for the first wort, is less than it otherwise would
be; and what must be allowed for the first mash, to wet the malt, is so
much as to occasion the second, or piece liquor, to be proportionably
less also; as it is of great consequence, if the first tap doth not
answer to its proper degree, that the second should be brought to such
a heat, as to make up the medium of the first and second extracts,
the second, or piece liquor, by reason of its shortness, is more
conveniently, and more exactly tempered in the little copper; and
one inch cooling in, is in this case found, both by calculation and
experience, to occasion a difference of one degree of heat only in the
mash.
One of the principal attentions, in forming beers and ales of any sort
whatever, is that they may come to their most perfect state, at the
time they are intended to be used. Common small beer is required to be
in order, from one to four weeks, and as it is impossible to prejudge
the accidental variations, as to heat and cold, that may happen in
any one season of the year, it is rational to act up to what a long
experience has shown, is to be expected, and to mix such quantity of
cold water with that, which is made to come to ebullition, as to bring
the extract to the degree fixed for each particular season, let the
heat, at the time of brewing, vary therefrom, in any degree whatever.
In treating on the subject of air, in the former part of this work, I
observed the effect it had in penetrating the parts of the malt, or
in the technical term used by brewers, in slacking it. As such is the
case, when the grain is entire and whole, it is more so when ground,
and experience teaches us, that, when malt has been about 24 hours from
the mill, the dampness it has imbibed is equal to half an inch more
of cold water added to that which is to be made to boil for the first
liquor, and produces therefore a diminution of 4 degrees in the heat
of the tap[11].
An effect, somewhat resembling this, is caused by the impression of
the air on the utensils of a brewhouse, which are not daily used;
the heat received from a foregoing process has expanded their pores,
and rendered them more susceptible of cold and moisture. From this
circumstance, the heat of the first mash will be affected in a
proportion equal to half an inch less cooling in, or in the space of 24
hours, to 4 degrees of heat.
The time of the day, in which the first extract is made, becomes
another consideration; for as 8 o’clock in the morning is the time
of the medium heat in the whole 24 hours, the other hours will give
different degrees. When a first mash is made about 4 o’clock in the
morning, the following table shews the difference between the heat at
4 and 8; that of the other hours, in the like case, may be learned by
observation. It has been observed, that, in the cold months, from the
sun’s power being less, the heat of the day and night are more uniform,
and also that the coldest part of the 24 hours is about half an hour,
or an hour before sun-rising. I have judged it convenient to place, in
the same table, the several incidents affecting the first extract.
INCIDENTS _occasioned by the air affecting the heat of the
first extract, to be noticed more particularly, when small beer is
brewed, as the quantity of water is then greatest, and the mash more
susceptible of its impressions_.
Morning at 4 o’clock*
January 0 Utensils, for want of being
used, in 24 hours
February 0 lose 4 degrees of heat,
equal to half an inch of
March. 2 cold water.
Malt, which has been
April 4 ground 24 hours, imbibes
moisture equivalent
May 6 to half an inch,
which lessens the heat
June 8 by 4 degrees.
The difference between
July 10 the actual heat of the
air, and that naturally
August 8 expected is to be allowed
in proportion of
September 6 8 degrees to one inch
cooling in.
October 4 Malts, from having been
long kept, or old,
November 2 become considerably
slacked.
December 0
* Colder by so many degrees than at
eight o’clock in the morning.
Before we quit this subject, it may not be improper to observe,
that, in the hottest season, and in the hottest part of the day, the
difference between the heat of the air in the shade, and that in the
sun’s beams in and about London, is nearly 16 degrees, and also that
cellars or repositories for beers, are, in winter, generally hotter by
ten degrees, than the external air; and in summer, colder, by five.
SECTION II.
_OF GRINDING._
Malt must be ground, in order to facilitate the action of the water on
the grain, which otherwise would be obstructed by the outward skins.
Every corn should be cut, but not reduced to a flour or meal, for, in
this state, the grist would not be easily penetrable. It is therefore
sufficient that every grain be divided into two or three parts, nor is
there any necessity for varying this, for one sort of drink more than
another. In every brewing the intention of grinding is the same; and
the transparency of the liquor, mentioned by some on this occasion,
depends, by no means, on the cut of the corn.
It has been a question, whether the motion of the mill did not
communicate some heat to the malt; should this be the case, it can be
but in a very small degree; and, what may arise from hence, will be
lost by shooting the grain out of the sacks, or uncasing the grist
into the mash ton. Of late years it has been recommended, instead of
grinding the malt, to bruise it between two iron cylinders: if, by this
means, some of the fine mealy parts are prevented from being lost in
air, it must be very inconsiderable, and, perhaps, not equal to the
disadvantage of the water not coming in immediate contact with the
flour of the grain. In brewing, not all, but only a certain portion of
the constituent parts of the malt are requisite; these, heated water
alone is sufficient to procure, so that, upon the whole, the difference
between bruising and grinding the grain can be of no great consequence.
We have before observed, malt, by being ground and exposed for some
time to the air, more readily imbibes moisture than when whole, and the
dampness, thus absorbed, being in reality so much cold water, a grist,
that has been long ground, is capable of being impressed with hotter
waters than otherwise it would require. In country places, where the
quantity brewed consists only of a few bushels of malt, and make so
small a volume as to be incapable to maintain an uniform heat, where
the people are ignorant, that a certain degree is necessary to form
a proper extract with; and where, instead of this, boiling water is
indifferently applied, the effects of these errors are in some measure
prevented, by grinding the malts a considerable time, as a month or six
weeks before the brewing, and by the excess of fire readily escaping
from so small a quantity. This method, from the inconstant state of
the air, and from the impossibility of acting up to rule, must be very
uncertain and fortuitous, so that few or no arguments are necessary
to explode it. The truth is, the merit of country ales, so often
mentioned, proceeds from the forbearing to use the drink, but when
it is in the fittest state. Thus time not only corrects the errors of
the operators, but also gives them, in the eyes of the consumers, the
credit of an extraordinary knowledge and unmerited ability.
SECTION III.
_OF EXTRACTION._
Fire impressed on malt, either through air or water, it is true, has
similar effects as to preservation, but the fact is not the same as
to taste: the sweet, the burnt flavor, or the proportion of both, the
malt originally had, sensibly appear in the extracts; but water heated
to excess will not, in extracting pale malt, communicate to the worts
an empyreumatic taste; whether this proceeds from some acid parts,
still residing in the heated waters, which might help the attenuated
oils to tend towards a sweet, or from other reasons, is not easily
determinable; certain it is, the foundation of taste in malt liquors is
in the malt itself.
The basis of all wines is a sweet: this circumstance for brewing beers
agreeable to the palate must always be attended to. Next to this, it
is required that the liquor should possess all the strength, it can
fittingly be made susceptible of. Pale malt, as it retains the whole
virtue of the grain, yields the strongest beers. The finest oils being
fittest for fermentation, malt dried by fierce heats, in a great
measure loses these, and what remains are not only coarser oils, less
miscible with water, but such as bring with them the impressed taste of
fire.
To answer the purposes of taste, strength, and preservation, from what
has been said it appears, that the extracting water must be of a heat
superior to that which dried the malt; no other rule appears to direct
in this, than to make choice of malt of such dryness, the delicacy of
which has not been removed by fire, and such as will, at the same time,
admit of a sufficient number of superior degrees of heat, to extract
all its fermentable parts; that is (see page 124) malt whose dryness is
nearly 19 degrees less than the mean of the drying and extracting heats
applicable to the purpose intended.
As 119 degrees, the first heat forming pale malt, and at which it
possesses the whole of its sweetness and virtues, may be said to be
the lowest degree of dryness in the grain to form keeping beers with,
so 138 degrees, above which the native whiteness of the grain is so
subdued, as to remain but in a very small proportion, is the highest
dried malt fit to be used for any purpose; from these premises the
following table is formed, to shew the degree of dryness of malt, where
taste and strength are equally consulted, to brew drinks capable of
keeping themselves sound a long time, at any medium required.
The proper choice of malt I thought necessary to point out, previous
to entering more at large on the subject of extraction. This table,
it must be observed, is in no wise directive for brewing common small
beer, soon to be expended, that liquor depending on many other
circumstances, of which notice will be taken immediately under that
head.
A TABLE, _shewing the proper dryness of Malt, applicable
to the mean of the drying and extracting heats under
which keeping malt liquors should be formed_.
Mean degrees of dryness of malt Color of malt expressed
and heat of extracts. in degrees.
138 119
140 121
142 123
144 125
146 127
148 130
150 132
152 134
155 136
157 138
The subject to be resolved having been examined as to its dryness, we
now come to the immediate matter for which this section was intended.
Extraction is a solution of part, or the whole, of a body, made by
means of a menstruum. In brewing, it is chiefly the mealy substance
of the grain that is required to be resolved; fire and water combined
are sufficient to perform this act. Water properly is the receptacle
of the parts dissolved, and fire the power, which conveys into it a
greater or less proportion of them.
When all the parts necessary to form a vinous liquor are not employed,
or when more than are required for this purpose are extracted, the
liquors must vary in their constituent parts, and consequently be
different in their effects. This difference arises either from heat
alone, or from the manner of applying it; and the properties of
beers and ales will admit of as many varieties as may be supposed in
the quantity of the heat, and in its application. But as the useful
differences are alone necessary to the brewer, they may be reduced to
the four following modes of extraction.
First, that which is most perfect, and for which malt is chose of
such dryness, in which it with certainty possesses the whole of its
constituent parts, and the extracts are made with such heats, as to
give the beer an opportunity to be improved by time, and to become of
itself fine and transparent.
Secondly, that from which, in order to obtain every advantage of time,
strength, and flavor, such extracts are produced as cannot become
pellucid of themselves, but require precipitation.
Thirdly, that which is intended soon to become intense, where soundness
and transparency are for some short time expected, but not always
obtained, because brewed in every season of the year, and deprived of
the advantages which age and better managements procure to the first.
Fourthly, that where the advantages of strength and pellucidity are to
be procured in a very short space.
These four modes of resolving the grain, being the fundamental elements
on which almost every specie of drink is brewed, I must observe, the
two first may be said to be an exact imitation of natural wines, in
forming which, the principles we have laid down may fully be applied.
The third is the effect of necessity, by which we are deprived of that
time nature directs for properly producing fermented liquors, and
where we are subjected to many disadvantageous circumstances; to guard
against the consequences of which, we must rely, in some measure, upon
opinion formed from observation alone; and the fourth may be said to be
art too precipitately carried on. Before I treat of them separately, it
is requisite to mention a few general rules applicable to all.
In the enquiry we made of the means which nature employs to form the
juices of grapes, we found two remarkable circumstances: the first, a
necessary lesser heat for the production of the fruit, and the second,
a much greater for its maturation; the former useful to incline the
must to fermentation, the latter to raise therein such oils as should
maintain it for some time in a sound state. But in all wines, an
evenness of taste is requisite to affect the palate with an elegant
sensation; and it may be observed, the autumn and spring heats being
nearly equal; so the first juices of grapes are formed by almost,
uniform impressions; the summer heats, though stronger, act upon the
same principle; for though the grapes remain upon the vine some part
of the autumn, perhaps in this space they gain little more than the
juices prepared by the summer’s sun: from whence the tastes of wine are
more simple than otherwise they would be. Thus are we directed, that
a first wort shall have the least share of heat of the whole brewing,
and the last wort the greatest; intermediate worts; if any; must be
proportioned to both, and if several mashes of extracts are made to
compose a wort, these must be equal as to their heat, being careful at
the same time to preserve to the process the medium heat which is to
govern the whole. By this means, we shall obtain our intended purpose;
and place into the drink one and the same smooth taste.
In the table[12] shewing the different effects produced in the grain
by the different degrees of heat, the numbers, with respect to beers,
express, not only the mean of the degrees of dryness the malt had, with
those also of heat in the extracting liquors, but also is implied the
power communicated by the hops, that is, it imparts to us, the idea of
the whole combination.
As malt liquors are made with different views, so must the principles
on which they are formed be varied. Beers intended long to be kept,
require more heat in their extracts, in order to produce such oils, or
so many in quantity from the grain, as shall retard and delay the quick
effects of fermentation; and malt liquors, which are soon to be brought
into use, claim an opposite management. This is imitating nature,
for we have before observed[13], the hotter the autumnal, the vernal
and maturating heats are, with more power do the wines resist the
impressions of time and the air; and we traced the rule which governed
this variety, by an enquiry into the number of degrees required to form
the juices of grapes, and applied their number to discover the first
and last heats they were impressed with. In calculations to find out
the heat to be given to water properly to resolve the malt, the same
method must be followed, it being equally necessary here to employ only
such a proportion of the number of degrees which constitute the whole
of the fermentable principles in malt that are needful to the purpose
we would answer. We have said malts continue in possession of all their
constituent parts from their first degree of dryness, 119 to 129. By
age alone beers obtain spontaneous pellucidity, when urged in the whole
of their process with a heat so great as 138 degrees, precipitation or
art extends it to near 157 degrees, after which neither the acid parts
furnished by the air, nor art avails: an obstinate foulness is the
result; from whence it may be concluded, that at or beyond this heat,
so great a part of the fermentable principles is dispersed, as what
remains in the grain has not power sufficient to produce transparency.
The following table, founded on these principles, will hereafter be
found directive to fix the first and last heats to be given to the
extracts of malt.
A TABLE, _shewing the quantity of fermentable principles
residing in malts at their several degrees of dryness,
or, the number of constituent parts which form beers in
proportion to their properties[14], specified in degrees,
and to be used in calculations, made to ascertain the
proper heats to be given to the first and last extracts
of malt_.
Mean degrees of heat Constituent
affecting malt. parts.
119 10
124 9
129 8
134 7
138 7
143 6
148 5
152 5
157 4
162 3
167 2
171 1
175 0
Though beers and ales are divided into strong and small, this division
regards only the proportion of the vehicle, and not that of the
constituent parts. The same means, as to the heat of the extracts, must
be employed, to form small beers, capable of preserving themselves
sound for some time, as are used to make strong drinks: for though a
small liquor possesses more aqueous parts, the oils and salts of the
malt are only more diluted, not altered in their proportions, and this
causes but a very small difference in the duration of the liquor.
It now remains to apply these rules, deduced from the theory, to the
several sorts of malt liquors, which answer to the four modes of
extraction, just before laid down.
The first and most perfect is, when the malt is chosen of such
dryness, and the extracts made with such heats, as give the beers an
opportunity of being improved by time, and slow fermentations, to
become spontaneously bright and transparent. Under this head, may be
comprehended all _pale keeping strong_, and all _pale keeping small_
beers.
From its name, regard must be had to the color of the malt, and such
only used, as is dried the least, or by 119[15] degrees of heat.
The hops should likewise be pale, and their quantity used in proportion
to the time the drink is intended to be kept; suppose, in this case, it
is 10 months, 10lb. of fine hops, for every quarter of malt, will be
required.
The highest degree of heat, or rather the medium of the highest dryness
in malt, with the mean heat of the several extractions, to admit of
spontaneous pellucidity, we have seen in the foregoing table (page 124)
to be 138 degrees, and this medium is chosen, as it answers not only
the intent of long keeping, but of brightness also.
From the medium degree of the malt’s dryness, and of the heat of the
extracts, to determine the heat of the first and the last extract, and
the value in degrees of the quantity of hops to be used, for brewing
pale strong and pale small beers, intended to be kept about ten months
before they are used, and expected to become self-transparent.
119 Malt’s dryness.
—---
138 Mean of malt’s dryness, heat of extracts, and
value of hops.
3 Degrees, value of 10 lb. of hops.
-----
135 Mean of malt’s dryness and heat of extracts.
For the first liquor.
135 As before.
3-1/2 Half the number of the constituent degrees, answerable
to 138 degrees, the mean heat of
the whole process, to be subtracted[16].
-------
131-1/2 Degrees governing the first extracts.
-------
119 Malt’s dryness.
144 First rule to discover the heat of the first extract.
-------
263
-------
131-1/2 As above.
-------
For the last liquor.
135 As before.
3-1/2 Half the number of the constituent degrees, to be
------- added, to find
138-1/2 The degrees governing the last extract.
-------
119 Malt’s dryness.
158 First rule to discover the heat of last mash.
-------
277
-------
138-1/2 As above.
-------
The elements for forming pale strong and pale small beers, intended to
be kept, are therefore as follows:
Malt’s Value of Whole First Last
dryness. hops. medium. heat. heat.
119 3 138 144 158
2 2 heat lost at
the time the extract separates from the grist.
The proof of this is as follows:
144 Heat of the first extract.
158 Heat of last extract.
-------
302
-------
151 Mean heat of extracts.
119 Malt’s dryness.
-------
270
-------
135 Mean heat of Malt’s dryness, and of heat of extracts.
3 Value of hops.
-------
138 Whole mean given as above.
-------
It is necessary to add 2 degrees to the heat of every mash, such being
the mean of 4 degrees, constantly lost in every extract, at the time
they are separated from the grist, and exposed to the impressions of
the air.
The second mode of extraction is, that, in which every advantage which
can be procured from the corn, from art, and from time is expected;
this produces such drinks, as cannot become spontaneously pellucid, but
require the help of precipitation.
The improvement, which every fermented liquor gains by long standing,
is very considerable; the parts of the grain, which give spirit to the
wine, being, by repeated fermentations, constantly attenuated, not only
become more light and pungent, but more wholesome. If, in order to give
to beers more of the preservative quality, greater quantities of oils
are extracted, in proportion to the salts, transparency cannot take
place; but, when the heat employed for this purpose does not exceed
certain limits, this defect may easily be remedied, and the drink be
fined by precipitation; as time enables it to take up part of the very
oils, which at first prevented its transparency, it will, by long
standing, and by precipitation, become both brighter and stronger.
Where the demand for a liquor is constant and considerable, but the
quantity required not absolutely certain, it ought to be brewed in such
manner that time may increase its merit, and precipitation render it
almost immediately ready for use. These circumstances distinguish this
class of extraction, and justify the preference given to _porter_ or
_brown_ beer, which comes under the mode we are now treating of.
Though transparency in beers is a sure sign of the salts and oils being
in an exact proportion, it is in no wise a proof of the justness of
taste: for strong salts acting on strong oils may produce pellucidity,
but the delicacy and pungency of taste, depend on the finer oils and
the choicest salts being wholly preserved, these best admitting of
fermentation, and most perfectly becoming miscible with the liquor,
the more volatile oils and salts of the grain if excluded, by the malt
being too high dried, the consequence in the beer must be, an heavy and
rancid taste. The less dried the malts are, which are brewed for beers
to be long kept, the hotter are the extracts required to be, but this
greater heat being communicated to the grain through water, an element
eight hundred times more dense than air, the finer parts of the corn,
though acted upon by an heat which in air would disperse them, by this
means are retained.
It appears, by the table (page 124) that drinks brewed from malts,
affected by heats, whose medium is 148 degrees, and with twelve pounds
of hops to every quarter of malt, require from 6 to 12 months with
precipitation to become bright; this is the age generally appointed for
brown beers to be drank at, and by the table, page 133, we find the
proper malts where the medium heat of the whole process is 148 degrees,
must be such as have been dried with 130 degrees to form this liquor,
whose color as yet is expected to be full or brown, without being
deprived of more valuable qualifications.
In the drink before examined, the number of degrees which constitute
the properties of malt, affected by a mean heat of 138 or 7 degrees,
were employed, they being intended to become, in time, spontaneously
bright; but, as this quality in the present case is required only
with the assistance of precipitation, the number 5, in the table,
shewing the constituent parts remaining in the grain at every degree
of dryness, (page 168) as this corresponds to the medium 148, is
undoubtedly that which must answer our purpose, both as to the nature
and to the time this liquor is in general made use of. These conditions
being premised, the proper degrees of the first and last extract for
porter will be found by the same rules as were used before.
130 Degrees, malt’s dryness.
-------
148 Degrees, whole medium intended.
-------
4 Degrees, value of hops, fractions omitted.
-------
144 Mean of malt’s dryness and heat of extracts.
-------
For the first extract.
144 As before.
2-1/2 Half the number of the constituent degrees to be deducted.
-------
141-1/2 Mean of malt’s dryness, and of the heat of the
first extract.
-------
130 Malt’s Dryness.
153 Rule to discover the first heat.
-------
283
-------
141-1/2 As above.
For the last extract.
144 As before.
2-1/2 Half the number of the constituent degrees to be
added.
-------
146-1/2 Mean of malt’s dryness, and of the heat of the
last extract.
-------
130 Malt’s dryness.
163 Rule to discover the last heat.
-------
293
-------
146-1/2 As above.
The elements for brewing brown strong beers, with two degrees added to
the first and last extracts, for what is lost at their parting from the
malt, independent of its farther division into the respective mashes.
Malt’s Value of Medium heat of the First Last
dryness. hops. extracts, malt’s heat. heat. heat.
dryness, and value of
hops.
130 4 148 155 165
Brown beers, brewed with malt so low dried as 130 degrees, twenty years
since, would have appeared very extraordinary, and most likely, at that
time, when a heaviness and blackness in the drink formed its principal
merit, would have been a sufficient reason to condemn the practice; but
strength and elegance being now more attended to, have justified the
brewer, in making porter, to employ malt of such degree of dryness, as
he shall think will best answer these purposes.
As high liquors used to extract low dried malt will form a must capable
to preserve itself equally a long time, as an adequate liquor used to
high dried malt doth; and the first of these methods having greatly the
advantage of the other in point of taste, as 130 degrees of dryness
in malt is one, from its change of color, where part of its finer
principles may be supposed to be evaporated. It may not be amiss to
enquire if there be not reasons why malt, less affected by fire, should
be used for manufacturing this commodity.
The medium of the malt’s dryness, and of the heat of the extracts,
together with the value of the hops which are to make porter, is 148
degrees. This, because precipitation has been found convenient and
necessary for this drink, yet, when at the proper age, it has undergone
this last operation, it is supposed to shew itself in its best form;
bright, well-tasted, and strong; that is, in such state as drink
should be, which becomes spontaneously transparent, and is capable of
preserving itself a long time, if from
148 degrees.
The value of the oils yielded by the hops
(See page 180) is deducted, 4 degrees.
---
Will remain, 144
And by table (page 162) we find a must under the mean of 144 degrees
should be formed with malt dried to 125 degrees, with this circumstance
the elements of brewing porter will be as follows.
125 Malt’s dryness.
----
148 Degrees, whole medium intended.
4 Value of hops.
----
144 Mean of malt’s dryness, and heat of extracts.
For the first extract.
144 As before.
-------
2-1/2 Half the number of constituent parts, to be deducted.
-------
141-1/2 Mean of malt’s dryness, and of the heat of the
first extract.
-------
125 Malt’s dryness.
158 Rule to discover the first heat.
-------
283
-------
141-1/2 As above.
For the last extract.
144 As before.
2-1/2 Half the number of constituent parts, to be added.
-------
146-1/2 Mean of malt’s dryness, and of the heat of the last
extract.
-------
125 Malt’s dryness.
168 Rule to discover the last heat.
-------
293
-------
146-1/2 As above.
Elements for brewing porter with malt dried to 125 degrees, and two
degrees added to the first and to the last extracts, for what heat is
lost at their parting from the malt, but this, independent of a farther
allotment of this heat to the respective mashes.
Malt’s Value Medium of the heat of First Last
dryness. of hops. the extracts, malt’s mash. mash.
dryness, and value of
hops.
125 4 148 160 170
Whether any attempt to improve this liquor, by using malt of less
dryness than 125 degrees, may ever be put in practice, is very
uncertain; porter, if brewed with malts so low as 119 degrees, probably
would succeed; for, in this case, the last mash, according to the
foregoing rules, would be at the 174th degree, at which the spirit of
the grain could not be dispersed, and probably the result would be, a
more delicate, more strong, and more vinous liquor.
It may be observed, that 4 degrees are charged for the quantity of hops
used; as this number corresponds to the quantity proper to form beer of
this denomination. A greater or a less proportion of hops is sometimes
allowed to this drink, on account of its better, or inferior quality,
of the necessity there may be to render it fit for use in a shorter
time than that which is commonly allowed—from nine to twelve months,
and, lastly, of old, stale, or otherwise defective drinks, blended,
with new guiles. In these cases, which cannot be too rare, the errors
should be corrected only by the addition of hops, and no alteration
be made, either in the dryness of the malts, or in the heat of the
extracts.
The third mode of extraction is that which intends spontaneous
transparency, but not a durable liquor. Under this head is comprehended
_common small beer_, soon to be drank.
Common small beer is supposed to be ready for use, in winter, from two
to six weeks, and in the heat of summer, from one week to three. Its
strength is regulated by the different prices of malt and of hops; its
chief intent is to quench thirst, and its most essential properties
are, that in the winter it should be fine, and in the summer sound.
This liquor is chiefly used in and about great trading cities, such as
London, where, for want of a sufficient quantity of cellar room, drinks
cannot be stowed, which, by long and slow fermentations, would come to
a greater degree of perfection. The duration of this kind of liquor
being short, and there being a necessity of brewing it in every season
of the year, dividing it into very small quantities, easily affected in
its conveyance by the external heat: generally neglected, and placed in
repositories influenced by every change of air, the incidents attending
it, and the methods for carrying on the process must be more uncertain,
various, and complicated, than those of any other liquor made from
malt.
The incidents attending this specie of malt liquor are so many, so
short of existence, so contrary to one another, and often so different
from what should be expected in the different periods of the year,
that an attempt to guard, in a just proportion, against every one of
them, and against what _may_ happen, and oftentimes does not, must be
fruitless. After many endeavours of this sort, which terminated in a
doubtful success, we have found it most eligible to form these drinks
in proportion to the principal circumstances constantly attending them,
and the result was more fortunate, as, in general, the drink was able
to maintain itself against that variety of temperature it met with in
the places allotted to it.
In proportion as it is brewed, in a hot or in a cold season, we must
employ every means, either to repel or to attract the acids circulating
in the air; for this purpose, the degree of dryness in the malt,
the quantity of hops, the heat of the extracts, and the degree of
temperature the wort is suffered to ferment with, must vary as such
seasons do. The success, in brewing common small beer, greatly depends
on its fermentation being retarded or accelerated, in proportion to the
heat of the air, and expansion being the principal effect of heat, was
a wort of this sort suffered, in winter, to be so cold as 40 degrees,
the air would, with difficulty, if at all, penetrate the must, or put
it in action. This slow fermentation would not permit the beer to be
ready at the time required.—For these reasons, brewers let down their
worts, in that season, at 60 degrees, whereas, in summer, the air of
the night is made use of to get them as cold as possible, by which
means a part of them may be 12 degrees colder than the medium of the
heat of the day, and the whole of the worts nearly 5 degrees, in the
space of 24 hours.
The choice of the malt, as to its dryness and color, for brewing this
liquor, should be varied in proportion to the several seasons, but
custom requires it should be kept nearly to an uniform color. For this
reason, when the air is so cold as the lowest fermentable degree, a
greater dryness than 119 degrees is required; but the dryness of malt
forming only one part of the process, the proper medium directing the
whole must be brought to its true degree, by the heat given to the
extracts. In the height of summer, malt dried to 130 degrees seems
to be the best, as it unites the properties of speedy readiness,
preservation, and transparency, and these several characters are, at
that time, requisite in this liquor.
To come as near as possible to the inclination of the consumers, or to
maintain as near as may be an uniform color, if in the hottest season
malt dried to 130 is best for this purpose, the mean between this and
119, the first degree that constitutes malt, must answer nearest every
intent, when the heat of the air is at 40 degrees. Upon this footing,
the following table will, from the proportion of these two extremes,
shew the color of the grain for every season of the year.
Heat in the Malt’s Value of hops
air. dryness. in degrees.
35 122 1
40 124 1
45 125 1
50 127 1
55 129 1-1/2
60 130 2
If common small beer was immediately to be used after being brewed and
fermented, and it was free from the incidents, most of which we have
just now enumerated, no hops would be required, and the medium degree
of the whole process would be that of the lowest dried malt, 119, to
be employed when the heat of the air was at its first fermentable
degree, or 40, as, with adequate malts, this would make the liquor that
would be ready in the least space, and, at the same time, yield its
constituent parts; but if small beer was intended to be kept some short
time, brewed without hops, and not liable to any accidents, and the
process to be carried through, in a heat of air equal to the highest
fermentable degree, or 80, in this case the governing medium for the
whole process must be the utmost heat the grain is able to endure,
where malt charrs, or 175 degrees. As malt liquors are principally
affected by heat, we will first proportion the medium heat, directive
of each process, for every fermentable degree, without any regard had
to any incident whatever,
Fermentable Mean heats to govern
degrees. the processes.
40 119
45 126
50 133
55 140
60 147
65 154
70 161
75 168
80 175
Now the principal heats affecting common small beer, with regard to
its duration, are the degree of heat under which the beer is at first
fermented, that of the air when brewed, and when conveyed from place to
place, and that of the cellar where it is deposited; let us, in regard
to these heats, take the mean of the circumstances this drink is liable
to, at the time when the air is at the first fermentable degree, and
at the time when the season is hottest (taking for this the medium
heat of the whole 24 hours.) Having these two extremes, and making a
fit allowance for the hops employed, we shall be able, from the above
table, to fix the medium heat that should govern the several processes
for making common small beer in every season of the year.
I observed, in page 183, that when the heat of the air is
40 degrees, brewers set the worts of common small beer
to be fermented, at a heat of 60; add to this 10 degrees
more heat, excited by the fermentable action, makes 70°
The heat of the air we fixed for the first extreme,
was the first fermentable heat, 40
In page 156, we said cellars in winter were generally
ten degrees hotter than the air, but we
observed, those employed for this use, were the
worst of the kind, subjected to exterior impressions,
or perhaps other defects, for which reason
we here set this heat only at 46
----
Divided by the number of circumstances 3 ) 156
----
52°
is the mean of the principal incidents affecting small beer in this
season, and, by the foregoing table, this degree indicates a medium to
govern the whole process 136, to which must be added, for preservative
effect bestowed by the hops used, 1 degree more, which makes it at this
heat in the air 137 degrees.
When the mean heat of the whole 24 hours is 60 degrees, (see page 150)
if, as in page 183, by the advantage of the evening and night to cool
the wort, an abatement of 5 degrees is obtained, the whole of the heat
is 55 degrees, add to this only 8 degrees more, because at this time
the beer is divided, and put in casks long before the first fermentable
act is compleated, and their real heat will be
The medium heat of the air in the hottest
season (page 150) 60
In page 156 we say, the heat of the cellars in
summer time is generally 5 degrees colder than
the exterior air, but these being the worst of
the kind, may certainly be thought somewhat
more exposed, though not so much affected in
summer as in winter, when there are fewer culinary
fires, for this reason we fix their heat at 56
---
Divided by the number of observations 3 ) 179
---
59°
is the mean of these incidents affecting the small beer at this season,
and by the foregoing table it indicates a medium heat to govern the
whole process 146 degrees, to which, if two degrees more be added, for
the effect of the hops, (as experience teaches us six pounds of hops in
summer scarcely are so powerful as three pounds in winter) it will give
us for the mean of the heats drying the malt, those impressed in the
extracts, together with the allowance made for the hops 148 degrees.
Spontaneous pellucidity is always expected in this drink, although the
time allotted to gain this in general is much too short; to forward
this intent as far as possible, without hazarding the soundness of the
drink, in the computations to determine the heats of the first and last
extracts, the whole number of constituent parts of malt or 10 degrees
are employed.
Having premised these rules, the heats for the first and last extracts
are to be found by like operations before made use of, an example of
which we shall state; and knowing the mean heats required for two
distinct distant processes, in proportion to these I shall form a
table, for brewing this drink in every season of the year.
When the air is at 40, the degree of dryness fixed for malts to be
used for common small beer is 124, the quantity of hops three pounds
per quarter, the medium of their dryness and the heat of the extracts,
together with the value of the hops added thereto, is 137 degrees.
124° Malt’s dryness.
137 Medium intended.
137
1 Value of hops.
----
136 Mean of Malt’s dryness, and heat of extracts.
----
For the first extract.
136 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees,
to be deducted. (See p. 168.)
----
131
----
124 Malt’s dryness.
138 Rule to discover the first heat.
---
262
---
131 As above.
For the last extract.
136 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees,
to be added. (See p. 168.)
---
141
---
124 Malt’s dryness.
158 Rule to discover the last heat.
---
282
---
141 As above.
---
The proof.
138 Heat of the first extract.
158 Heat of the last extract.
----
296
----
148 Mean heat of extracts.
124 Malt’s dryness.
----
272
----
136 Mean of Malt’s dryness and heat of extracts.
1 Value of hops.
----
137 Medium intended, as above.
----
The elements for forming common small beer, when the heat of the air
is at 40 degrees, independent of the proper division of this heat,
adequate to each Mash.
Malt’s Value of Whole First Last
dryness. hops. medium. heat. heat.
124 1 137 138 158
2 2
The medium of the heat lost in the mash ton, amounting to two degrees,
is added to the heat of the first and last mash, in the following
table.
A TABLE _of the elements for forming common small beer, at every degree
of heat in the air, with the allowance of two degrees of heat, in the
first and last extractions_.
Heat Malt’s Value of Medium heat First Last
of air. dryness. hops. of the heat. heat.
processes.
35 122 1 135 138 158
40 124 1 137 140 160
45 125 1 140 145 165
50 127 1 143 149 169
55 129 1-1/2 146 152 172
60 130 2 148 154 174
From due observation of this table, it appears, how necessary it is for
brewers to be acquainted, not only with the daily temperature of the
air, but also with the medium heat of such spaces of time, wherein a
drink like this is expected to preserve itself. This I have estimated
for every 14 days; (page 150) but as the event may not always exactly
correspond with our expectations, an absolute perfection in this drink,
as to its transparency and soundness, is not to be expected. It greatly
depends on the care and attention given to it, and on the temperature
and quiescent state of the cellars it is placed in. The first of these
circumstances is often neglected, and the other hardly ever obtained,
as the places, where common small beer is kept, are generally the
worst of the kind.
In keeping beers, every circumstance is assistant to form them so
as to obtain elegance in taste, strength, and pellucidity, either
spontaneously or by precipitation, but in common small beer; from the
shortness of its duration; and from the many complicated incidents
that occur; only the medium of the effect of these can be attended to;
which governing medium, in general, differs so much from those which
form more exact fermentable proportions, that in these extracts, there
cannot be expected that near resemblance to natural wines, which, under
more favorable management, it is capable of.
The fourth mode of extraction is that, which, by conveying a heat,
equal to what is practised for keeping pale strong, and keeping pale
small beers, to the liquors commonly known by the names of _pale
ale_, _amber_, or _twopenny_, the softest and richest taste malt can
possibly yield, and which makes them resemble wines formed from grapes
ripened by the hottest sun, though by artfully exciting periodical
fermentations, they are, in a very short time, made to become
transparent.
As wines have, in general, been named from the town or city, in the
neighbourhood of which the grapes, from which they are made, are found
growing, this has, though with less reason, been the case, with our
numerous class of soft beers and ales. These topical denominations can
indeed constitute no real, at least no considerable difference, since
the birth-place of any drink is the least of all distinctions, where
the method of practice, the materials employed, and the heat of the
climate, are nearly the same.
Ales are not required to keep a long time; so the hops bestowed on
them, though they should always be of the finest color, and best
quality, are proportionably fewer in the winter than in the summer. The
reason is, that the consumption made of this liquor in cold weather, is
generally for purl[17], whereas, in summer, as it is longer on draught,
it requires a more preservative quality.
The properties of this liquor are, that it should be pale; its strength
and taste principally depend on the malt, and its transparency should
be the effect of fermentation, accelerated by every means, which will
not be hurtful to it. Malt capable of yielding the strongest extracts,
is such whose dryness does not exceed 120 degrees; and 138 we have seen
to be the highest mean of the extracts, and of the dryness of the malt
to admit of pellucidity, without precipitation; the hops used, being
only so many as are necessary to resist the heat of the seasons the ale
is brewed in, may in general be estimated in value, one degree; from
these premises, the elements for brewing this drink, will be found by
the same rules as before, where 10 degrees are supposed to be equal to
the whole of the constituent parts, and the whole of these are employed
to accelerate its coming to perfection.
120 Degrees of malt’s dryness.
----
138 Degrees, whole medium intended.
1 Value of hops.
----
137 Mean of malt’s dryness, and heat of extracts.
For the first extract.
137 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees to be deducted.
----
132 Mean of malt’s dryness, and of the heat of first extract.
----
120 Malt’s dryness.
144 Rule to discover the first heat.
----
264
----
132 As above.
For the last extract.
137 As before.
5 Half the number of the whole constituent degrees to be added.
----
142 Mean of malt’s dryness and of the heat of last extract.
----
120 Malt’s dryness.
164 Rule to discover the last heat of last extract.
----
284
----
142 As above.
The elements for brewing pale ale or amber, with the allowance of 2
degrees for the heats lost in the extracts.
Malt’s Value of Medium of Heat of Heat of
dryness. hops. the whole. first mash. last mash.
120 1 138 146 166
The time this liquor is intended to be kept, should entirely be
governed by the quantity of hops used therein; for this ale being
required to become spontaneously fine, the medium of the whole, or 138
degrees, cannot be exceeded. In and about London, and in some counties
in England, these ales, by periodical fermentations, are made to become
fine, sooner than naturally they would do, and often, in a shorter
time than one week. The means of doing this, by beating the yeast
into the drink, as it is termed, has by some been greatly blamed, and
thought to be an ill practice. An opinion that the yeast dissolved
in the drink, and thereby made it unwholesome, prevailed; and some
brewers, erroneously led by this, and yet willing that their commodity
should appear of equal strength with such as had undergone repeated
fermentations, have been induced to add ingredients to their worts,
if not of the most destructive nature, at least very unwholesome. The
plain truth is, that, by returning the elastic air in the fermenting
ale, the effects of long keeping are greatly imitated, though with less
advantage as to flavor and to strength; but as this case relates to
fermentation, we shall have hereafter an opportunity of explaining it
more at large.
It is under this class, that the famous _Burton ale_ may be ranked,
and, if I do not mistake, it will be found, that its qualities and
intrinsic value will be the same, when judiciously brewed in London,
or elsewhere, from whence it may be exported at much cheaper rates to
Russia and other parts, than when it is increased in price by a long
and chargeable land-carriage.
When drinks are made so strong as these generally are, only two
mashes can take place, by which the whole virtue of the malt not
being expended, small beer is made after these ales. The purest and
most essential parts of the grain being extracted, it is not to be
expected, from an impoverished grist, that beers can be made to
possess all their necessary constituent parts, or to keep so long, as
where fresh malt is used; but the sort of small beer, which answers
best to the brewer, and is most salubrious for the consumer, must
be, by the addition of fresh hops, to form the remaining strength
into keeping small beer, the greater quantity of hops necessary to be
allowed, beside those boiled in the ale, is 2-1/4 pounds for every
barrel intended to be made. As much more water must be employed, for
this small beer, besides its length, as will steam away in two hours
boiling, and 1/8 of a barrel per quarter of malt, for waste. The heat
regulating the extract of small, will be found by the following rule.
138 Medium heat intended for keeping small beer.
2 Value of hops.
----
136 Mean of malt’s dryness and heat of extract.
----
120 Malt’s dryness.
152[18]Heat of the mash for keeping small after amber,
one mash, and one wort.
----
272
----
136 As above.
All the hops after these two brewings, as those added for the keeping
small beer have been boiled but in one wort, are in value, for the next
guile of beer, equal to 1/10 of fresh hops.
We should now put an end to this section, but, as other drinks are
brewed besides those here particularly treated of, we shall just
mention them, to shew how their different processes are reducible to
the rules just laid down.
_Brown_ ale is a liquor, whose length is generally two barrels from
one quarter of malt, and which is not intended for preservation. It
is heavy, thick, foggy, and therefore justly grown in disuse. The
hops used in this, differ in proportion to the heats of the season it
is brewed in, but are generally nearly half the quantity of what is
employed, at the same times, for common small beer. The system it ought
to be brewed upon is not different from that of this last liquor; the
medium of the malt’s dryness, and heat of the extracts, are the same
for each degree of heat in the air, and it requires the same management
when under fermentation. But though common pale small beer and brown
ale are so much alike in their theory, yet, from the difference of the
dryness of the malt, which, for brown ale, is constantly so high as
130 degrees, the practice will appear greatly different. Small beer
is made after this ale, by the same rules as that made after pale ale
or amber; the malt must, in that case, be valued according to its
original dryness, and the medium governing the process be the same as
for small beer, and as if no extract had been taken from the grain. No
small beer brewed after ales can ever be equal in goodness to such as
are brewed from entire grists; but that which is made after brown ale,
from the grain being so highly dried, and nearly exhausted, is neither
nourishing or fit to quench thirst.
_Brown stout_ is brewed with brown malt, as amber is with pale;
the system for brewing these liquors is the same, allowing for the
difference in the dryness of the malt. The overstrength of this drink
has been the reason of its being discontinued, especially since porter
or brown beer has been brought to a greater perfection.—That which
is brewed with an intent of being long kept, should be hopped in
proportion to the time proposed, or the climate it is to be conveyed to.
_Old hock_ requires the same proportion of hops as are used in keeping
pale strong, or keeping pale small beer; but more or less, according
to the time it is intended to be kept before it becomes fit for use.
The length is about two barrels, from a quarter of the palest and best
malt. As spontaneous pellucidity is required, its whole medium must not
exceed 138 degrees, for the drying and extracting heat. The management
of it, when fermenting, is under the same rules with keeping small
beer, or those which are allowed a due time to become of themselves
pellucid.
_Dorchester beers_, both strong and small, range under the same
head. They are brewed from barleys well germinated, but not dried to
the denomination of malt. The rule of the whole 138 degrees for the
governing medium, must, even with this grain, be observed to form these
drinks; but, from the slackness of the malt, and the quantities of
salt and wheaten flour mixed with the liquor, when under fermentation,
proceed its peculiar taste, its mantling, and its frothy property.
SECTION IV.
_OF THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF HOPS._
The constituent parts of malt, like those of all vegetable sweets,
are so inclined to fermentation, that, when once put in motion, it
is difficult to retard their progress, retain their preservative
qualities, and prevent their becoming acid. Among the many means put
in practice, to check this forwardness of the malt, none promised
so much success as blending with the extracts, the juices of such
vegetables as, of themselves, are not easily brought to fermentation.
Hops were selected for this purpose, and experience has confirmed their
wholesomeness and efficacy.
Hops are an aromatic, grateful bitter, endued with an austere and
astringent quality, and guarded by a strong resinous oil. The aromatic
parts are volatile, and disengage themselves from the plant with a
small heat. To preserve them, in the processes of brewing, the hops
should be put into the copper as soon as possible, and be thoroughly
wetted with the first extract, while the heat of the wort is at the
least, and the fire under the copper has little or no effect thereon.
Whoever will be at the trouble to see this performed, by the means of
rakes, or otherwise, will be made sensible, that flavor is retained,
which, when the wort comes to boil, is otherwise constantly dissipated
in the air.
The bitter is of a middle nature, or semivolatile: it requires more
fire to extract it, than the aromatic part, but not so much as the
austere or astringent. Hence it is plain, that the principal virtues
of this plant are best obtained by decoction, the austere parts not
exhibiting themselves, but when urged by so violent and long continued
boiling, as is seldom, or never practised in the brewery. It would be
greatly satisfactory to fix, from experiments, the degrees of heat,
that first disperse the aromatic, next the bitter, and lastly the
austere parts; as it is likely, by this means, a more easy and certain
method of judging of the true value and condition of hops, than any yet
known, might be discovered.
This vegetable is so far from being, by itself, capable of a regular
and perfect fermentation, that, on the contrary, its resinous parts
retard the aptness which malt has to this act. Hops, from hence, keep
barley-wines sound a longer space of time, and, by repeated and slow
frettings, give an opportunity to the particles of the liquor to be
more separated and comminuted. Fermented liquors acquire, by this
means, a greater pungency, even though it was admitted they received
no additional strength from this mixture, the direct contrary of which
might easily be made to appear. Hops, then, are not only the occasion
of an improvement of taste, but an increase of strength.
Dr. Grew seems to think the bitter of the hops may be increased by a
greater degree of dryness; but, perhaps, this is only one of the means
of their retaining longer this quality, which undoubtedly decreases
through age, in a proportion, as near as can be guessed, of from 10 to
15 per cent. yearly.
The varieties of the soils in which hops are planted, may have some
share in the inequality we perceive in them. They seem to be much
benefited by the sea air. Whoever will try similar processes with
the[19] Worcestershire and Kentish hops, will soon perceive the
difference, and the general opinion strengthens this assertion, as the
county of Kent alone produces nearly half the quantity of hops used in
this kingdom.
The sooner and the tighter hops are strained, after having been bagged,
the better will they preserve themselves. The opinion that they
increase in weight, if not strained until after Christmas, may be
true, but will not recommend the practice; the hops imbibe the moisture
of the winter air, which, when the weather grows drier, is lost again,
together with some of the more spiritous parts. Nor is this the
greatest damage occasioned by this delay, as hops, by being kept slack
bagged in a damp season, too often become mouldy.
Hops may be divided into ordinary and strong, and into old and new. The
denomination of old is first given to them, one year after they have
been bagged. New ordinary hops, when of equal dryness, are supposed to
be nearly alike in quality, with old strong ones.
The different teints, with which hops are affected from the fire of the
kiln, afford in brewing the best rule for adapting their color to that
of the malt; in general the finest hops are the least, but the most
carefully, dried.
To extract the resinous parts of the hops, it is necessary they should
be boiled. The method of disposing them is generally to put the whole
quantity, in the first wort, which, being always made with waters less
hot than the succeeding extracts, possesses the greatest share of
acids, and is in want of the largest proportion of resins and bitters
to defend it. The virtue of the hops is not entirely lost by once
boiling, there remains still enough to bitter and preserve the second
wort. But where the first wort is short of itself, and a large quantity
of hops are required for the whole, it is needless and wasteful to put
more in at once than it can absorb, the overplus of which appears by
a thin bitter pellicle floating on the wort when laid to cool in the
backs. No particular rules can be given to avoid this inconveniency, as
the nature and quantity of the worts on one side, and the strength of
the hops on the other, must occasion a difference in the management,
easily determinable by experience.
When waters, not sufficiently hot, have been used, the wort, for
want of the proper quantity of oils, readily admits of the external
impressions of the air, and is easily excited to a strong and
tumultuous fermentation, which disperses the bitter particles, and
diminishes the effects of the hops. The virtue of this plant is
therefore retained in the drinks, in proportion to the heat of the
extracts, and the slowness of the fermentation.
But beers being a composition of malt, hops, and water, united by heat,
and the properties of this combination being judged of by the medium
of the whole number of degrees of fire made use of in the process,
as we brought the virtues of malt to this denomination, it is also
essential to reduce those of hops. After many tedious calculations and
experiments, made with this view, and unnecessary here to mention, we
were obliged to have recourse to a more simple and probable hypothesis,
and confirm the truth thereof by repeated experiments, the relation of
which, as it becomes here necessary, will shew the necessity we were
under to take a general view of the whole process before we attempted
to ascertain this point.
In the table shewing the mean heat of the air applicable to practice,
the greatest cold is 35 degrees, and in this season we observed, (page
156) the repositories of beers were more warm than this by 10 degrees,
which makes the greatest cold of cellars to be 45 degrees; in the
same table the highest heat is 60, when cellars are 5 degrees colder
than the external airs, the utmost difference then in the temperature
of cellars is 10 degrees, and this takes place in 6 months, so that
the whole variety of heat beers deposited for keeping undergo in one
twelvemonth is 20 degrees.
There is no specie of beer, in brewing of which it is requisite the
artist should be more attentive to alter his process in proportion to
the change of heat in the air, than common small beer, which, though
brewed in every season, is constantly expected to be in an uniform
order for use. In the preceding section, in the table directing this
variety, we find a difference of five degrees of heat in the air,
requires an alteration in medium heat of the whole process of 3
degrees, and as it is from the mean heat of the dryness of the malt,
of the heat of the extracts, and of the value of hops in degrees, that
we are to discover the quantity of fire to be given to the extracts,
this can be done only by deducting from such medium so much as it is
affected by the properties of the hops. Just before we have seen, that
the whole of the variety of heat beers deposited in cellars to keep
twelve months undergo, amounts to 20 degrees, these, in a proportion
of 5 to 3, would be 12, without being scrupulously exact. Hops, with
regard to their proportion in the whole process, must be admitted to be
one third part thereof, and, in this case, of the proportion, 12, now
found, only 4 degrees would be what they contribute towards preserving
the drink 12 months: the quantity of hops necessary to maintain beers
in a sound state this space of time, we have found to be twelve pounds;
this quantity then is equal to 4 degrees of the medium heat of the
whole process. On these grounds we repeatedly tried the experiment in
a variety of brewings made for different purposes, and never found any
inconveniencies from the estimating hops in such like proportion.
Hops should be used in proportion to the time the liquors are intended
to be kept, and to the heat of the air in which they are fermented.
The quantity requisite to preserve beers twelve months, experience has
shewn to be[20]twelve pounds, of a good quality, joined to one quarter
of malt, and when the heat of the air is at 40 degrees, three pounds
to every quarter has been found sufficient to preserve drinks from
four to six weeks, as six pounds are to keep them the same term when
the thermometer is so high as 60 degrees. From these facts, founded on
informations obtained from long practice, we shall hereafter ascertain
the proper quantities to be used in all cases.
Having premised these observations, sufficiently accurate for the
government of this art, the construction as well as utility of the
following tables will be obvious.
A TABLE _of the value of the hops, expressed in degrees,
to be added to the medium of the dryness of the malt, and
of the heat of the extracts_.
Hops. New or strong. Pale, low dried,
or old.
15 lb. equal 5 3-3/4
12 4 3
8 2 2
4 1 1
A TABLE _of the quantity of hops requisite for every
quarter of Malt brewed for porter, supposed to be fit for
use from eight to twelve months_.
lb.
Old ordinary hops started over old beer, 14 per Qr.
Ditto, neat guiles, 12-1/2
Strong good old hops, when started over old
beer, 12-1/2
Ditto, neat guiles, 12
New strong hops, when started over old beer, 12
Ditto, neat guiles, 11-1/2
New ordinary hops started over old beer, 12-1/2
Ditto, neat guiles, 12
N.B. The quantity of old beer to be blended with new is here supposed
never to exceed one eighth part of the whole.
A TABLE _of the quantity of hops requisite for common
small beer, for each quarter of malt, in every season_.
Heat in the air. New hops. Old hops.
lb. oz. lb. oz.
35° 2 8 2 8
40 3 0 3 0
45 3 8 3 8
50 4 4 4 8
55 5 0 5 8
60 6 0 6 8
65 6 12
70 7 8
75 8 4
80 9 0
The medium heat of the hottest days in England, in the shade,
seldom, at any time, exceeds 60 degrees, but I continued the table
proportionably, as what is here set down is from repeated experiments,
and from thence it appears, at the lowest fermentable degree of heat,
three pounds of hops are required for each quarter of malt; at the
highest, nine pounds of hops should be allowed for the same quantity;
this, in some measure, determines the effect of a greater activity in
fermentation.
A TABLE _of the quantity of hops necessary to each
quarter of malt, in brewing amber or two-penny_.
Heat in the air. New hops. Old hops.
lb. oz. lb. oz.
35° 2 8 2 8
40 3 0 3 0
45 3 8 3 8
50 4 0 4 4
55 4 8 4 12
60 5 0 5 4
Amber is a liquor which, by repeated periodical fermentations, is
so attenuated, as to be soon fit for use, and, by its strength, is
supposed to resist the impressions of the air longer than common small
beer, especially in winter; for this reason, it wants fewer hops than
that drink does, and in the summer both require equal quantities, on
account of the fermentation of amber being carried to a greater degree.
The hops once boiled in amber, but used afterwards for small beer, may
be estimated equal to one fourth of their original quality.
When twelve shilling small beer is made after amber, the quality of
the hops used should at least be equal in value to the quantity of
ten pounds fresh hops to every five barrels of beer, when brewed from
entire grists of malt for this purpose.
A TABLE _of the quantity of hops necessary for each
quarter of malt, in brewing Burton ale_.
This liquor requires fewer hops than such ales as are more diluted by
water: as it is always brewed in the winter, the quantities here set
down are for the number of months it is supposed to be kept, before it
is drank or bottled.
Months. lb. oz.
1 1 0
2 1 8
3 2 0
4 2 8
5 3 0
6 3 8
7 4 0
8 4 8
9 5 0
10 5 8
11 6 0
12 6 8
Though common amber, keeping amber, and Burton ales require the same
degree of heat to govern the whole of their processes, yet some small
difference will be found in the heats of their extracts, on account of
the different quantity of hops used.
Besides the use of hops for keeping the musts of malt, they may also,
with great propriety, be employed both to strengthen and preserve sound
the extracts. One or two pounds, in a net suspended in the water the
mash is to be formed with, are sufficient for this purpose.
Though the purchasing the materials, used in manufacture, does not
immediately relate to its practical part, yet as, in this case, it is
of great importance to the brewer to know what stock it is prudent for
him to keep, of an ingredient equally necessary and variable in its
value, I hope the attempt of a calculation on this subject, will easily
be pardoned.
The amount of the duty upon hops, for sixteen years, from 1748 to
1765, was £.1,171,227, which sum, estimating the duty at 21_s._ per
bag, gives 1,115,454 bags, used in that time. At the beginning and
expiration of this interval, hops sold at such high prices, as no
considerable stock can be supposed to have remained in hand, viz. from
£.8 to £.10 per hundred. If, therefore, to the aforesaid quantity of
1,115,454 bags, which may be supposed to have served for the whole
consumption during this period, we add what may have escaped paying
duty[21], the annual consumption of hops may be estimated at 70,000
bags, including what is exported to Ireland or elsewhere. From these
premises, the following table was constructed, which, though not
capable of absolute certainty, may be of some service to the brewers,
in informing them of the quantities, that probably remain in hand at
any time, and the stock which prudence will suggest to them to lay in.
A TABLE, _shewing the medium price Hops should bear, in
proportion to the growth, and determining the quantity to
be purchased, in proportion to the stock in hand_.
Prices of hops Stock of new and Quantity of
at a medium[22], old hops in the hops equal to
per cwt. whole kingdom, as many weeks
after the harvest. consumption.
30 Shill. 130000 bags, 70
35 125000 65
40 120000 61
45 115000 57
50 110000 53
55 105000 47
60 100000 44
70 95000 40
80 90000 36
90 85000 32
100 80000 28
110 75000 24
120 75000 20
130 70000 16
140 67000 12
150 65000 8
160 62000 4
170 60000
180 57000
190 55000
200 52000
This chapter should not be dismissed without reminding the brewery, of
the gross imposition they submit to in purchasing hops. The tare which
justice requires to be allowed in the sale of all packed merchandize,
by the hop-factors is refused, who exact payment for the bagging, at
the same price as for the commodity itself. If the consumption of hops,
in England, is yearly 172,268 cwt. and these be packed one half in
bags and the other half in pockets, taking the mean price of hops to
be 3l. 14s. per cwt. in this case the consumers are defrauded at least
of 39,834l. per annum; that, on a just regulation of this matter, the
commodity itself would rise in price, there is not the least foundation
for. The present practice of monopolizing hops, by much too frequent,
is a farther reason to induce the brewery to exert the influence they
ought to have with superior power, to obtain a right so justly due to
them.
SECTION V.
_OF THE LENGTHS NECESSARY TO FORM MALT-LIQUORS OF THE SEVERAL
DENOMINATIONS._
By length, in the brewery, is understood the quantity of drink made
from one quarter of malt. Beers and ales differ in this respect; and
the particular strength allowed to every sort of drink, varies also
somewhat, according to the prices of the materials. This increase or
abatement is, however, never such as to make the profits certain or
uniform; for the value of the grain being sometimes double of what it
is at other times, a proportionable diminution in strength, can by no
means take place.
It might be expected to find here tables determining the differences
in strength and quality of each drink, in proportion to their prices,
and the expences of the brewer. But this, for many reasons, would be
inconvenient, and in some respects impracticable. He, who chuses to be
at this trouble, ought not only to take into the account, the prices
of malt and hops, but the hazards in the manufacturing them, those
of leakage, of bad cellars, and of careless management, the frequent
returns, attended with many losses, the wearing out of utensils, and
especially of casks, which last article, engrosses at least one
fifth of the brewer’s capital, the charges of servants, horses, and
carriages, for the delivery of the drinks, the duties paid immediately
to the government, without any security for the reimbursement, the
large stock and credit necessary to carry on this trade, and many
other incidents, hardly to be estimated with a sufficient accuracy,
and never alike to every brewer. In general it appears, when malt and
hops are sold at mean prices, the value of what is employed of these,
is equal to the charge attending the manufacture, or of about half the
value of the drinks. Hence this conclusion, sensibly felt by every
honest trader, that, from change of circumstances, the reputation of
the profits has outlived the reality of them, and that a trade, perhaps
the most useful to the landed interest, to the government, and to the
public, of any, seems distinguished from all, by greater hazards, and
less encouragement.
But, in a treatise like this, where only the rules upon which true
brewing is founded, are laid down, I would avoid any thing that
might, though undesignedly, give handle to invidious reflections, and
ill-timed controversies. I therefore content myself with setting down
the latitudes of the lengths which should be made for drinks of every
denomination.
_Lengths of beers, according to the excise gauges,
observed within the bills of mortality, or the Winchester
measure._
Lengths of common small beer. }
4-1/4 Barrels to 5-1/4, }
Lengths of keeping small beer. }
4-3/4 Barrels to 5-1/2, }
Lengths of amber, or pale ale. } from one quarter
1-1/2 Barrel to 1-3/4, } of malt.
Lengths of brown strong, or porter. }
2-1/4 Barrels to 2-3/4, }
Lengths of Burton ale. }
1 Barrel to 1-1/4, }
SECTION VI.
_METHOD OF CALCULATING THE HEIGHT IN THE COPPER AT WHICH WORTS ARE TO
GO OUT._
The expected quantities, or lengths of beer and ale, can only be found
by determining at what height in the copper the worts must be when
turned out.
Brewers have several methods of expressing to what part they would have
the worts reduced by boiling. _Brass_, is the technical appellation
for the upper rim of the copper; it is a fixed point, from which the
estimation generally takes place, either by inches, or by the nails,
which rivet the parts of the copper together. These last are not very
equal, either in the breadth of their heads, or their distances from
each other. Inches then, though not specified on the copper, but
determined by the application of a gauge, on which they are marked,
claim the preference. The necessity of coppers being gauged, and the
contents of what they contain on every inch, both above and below
brass, must appear in a stronger light, the nearer we bring the art to
exactness. The following tables will shew the most useful manner in
which I conceive this gauging should be specified.
_Gauges of Coppers._
Great Copper, set up Nov. 30, | Little Copper, set up Aug. 3,
1750. | 1753.
|
[23]B. F. G. | B. F. G.
17 15 3 4 Full | 15 11 2 7
16 15 2 1 | 14 11 1 5
15 15 0 5 | 13 11 0 3
14 14 2 8 | 12 10 3 1
13 14 1 4 | 11 10 1 7
12 13 3 7 | 10 10 0 6
Inches 11 13 2 3 |Inches 9 9 3 4
Above 10 13 0 6 |Above 8 9 2 2
Brass. 9 12 3 2 |Brass. 7 9 0 8
8 12 1 5 | 6 8 3 6
7 12 0 1 | 5 8 2 5
6 11 2 4 | 4 8 1 3 Current
5 11 0 8 | 3 8 0 1
4 10 3 3 Current | 2 7 2 7 of
3 10 1 7 | 1 7 1 5
2 10 0 2 of | Brass 7 0 5 Little
1 9 2 6 | 1 6 3 5
Brass 9 1 1 Great | 2 6 2 5 Copper
1 8 3 8 | 3 6 1 5
2 8 2 6 Copper | 4 6 0 5 Allowed.
Inches 3 8 1 4 |Inches 5 5 3 5
Below 4 8 0 2 Allowed. |Below 6 5 2 5
Brass. 5 7 2 8 |Brass. 7 5 1 5
6 7 1 6 | 8 5 0 5
7 7 0 4 | 9 4 3 4
8 6 3 3 | 10 4 2 5
9 6 2 2 | 11 4 1 6
By the foregoing table, it is seen that my great copper holds nearly
nine barrels of water to brass, and as the difference of the volume
between boiling worts, of most denominations, and cold water, is
nearly as 7 to 9, the quantity it will yield of boiling worts will
be but seven barrels. The diameter of this copper, just above brass,
is sixty-eight inches, at a medium, and at that mean it holds twelve
gallons seven pints of cold water, or nearly eleven gallons of boiling
worts, upon an inch.
Hops macerated, by being twice boiled, take up for every six pound
weight a volume, in the copper, equal to four gallons and a half of
water, or a _pin_.
In a copper, the gauges of which have just been set down, it is
required to know what number of inches a length of twenty-four barrels
must go out at, with fifteen pounds of hops, the guile of beer to be
brewed at two worts.
24 Barrels, length of beer.
14 Barrels, for two full brass,
----
10
34 Numbers of gallons to a barrel accounted
by the excise, out of the
bills of mortality.
----
40 Hops twice put in 15lb. is 30
30 ----
---- 6lb. [ 30
340 ----
Gallons of 22 5
boiling wort ---- Equal to gallons 4-1/2
upon an inch 11 [362 ----
---- 22
----
33 Inches above brass, the two worts
to go out together.
When three worts are boiled, the amount of three full brasses must be
deducted from the length; and as the hops go into the copper three
times, they become more macerated, and take up much less room. The
proportion is then nearly thirteen or fourteen pounds of hops for each
four gallons and a half.
Thus in coppers, which have never been tried or used, we are able,
by the gauges alone, to determine our lengths; but, as their
circumferences are not always exact, and the worts are of very
different strengths, we should never neglect such trials as may bring
us nearer to accuracy and truth.
SECTION VII.
_OF BOILING._
It has been a question, whether boiling is necessary to a wort; but
as hops are of a resinous quality, the whole of their virtues are not
yielded by extraction; decoction or boiling is as needful as the plant
itself, and is, together with extraction and fermentation, productive
of that uniformity of taste in the compound, which constitutes good
beer.
Worts are composed of oils, salts, water, and perhaps some small
portion of earth, from both the malt and hops. Oils are capable of
receiving a degree of heat much superior to salts, and these again
surpass, in this respect, the power of water. Before a wort can be
supposed to have received the whole of the fire it can admit of, such a
degree of heat must arise, as will be in a proportion to the quantity
of the oils, the salts, and the water. When this happens, the wort
may be said to be intimately mixed, and to have but one taste. The
fire, made fiercer, would not increase the heat, or more exactly blend
together the constituent parts; this purpose once obtained, the boiling
of the wort is completed.
It follows from thence, that some worts will boil sooner than others,
receive their heat in a less time, and be saturated with less fire;
but, as it is impossible, and, indeed, unnecessary, to estimate exactly
the quantities of oils, salts, and water contained in each different
wort, it is out of our power previously to fix, for any one, the
degree of heat it is capable of. This renders the thermometer in this
case useless, and obliges us to depend entirely on experiment, and to
observe the signs which accompany the act of ebullition.
Fire, as before has been mentioned, when acting upon bodies, endeavours
to make its way through them in right lines. A wort set to boil, makes
a resistance to the effort of fire, in proportion to the different
parts it is composed of. The watery particles are, it is imagined, the
first, which are saturated with fire, and becoming lighter in this
manner, endeavour to rise above the whole. The salts are next, and last
of all the oils. From this struggle proceeds the noise heard when the
wort first boils, which proves how violently it is agitated, before the
different principles are blended one with another. While this vehement
ebullition lasts, we may be sure that the wort is not intimately mixed,
but when the fire has penetrated and united the different parts, the
noise abates, the wort boils smoother, the steam, instead of clouding
promiscuously as it did at first round the top of the copper, rises
more upright, in consequence of the fire passing freely in direct lines
through the drink, and when the fierceness of it drives any part of
the drink from the body of the wort, the part so separated ascends
perpendicularly. Such are the signs by which we may be satisfied
the first wort, or the strongest part of the extracts, has been so
affected by the fire, as to become nearly of one taste. If, at this
time, it is turned out of the copper, it appears pellucid, and forms no
considerable sediment.
The proper time for the boiling of a wort hitherto has been determined,
without any regard to these circumstances; hence the variety of
opinions on this subject; greater, perhaps, than on any other part
of the process. While some brewers would confine boiling to so short
a space as five minutes, there are others who believe two hours
absolutely requisite. The first allege, that the strength of the
wort is lost by long boiling; but this argument will not hold good
against the experiment of boiling a wort in a still, and examining
the collected steam, which appears little else than mere water. Those
who continue boiling the first wort a long time, do it in order to
be satisfied that the fire has had its due effect, and that the hops
have yielded the whole of their virtue. They judge of this by the
wort curdling, and depositing flakes like snow. If a quantity of this
sediment is collected, it will be found to the taste both sweet and
bitter, and if boiled again in water, the decoction, when cold, will
ferment, and yield a vinous liquor. These flakes, therefore, contain
part of the strength of the wort; they consist of the first and
choicest principles of the malt and hops, and, by their subsiding,
become of little or no use.
It appears, from these circumstances, that boiling a first wort too
short or too long a time, is equally detrimental, that different
worts require different times, and these times can only be fixed by
observation.
The first wort having received, by the assistance of the fire, a
sufficient proportion of bitter from the hops, is separated therefrom.
The hops, being deprived of part of their virtues, are, on the other
hand, enriched with some of the glutinous particles of the malt. They
are afterwards, a second, and sometimes a third time, boiled with the
following extractions, and thereby divested not only of what they had
thus obtained, but also of the remaining part of their preservative
qualities. The thinness and fluidity of these last worts render them
extremely proper for this purpose. Their heat is never so intense
as that of the first, when boiling; for, as they consist of fewer
oils, they are incapable of receiving so great a degree of heat. This
deficiency can only be made up by doubling or tripling the space of
time the first wort boiled, so that what is wanted in the intenseness
of heat, may be supplied from its continuance.
The following table is constructed from observations made according to
the foregoing rules.
A TABLE _shewing the time each wort requires to boil for
the several sorts of beer, in every season_.
Vertical heading--
D: Degrees of heat in the air.
Brown beer, keeping | Small beer. | | | |
pale strong and keeping | | | | | keeping
small beer. | | | | small | small
| | | | after | after
╭━━━━━━^━━━━━╮ | ╭━━━━━^━━━━━╮| amber | Burton | amber. | amber
| |_______|________|________|________
| | | | |
[D] hours hours hours. | hours hours hours. | hours | hours | hours | hours
| |_______|________|________|________
| | | | |
35° 1 2 4 | 1/2 1 2 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 2
40 1 2 4 | 1/2 1 2 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 2
45 1 2 4 | 1/2 1 2 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 2
50 1 2 4 | 1/2 1 2 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 2
55 2 4 | 1-1/2 3 | 3/4 | 3/4 | 1 | 2
60 2 4 | 1-1/2 3 | 3/4 | 1 | 1-1/2 | 2
1 wort 2 wort[24] 3 wort|1 wort 2 wort 3 wort. | | | |
It may, perhaps, be objected, that, by a long boiling of the last
worts, the rough and austere parts of the hops may be extracted, and
give a disagreeable taste to the liquor; but it should be observed,
this only happens, either in beers to be long kept, or in such as are
brewed in very hot weather. In the first case the roughness wears off
by age, and grows into strength, and in the last, it is a check to the
proneness musts have in such seasons to ferment.
One observation more is necessary under this head; most coppers,
especially such as are made in London, and set by proper workmen, waste
or steam away, by boiling, about three or four inches of the contained
liquor, in each hour. The quantity wasted being found on trial, and
knowing how much water the copper holds upon an inch, what is steamed
away by boiling in each brewing, may easily be estimated.
SECTION VIII.
_Of the Quantity of Water wasted; and of the Application
of the preceding Rules to two different processes of
Brewing._
Waste water, in brewing, is that part which, though employed in the
process, yet does not remain in the beers or ales when made. Under
this head is comprehended the water steamed away in the boiling of the
worts; that which is lost by heating for the extracts; that which the
utensils imbibe when dry; that which necessarily remains in the pumps
and underback; and more than all, the water which is retained in the
grist. The fixing to a minute exactness how much is thus expended, is
both impossible and unnecessary. Every one of the articles just now
mentioned varies in proportion to the grist, to the lengths made, to
the construction and order of the utensils, and to the time employed in
making the beer. To these different causes of the steam being lessened
or increased, might be added every change in the atmosphere. However,
as, upon the whole, the quantity of water lost varies from no reason so
much, as from the age and dryness of the malt, experience is, in this
case, our sole and surest guide. I have, in the following table, placed
under every mode of brewing, how much I have found necessary to allow
for these several wastes and evaporations.
_Brown strong and pale strong beers._
Barrels pins.[25]
For old malts allow 1 5 per quarter.
For new[26] malts 2 0 per quarter.
Keeping small and common small beers.
For either new or old malt allow 2 4 per quarter.
Amber or pale ales.
For either new or old malt allow 1 5 per quarter.
Keeping small or common small after amber.
Allow for waste 0 2 per quarter.
It is now time to begin the account of two brewings, which admit of the
greatest variety, both in themselves, and in the season of the year.
The same processes will be carried on, in the sequel of this work,
until they be completed.[27]
On the tenth of July a brewing for common small beer is to be made
with 6 quarters of malt.
By page 150 the medium heat of the air at }
this time is } 60 degrees.
By page 184 the malt to be used for this }
purpose should be in dryness at } 130 degrees.
By page 210 the proper quantity of new hops is 6 pounds per quarter.
The length, according to the excise gauge without the bills of
mortality, may be rated at 5 barrels 1/8 per quarter, or from the whole
grist at 30 barrels 3/4. See page 219.
By page 222, the inches required in the copper, to bring out this
length, at 2 worts, will be, for coppers as gauged page 221, 56 inches
in the 2 worts above brass.
The state of this part of the brewing is, therefore, six quarters of
malt dried to 130 degrees, 36 pounds of hops for 30 barrels 3/4 to go
out at 56 inches above brass.
30-3/4 Length
{ Boiling by page 228
{ 1 wort 1 hour 1/2 or 5 inches.
5-1/4 { 2 wort 3 hours or 9 inches.
15 waste water page 231
----
51 barrels; whole quantity of water to be used.
And by page 191 we find the heat of the first extract to be 154
degrees, and the heat of the last 174 degrees.
The other brewing, of which I purpose to lay down the process in this
treatise, is one for brown beer or porter of 11 quarters of malt, to be
brewed on the 20th of February.
By page 150 the medium heat of the air at }
this time is } 40 degrees.
By page 174 the malt for this purpose }
should be at } 130 degrees.
By page 209 the quantity of hops is 12 pounds per quarter. The length
I would fix for this liquor, according to the excise gauge without the
bills of mortality, is 2 barrels and 4 pins from a quarter, or from the
whole grist 27 barrels 1/2. See page 219.
By page 222, the inches required, in a copper, such as I have specified
page 221, to bring out this length at 3 worts, are 31 above brass.
The state of this brewing, so far as we have considered it, is
therefore 11 quarters malt dried to 130 degrees, 132 pounds of hops for
27 barrels 1/2 to go out at 31 inches above brass.
27-1/2 barrels the length,
{ boiling by page 228.
{ 1 wort 1 hour or 4 inches.
{ 2 wort 2 hours or 6 inches.
8-1/4 { 3 wort 4 hours or 12 inches.
18 waste water page 231 old
------ malt 1-5/8 per quarter.
54 barrels, whole quantity of water to be used.
And by page 177 we find the heat of the first extract to be 155
degrees, and the heat of the last extract 165.
SECTION IX.
_Of the Division of the Water for the respective Worts
and Mashes, and of the Heat adequate to each of these._
That the whole quantity of water, as well as that of heat required,
ought not, in any brewing, at once to be applied to the grist, is
obvious, both from reason, and from the example of nature, who, in
forming the juice of the grape, divides the process, and increasing
successively both the moisture and the heat, gives time to each degree
to have its complete effect. A division of the water and heat to form
malt liquors is equally necessary, but previous to this division the
following general rules may be laid down.
The grist, if possible, is at no time to be left with less water than
what will cover the malt, to put all its parts in action. In the first
mashes for strong beer, an allowance is to be made for nearly as much
water as the grist will imbibe; and, lastly, the whole quantity of
water used in brewing should be divided, in a proportion analogous to
that of the degrees of heat.
Processes for brewing are carried on either with one copper or with
two. Though the first of these methods is almost out of use, it may be
necessary to give an example or two of the division of the water used
in this case, the doing which will point out the absurdity of this
practice.
In brewing with one copper, scarcely more than three mashes can be
made; otherwise the time taken up in boiling the worts, and preparing
the subsequent waters for extraction, would be so long, as to cause the
grist to lose great part of its heat, and, in warm weather, perhaps, to
become sour. The whole water required might naturally be divided into
three equal parts, was it not for the quantity at first imbibed by the
grist; but as, in this way of brewing, the best management is to make
the first wort of one mash, and the second wort of the other two, it
will be found necessary to allow, for the first extracting water, four
parts out of seven of the whole quantity required, and to divide the
remainder equally for the other two mashes. Thus, if the whole quantity
of water required was fifty-one barrels, the lengths of the extracting
waters would be as follow:
1 Liquor 2 Liquor 3 Liquor.
29---------11-------------11 Barrels.
1 Wort. ╰━━━━v━━━━╯
2 Wort.
The water imbibed and retained by the malt is allowed for in this
computation, which will be found just to every purpose, for small beer
brewed in one copper only.
But in strong beers and ales, with three mashes, whether brewed at
one, two, or three worts, the case will be somewhat different, as
care should always be taken to reserve for every mash a sufficient
quantity of water to apply to the grist. For this reason, no greater
proportion ought to be used in the first mash than that of three parts
out of seven, as the volume of the malt is in a greater proportion to
the quantity of water than in the preceding case. If, therefore, the
whole quantity of water used was thirty-five barrels, the length of the
liquors would be:
1 Liquor 2 Liquor 3 Liquor.
15 10 10 Barrels.
Employing only one copper, must from hence appear, and is allowed to
be, bad management; for, in some part or other of the process, however
well contrived, the business must stand still, and consequently the
extracts be injured, by the air continually affecting them. The best
and most usual practice, and that which here will be set in example, is
to brew with two coppers. Other rules consequently are necessary to be
observed, and I shall be more particular in the explanation of them.
To preserve order, and to convey our ideas in the clearest manner, we
shall make use of the four modes of brewing we mentioned, in the fourth
section.
The first of these, which implies keeping pale strong and keeping
pale small beers to become spontaneously fine, are best brewed with
two worts and four mashes, to allow for what is imbibed by the grist,
and what is steamed away during the first part of the process, four
sevenths of the whole of the water employed, and consequently a like
proportion of the number of the degrees which constitute the difference
between the first and last heats of the whole brewing, are required for
the first wort, and the remainder to the last or second. The proportion
as to the water is permanent, but having now only a division of heat in
a progressive state, for the temperature to be given to the extracts,
to put in practice the principles laid down in pages 64, 65; the first
wort, however, composed of several mashes, must be of one uniform
heat, though less than that of the second, whose extracts, though more
powerful, must, notwithstanding, be of equal heat among themselves.
According to the rules laid down in section 8, the whole quantity of
water requisite for a guile of keeping pale strong, or keeping pale
small beer, is fifty-one barrels. In page 171, we found, including the
heat lost at the time the extract separates from the grist, the first
heat to form this process to be 144 degrees, and the last 158 degrees;
the quantity of water, and the difference between these two degrees,
are required to be divided in such proportions as are best applicable
to the purpose we intend.
Water 51 Barrels, multiplied by
4
----
Divided by 7) 204
----
Gives 29 Barrels for the first Wort, and
this deducted from 51,
Leaves 22 Barrels for the second Wort.
The twenty-nine barrels, equally divided between the two first mashes,
is fourteen barrels and a half for each; and the twenty-two barrels,
equally divided between the two last mashes, is eleven barrels for each.
The last heat for pale keeping beers is 160 degrees.
And the first is 146 degrees.
----
Their difference is 14
This, as above, multiplied by 4
----
And divided by 7) 56
----
Leaves 8 degrees.
the proportion to be allotted to the first wort, and 6 degrees, the
remainder, to the last, in a regular progressive state; the elements
for this brewing would stand as under.
Malt’s Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth
dryness. hops. medium. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Degrees 119 3 138 146 154 157 160
Barrels 14-1/2 14-1/2 11 11
But more exactly, to imitate the fermented liquors formed by nature,
our first wort, answering to the germinating part of her process must
be of one uniform heat in the extracts, as must likewise our second
wort: (See page 165) the mean, then, of the progressive heats of the
first wort will be that which must be applied both to the first and
second mashes, and the mean of the progressive heats of the second
wort, that which must direct the third and fourth mashes; from whence
are deduced
_Elements for forming keeping pale strong and keeping pale small beers._
Malt’s Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth
dryness. hops. medium. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Degrees 119 3 138 150 150 158-1/2 158-1/2
Barrels 14-1/2 14-1/2 11 11
First wort. Second wort.
That this method of applying the heats to the mashes corresponds to the
medium heat which is to govern the whole process, the circumstances
required in page 165, the following operation will prove.
29 Barrels, the first wort.
Heated to 150
----
1450
29
----
4350
----
22 Barrels, the second wort.
Heated to 158-1/2
------
11
176
110
22
------
Whole 3487
quantity 4350
of water, ------
Barrels 51 )7837( 153 The mean heat of the 4 mashes.
51 2 Deducted for the heat lost at the
---- ---- tap.
273 151 Heat of the tap’s spending.
255 119 Malt’s dryness.
---- ----
187 270
153 ----
---- 135 Mean heat of Malt’s dryness and of the extracts.
3 Value of hops.
----
138 Mean heat of the whole process.
----
Admitting of the necessary variations in the medium heats which are to
govern processes for different purposes, and of those in the number
of degrees forming the constituent parts of the must, in proportion as
the drinks are to be formed, either to become spontaneously fine, or
made so by precipitation, or intended for a longer or shorter duration.
This rule will be found universally true, when beers are brewed with
two worts: but when, for the benefit of the drink, or on account of
the smallness of the utensils, as is often the case, when the second
mode of extraction is put in practice, we are obliged to carry on
the process with three worts, these proportions must necessarily
be altered, and the following have, in this case, been found most
advantageous.
The first and second wort ought to have two thirds of the water; the
first wort two thirds of this quantity, the second the remainder of
this, and the third wort one third part of the whole.
Porter or brown beer is the sort of drink, in which this division is
most commonly observed. Let the whole quantity of water to be used be
that of the brewing, of which the elements have been laid down, (page
233) or 54 barrels.
54
2
----
3) 108
----
36
2
----
3) 72
----
24 Barrels of water for the first wort.
12 Barrels for the second wort.
18 Barrels for the third wort.
----
54
----
The last degree
for this drink is,
with malt dried
to 130 degrees, 165 Degrees.
The first, as per
page 178 155 Degrees.
----
Their difference 10 Degrees.
2
----
3) 20
----
7
2
----
3) 14
----
5 Heat of first wort.
Five degrees to be proportioned in the first wort, and these deducted
from 7 degrees, the number allowed for the first and second wort,
there remains two degrees for the second wort; and seven degrees
deducted from ten, the whole difference, leaves three degrees, to be
proportioned in the third and last wort.
A grist of eleven quarters of malt is too large, to admit of the water
allowed for the first wort to be equally divided between the first and
second mash; therefore, rather than use the whole 24 barrels in one
mash, a sufficient quantity only must be applied to the first mash,
both to work it, and to get as much of the extract to come down, as
will save the bottom of the copper it is to be pumped into. By this
management, there will be enough left to form the second extract with,
or what by the brewers is termed the piece liquor. The exact quantity
of water the first mash should have, might be referred to the following
section, but the order we have laid down, will excuse our anticipating
thereon.
It has been found, and will hereafter be proved, that a volume of
eleven quarters of malt, dried to 130 degrees, is equal to 6,32 barrels
of liquid measure, that malt in general requires twice its volume of
water to wet it, and this quantity of water is retained after every tap
is spent.
6,32 Barrels, volume of the 11 quarters of malt.
3
------
18,96
6,32
------
12,64 Barrels of water imbibed by the grist,
which, deducted from
24,00 Whole quantity of water allowed for
the first wort.
------
Remains 3) 11,36 Extract, which will be yielded from
the first and second mash.
3,78 Length of the first piece, which is
sufficient to save the copper.
------
3,78
12,64 Quantity imbibed as above.
------
16,42 Quantity of water for the first mash.
7,58 Quantity of water for the second mash.
------
24,00
The elements of this brewing, as we have them (page 178) placed in
a progressive state, will be as under, where the quantity of water
allowed for the first wort is divided into two mashes, according to
the circumstances just now taken notice of, where the second wort is
formed by one entire mash, and the water allotted for the third wort is
separated equally into two parts, for the two last mashes, and when the
ten degrees of heat, the difference between the first and last heats
employed, are as near as possible proportioned to the lengths of the
worts.
Malt’s Value Whole First Second Third Fourth Fifth
dryness. of hops. medium. mash. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Deg. 130 4 148 155 160 162 164 165
Barrels 16 8 12 9 9
But, for the reasons alleged in page 236, they admit of the following
variation.
_Elements for brewing brown beer or porter._
Malt’s Value Whole First Second Third Fourth Fifth dryness. of hops.
medium. mash. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Deg. 130 4 148 157-1/2 157-1/2 162 164 165
Barrels 16 8 12 9 9]
╰━━v━━╯ ╰━v━╯ ╰━━v━━╯
1 wort 2 wort 3 wort.
And, if proved as before, the same correspondence will be found with
the medium governing heat.
The third mode of extraction is intended for a drink which is soon
to be ready for use, in which, in the coldest season of the year,
transparency is expected, and, in the hottest months, soundness:
to procure these intents, we have already shewn (page 191) it was
necessary to vary the medium heats governing these several processes,
in proportion as the seasons of the year differed as to heat and cold.
Our present business is a proper division of the whole quantity of
water necessary for brewing, into the respective worts and mashes,
and to apply to each, the adequate degree of heat: one single example
will suffice for the operation, and the whole variety this drink is
subjected to, will be expressed in the table subjoined.
The general practice to brew common small beer, and which is best,
is to form it with two worts and four mashes, and, in this case,
as was before practised for keeping pale beers, in order to allow
for the water at first absorbed by the grist; four sevenths of the
whole quantity is required for the first wort, and the remainder for
the second wort, dividing these quantities again into equal parts,
for their respective mashes. As a speedy spontaneous pellucidity is
expected in every season of the year, and as every means for producing
this without affecting the soundness of the drink, must be put in
practice, the whole number of constituent parts are not only applied,
but likewise the progressive heats suffered to take place: for here,
through necessity, we are compelled to forsake the rules nature
pointed out, (as in pages 64, 65); the reasons why are obvious; this
drink receives no benefit by the slow progress nature recommends, and
therefore very little by the impressions of time.
In page 232, we found the whole quantity of water to be used for the
brewing there specified, fifty-one barrels, and in page 191, we find
when the heat of the air is at 60, the first heat is 154, the last 174
degrees.
Water 51 Barrels, multiplied by
4
----
Divided by 7) 204
----
Gives 29 for the first Wort, and this deducted
from 51,
Leaves 22 for the second Wort.
The twenty-nine barrels, divided into the first and second mashes, will
be fourteen barrels and a half for each; and the twenty-two barrels,
equally divided between the third and fourth mashes, is eleven barrels
each.
The last heat for this brewing of common small beer
is (see page 191) 174 degrees.
The first heat, 154 degrees.
----
Their difference 20
Multiplied by 4
----
And divided by 7) 80
----
Leaves (to avoid fractions) nearly 12 degrees,
to be proportioned in the first wort, and 8 degrees, the remainder
of the 20, to the second wort, in a regular progressive state: the
elements for this brewing are:
Malt’s Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth
dryness. hops. medium. mash. mash. mash. mash.
Degrees 130 2 148 154 166 170 174
Barrels 14-1/2 14-1/2 11 11
╰━━━v━━━╯ ╰━━v━━╯
First wort. Second wort.
The quantity of water used for brewing small beer is in proportion to
the largeness of the grist, and the price of the grain; this admitting
of almost an endless variety, it is needless to pursue it: but the
dryness of the malt, the value of the hops, the medium governing the
processes, and the heat of the extracts being fixed, and constant
degrees of heat in proportion to that of the air, I have constructed
the following table, which will be found useful to the practitioner in
every season of the year.
Heat of Malt’s Value of Whole First Second Third Fourth
air. dryness. hops. medium. mash. mash. mash. mash.
35 122 1 135 138 150 154 158
40 124 1 137 140 152 156 160
45 125 1 140 145 157 161 165
50 127 1 143 149 161 165 169
55 129 1-1/2 146 152 164 168 172
60 130 2 148 154 166 170 174
The last business of this section is to divide the quantity of water
requisite to brew pale ales or amber, and to apply to such divisions
their necessary degrees of heat. This liquor is rather an effort
of art, than an exact imitation of nature, as in it the greatest
transparency, joined to the greatest strength, is expected in a very
short time. To obtain these ends, the whole number of the constituent
properties of malt and two mashes only are employed. In the first, in
order to favor its pellucidity, the lowest adequate extracting degree
must be used; and in the second, to cause the malt to yield the whole
of its necessary parts, the highest fitting heat must be applied; the
whole of the process is, nevertheless, subjected to the governing
medium heat of 138 degrees, the highest which admits of voluntary
brightness. But where a drink is formed with two mashes only, and
boiled off in one entire wort, to keep the due proportion between the
quantity of water used, and the heat required in the extracts, and
at the same time to allot the proper quantity for what is imbibed by
the grist, the most convenient division found, will be three-fifths
of the whole quantity of water to be applied to the first mash, and
the remaining two-fifths to the other. I know to this, custom may be
objected, that the first mash for amber should be a stiff one, in
order the better to retain the heat; but this, in the division here
proposed, may equally be obtained by a proper allowance made in the
attemperating of the water, without affecting the proportion of the
heats required, as otherwise must be the case.
From 8 quarters of malt to make 13 barrels of fine ale.
13 Length.
1/2 Boiling half hour.
12-1/2 Waste water.
------
26 Whole water employed, multiplied by
3
------
Divided by 5) 78
Gives 16 Barrels for the first mash, and leaves
10 Barrels for the second mash,
the lowest heat being required in the first extract, and the highest in
the last, according to page 194; for the 16 barrels it will be 144, and
for the 10 barrels it will contain 164 degrees.
But as the heat of the air occasions a difference in the quantities of
hops to be used, and as from hence the extracts are somewhat varied: it
has been judged convenient to add the following table:
A TABLE _of the elements for forming pale ale or amber,
at every degree of heat in the air, with the allowance of
two degrees of heat, in the first and last extractions_.
Heat of Malt’s Value of Medium heat of the extracts, First Last
air. dryness. hops. and of malt’s dryness. heat. heat.
35 120 1/2 138 147 167
40 120 3/4 138 146 167
45 120 1 138 146 166
50 120 1-1/2 138 145 165
55 120 1-1/2 138 145 165
60 120 2 138 144 164
In summer time, it is sometimes thought better to brew this drink with
malts more dried; for conveniency sake, I here insert two examples.
Heat of Malt’s Value of Whole Heat of Heat of
air. dryness. hops. Medium. first mash. last mash.
60 122 2 138 142 162
60 124 2 138 140 160
For the management of small beer made after amber, see page 197.
Thus having shewn how to ascertain the quantities of the malt, the
hops, the water, and the heat to be used, and to proportion them to
each other, as the good or bad properties of beers arise from the
extracts, and fire is the governing agent, we must now seek the
means to administer the right portion of heat, and so to temper the
water that is to form the extracts, as not to be disappointed of our
intentions. In the calculations made for this purpose, not only the
water in the copper, but the value and effect of the grist, as to heat
and cold, must be considered.
SECTION X.
_An enquiry into the Volume of Malt, in order to reduce the Grist to
liquid Measure._
The gallon, by which malt is measured, though less, is nearly of the
same capacity with that, which is used for beer or water. The quarter
of malt, contains 64 gallons of this measure, and the barrel, within
the bills of mortality, according to the gauges used by the excise,
contains 36 gallons, but without the bills, 34; though the first
quantity is the measure for sale throughout the kingdom. Hence it would
appear, that proportioning the grain to the barrel of water would be
no difficult undertaking. This however is so far from being the case,
that, after having made use of several calculations to help us to the
true proportions, we shall find, they want the corroborating proofs of
actual experience, to be entirely depended upon.
The ultimate parts of water are so very small, as to make this, as well
as all other liquids, appear to the eye one continued uniform body,
without any interstices. This cannot be said of malt laying together
either whole or ground; there are numbers of vacancies between the
corns, when whole, and between the particles when ground, but for
our present purpose the volume occupied by any quantity of malt is
properly no more, than the space which would be occupied by every
individual corn, either whole or cut asunder, were they as closely
joined together as water.
To determine, with precision, the quantity of cold water to be added
to that, which is brought to the boiling point, (an act by the brewers
called _cooling in_) it is necessary to know, what proportion a quarter
of malt bears to the measure of a barrel of water. Several operations
will be found requisite to come to this knowledge; viz. to take several
gauges of different brewings, more especially in the first part of the
process; to be well acquainted with the degree of dryness of the malt
used, the heat of the first extract, and the quantity of liquor the
mash tun holds upon every inch; to find out what degrees of expansion
are produced by the different degrees of heat in the first mash, how
much less water the mash tun holds upon an inch when hot, than it does
when cold, what quantity of water is lost by evaporation, and in what
proportion at the several terms of the process. In order to put this in
practice, the gauges of the following brewings were taken.
5 quarters of malt dried to 125 degrees.
B.[28] F. G.
The quantity of water used for the first }
mash was } 12 2 3
The malt and water gauged together in }
the mash tun just before the tap was } 25, 00 inches.
set }
Allowance for the space under the false }
bottom boards of the mash tun, as near } 0, 66 inches.
as could be computed }
The goods gauged in the mash tun, after }
the first tap was spent } 15, 41 inches.
B. F. G.
First piece gauged in the copper 8 0 2
━━━━━━━━━━━━
B. F. G.
The water employed for the second mash }
was } 12 2 3
The grist gauged with this water just }
before the tap was set } 30, 62 inches.
And just after the tap was spent 15, 63 inches.
B. F. G.
The first wort consisting of these two }
pieces gauged in the copper } 21 2 0
━━━━━━━━━━━━
B. F. G.
The water used for the third mash was 8 3 6
Just before the tap was set the grist }
with this gauged in the mash tun } 24, 60 inches
And just after the tap was spent 15, 20 inches.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
B. F. G.
The water used for the fourth mash was 8 3 6
The mash gauged just before the tap }
was set } 24, 60 inches.
And just after the tap was spent } 15, 16 inches.
The heat of the first extract was 136 degrees, to which adding two
degrees, for what is lost by the tap spending, the true heat of the
mash is 138 degrees.
The first extract, before it is blended with hops, may be estimated to
be nearly as strong as a first wort of common small beer. This, when
under a strong ebullition, raised the thermometer to 216 degrees, and
seven barrels of such a wort, when boiling, occupied an equal space
with nine barrels of cold water, at the mean temperature of 60 degrees.
Now, if the degrees of expansion follow the proportion of those of
heat, the following table, constructed upon this supposition, will shew
how many barrels of cold water would be necessary to occupy the same
space with seven barrels of wort of different heats.
Degrees of heat. Barrels of cold water. Barrels of wort.
216 9,00 7
206 8,87 7
196 8,75 7
186 8,62 7
177 8,50 7
167 8,37 7
158 8,25 7
148 8,12 7
138 8,00 7
127 7,87 7
119 7,75 7
The quantity of water evaporated in a brewing, when not in immediate
contact with fire, is more considerable than it is generally
apprehended to be; after repeated trials, I have found that what was
lost in this manner amounted nearly to one fifth.
Now since the heat of the first tap was 138 degrees, and my mash tun
holds 20,25 gallons upon an inch, the following proportion may be
deduced from the preceding table.
If 8------------7----------------20,25
7,00
--------
8,00) 141,7500
--------
17,71 Gallons,
and this is the true quantity contained in one inch, at a heat of 138
degrees.
The quantity of water used for the first mash, was 12B. 2F. 3G. or 428
gallons, of which one fifth is supposed to be steamed away, when the
first liquor is gone through the whole process of the extraction: but
as the gauges of the malt and water together are taken before the tap
is set, in the beginning of the process, the whole evaporation ought
not to be deduced, and one sixth seems to be a sufficient allowance on
this account. We may therefore suppose 357 gallons to be in the mash
tun at the time of gauging, which number being divided by 17,71, will
shew how many inches are taken up by the water at that heat.
17,71)357,0000(20,15
3542
--------
2800
1771
--------
10290
8855
--------
1435
The mash gauged just before the tap was
set, 25,00 Inches.
Allowed for the space under false bottoms, 0,66
-----
25,66
Deduct the inches taken up by the water, 20,15
-----
Remainder for the five quarters of malt, 5,51 Inches.
or 1,10 inch for one quarter. This number being multiplied by 17,71,
the quantity of gallons contained upon one inch at this heat, will give
19,48 gallons for the volume of one quarter of this malt. There now
remains nothing but to bring a barrel of water of 34 gallons, under
like circumstances, as to expansion and evaporation, with these 19,48
gallons, with this difference only, that as the proportion required
is, at the time the water and malt first come in contact, and not
after the mash has been worked, a less allowance for steaming will be
sufficient, and may well be fixed at one seventh.
Gauge within the bills of Gauge without the bills of
mortality. mortality.
If 7,00 8,00 36 If 7,00 8,00 34
36 34
----- -----
4800 3200
2400 2400
----- -----
7,00)288,00 7,00)272,00
----- -----
41,14 38,85
5,87 Lost by steam. 5,55 Lost by steam.
----- -----
35,24 33,30
The barrel of water reduced; and as 19,48 gallons, under the same
circumstances, were found equal to one quarter of malt, the following
division will shew the proportion, between them.
19,48)35,2400(1,81 19,48)33,3000(1,70
1948 1948
------ ------
15760 13820
15584 13636
------ ------
1760 184
1948
------
Thus, in malt dried to 125 degrees, the quantity of 1,70 quarters is
required to make a volume equal to 34 gallons, or a barrel of water,
according to the excise gauging without the bills of mortality; and
the quantity of 1,81 quarters is required to make a volume equal to 36
gallons, or a barrel of water, according to the excise gauging within
the bills of mortality.
The more the malt has been dried, the larger the interstices are
between its parts; the quantity of water it admits will consequently be
greater than what is absorbed by such as is less dry. More of this last
malt will be necessary to make a volume, equal to that of the barrel of
water; and every different degree of dryness must cause a variety in
this respect. It will therefore be proper to repeat the operation with
a high-dried grist.
Gauges of a brewing of eight quarters of malt dried to 140 degrees.
B. F. G.
The water used for the first mash, 11 2 4
Malt and water gauged together in the } 26,25 Inches.
mash, just before the tap was set, }
Allowed for the space under the false bottom } 0,66 Inches.
of the mash tun, }
Goods gauged in the mash tun after the } 22,36 Inches
first tap was spent, }
B. F. G.
First piece gauged in the copper, 5 0 0
━━━━━━━━━━━━
B. F. G.
The water for the second mash was 11 2 4
The mash gauged just before the tap was set, 35,70 Inches.
Just after the tap was spent, 22,19 Inches.
B. F. G.
The wort made of these two pieces }
gauged in the copper, } 17 0 0
━━━━━━━━━━━━
B. F. G.
The water used for the third mash was 8 3 6
The mash gauged just before the tap was set } 31,10 Inches.
And just after the tap was spent, 21,77 Inches.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
B. F. G.
The water used for the fourth mash was 8 3 6
The mash gauged just before the tap was set } 30,50 Inches.
And just after the tap was spent 21,60 Inches.
The heat of the first extract was 142 degrees. Now, by the table of
expansions (page 256).
G.
If 8,05 7,0 20,25 of cold water, upon
700 an inch in mash tun.
-------
8,05)1417500(17,60 will be the real
805 quantity of water
----- upon an inch in the
6125 mash tun, when heated
5635 to 142 degrees.
-----
4900
4830
-----
700
B. F. G.
Quantity of water in the first mash, 11 2 4
34
----
44
33
17
4
----
395
Deduction for the evaporation at this
period, one sixth, 65,83
------
329,17 true quantity
of the water for the first mash, which must be divided by the real
quantity of water contained upon an inch in the mash tun.
17,60)329,1700 (18,70 inches taken up
1760 in the mash tun, by
------ the water used in
15317 the first mash.
14080
------
12370
12320
------
50
The mash gauged just before the tap
was set 26,25 Inches.
Allowed for the space under the false
bottoms 0,66
------
26,91
Inches taken up by the water of the
first mash 18,70
------
Space occupied by these 8
quarters of malt 8) 8,21 Inches of
------ mash tun.
Space occupied by one quarter 1,02
17,60
------
6120
714
102
-------
17,9520 Gallons of
water equal in volume to one quarter of this malt.
Excise gauge without the bills of mortality.
If 7,00 8,05 34
34
------
3220
2415
------
7,00)273,70
------
39,10 Expansion of the barrel of water,
out of which 1/7th, 5,58, is to be deducted for
evaporation. ------
Remains, 33,52 for the barrel of water reduced,
which the quarter of malt, or 17,95, is to be compared to.
Excise gauge within the bills of mortality.
If 7,00 8,05 36
36
-----
4830
2415
------
7,00)289,80(41,44 Expansion of one barrel of
2800 water,
----- 592 1/7th to be deducted for evaporation.
980 ----
700 35,52 Barrel of water reduced,
----- which the quarter of malt,
2800 or 17,95 is to be compared
2800 to.
-----
17,95)33,5200(1,86 Quantity of malt dried to 140 degrees
1795 equal to one barrel of water.
-----
15570
14360
-----
12100
10770
-----
1330
17,95)35,3700(1,97 Quantity of malt dried to 140 degrees,
1795 equal to one barrel of
------ water, according to the excise
17420 gauge within the bills of mortality.
16155
------
12650
12565
------
Having found the volume of malt at two distant terms of dryness, we
might divide the intermediate degrees in the same manner as we have
done before, could the certainty of these calculations be entirely
depended upon; but as some allowances have been made without immediate
proof, how near soever truth the result thereof may from experiments
appear, it may be proper to point out what is wanting to make our
suppositions satisfactory.
Some part of the calculation depends on the quantity evaporated; this,
in the same space of time, may be more or less, as the fire under the
water is brisk or slow, or as the weight of the atmosphere differs.
The gauges are taken at the time the malt and water are in contact,
and more or less water may be imbibed in proportion, both of the
dryness and age of the malt; water as a fluid, malt as a porous solid
body, must differ in their expansion, but in what proportion is to me
unknown; effervescence may be another cause of want of exactness; the
different cut the malt has had in the mill, its being or not being
truly prepared, and lastly the difference as to time, of the mashing or
standing of the grist, prevent our relying wholly upon the calculation.
It is, however, not improbable that some of these incidents correct
one another. Since 1,70 quarter of malt dried to 125 degrees are equal
to one barrel of water, and 1,86 quarter of malt dried to 140 have
the same volume, the difference being but 16 parts out of 100, the
whole of the error cannot be very great, and one quarter six bushels
of malt may, at a medium, be estimated of the same volume with one
barrel of water. But, as experience is the surest guide, I have, from
a very great number of different brewings, collected the following
proportions, and repeatedly found them to be true. I have added, in the
table, the weight malt ought to have, at every degree of dryness.
A TABLE _shewing the quantity of malt of every degree of
dryness, equal to the volume of one barrel of water, and
of the mean weight of one quarter in proportion to its
dryness_.
Excise gauge Excise gauge
Degree of without the bills. within the bills. Weight in
dryness. Volume of grain. Volume of grain. pounds.
Barley 80 1,56 1,59 376
100 1,62 1,63 306
105 1,62 1,67 301
110 1,65 1,71 296
115 1,67 1,75 291
Malt 119 1,68 1,79 286
124 1,71 1,83 281
129 1,74 1,87 276
134 1,77 1,91 271
138 1,80 1,95 266
143 1,83 2,00 261
148 1,86 2,03 256
152 1,89 2,07 251
157 1,92 2,11 246
162 1,95 2,15 241
167 1,98 2,19 236
171 2,01 2,23 231
176 2,04 2,27 226
With a table thus constructed, it is very easy to reduce every grist
to its proper volume of water. Suppose those of the brewings we have
already mentioned; that of the small beer consists of 6 quarters of
malt dried to 130 degrees, the proportion of which in the table is as
1,75 to 1.
Quarter of malt. Barrel of water. Malt. Water.
If 1,75 1 6 3,42.
These six quarters of malt occupy therefore an equal volume with 3,42
barrels of water. A brown beer grist of 11 quarters dried to 130
degrees; the proportion of this in the table is as 1,74 to 1.
Malt. Water. Malt. Water.
If 1,74 1 11 6,32
The volume of these 11 quarters of malt is therefore the same with
that of 6,32 barrels of water, and the whole being brought to one
denomination, we are enabled to find the heat of the first mash; but
the effervescence occasioned by the union of the malt and water must
prevent this calculation being strictly true, the consideration of
which shall take place hereafter.
The circumstances are different in the other mashes: the waters used
for these, meet a grist already saturated, and the volume is increased
beyond the quantity found for dry malt. The quantity to be allowed for
this increase cannot be determined by our former calculations, and new
trials are to be made, in order to fix upon the true proportion.
Gauging is undoubtedly the most certain method of proceeding in
these researches; but even this becomes less sure, on account of the
expansion, evaporation, effervescence, and other incidents already
mentioned.--Our errors however cannot be very considerable, when
we deduce our conclusions from numerous and sufficiently varied
experiments.
The volume of the grist of pale malt was found, after the parting of
the first extract, to be 15,41 inches, though the space occupied by
the malt, when dry, was only 5,51 inches: and the volume of the brown
grist, at the same period, was 22,36 inches, though the dry malt filled
only a space of 8,21 inches. The proportion in both these cases, and
in all those which I have tried, answers nearly to one third, so that
the volume of the grist, in the second and all subsequent mashes, may
be estimated at three times the bulk of the malt when dry, and this
is sufficiently accurate for the operations of brewing, in which, for
conveniency sake, the application of whole numbers should be effected.
As it is found, by the gauges, that the goods, after the several taps
are spent, remain sensibly of the same volume, or at least very little
diminished; may we not conclude, the parts absorbed by the water, in
which the virtue of the grain and the strength of the beer consist,
are contained in an amazing small compass? It is indeed true that hot
waters and repeated mashes do swell somewhat the hulls and skins of the
malt, but no allowance made for this increase will be sufficient, to
remove the cause of our surprise.
SECTION XI.
_Of the Proportion of cold Water to be added to that
which is on the point of Boiling, in Order to obtain the
desired heat in the Extract._
The degree of heat, which causes water to boil is determined, by
Farenheit’s scale, to 212. It is in our power to give to any part
of the extracting water this degree of heat; and by adding to it a
sufficient proportion of water of an equal heat with that of the air,
and blending these two quantities with the grist, to bring the whole
to the required temperature. The rules for obtaining this end are
extremely simple, and cannot be unknown to those, who are skilled in
arithmetical operations. But as our view is to render this part of our
work generally useful, we think it will be proper briefly to lay down
these rules, and to illustrate them by the examples of our two brewings.
_Rule to ascertain the heat of the first Mash._
Let _a_ express the degree of boiling water, _b_ the actual heat of the
air, _c_ the required degree for the extract, _m_ the whole quantity
of water to be used, _n_ the volume of the malt; _x_, that part of the
water, which is to be made to boil, will be determined by the following
equation.
----- -----
c - b × m + n
x = ----------------------
a - b
The quantity of water used, added (+) to the volume of the grist.
Their sum (_z_) multiplied (×) by the heat required, less (-) the heat
of the air.
This produce divided (÷) by the heat of boiling water (212) less (-)
the heat of the air will quote how much is to be made to boil or
brought through (212) that is how high the copper is to be charged,
the remainder of the length of the whole liquor for this mash, is the
quantity to be cooled in.
The first example is that of a brewing of small beer, when the heat
of the air is at 60, (see page 232.) The volume of the 6 quarters of
malt was estimated at 3,42 barrels, (see page 268;) the first liquor is
14-1/2 barrels, (see page 247) and the heat required for the first mash
154 degrees, (see page 247.)
_First Mash._
_m_ = 14,50 Barrels of water
_n_ = 3,42 Volume of grist
------
_m_ + _n_ = 17,92 _c_ = 154 Heat of the first
mash,
94 _b_ = 60 Heat of the air,
---- ----
(_a_) heat of _c_ - _b_ = 94
boiling water, 212 7168
_b_ heat of the
air, 60 16128
---- ------
_a_ - _b_ = 152 )168448 (1108 barrels of water, to
152 be made to boil out of
---- the 14 + 1/2 barrels which
164 are allotted for the first
152 mash. The incidents to
---- be mentioned, are not
1248 considered in this calculation.
1216
----
The next example of a brewing is that of a grist of eleven quarters
of malt for porter or brown beer; the medium heat of the air is forty
degrees, the volume of the grist, 6,32 barrels, (see page 268) the
first liquor to mash with sixteen barrels, (see page 245) and the
heat expected in the mash, one hundred and fifty-seven and a half[29]
degrees. (See page 245).
_First Mash of brown strong beer._
16,00 Barrels of water
6,32 Volume of malt
-----
157 Heat required in the
mash, vide page 247.
22,32
117 40 Heat of the air.
------ -----
Heat of boiling 15624 117
water, 212 2232 -----
Heat of air, 40 2232
----- -------
172 )261144 (15,18 barrels of water, to be
172 made to boil out of the
16 barrels.
-----
891
860
-----
314
1324
-----
Iwill give one proof of the certainty of this rule, by setting down the
state of this first mash from it.
15,18
212
-------
3036
1518
3036
-------
A. 3218,16 Number of degrees of heat in 14,66 barrels
of boiling water.
16,00 Barrels of water to first mash.
15,18 Barrels made to boil.
------
,82 Barrel to cool in.
40 Heat of cold water.
B. 32,80 Number of degrees of heat in 1,34 barrels of
cold water.
15,18 Boiling water.
,82 Cold water.
6,32 Volume of grist.
------
C. 22,32 Barrels, volume of the whole mash.
6,32 Barrels, volume of the 11 quarters of
malt.
,40 Heat of the grist.
------
252,80 Number of degrees of heat in the
grist.
32,80 B.
3218,16 A.
-------
C. 22,32 ) 350376 (157 degrees of heat required in the
2232 first mash, as above.
-------
12717
11160
--------
15576
15624
-----
So long as the mixture consists only of two quantities of different
heat, as is always the case of the first mash, the preceding solution
takes place. But in the second and other mashes, where three bodies are
concerned, each of different heat, viz. the boiling water, the cold
water, and the mash, are to be mixed, and brought to a determinate
degree, the rule must be different; yet, like the former, it is the
same with what is used in similar cases of allaying, when different
metals are to be melted down into a compound of a certain standard, or
different ingredients of different value to be blended, in order to
make a mixture of a determinate price. What the different density of
the metals, or the different value of the ingredients are, in these
cases, the different degrees of heat of the boiling water, the grist,
and the air, are in this.
_Rule to ascertain the heat of the second mash, and of the subsequent
ones._
Let the same letters stand for the things they signified before, and
_d_ express the actual heat of the grist, then will
----- -----
x = c - b × m + c - d × n
-------------------------
a - b
or in plain terms, the heat required less (-) the heat of the air,
multiplied (×) by the quantity of water used.
The heat required less (-) the heat of the goods, multiplied (×) by the
volume of the goods.
Their sum (z) divided (÷) by the heat of boiling water, (212) less (-)
the heat of the air.
Will quote the quantity to be made to boil, or to be brought through
(212) the remainder part of the whole liquor for the mash is
consequently the quantity to be cooled in.
We may now collect the circumstances of the two brewings, and find the
quantity of boiling water, required for their second and subsequent
mashes, exclusively of the incidents which will hereafter be mentioned.
The first mash for the six quarters of small beer, had 154 degrees of
heat, but this and every mash loses, in the time the extract is parting
from it, 4 degrees, which reduces the heat to 150 degrees. The volume
of this grist, in its dry state, was 3,42 barrels, but now, by being
expanded, and having imbibed much water, it occupies three times that
space, or 10,26 barrels; the air is supposed to continue in the same
state of 60 degrees of heat. The length and heat to be given to the
three remaining mashes, are as follows. (See page 247.)
Degrees of heat, 154 166 170 174
Barrels of water, 14-1/2 14-1/2 11 11
Liquors, 1st 2d 3d 4th
╰━━━v━━━╯ ╰━━v━━╯
1 wort. 2 wort.
_Second Mash for Small Beer._
_c_ = 166 Heat required in the mash.
_d_ = 150 Heat of the goods.
----
_c_ - _d_ = 16
_n_ = 1026 Volume of the goods.
-----
96
32
160
------
_c_ - _d_ × _n_ = 16416
------
_c_ = 166 Heat required in the mash.
_b_ = 60 Heat of the air.
------
_c_ - _b_ = 106
_m_ = 1450 Barrels of water.
------
5300
424
106
--------
_c_ - _b_ × _m_ = 153700
_c_ - _d_ × _n_ = 16416
--------
_a_ - _b_ = 152)170116(11,19 Barrels of water to be made to
152 boil out of the quantity allotted
_a_ = 212 ----- for the second mash.
_b_ = 60 181
--- 152
152 -----
291
152
-----
1396
1368
_Third Mash._
170 Heat of mash. 170 Heat of 3rd mash.
60 Heat of air. 162 Heat of goods.
---- ----
110 8
1100 Barrels of water 1026 Volume of grist.
------ 3d mash. ----
11000 8208
110
------
121000
8208
-------
152)129208(8,50 Barrels to be made to boil out of the
1216 quantity of water allowed for the
------ third mash.
760
760
-----
8
_Fourth Mash._
174 Heat of 4th mash. 174 Heat of 4th mash.
60 Heat of air. 166 Heat of goods.
------ -----
114 8
11,00 Barrels of water 1026 Volume of goods.
------ for 4th mash. -----
11400 48
114 16
------ 80
125400 -------
8208 8208
------
152)133608(879 Barrels to be made to boil out of the
1216 quantity of water allowed for the
------ fourth mash.
1200
1064
-----
1368
1368
-----
The liquors of this brewing of common small beer, when the mean heat
of the air is 60 degrees, must therefore be ordered in the following
manner (the incidents hereafter to be noticed, excepted.)
1 Liqr. 2 Liqr. 3 Liqr. 4 Liqr.
Lengths of liquors, 14-1/2 14-1/2 11 11
------ ------ ------ ------
Boiling water; barrels, 11 11-1/2 8-1/2 8-3/4
Cold water; barrels, 3-1/2 3-1/4 2-1/2 2-1/4
------ ------ ------ ------
14-1/2 14-1/4 11 11
------ ------ ------ ------
The heat of the first mash for the 11 quarters of brown beer, was 157
degrees, (see page 245) and after the parting of the extract from it,
153; the volume of the grist, in its dry state, was valued at 6,32
barrels of water, (see page 268) but, for the reasons before mentioned,
it now occupies three times that space, or 18,96 barrels. The air is
supposed to continue at 40 degrees, and the length and heat to be given
to the different mashes, were determined as follows: (see page 245.)
Degree of heat, 157 158 162 164 165
Barrels of water, 16 8 12 9 9
Liquors; 1st 2d 3d 4th 5th
╰━━v━━╯ ╰━v━╯ ╰━━━v━━━╯
1 wort. 2 wort. 3 wort.
_Second Mash of Porter, or brown strong._
212 Boiling water.
40 Heat of air.
---
172
158 Heat of 2nd mash.
153 Heat of the grist or goods.
----
5
1896 Volume of goods
----
158 Heat of 2nd mash 30
40 Heat of air 45
---- 40
118 5
8,00 Barrels of ------
------ water. 9480
94400
9480
------
172)103880(6,03 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1032 the second mash.
------
680
516
----
_Third Mash._
212 Heat of boiling water.
40 Heat of air.
----
172
162 Heat of 3rd mash.
154 Heat of goods.
------
162 Heat of 3rd mash. 8
40 Heat of air. 18,96
---- ------
122 48
12,00 Bar. of water. 72
------- 64
146400 8
15168 ------
---------- 15168
172)161568(9,45 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1548 third mash.
------
776
688
------
888
860
------
_Fourth Mash._
164 Heat of 4th mash.
158 Heat of goods.
-----
6
18,96 Volume of grist wetted.
164 Heat of 4th mash. -----
40 Heat of air. 36
------ 54
124 48
9,00 Bars. of water. 6
------- -------
111600 11376
11376 -------
-------
172)122976(7,14 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1204 the fourth mash.
------
257
172
------
856
688
------
168
_Fifth Mash._
165 Heat of 5th Mash.
160 Heat of Goods.
----
5
18,96
165 Heat of 5th mash. -----
40 Heat of air. 30
---- 45
125 40
9,00 Barrels of water. 5
------- ------
114500 9480
9480
-------
172)123980(7,20 Barrels of water to be made to boil for
1204 the 5th mash.
------
358
344
------
140
The liquors of this brewing of brown beer must therefore be ordered in
the following manner:
Barrels of boiling water, 15-1/4 6 9-1/2 7 7
Barrels of cold water, 3/4 2 2-1/2 2 2
------ ---- -------- ---- ----
16 8 12 9 9
Liquors, 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th.
What in the brewery is generally called cooling in, must be settled for
this brewing according to the number of barrels of cold water specified
as above, the incidents hereafter to be noticed excepted.
Each of these calculations may be proved in the same manner as was done
before. This method of discovering the proportion of water to be cooled
in, deserves, on account of its plainness and utility, to be preferred
to any other, which depend only upon the uncertain determination of our
senses.
SECTION XII.
_OF MASHING._
Of late years, great progress has been made towards perfecting the
construction and disposition of brew-house utensils, which seem to
admit of very little farther improvement. The great copper, in which
the waters for two of the extracts receive their temperature, is built
very near the mash tun, so that the liquid may readily be conveyed to
the ground malt, without losing any considerable heat. A cock is placed
at the bottom of the copper, which being opened, lets the water have
its course, through a trunk, to the real bottom of the mash tun. It
soon fills the vacant space, forces itself a passage through many holes
made in a false bottom, which supports the grist, and, as the water
increases in quantity, it buoys up the whole body of the corn.
In order to blend together the water and the malt, rakes are first
employed. By their horizontal motion, less violent than that of
mashing, the finest parts of the flower are wetted, and prevented from
being scattered about, or lost in the air.
But as a more intimate penetration and mixture are necessary, oars
are afterwards made use of. They move nearly perpendicularly, and by
their beating, or mashing, the grains of the malt are bruised, and a
thorough imbibition of the water procured.
The time employed in this operation cannot be settled with an absolute
precision. It ought to be continued, till the malt is sufficiently
incorporated with the water, but not so long as till the heat necessary
to the grist be lessened. As bodies cool more or less speedily, in
proportion to their volume, and the cohesion of their parts, a mash
which has but little water, commonly called a _stiff mash_, requires a
longer mashing to be sufficiently divided, and, from its tenacity, is
less liable to lose its heat. This accounts for the general rule, that
the first mash ought always to be the longest.
After mashing, the malt and water are suffered to stand together
unmoved, generally for a space of time equal to that they were mashed
in. Was the extract drawn from the grain as soon as the mashing
is over, many of the particles of the malt would be brought away
undissolved, and the liquor be turbid, though not rich. But, by leaving
it some time in contact with the grain, without any external motion,
many advantages are gained. The different parts of the extract acquire
an uniform heat, the heaviest and most terrestrial subside, the pores
being opened, by heat, imbibe more readily the water, and give way
to the attenuation and dissolution of the oils. When the tap comes
to be set, or the extract to be drawn from the grist, as the bottom
of the mash is become more compact, the liquor is a longer time in
its passage through it, is in a manner strained, and consequently
extracts more strength from the malt, and becomes more homogeneous and
transparent.
Such are the reasons why the grist should not only be mashed pretty
long, but likewise be suffered to rest an equal time. It is the
practice of most brewers, and experience shews it is best, to rake the
first mash half an hour, to mash it one hour more, and to suffer it to
stand one hour and a half. The next extract is commonly mashed three
quarters of an hour, and stands the same space of time; the third, and
all that follow, are allowed one half hour each, both for mashing and
standing.
The heat of the grist being in this manner equally spread, and the
infusion, having received all the strength from the malt, which such
a heat could give it, after every mashing and standing, is let out of
the tun. This, undoubtedly, is the fittest time to observe whether our
expectations have been answered. The thermometer is the only instrument
proper for this purpose, and ought to be placed, or held, where the tap
is set, adjoining to the mouth of the underback cock. The observation
is best made, when the extract has run nearly half; and as, by it,
we are to judge with what success the process is carried on, it is
necessary to examine every incident, which may cause a deviation from
the calculated heat.
SECTION XIII.
_Of the Incidents, which cause the Heat of the Extract to
vary from the Calculation, the allowances they require,
and the means to obviate their effects._
By incidents, I understand such causes as effect either the malt,
the water, or the mash, during the time the brewing is carrying on,
so as to occasion their heat to differ from what is determined by
calculation. As these might frequently be a reason of disappointment,
an inquiry into their number and effects will not only furnish means to
prevent and rectify the errors they occasion, but also serve to confirm
this practice.
In our researches on the volume of malt, some notice was taken of the
increase of bodies by heat, and the loss occasioned by evaporation.
Water, when on the point of ebullition, occupies the largest space it
is susceptible of; but contracting again, when cold water is added to
it, the true volume of both, when mixed together, remains uncertain,
and may cause a difference between the calculated and real degree
of heat. This cause, however, producing an effect opposite to, and
balanced in part by evaporation, becomes so inconsiderable, as hardly
to deserve any farther consideration.
Water, just on the point of ebullition, may be esteemed heated to
212 degrees. Though, by the continuation of the fire, or by any other
cause[30], the heat never goes beyond this, yet was cold water added to
that, which violently boils, the degree expected from the mixture would
be exceeded; for the cold water absorbing the superfluous quantity of
fire, which otherwise flies off, becomes hot itself, and frustrates the
intent. The time, therefore, of adding the cold water to the hot is
immediately before the ebullition begins, or when it is just ended; and
in proportion as we deviate from this practice, the heat in the extract
will differ from the calculated degree.
The water, for every mash, should, as near as possible, be got ready
to boil, and be cooled in just before it is to be used. A liquor,
which remains a long time after the ebullition is over, and the fire
has been damped up, loses part of its heat, if cold water is applied
to it, the effect cannot be the same as it would have been at first.
On the contrary, if the liquor is got ready too soon, and cold water
immediately added to it, in order to gain the proper degree of
temperature, by leaving the mixture long together, though the fire is
stopped up, more heat than necessary will be received from the copper
and brickwork, especially if the utensils are large. In both cases, the
degree in the extract will not answer the intent.
The effect of effervescence next deserves our consideration, but
this takes place only when the water first comes in contact with the
malt. Germinated grains must, to become malt, be dried so, that their
particles are made to recede from one another, thus deprived of the
parts, to which their union was due, when they come in contact with
other bodies, (as water) they strongly attract the unitive particles
they want, and excite an intestine motion, which generates heat. This
motion and this heat are more active in proportion as the grain has
more strongly been impressed by fire, and the extracting water is
hotter.
A large quantity of liquor applied to the grist is less heated than a
small one, by the power of effervescence. The least quantity of water,
necessary to shew that power, must be just so much as the malt requires
to be saturated, which we have seen to be double the volume of the
grain. When more water than this is applied to the grist, the real
effervescing heat is by so much lessened, being dispersed in more than
a sufficient space.
A table shewing the heat of effervescence for every degree of dryness
in the malt, can only be formed from observations. To apply this table
to practice, and to find out, for any quantity of water used in the
first mash, the degrees of heat produced by effervescence, three times
the volume of the grist must be multiplied by the number expressing
the effervescing heat for malt of such a degree of dryness, and this
produce be divided by the real volume of the whole mash.
A TABLE _shewing the heat occasioned by the effervescing
of malt, for its several degrees of dryness_.
Dryness Heat of
of malt. effervescence.
119° 0
124 3-1/2
129 7
134 10-1/2
138 14
143 17-1/2
148 21
152 24-1/2
157 28
162 31
167 35
171 38-1/2
176 40
Malt dried only to 119 degrees, raises no effervescence, and the
strongest is generated by malt dried to 176 degrees; the heat produced
by this amounts to 40 degrees, but the number of effervescing degrees,
in this or any other case, are reached but from success attending
our endeavours, ultimately to penetrate the malt by heated water, or
not until the grist is perfectly saturated, which, in point of time,
generally takes up the whole space of the first mashing and standing;
the air, therefore, cannot cause any diminution of heat, an incident
which affects considerably every subsequent mash.
The little copper being more distant from the mash tun than the other,
the water there prepared, in its passage to the goods, loses some part
of its heat. And in proportion to the quantity of water used, to the
number of the extracts that have been made, and according as the mashes
have more or less consistency, in the same time do they part with more
or less of their heat. Observations made separately upon strong and
small beer, have shewn the proportions of this loss to be as follows:
_For strong beer._
Mashes 2d 3d 4th 5th
Heat lost 8° 12° 8° 8°
_For small beer._
Mashes 2d 3d 4th
Heat lost 8° 16° 20°
A grist not perfectly malted, or one which contains many hard corns,
disappoints the expectation of the computed degree, as the volume
cannot be such as was estimated from an equal dryness of true
germinated grain. It has been observed, that, in perfect malt, the
shoot is very near pressing through the exterior skin. By so much as
it is deficient in this particular, must it be accounted only as dried
barley, or hard corn. I know no better way of judging what proportion
of the corn is hard to what is malted, than by putting some in water,
the grains not sufficiently grown will sink to the bottom. Were this to
be done in a glass cylinder, the proportion between the hard and malted
corn might be found with exactness.--The unmalted parts being estimated
with regard to their volume, as barley, a quarter of them will be to
the barrel of water as 1,56 to 1[31]. Supposing, therefore, that, in
the brown beer grist, before mentioned, the proportion of hard corns is
of two quarters out of eleven, to discover the true volume of such a
grist, the following rule may be used.
2 quarters of hard malt
9 quarters of true malt 1,56 volume of
1,74 volume at 130° of ---- 1 quarter
----- dryness 3,12
15,66
3,12 volume of 2 quarters of hard corn
Total --------
numb. 11) 18,78 (1,70 true volume of one quarter of this
malt to one barrel of water, and consequently the eleven
quarters will fill a space equal to that of 6,47 barrels.
By means of this rule, we may find what increase of heat any proportion
of hard corns will occasion, as will be seen in the following table.
Proportions of hard corns 1/4 1/6 1/8 1/16 1/32 of the grist
Greater heat of the mash 4° 3 2 1 1/2 degrees.
But the brewing of such malt ought to be avoided as much as possible,
as the hard parts afford no strength to the extract.
If a grist is not well and thoroughly mashed, the heat not being
uniformly distributed in the different parts of the extract, the liquor
of the thermometer, when placed in the running stream of the tap, will
fluctuate, and, at different times, shew different degrees of heat. In
this case, the best way is to take the mean of several observations,
and to estimate that to be the true heat of the mash.
If the gauges of the coppers are not exactly taken, a variation must be
expected.
Though the small and hourly variations in the state of the atmosphere
have but little influence upon our numbers, a difference will be
observed in any considerable and sudden changes either of the heat
or of the weight of the air. Our instruments, and in particular the
thermometer, are supposed to be well constructed and graduated. If the
water cooled in with is more or less hot than estimated, or if the time
of mashing or standing is either more or less than was allowed for, the
computation must be found to vary from the event.
While the malt is new, if the fire it has received from the kiln has
not sufficiently spent itself, this additional heat is not easily
accounted for. This is likewise the case, when malt is laid against the
hot brickwork of coppers; and, on the contrary, a loss of dryness may
be occasioned, if the store rooms are damp.
The artist should be attentive to all these incidents; the not pointing
them out might appear neglectful; enumerating more would exceed the
bounds of use.
Small grists brewed in large utensils lose their heats more readily, by
laying thin, and greatly exposed to the air; and, on the contrary, a
less allowance, for the loss of heat, is required in large grists, and
to which the utensils are in proportion.
This really is the only difference between brewings carried on in
large public brewhouses, and those made in small private places, in
other respects constructed upon the same plan, and with an equal care.
Prejudice has propagated an idea, that where the grists are large, and
the utensils in proportion, stronger extracts could be forced from the
malt, in proportion to the quantity, and that more delicate beers could
be made in smaller vessels less frequently used. These assertions, from
what has been said, will, I hope, need no farther enquiry: the degrees
of heat for the extracts are fixed for every intent, and it cannot be
advantageous, by any means, to deviate from them. Brewings will most
probably succeed in all places, where the grist is not so large as to
exceed the bounds of man’s labour, and not so small as to prevent the
heat from being uniformly maintained. The disadvantages are great on
all sides, when a due proportion is not observed between the utensils
and the works carried on.
It will now be proper to continue the delineation of our two brewings,
and to put all the circumstances relating to them under one point of
view.
A brewing for porter or brown strong beer, computed
for 40 degrees of heat in the air.
11 quarters of malt, dried to 130 degrees, 132 pounds of
hops for 27 barrels 1/2, to go out at 3 worts, 31 Inches
above brass.
Volume of grist 6,32
Water for first mash 16,00
------
22,32
6,32 Volume of grist 6 effervescing degrees.
3 3 degrees for hard corns.
----- ----
18,96 9 degrees equal to 2
7 Effervescence, per inches 1/4 less cooling
table. in for the first mash,
------- (see page 152.)
22,32) 132,72 (6 degrees of heat gained in the first mash
13392 by effervescence.
Mashes 1st 2d 3d 4th 5th
Deg. of heat, 157° 158° 162° 164° 165° See p. 280.
Barrels of
water used, 16 8 12 9 9 See p. 284.
Quantity
cooled in by
calculation, 3/4 2 2-1/2 2 2 See p. 284.
Boiling
water by ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
calculation;
barrels, 15-1/4 6 9-1/2 7 7
Allowances }[32]G. C. L. C. L. C. L. C.
for incidents,}[33]Less 2 inches 1/4. more 2 in. more 3 in. more 2 in.
} L. C. more 2 in. [C] [C] [C]
[34]
A brewing for common small beer, computed for 60 degrees of heat in the
air.
6 quarters of malt dried to 130 degrees; 36 pounds of hops;
30 barrels 3/4 to go out 56 inches above brass.
Grist 3,42
Water )14,50
-------
Volume 17,92
of grist 3,42
3
-----
10,26 4° for effervescence.
7 effervescing degree 1° for hard corns
for malt at 130 3° for new malt hot
----- (see table page 292.) --
8° to be deduced
17,92) 71,82 (4 degrees of heat from the first
7168 gained in the mash cooling in.
----- by effervescence.
14
Mashes 1st 2d 3d 4th
Deg. of heat. 154 166 170 174 See p. 248.
Whole quantity
of water
used, barrels 14-1/2 14-1/2 11 11 See p. 280.
Quantity to
be cooled in,
barrels 3-1/2 3-1/4 2-1/2 2-1/4 See p. 280.
Boiling water
by calculation ------ ------ ------ ------
charged,
barrels 11 11-1/4 8-1/2 8-3/4 See p. 280.
Allowances for [35] [B] [B] [36]
incidents; G. C. G. C. L. C. L. C.
inches; less 2; more 2; more 4; more 5.
These computations, perhaps, will appear more troublesome than they
really are; but, besides the facility which exercise always gives
for operations of this kind, the satisfaction of proceeding upon
known principles, will, I hope, encourage the practitioner to prefer
certitude to doubt. One advantage must greatly recommend it, and at
the same time secure the uniformity of our malt liquors; tables for
each sort and season may be made beforehand, and will serve as often as
the circumstances are the same. The trouble of the computations will
by that means be saved, and by collecting together different brewings
of the same kind, the artist will, at any time, have it in his power
to see what effect the least deviation from his rules had upon his
operations, and to what degree of precision he may hope to arrive.
That nothing may be wanting in this work, to facilitate the
intelligence thereof, I shall insert the method of keeping the account
of actual brewings, made according to the computations I have here
successively traced down. The first column contains the charges of
the coppers, and the numbers computed; the next, the brewings made
from these numbers, with their dates, and the degrees of heat found
by observation; the variations occasioned by unforeseen incidents are
supposed to be allowed for, at cooling in, by the artist, upon the
principle, that each inch of cooling in answers to four degrees of
heat. Noting in this manner the elements of every brewing we make, when
the drink comes into a fit state for use, we are enabled to compare
our practice with the principles which directed it; by this means,
experiments constantly before our eyes will be the most certain and
best foundation for improvement.
_Small Beer. Heat of air 60 Degrees. 6 quarters of Malt, 36lb. of Hops,
for 30 Barrels 3/4, to go out 56 Inches above Brass._
Observations.
| 1760. | 1760. | 1760. | 1761. | 1761. |
| June | June | Aug. | July | July |
| 27. | 30. | 3. | 3. | 5. |
1st Liquor. Charge great copper, }| | | | | |
2 inches 1/2 above brass; cool }| | | | | |
in to 13 inches 1/2 above brass, }| 151 | 149 | 150 | 153 | 150 |
rake 1/2 hour, mash 1 hour, }| | | | | |
stand 1 hour 1/2, heat of the }| | | | | |
extract intended 150 degrees. }| | | | | |
| | | | | |
2d Liquor. Charge great copper }| | | | | |
7 inches above brass, cool in }| | | | | |
to 13 inches 1/2 above brass, }| | | | | |
mash 3/4 hour, stand 3/4 hour, }| 161 | 163 | 163 | 148 | 162 |
heat intended 162 degrees--1 }| | | | | |
wort came in 33 inches above }| | | | | |
brass, boiled 1 hour 1/2, went }| | | | | |
out 28 inches above brass. }| | | | | |
| | | | | |
3d Liquor. Charge little copper }| | | | | |
8 inches 1/2 above brass, cool }|
in to 13 inches above brass, }| 166 | 165 | 165 | 167 | 165 |
mash 1/2 hour, stand 1/2 hour, }| | | | | |
heat expected 166 degrees. }| | | | | |
| | | | | |
4th Liquor. Charge little copper }| | | | | |
10 inches 1/2 above brass, cool }| | | | | |
in to 13 inches above brass, }| | | | | |
mash 1/2 hour, stand 1/2 hour, }| 169 | 172 | 170 | 171 | 173 |
heat expected 170 degrees--2 }| | | | | |
wort came in 39 inches above }| | | | | |
brass, boiled down to 28 inches }| | | | | |
above brass. }| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Length 31 barrels. | | | | | |
_Porter. Heat of the Air 40 Degrees. 11 quarters of Malt, 132lb. of
Hops for 27 Barrels 1/2, to go out at 3 Worts, 31 Inches above Brass._
| 1761, | 1761, | 1761, |
| Nov. 20. | Nov. 22. | Nov. 25. |
| 43° | 35° | 40° |
1st Liquor. Charge great copper }| | | |
13 inches above brass, cool in to }| | | |
17 inches 1/2 above brass, rake }| 153 | 151 | 154 |
1/2 hour, mash 1 hour, stand 1 hour }| | | |
1/2, extract expected 153 degrees. }| | | |
| | | |
2d Liquor. Charge little copper }| | | |
2 inches 1/2 below brass, cool in }| | | |
to 3 inches above brass, mash 3/4 }| | | |
hour, stand 3/4 hour, heat expected }| 155 | 157 | 153 |
at the tap 154 degrees--1 wort came }| | | |
in great copper 16 inches above }| | | |
brass, boiled 1 hour, went out 13 }| | | |
inches above brass. }| | | |
| | | |
3d Liquor. Charge little copper }| | | |
10 inches above brass, cool in to }| | | |
16 inches above brass, mash 1/2 }| | | |
hour, stand 1/2 hour, the tap to }| 157 | 157 | 158 |
come down 158 degrees--2 wort came }| | | |
in great copper 11 inches above }| | | |
brass, boiled 2 hours, went out 5 }| | | |
inches above brass. }| | | |
| | | |
4th Liquor. Charge little copper }| | | |
1 inch 1/2 above brass, cool in to }| | | |
6 inches 1/4 above brass, mash 1/2 }| 160 | 161 | 160 |
hour, stand 1/2 hour, to come down }| | | |
160 degrees. }| | | |
| | | |
5th Liquor. Charge little copper }| | | |
1 inch 1/2 above brass, cool in to }| | | |
6 inches 1/4 above brass, mash 1/2 }| | | |
hour, stand 1/2 hour, tap to come }| 161 | 160 | 161 |
down at161 degrees--3 wort came }| | | |
in 25inches above brass, went out }| | | |
13 inches above brass. }| | | |
| | | |
Length 27 barrels 3/4. | | | |
SECTION XIV.
_Of the disposition of the Worts when turned out of
the Copper, the thickness they should be laid at in
the Backs to cool, and the heat they should retain for
fermentation, under the several circumstances._
When a process of brewing is regularly carried on with two coppers, the
worts come in course to boil, as the extracts which formed them are
produced. It would be tedious and unnecessary to describe the minutest
parts of the practice; which, in some small degree, varies as brewing
offices are differently constructed, or the utensils are differently
arranged. Without the assistance of a brewhouse, it is perhaps
impossible to convey to the imagination the entire application of the
rules before laid down, but with one, I hope they need little, if any,
farther explanation.
The worts, when boiled, are musts possessing an intended proportion of
all the fermentable principles, except air; this was expelled by fire,
and until their too great heat is removed, cannot be administered to
them.
In musts, which spontaneously ferment, the external air excites in
their oils an agitation, which, heating and opening the pores of the
liquor, expands and puts in action the internal air they possess.
The case is not exactly the same with regard to those musts which
require ferments. The air wanted in boiled worts must be supplied by
the means of yeast. Was the heat of the wort such, as to occasion the
immediate bursting of all the air bubbles contained in the yeast,
an effervescence rather than a fermentation would ensue. Now a heat
superior to 80 degrees has this effect, and is therefore one of the
boundaries in artificial fermentation; 40 degrees of heat, for want of
being sufficient to free the air inclosed in the yeast bubbles, and to
excite their action, is the other. Within these limits, must the wort
be cooled to; and the precise degree, which varies according to the
different circumstances they are in, and to the intent they are to be
applied to, is, together with the means of procuring this heat, the
purport of this section.
Worts, when in the copper, boil at a heat somewhat superior to that of
212 degrees; the more this is exceeded, the stronger the liquor is. The
instant the wort is suffered to go out of the copper, it loses more
heat than in any other equal space of time after it has been exposed to
the air. In the course of the natural day, or in 24 hours, the heat of
the air varies sometimes, (especially in summer) as much as 20 degrees.
If the wort, after having reached the lowest heat in this interval,
was suffered to remain in the coolers, till the return of a greater in
the air, it would be influenced by this increase, expand, and be put
in action; and, should there be at this time any elastic air in any
part of the coolers, which sometimes happens, either from the sediment
of former worts, from the backs not being clean swept, or from the
wood being old and spungy, the wort supposed to be left to cool, will,
by receiving the additional heat from the air, and blending with the
incidental elastic air adhering to the coolers, bring on, in a lower
degree, the act of fermentation; an accident by the artist called the
_backs being set_.
For this reason, a wort should never be suffered to lay so long as to
be exposed to the hazard of this injury, which generally may happen
in somewhat more than twelve hours. Thus are we directed to spread
or lay our worts so thin in the backs, as they may come to their due
temperature within this space; in summer it is sufficient if the backs
be covered; in winter a depth of two inches may oftentimes be allowed
with safety.
From the inclination of the coolers or backs to the place, where the
worts run off, from their largeness, or from the wind and air warping
them, a wort seldom, perhaps never, lays every where at an equal
depth, and cannot therefore become uniformly cold in the same space
of time. This renders the use of the thermometer difficult, though
not impracticable. To supply the want of this instrument with some
degree of certainty, the hand intended to feel the worts, is brought
to the heat of the body, by placing it in the bosom, until it has
fully received it. Then dipping the fingers into the liquor, we judge,
by the sensation it occasions, whether it is come to a proper degree
of coolness to be fermented. As the external parts of our bodies are
generally of about 90 degrees of heat, some degree of cold must be
felt, before the worts are ready for the purpose of fermentation. But
that degree varies for different drinks, and in different seasons. I
will endeavour to point out the rules to form a judgment for the heat
of small beer worts. A greater precision, both for that and for other
drinks, will be found in the following table.
In July and August, no other rule can be given, than that the worts
be got as cold as possible. The same rule holds good in June and
September, except the season is unnaturally cold. In May and October,
worts should be let down nearly thirty degrees colder than the hand; in
April, November, and March, the worts should be about twenty degrees
colder than the hand, and only ten in January, February and December.
It may perhaps be thought that the heats here specified are great, but
worts cool as they run from the backs to the working tuns, they are
also affected by the coldness of the tuns themselves, and perhaps these
circumstances are not so trivial, but that an allowance should be made
for them. In general, the heat of no must should exceed 60 degrees,
because fermentation increases this or any other degree, in proportion
to that, under which this particular part of the process begins. To
render the thermometer more useful, and to suit it to our conveniency,
we have before supposed every first mash for common small beer to be
made at four o’clock in the morning: in this case, and where the worts
are not laid to cool at more than one inch in depth, the following
table may be said to be a measure of time, the first and last worts for
this drink should be let down at.
A TABLE, _shewing nearly the times the first and last worts of common
small beers should be let down in the working tuns, supposing the first
mash of the brewing to be made at four o’clock in the morning, and no
uncommon change happens in the heat of the air_.
Vertical headings--
A: Heat of the air at 8 o’clock in the morning.
B: Hours in the afternoon, same day as brewing began.
C: Hours in the afternoon.
D: Hours of the next morning.
[A] Air. 1st Wort. [B] 2nd Wort. [C]
30 3 o’clock. } 5 o’clock }
35 3-1/2 } 6-1/2 }
40 4-1/4 } 8 }
45 4-3/4 } 9-1/4 }
50 5-1/2 } 11-1/2 }
55 6-1/2 } 1-1/2 } [D]
60 7-1/2 } 2-1/2 }
65 8 } 2-1/2 }
70 8-1/2 } 3 }
75 9 } 3 }
80 9 } 4 }
Small beer worts being nearly alike in consistency, the necessary
variations from this table must be less frequent. It is true, some
difference may happen from the exposition of a brewhouse, or from
other circumstances, admitting more or less freely the intercourse of
the air, and be such as might alter, upon the whole, the times set
down in the preceding page. Brown beer worts, which are more thick and
glutinous, and especially amber worts, which are stronger still, will
require other and longer terms to come to their due temperature, to be
fermented at; but when once observed and noted, according to various
degrees of heat in the air, at 8 o’clock each morning, the conveniency
of these observations must be such, in this business, which requires
long watchings and attendance, that no arguments are necessary to
recommend what is rather indulgence than industry.
A TABLE _shewing the degrees of heat worts should be at,
to be let down from the coolers into the working tuns,
according to the several degrees of heat in the air_.
Heat of the air. Common small. All-keeping beers. Amber or ales.
25 75 59 55
30 70 56 54
35 65 53 53
40 60 50 52
45 55 50 51
50 50 50 50
55 } In these cases, when the medium heat of the air
60 } is greater than that which the worts should ferment
at, the cold of the night must be made use of, to
bring them as near as possible to their temperature. It
has been observed, that the coldest part of the natural
day is about one hour before sun rising.
The consequences of worts being set to ferment at, in
an undue heat, are the following. In strong beers, or
such as are intended for long keeping, if the worts be
too cold, a longer time is required for their fermentation,
and the drinks grow fine with more difficulty; if, on the
contrary, they are too hot, acidity, and a waste of some
of the spiritous parts must ensue. Either of these disadvantages
appears more conspicuous in common small
beer, as, in winter, this drink is seldom kept a sufficient
time to correct the defect, and in summer, from being
too hot, it becomes putrid, or, in the terms of the brewery,
is hereby _foxed_.
SECTION XV.
_Of Yeast, its nature, and contents, and of the manner and
quantities in which it is to be added to the worts._
Musts, or worts, though ever so rich, when unfermented, yield no
spirit by distillation, nor inebriate, if drank in any quantity. The
oils, as yet not sufficiently attenuated for this purpose, become so
only by fermentation. Air is absolutely necessary for this process,
in the course of which, some of the aerial parts mixing with, and
being enveloped by, oils greatly thinned, are enclosed in vesicles not
sufficiently strong to resist the force of elasticity, or prevent a
bursting and explosion. In the progress of the act, the air joins with
oils both coarser, and charged with earthy particles, a coat is formed
capable of resisting its expansion, and if the bubbles cannot come to
a volume sufficient to be floated in and upon the liquor, they sink to
the bottom, and take the appellation of _lees of wine_.
Between these two extremes, there is another case, when the bubbles are
sufficiently strong to hold the air, but not weighty enough to sink.
After floating in, they emerge, and are buoyed upon the surface of the
liquor, and there remaining entire, are termed the _flowers of wine_.
Both lees and flowers are, therefore, vesicles formed out of the
must, filled with elastic air, and, either separately, or when mixed
together, they obtain the general denomination of _yeast_.
We have often mentioned the power of fire, in driving the air out of
worts. Yeast, fraught with the principle now wanted for fermentation,
is, therefore, the properest subject to be added to the must; but
its texture is various, in proportion to the different heats of the
extracts it was formed from. Keeping drinks, extracted with hotter
waters, yield yeast, the oils of which have a greater spissitude. It
is consequently slower, more certain, and most fit to promote a cool
and gentle fermentation. That, on the contrary, which is produced from
small beer, being weak, and acting at once, is apt to excite a motion
like that of effervescence; such yeast ought, therefore, not to be
used, but when there is no possibility to obtain the other.
The longer wines or beers are under the first act of fermentation, the
greater variety will be found in the texture of the bubbles, which
compose their flower and lees. Wines made out of grapes, in general,
require a time somewhat longer than the worts of malt, before this
first period is at an end; and we have seen, that in them fermentation
first brings forth air bubbles, whose constituent parts are most
tender, and afterwards some that are of a stronger texture. As malt
liquors require a less time to ferment, their bubbles are more similar:
on this account, the whole quantity of yeast necessary to a wort
should not be applied at once, lest the air bladders, bursting nearly
in the same time, should prevent that gradual action, which seems to be
the aim of nature in all her operations.
Keeping beers, formed from low dried malts, occasion the greatest
variety of heat in the extracts, and from hence these musts form
yeast, whose bubbles differ most in magnitude and strength. A drink,
then, properly made from pale malt, nearly resembles natural wines,
especially when they are so brewed as to require precipitation to
become transparent.
_Cleansing_ is dividing the drink into several casks; this checks the
motion occasioned by fermentation, and consequently retards it. To
prevent this from being too sensibly felt, some yeast should be put
to the drink, before it is removed into the casks. As the constituent
parts, in strong beers, are more tenacious than in small, and require
a greater motion to entertain the fermentation, the drinks, before
they be thus divided, should, besides the addition of the yeast, be
well roused with a scoop, or by some other means, for one hour. This
not only blends all the parts together, but attenuates and heats the
liquor, and makes it more ready to begin to ferment again, when in the
casks. One sixth part of the whole of the yeast used is generally
reserved for this purpose; and the remainder is equally divided as the
worts are let down. It must be observed, that this stirring, though as
necessary to small, as to strong drinks, is only to be continued for a
space of time proportioned to their strength.
We have before seen, when a grist of malt is entirely extracted to
form common small beer, soon to be expended, one gallon of yeast to
eight bushels of grain affords a sufficient supply of air to perfect
the fermentation. This takes place when the heat of the air is at 40
degrees, but, at the highest fermentable degree, experience shews,
that half that quantity is as much as is necessary. For some ales,
the whole virtue of the malt is not extracted, and what remains is
appropriated to the making of small beer: the quantity of yeast used
for these drinks must be only in proportion to the strength extracted.
From these premises, the following tables have been formed, exhibiting
the quantity of yeast proper for the several sorts of drinks, at the
different heats of the air.
A TABLE _shewing the quantities of yeast
necessary for common small beer in every
season_.
Heat of Pints of yeast to one
the air. quarter of malt.
35 9 }
40 8 } The whole quantity of yeast to be
45 8 } put into the first wort.
50 7 } ---------------------------------------
55 7 } The first wort to have 3/4
60 6 } The second wort to have 1/4
65 6 } ---------------------------------------
70 5 } The first wort to have one half of the
75 5 } whole quantity.
80 4 } The second wort to have the remainder.
A TABLE _shewing the quantities of yeast necessary for
all keeping drinks, both brown and pale, small and
strong_.
Heat of Pints of yeast to
the worts[37]. one quarter of malt.
30 6
35 6
40 6
45 6
50 6
55 5
60 5[38]
65 4
70 4
75 3
80 3
A TABLE _shewing the quantities of yeast necessary for
amber and all sorts of ales, after which small beer is
made_.
Heat Pints of yeast
of the air. to one quarter of malt.
30 7-1/2
35 7
40 7
45 6-1/2
50 6
55 5-1/2
60 5
65 4-1/2
70 4
75 3-1/2
80 3
This table is founded on the supposition that, the virtue or strength
extracted from one quarter of malt for amber, is equal to 5/6 of the
whole. In every heat of the air, the quantity of yeast to be used
for common small beer made after ale, must be one fifth part of the
quantity which the ale required, the additional strength obtained from
reboiling the hops, requiring further proportion; if, for keeping small
beer, nearly in the proportion of six pints of yeast to five barrels of
beer, this will be found to correspond with the rule delivered in the
foregoing table.
SECTION XVI.
_Of practical Fermentation, and the management of the
several sorts of Malt Liquors, to the period, at which
they are to be cleansed or put into the Casks._
The laws of fermentation are universal and uniform; and when it
proceeds regularly, its different periods are known by the different
appearances of the fermenting liquor. As a particular appellation is
given to each of these, it may not be unnecessary here to describe them.
1. The first sign of a wort fermenting is a fine white line, composed
of very small air bubbles, attached to the sides of the tun; the wort
is then said to _have taken yeast_.
2. When these air bubbles are extended over the whole surface of the
must, it is said to be _creamed over_.
3. Bubbles continuing to rise, a thin crust is formed; but as the
fermentation advances rather faster near the sides of the tun, than in
the middle, this crust is continually repelled; from which arises the
denomination of _the wort parting from the tun side_.
4. When the surface becomes uneven, as if it were rock work, this stage
of fermentation, which has no particular use, is distinguished by its
_height_.
5. When the head becomes lighter, more open, more uniform, and of a
greater depth, being round or higher in the middle, than in any other
part, and seeming to have a tendency still to rise, the liquor is
denominated to be of _so many inches, head not fit to cleanse_.
6. This head having risen to its greatest height, begins to sink, to
become hollow in the middle, and, at the same time, more solid, the
colours changing to a stronger yellow or brown; the wort is then said
to be _fit to cleanse_.
After this, no farther distinctions are made; if the fermentation is
suffered to proceed in the tun, the head continues to sink, and the
liquor is often injured.
As the denominations and tastes of liquors brewed from malt are
numerous, it is impossible to specify each separate one; we shall
therefore only particularize such sorts of drinks, as were taken notice
of in the section of extraction, they being most in use; but, from what
will be said concerning them, the method of managing any other malt
liquor may easily be deduced.
Spontaneous pellucidity arises from a due proportion of the oils to
the salts, in the worts, but the advantage of long keeping depends
not only on the quantity of oils and hops the musts possess, but also
on the fermentation being carried on in a slow and cool manner. All
drinks, intended long to be kept, are therefore best formed in cold
weather, and made to receive their yeast at such temperature, as is
set forth in the table. The yeast is to be divided in proportion to the
quantities of wort let down, until the whole, being mixed together,
receives its allotted portion, except so much as is to be put in
just before cleansing. Under these circumstances, drinks, which are
brewed for keeping, are suffered to go through the first process of
fermentation, till they are so attenuated, that the liquor becomes
light, and the head, or the yeast, laying on the surface of the beer,
begins to sink. When, or somewhat before, this head has fallen to
nearly half the greatest height it reached to, a remarkable vinous
smell is perceived, and the liquor, at this term, is to be put into
casks, being first well roused with the remaining part of the yeast, in
the manner mentioned in the preceding section.
By the description given of the origin of yeast, it appears that it is
formed rather of the coarser oils of the worts. If the cleansing is not
done when the head is sunk down to half the greatest height it rose to,
by falling lower, some part of these coarser oils return into the beer,
then under fermentation, and gives it a flat, greasy taste, technically
termed _yeast bitten_. When, on the contrary, beers or ales are removed
too soon from the first tumultuous fermentation, for want of having
been sufficiently attenuated, and from not having deposited their lees,
nor thrown up in flowers their coarser oils, they are less vinous, than
otherwise they would have been, appear heavy, aley, and are said _not
to have their body sufficiently opened_.
The fermentation of common small beer is, through necessity, carried
on so hastily, that it is hardly possible to wait for the signs, which
direct the cleansing of other beers. This drink being generally brewed
and fermented within twenty four hours, its state, with regard to
fermentation, is best judged of, by the quantity of its froth or head
at the time of cleansing, which, in proportion to the heat of the air,
may be determined by the following table.
A TABLE _shewing the depth of head, which common small
beer should have to be properly cleansed, in every season
of the year_.
Heat Head on the beer
of the air. in the tun.
25 Degrees 6 inches.
30 5
35 4-1/4
40 3-1/2
45 2-3/4
50 2
55 1-1/2
60 1
65 3/4
70 1/2
75 1/4
80 just taken.
As it is chiefly by the action of the air that wines are formed, if we
contrive to shift this powerful agent on the surface of a must under
fermentation, and to convey it more forcibly and hastily into the
wort, its efficacy will be renewed, the fermentation accelerated, the
liquor quickly become transparent, and soon be brought to the state of
maturity age might slowly make it arrive at.
Amber, or pale ales, require the hottest extracts pellucidity admits of
to be made strong, and at the same time soft and smooth to the palate;
but, as ales do not admit of any large quantity of hops, which would
alter their nature, there is a necessity to perform hastily the act
of fermentation, and to carry it on to a higher degree than is common
in other malt drinks. The method of exciting and conducting repeated
fermentations, with success, is perhaps not only the most difficult,
but the most curious, part of the process, I shall therefore conclude,
with an account of it, what I have to say with regard to the practice
of fermentation.
The amber wort being let down, at its proper degree of heat, into the
fermenting tun, out of the whole quantity of yeast allowed for this
drink, in the table, page 317, one seventh part must be kept to be used
as hereafter shall be mentioned. Suppose the heat of the air is at 40
degrees, and eight quarters of malt have been brewed for this purpose;
the whole of the yeast required is seven gallons, from which one is to
be reserved.[39] Of the six remaining gallons, one half, or three, are
to be put to the wort oh its first coming down, when the whole must be
well roused, or mixed, thoroughly to disperse the enlivening principle
the yeast conveys, hereby to prevent putrefaction, or foxing in any
part, and of the last three gallons, about three quarts must be added
to the drink, every twelve hours, until it ferments to the highest
pitch of the period mentioned in article 5, page 319. This successive
putting in of yeast is called[40]_feeding the drink_; before and
about the time the head is got to this height, all the dirt or foul
yeast, that rises on the surface, must be carefully skimmed off; it
is easily distinguished from the pure white froth, by its color, and
by the sinking of the head occasioned by its weight. Length of time
might attenuate some of these coarser oils, in a less artificial
fermentation, but as this help is not to be waited for, and every
obstacle to pellucidity must be removed, the brewer’s attention to this
point cannot be too great.--The head of the drink having reached its
utmost height, the reserved gallon of yeast is to be used, in order to
give to the ale a sufficient power to bear the repeated fermentations
it is to undergo, by being beat in, every two hours, with a jett or
scoope, for one quarter of an hour, so that the head on the drink is
each time to be reduced to the least height it is capable of. This
striking in being continued, the drink will periodically require it,
and be damaged if it be neglected. After it has undergone more or less
of these fermentations, in proportion to the heats of the worts and
of the air, the brewer is carefully to observe, when the head ceases
to rise to its accustomed height, and then to examine the drink, by
having the jett filled with it at the bottom, and brought through
the whole body to the top, a small part of which being poured in a
handgatherer, he will see whether the lees form themselves in large
white flakes, and readily subside, and be informed, by the taste,
whether the sweet of the wort is gone off, and the ale become vinous.
If these two circumstances concur, the drink is to be beat in with
the jett as before, but not roused as porter or other beers are; for
the lees, which in this drink are in greater quantity, would, by this
management, so intimately be mixed with it, as with difficulty to
separate themselves again, if at all. It is then time to cleanse it;
but the casks, at all times, more especially in summer, must be well
filled up with clean drink, that is, part of the very drink, which was
cleansed, avoiding that produced in the stillings, as this, for want
of standing a sufficient time, is always yeasty, and the yeast, being
greatly attenuated by the working of the drink, easily dissolves in the
ale, and renders it foul and ill-tasted.
As the right forming of amber ales is looked upon to be the highest
pitch of the art of pale beer brewing, I have dwelt longer on this
article than otherwise it might seem necessary, to shew the connexion
there is between every sort of malt liquors: but it should be observed,
the same method of fermenting it, is to be practised both winter and
summer, varying only the quantities of yeast in proportion to the
season; for where, in winter time, this drink is fed with three quarts
of yeast every twelve hours, half a gallon will answer the same intent
in summer. Upon the whole, the process is contrived to accelerate
fermentation, yet, the more coolly and gently it is performed, the
better will the ales be. I have before hinted, if Madeira wines were
fermented in this manner, they would sooner become fit for use, more
especially as they need no ferment to excite them. However, this method
of forming drink to be soon fit for use, has, either through interest
or prejudice, been taxed with being unwholesome, but upon what grounds,
I must confess I could never yet discover, as no reason of any moment
has ever been alledged for this assertion.
SECTION XVII.
_Of the signs generally directing the processes of
Brewing, and their comparison with the forgoing Theory
and Practice._
We have now brought our barley wines into the casks, and this on
principles, it is thought, agreeable and consonant to each other. As
the charge of novelty may be alledged, to invalidate what has been
offered, it is but just to pay so much regard to a long, and, upon the
whole, successful practice, as to recite, if not all, at least the
principal maxims and signs in brewing, which hitherto have guided the
artist. By comparing these with the present method, they will not only
illustrate each other, but perhaps cause both to be better understood;
and though, with respect to the art itself, this may be thought rather
a curious than an instructive part, yet we may learn, from hence, that
such practice, which long experience has proved to be right, will
always correspond with true theory.
1. _When a white flour settles, either in the underback or copperback,
which sometimes is the case of a first extract, it is a sure sign such
an extract has not been made sufficiently hot, or, in technical terms,
that_ the liquor has been taken too slack.
Malt, when dried, has its oils made tenacious, in proportion to the
power of heat it has been affected with; the grain, though ground, if
the water for the extraction is not at least as hot as what occasioned
this tenaciousness, must remain in great measure undissolved in the
first extract, and deposit itself as just now was mentioned.
2. _The first extract should always have some froth or head in the
underback._
The oils and salts of the malt, being duly mixed, form a saponaceous
body, the character of which is that, on being shook, it bears a froth
on its surface.
3. _The head or froth in the underback appearing red, blue, purple, or
fiery, shews the liquors to have been taken too hot._
The hotter the water is, when applied to the malt, the more must
the extract abound with oils, and consequently be more capable to
reflect colors in a strong manner. But how precarious this method of
estimating the quality of an extract is, in comparison to that which
the thermometer affords, will appear from the following observation
of Sir Isaac Newton: “Saponaceous bubbles will, for a while, appear
tinged with a variety of colors, which are agitated by the external
air, and those bubbles continue until such time as, growing excessive
thin, by the water trickling down their sides, and being no longer able
to retain the enclosed air, they burst.” Now as these bubbles vary in
their density, in proportion to their duration, the colors they reflect
must continually change, and therefore it is not possible to form an
accurate judgment of the condition and saponaceousness of the extracts,
by the appearance of their froth.
4. _When the grist feels slippery, it generally is a sign that the
liquors have been taken too high._
This appearance proceeds from an over quantity of oil being extracted,
and is the effect of too much heat.
5. _Beer ought always to work kind, out of the cask, when cleansed, but
the froth, in summer time, will be somewhat more open than in winter._
The higher and hotter the extracting water is, the more oils doth
it force into the must; when a wort is full charged with oils, the
fermentation is neither so strong nor so speedy, and consequently the
froth, especially the first, is thin, open, and weak. This improves as
the liquor is more attenuated, and heat, which expands all bodies, must
rarify the yeasty vesicles, the principal part of which is elastic air;
but this open head, even in summer time, improves to one more kind, as
the first, the most active period of fermentation, draws nearer to its
conclusion.
However vague and indeterminate these signs are, it would not be
impossible to bring them to some degree of precision; but, upon the
whole, this method would increase our difficulties, and yet, as to
certitude, be inferior to the rules we have endeavoured to establish,
we think it unnecessary to pursue any farther a research most likely
neither entertaining nor useful.
SECTION XVIII.
_An enquiry into what may be, at all times, a proper
stock of Beer, and the management of it in the cellars._
The business of a brewer is not confined to the mere manufacture of his
commodity; his concerns, as a trader, deserve no less regard, and, in a
treatise like this, should not be entirely omitted.
As it is a fault not to have a sufficient stock of beers it the
cellars, to serve the customers, it is one also to have more than is
needful. By the first of these errors, the beers would be generally
new and ill disposed for precipitation; by the other, quantities of
stale beer must remain, which, becoming hard, will at last turn stale,
and be unfit for use, unless blended with new brewed beers, to their
detriment. These faults, if continued, may in time affect a whole
trade, and ought therefore carefully to be avoided. For these reasons,
the whole quantity to be moved, or expected to be supplied from the
brewer’s store cellars, during the space of one twelvemonth, should be
calculated, as near as possible; half this quantity ought to be the
stock kept up from November to May inclusive, and nearly one third part
thereof be remaining in September. From hence a table may be formed, by
which it will be easy, at one view, to know the quantity that should
be maintained at every season of the year, and to avoid almost every
inconveniency, which otherwise must arise. Suppose, for example, the
number of casks expected to be moved in a year, to be 320 butts, and
248 puncheons, the store cellars ought to be supplied, as to time and
quantity, in the following proportion.
Butts. Puncheons.
January 160 124
February 160 124
March 160 124
April 160 124
May 160 124
June 146 113
July 133 103
August 120 93
September 107 82
October 133 103
November 160 124
December 160 124
After beers have been started in the cellars, the casks should be
well and carefully stopped down, as soon as the repelling force of
fermentation is so much lessened, as not to be able to oppose this
design. Otherwise the elastic air, which is the vivifying principle of
the drink, being lost, it would become vapid, and flat; and if left a
long time in this condition, perhaps grow sour.
It has already been observed, that cellars, in winter, are more hot
than the exterior air by 10 degrees, and more cold in summer by 5
degrees. But besides this general difference, repositories of beer
vary surprisingly in their temperature; from the nature of the soil in
which they are built, from their exposition to the sun, or from other
incidental causes. As heat is a very powerful agent in accelerating
fermentation, it is by no means surprising, not only that some cellars
do ripen drinks much sooner than others, but also that a difference
is often perceived in the same cellar. The persons entrusted with the
choice of beers, with which the customers are to be served, should
not be satisfied to send out their guiles in the progressive order
in which they were brewed, but ought, on every occasion, to note any
alteration that happens in the drink, as this is doing justice both to
the commodity, and to the consumer, who has a constant right to expect
his beer in due order.
Section XIX.
_Of Precipitation, and other remedies, applicable to the
diseases incident to Beers._
No accident can be so detrimental as leaky or stinking casks, which
lose or spoil the whole or part of the contained drink. The necessity
of having, on these occasions, a remedy at hand, was undoubtedly the
reason, why coopers were first introduced in store cellars. Constant
practice might have qualified their palates so as to make them
competent judges of the tastes of wines and beers, and to enable them
to know which were the fittest for immediate use. The preparing or
forcing them for this service, was a matter, which the profit gained
thereby made them ready enough to undertake. Chymists, whom they
consulted on this occasion, gave them some informations, from whence
the coopers became the possessors of a few nostrums, the effects of
which they were supposed to have experienced. But, ignorant of the
causes of most, if not all the defects they undertake to remedy, and
unacquainted with the constituent parts of beers, it is not to be
expected that their success should be constant and uniform. The brewer,
earnest to do his duty, and to excel, ought to keep a particular
account of every brewing; by this means he best can tell how he formed
the drink, and ought consequently, in any disorder, to be prepared to
direct the properest remedy.
The intent of this treatise has been to discover the means by which
errors may be avoided. Chymical applications are intended to remedy
those errors, which may be occasioned either by carelessness or
accident. The wholesomeness or propriety of the applications, which
will be indicated, must be left to the judgment of my readers; it is
most likely that there is sufficient room for improvement, and we might
expect it from those, whose profession it is to study every thing, that
may be conducive to the safety of mankind.
Whatever vegetables wines are produced from, whenever they deviate from
the respective perfection, a well-conducted fermentation might have
made them arrive at, they may be said to be distempered. Foulness, or
want of transparency, is not the least evil, but, according to its
degree, it obtains various appellations, and requires different helps.
From what has been said, nothing can be more plain, than that it is
always in our power to form beers and ales, which will be bright. Yet
porter or brown beer is constantly so brewed as to need precipitation:
the reasons for this management have before been offered. Were we to
wait till the liquor became transparent by age, a more real disorder
would ensue, that of acidity. Precipitation is then serviceable,
especially when beers are to be removed from one cellar to another,
a short space of time before they are to be used. By being shook,
and the lees mixed with the liquor, a strong acid taste is conveyed
therein, and the power of subsiding, which is wanted, renders the
forcing them, in that case, of absolute necessity. In beers brewed
with liquors sufficiently heated, no flatness is occasioned thereby;
as the case is, under like circumstances, with liquors produced by low
extracts, from grain not sufficiently dried. The degree of foulness in
porter should however be limited; its bounds ought not to exceed the
power of one gallon of dissolved isinglass, to a butt. Isinglass is
dissolved in stale beer, and strained through a sieve, so as to be of
the consistence of a jelly. The beer is set in motion with a stick,
which reaches one third part down the cask, before and after this
jelly is put in; and a few hours should be sufficient to obtain the
desired effect. We have before observed, that this quantity of jelly
of isinglass is equal to a medium of 10 degrees dryness in the malt,
and heat of the extracts. When the opacity exceeds this, the liquor is
termed _stubborn_; the same quantity of dissolved isinglass repeated,
is often sufficient, if not, six ounces of the oil of vitriol are
mixed with it. An effervescence is, by this addition, produced; the
oils of the drink become more attenuated, and the weight added to the
precipitating matter, is a means to render it more efficacious. Instead
of the oil of vitriol, six or eight ounces of the concrete of vitriol,
pounded and mixed with the isinglass, are sometimes used with success.
A foulness in beer beyond that which is called _stubborn_, gives to
the drink the denomination of _grey beer_. This arises from the oils
which float upon the surface, and which the liquor has not been able
to absorb. In this case, the same methods as before mentioned are
repeated; the quantity of dissolved isinglass is often increased to
three gallons, that of vitriol to more than 12 ounces, and sometimes a
small quantity of _aqua fortis_ is added to these ingredients.
The next stage of opacity is _cloudiness_; when the cooper confesses
that the distemper exceeds the power of his menstruums, and that
his attempts extend no farther than to hide the evil, tournsol and
cochineal, were they not so expensive, might in this case be used with
success; but what is less known, and would greatly answer the intent
of hiding the dusky colour of the drink, is madder;--about three
or four ounces of this is the proper quantity for a butt of beer.
Calcined treacle, by the coopers called blacking, from its acidity,
is of some small service, for, by coloring the drink, it somewhat
lessens the grey hue thereon; a quart is generally used in a butt;
and, to prevent the defect in the beer being noticed by the consumer,
the practice is to put thereon what is called _a good cauliflowered
head_. This might be done by using as much pounded salt of steel as
will lay upon a shilling; but the difference in price between this
salt and copperas makes the last generally to be preferred. The strong
froth on the top of the pot, and that which foams about it, together
with somewhat of a yellow cast, are often mistaken for the signs of a
superior merit and strength, though, in fact, they are those of deceit.
A little reflection that the natural froth of beer cannot be yellow,
nor continue a long time, especially if the liquor has some age,
would soon cure mankind of this prejudice. Cloudy beers, under these
circumstances, though not cured, are generally consumed.
Beers become _sick_, from their having so large a portion of oils, as
to prevent the free admission of the external air into them. The want
of this enlivening element makes them appear flat, though not vapid.
Such beers should not, if possible, be brought immediately into use,
as age alone would effect their cure. But when this cannot be complied
with, every means that will put the beer upon the fret, or under a new
fermentation, must be of service. By pitching a butt head over head,
the lees of the beer, which contain a large proportion of air, being
mixed again with the drink, help to bring on this action, and to remove
the _sickness_.
Burnt hartshorn shavings, to the quantity of two-penny-worth, put into
a butt, are often of use.
Balls made with eight ounces of the finest flower, and kneaded with
treacle, convey likewise air to the drink, and promote its briskness.
Beers, by long standing, often acquire so powerful an acid, as to
become disagreeable. The means of correcting this defect is by
alkaline, or testaceous substances, and in general by all those
which have the property of absorbing acids. To a butt of beer in
this condition, from four to eight ounces of calcined powder of
oyster-shells may be put, or from six to eight ounces of salt of
wormwood. Sometimes a penny-worth or two of whiting is used, and often
twenty or thirty stones of unslacked lime; these are better put in
separately, than mixed with the isinglass.
From two to six pounds of treacle used to one butt of beer, has a very
powerful effect, not only to give a sweet fulness in the mouth, but
to remove the acidity of the drink. Treacle is the refused sweet of
the sugar baker, part of the large quantities of lime used in refining
sugars, undoubtedly enter in its composition, and is the occasion of
its softening beers.
In proportion as beers are more or less forward, from two to four
ounces of salt of wormwood and salt of tartar, together with one ounce
of pounded ginger, are successfully employed. All these substances
absorb acids, but they leave a flatness in the liquor, which in some
measure is removed by the use of ginger.
Sometimes, in summer, when beer is wanted for use, we find it on the
fret; as it is then in a repelling state, it does not give way to the
finings, so as to precipitate. For this, about two ounces of cream of
tartar are mixed with the isinglass, and if not sufficient, four ounces
of oil of vitriol are added to the finings next used, in order to quiet
the drink.
Some coopers attempt to extend their art so far as to add strength to
malt liquors; but let it be remembered, that the principal constituent
parts of beer should be malt and hops. When strength is given to
the liquor by any other means, its nature is altered, and then it
is not beer we drink. Treacle in large quantities, the berries of
the _Cocculus Indicus_, the grains of paradise, or the Indian ginger
pounded fine, and mixed with a precipitating substance, are said to
produce this extraordinary strength. It would be well if the attempts
made to render beers strong by other means than by hops and malt, were
to be imputed to none but coopers; Cocculus Indicus, and such like
ingredients, have been known to be boiled in worts, by brewers who were
more ambitious to excel the rest of the trade, than to do justice to
the consumers. Were it not that pointing out vice is often the means
to forward the practice of it, I could add to this infamous catalogue,
more ingredients, it were to be wished practitioners never knew either
the name or nature of, for fining, softening, and strengthening.
Formerly brown beers were required to be of a very dark brown,
inclinable to black. As this color could not be procured by malt
properly dried, the juice of elder berries was frequently mixed with
the isinglass. This juice afterwards gave way to calcined sugar; both
are needless, as time and knowledge remove our prejudices, when the
malt and hops have been properly chosen; and applied to their intended
purpose.
Such are the remedies chiefly made use of for brown beers. Drinks
formed from pale malts are always supposed to become spontaneously
fine, and when they are so, by being bottled, they are saved from
any farther hazard. As it is impossible for any fermented liquor to
be absolutely at rest, the reason of beers being preserved by this
method, is, thereby they are deprived of a communication with the air,
and, without risk, gain all the advantages which age, by slow degrees,
procures, and which art can never imitate. Were we as curious in our
ales and beers as we are in the liquors we import, did we give to
the produce of our own country the same care and attendance which we
bestow on foreign wines, we might enjoy them in a perfection at present
scarcely known, and perhaps cause foreigners to give to our beers a
preference to their own growth.
SECTION XX.
_OF TASTE[41]._
Doctor Grew, who has treated of this matter, divides taste into simple
and compound; he mentions the different species of the first, and
calculates the various combinations of the latter, the number of which
exceeds what at first might be expected. Without entering into this
detail, I think that the different tastes residing in the barleys, or
formed by their being malted, and brewed with hops, may be reduced to
the following; the acid, which is a simple taste; the sweet, which is
an acid smoothed with oils; the aromatic, which is the compound of a
spiritous acid, and a volatile sulphur; the bitter, which, according
to our author, is produced by an oil well impregnated either with an
alkaline or an acid salt, shackled with earth; the austere, which is
both astringent and bitter; and, lastly, the nauseous and rank, which
is, at least in part, sometimes found in beers, which have either been
greatly affected by fire, or, by long age, have lost their volatile
sulphurs; and have nothing left but the thicker and coarser oils,
resembling the empyreumatic dregs of distilled liquors not carefully
drawn.
The number of circumstances on which the taste of fermented liquors
depends, are so various, that perhaps there never were any two
brewings, or any two vintages, which produced drinks exactly similar.
But as, in this case, as well as in many others, the varieties may be
reduced under some general classes; the better to distinguish them, let
us enquire which taste belongs to different malt liquors, according to
the several circumstances in which they are brewed.
In beers and ales, the acid prevails in proportion as the malt has
been less dried, and heat was wanting in the extracting water. The
sweet will be the effect of a balance preserved between the acids and
the oils. When, by the means of hotter waters, oils more tenacious
are extracted from the grain, whereby the more volatile sulphur is
retained, the taste becomes higher in relish, or aromatic. If the heat
is still increased, the acids, and the most volatile oils, will in
part be dissipated, and in part be so enveloped with stronger oils,
as the bitter of the hops appears more distinct. A greater degree of
fire will impress the liquor with an austere, rough, or harsh taste;
and a heat beyond this so affects the oils of the grain, as to cause
the extracts to be nauseous to the palate. Besides these, there may
be other causes which produce some variation in taste; as a superior
dryness in the hops; an irregularity in the ordering of the heat of the
extracts; too great an impetuosity or slowness in the fermentation; the
difference of seasons in which the drink is kept; but as these causes
affect the liquor, in a low degree, in comparison to the drying and
extracting heats of the grain, an enquiry into their consequences is
not absolutely material.
Beers or ales, formed of pale malt, in which a greater portion of acids
is contained, with less tenacious oils, are not only more proper to
allay thirst, but in general more aromatic than brown drinks. The oils
of these last, being, by the effect of fire, rendered more compact,
and more tenacious of the terrestrial parts raised with them, are
attended with something of an austere and rank taste. This seems to
be the reason why brown beers require more time, after they have been
fermented, to come to their perfection. The air, by degrees, softens
and attenuates their oils, and, by causing the heterogeneous particles
to subside, makes them at last, unless charring heats have been used,
pleasing to the palate, whereas they were before austere, rank, and
perhaps nauseous.
By means of the thermometer, we have endeavoured to fix the different
colors of malt, the duration of the principal sorts of drink, and
the tendency each has to become transparent. The same instrument
cannot probably have the same use, when applied to distinguish the
different tastes, as these depend on a variety of causes not easy to be
ascertained. Yet something of this nature may be attempted, upon the
following principles.
As the chief circumstance which produces a variety of tastes in malt
liquors, is fire or heat acting on the malt and hops, and the effect of
the air, put in motion by the same element, the table here subjoined
may point out what tastes are in general occasioned by the combination
of these two causes.
A TABLE _determining the tastes of Malt Liquors_.
Heat of Dryness and Predominant
the air. extracting heat. tastes.
80° 119° Acid.
76 124 Ac. ac. sweet.
73 129 Ac. sw.
70 134 Ac. sw. sw. bitter.
66 138 Sw. sw. bitter.
63 143 Sw. bit.
60 148 Bit. bit. aromatic.
56 152 Bit. arom.
53 157 Bit. arom. austere.
50 162 Arom. aust. aust.
46 167 Aust. aust. nauseous.
43 171 Aust. nau.
40 176 Nauseous.
The first column of the table shews the fermentable degrees reversed,
as the hotter the season is, the more fermented drinks tend to acidity,
the direct contrary of which is the consequence of an increase in the
heat, malt or hops are dried or extracted with.
The assistance of this table, though small, ought perhaps not to
be entirely slighted, as it seems at least to shew that the useful
is seldom separated from the elegant, and that a medium between
extremes is most agreeable both to the operations of nature, and the
constitution of our organs.
The impressions of tastes are less in proportion as the drinks are
weak. The strongest wine yields the most acid vinegar. Time wears away
this acidity much sooner, than it doth the nauseousness occasioned
by vehement heats. This circumstance shews how necessary it is, in
the beginning of the process of brewing, to avoid extracts which are
too weak, as from hence, in its conclusion, such would be required
whose great heat would render the drink rank and disagreeable.
That proportion between the salts and the oils, which constitutes
soundness and pellucidity, is most pleasing to the taste, and seems
to be the utmost perfection of the art. As the sun never occasions a
heat capable of charring the fruits of the vine, we never meet with
wines endued with a taste resembling the empyreumatic, which we have
here represented. This error, being inexcusable in any liquor, ought
carefully to be guarded against, and, from what has here been said, we
should learn this important truth, that nature is the best guide, and
that, by imitating, as near as possible, her operations, we shall never
be disappointed in our ends.
APPENDIX.
Though this work has already been carried to a great length, I
hope those of my readers, who may have done me the honor to go
attentively through the whole of it, will pardon me the addition of
a few incidental thoughts and queries. The chain of arts is so well
connected, that researches originally intended for the illustration of
any one of them, can hardly fail of throwing some light upon others.
1. The seed of plants cannot be put in a fitter place, for perfect
vegetation, than when buried under ground, at a depth sufficient to
defend the young shoots from the vicissitudes of heat and cold, and the
disadvantage of too much moisture. The manuring of the earth, and the
steeping the seed into solutions of salts, have been found, in some
cases, to increase the strength of the grain, to correct its original
defects, and to prevent the noxious impressions of a vicious ground.
Plants are made to germinate in water alone, and this experiment so
successfully carried on every winter, in warm apartments, may still be
improved by dissolving salts in the water.--Could the barley used for
malting be put in the ground, its growth would be more natural, and
its oils becoming more miscible with water, by the saline nourishment
derived from the earth, might yield more vinous, more strong, and
more lasting liquors. But as this method is impracticable, would it
be impossible to increase the efficacy of that which is used? Consult
Home on agriculture: might not either nitre or salt petre be added to
the water, with which the grain is moistened? are they not used with
success to manure land? Are not solutions of them in water employed by
the farmer to steep his sowing seed? I barely mention these as some of
the substances, that might be employed in the malting of barley, and am
far from thinking there are none other. Perhaps different salts should
be used, according to the nature of the soil, from which the corn was
produced; but a variety of experiments seems to be required, in order
to discover how far art might in this case imitate and improve nature.
2. A small quantity of malt, at all times, but especially when brewed
in large vessels, parts too readily with the heat which extraction
requires; and, on the contrary, if the quantity of malt be very great,
the heat may not be uniformly spread. A forward beer inclinable to
acidity is often the result of too short a grist; a thick, stubborn,
and rank liquor many times is produced from too large a one. Every
advantage may be had in brewing, properly, five or six quarters of
malt; it is difficult to succeed if the number exceeds fifty.
3. The strong pungent volatile spirit, which exhales from a must, when
under full fermentation, has been supposed to be a loss, which might
be prevented; and accordingly attempts have been made to retain these
flying impetuous particles, by stopping the communication between the
atmosphere and the fermenting drink. That there is a dispersion of
spirits is beyond doubt, and that these exhaling vapors consist of the
finest oils, which the heat forces out of the must, is equally certain.
But this loss seems to be abundantly repaid by the stronger oils,
which the same degree of heat attenuates and substitutes, in a larger
quantity, to the former. The last oils could never come under the form
of a vinous liquor, but by a power, which sooner or later dissipates
some of the first. Pale ales or amber not only lay, for many days,
exposed to the open air, but suffer, by the periodical renewal of the
action of the air, every two or four hours, a much more considerable
loss of spirits, than when fermentation is carried on uniformly. Yet
experience shews, that so many oils are, by this method, attenuated,
that the strength acquired greatly surpasses that which is lost.
4. The practice of fermenting _by compression_, recommended to
distillers, seems, on this account, less useful, than might be
concluded from theory alone; the intent of the distiller, as well as of
the brewer, is to extract the greatest quantity of spiritous oils. It
is impossible to ferment a must _in vacuo_; air is absolutely necessary
to carry on this operation, even a superabundant quantity of oils
admitted into the must, by obstructing the free admission of the air,
impedes fermentation, prevents the wine from reaching pellucidity, and
sometimes is the occasion of its becoming putrid.
5. When the purest spirit is intended to be drawn from the grain,
the fermented wash ought to be suffered to settle, till it becomes
transparent. The dispatch, with which the distillery is generally
carried on, often prevents this useful circumstance taking place,
and occasions a want of vinosity in the liquor. In many cases, the
extraordinary charges of extracting the grist from malted corn, in
the manner, which has been directed for drinks intended a short space
to be kept, and of suffering the fermented wash to be meliorated by
time, until it becomes vinous and spontaneously transparent, might be
abundantly repaid. Yet, if hurry must be a part of the distiller’s
business, he should at least make such extractions as admit of the
speediest fermentation and the readiest pellucidity. He cannot expect
corn spirits to equal the brandies of France, unless his worts are
similar to the wines distilled in that kingdom, where those used for
this purpose are weak, fine, and tending to acidity.[42] He would
therefore secure to himself the greatest probability of success, if
he employed only malted corn in his grist, this of the best kind, well
germinated to form a saccharine basis, slack dried, and resolved,
with weak extracts, to preserve into the must a proper proportion of
vinosity. If he intended this wash to be formed into a pure spirit, it
should be allowed time to become transparent; he might regulate his
extracts by such heats as have been fixed for common small beer, brewed
when the heat of the air is at the lowest fermentable degree, though
perhaps heats less than these, when dispatch is required, might better
answer his purpose, especially as the length used in the distillery
is nearly the same with that which brewers use for the liquor here
referred to. With hot waters to attempt to force from the grain more
strength or more oils, than such as will form a clean tasteless spirit,
is, in the distillery, a real loss and a fundamental error. By too
strong heats, more oils are forced into the must than can be converted
in spirits; and fermentation being, by this over charge, in some
measure, clogged and impeded, a less yield is made, and the liquor
obtained of a rank and often empyreumatic taste.
6. Why are the brandies of Spain inferior to those prepared in France?
The wines of the last country are the growth of a weaker sun; they
contain no more oils than can be assimilated by fermentation, and form
a clean, dry, nutty spirit. The Spanish wines abounding with more
oleaginous than acid parts, this over proportion becomes not only
useless, but hurtful in the still, and produces the rankness observed
in Spanish brandies. The cleanness of the spirit arises, in great
measure, from the weakness of the must, and its vinosity from a less
proportion of oils to the salts. This seems to be the reason why the
most grateful spirits are produced from wines unable to bear the sea,
or to be long kept.
7. The native spirits of vegetables, says Boerhaave, are separated by
heats between 94 degrees, and 212. To obtain the whole of these, the
fire must be gradually increased; for a superior heat dissipates the
spirits raised by an inferior one. Such parts as might be obtained
by 100 degrees, are lost if the heat applied be much greater. It is
true, the parts of vegetables immersed in water, cannot so easily be
dissipated as if they were in open air, yet, by the rarefaction of the
liquid, a proportional evaporation, however small, must ensue, or the
oils raised by a greater heat may so effectually envelope the finer
ones, as to make them hardly perceptible either to our smell or taste.
Thus, though heated water is able to extract all the virtues residing
in the vegetables, the different application of the fire will alter not
only their proportions, but their properties also, when we consider
that pure spirit of wine boils at so low a heat as 175 degrees. If the
above principles be true, that surely must be the cleanest spirit which
is brought over in the slowest and coolest manner; and it is more than
probable, if the rules here laid down be put in practice, the grain of
England will be found to yield spirits that may vie with the brandies
of France, be more pure than those of the Indies, and excel those of
Holland.
8. The vinegar maker is equally concerned with the distiller in the
brewing process. Vinegar is produced in the last stage of fermentation,
when a gross, tartareous, unctous matter, consisting of the coarser
oils extracted either from the grain or the grapes, generally falls
to the bottom of the liquor, and no longer prevents its acidity, or
affects its flavor. Though the best vinegar proceeds either from the
strongest wines or beers, this strength consists in the quantity of
fermentable principles, and not in that of mere oleaginous parts. By
properly adapting the extracting waters, this hurtful impediment may be
removed, and the vinegar from malt liquors become as neat and as strong
as that which is made from wine.
9. As the acid taste of vinegar is the effect of a continued
fermentation, many people have thought it immaterial how speedily the
first parts of the operation were carried on. But violent fermentations
not only dissipate some of the fine oils, which should be retained in
the vinegar, but also cause the must to tend towards putrefaction.
Boerhaave, after he has directed a frequent transvasion of the liquor,
observes that, whenever the weather or the workhouse is very hot, it
is often necessary to fill the half emptied vessels every twelve hours,
not only to procure a supply of acids from the air, but also to cool
the wine, and check the too violent fermentation, which arising in the
half full casks, might dissipate the volatile spirits, before they are
properly secured and entangled by the acid. Hence the liquor might be
sour indeed, but at the same time flat, and would never become a sharp
and strong vinegar.
10. Application and uses have frequently been found for materials,
which before were supposed to be of no value. The grains, after the
brewer has drawn his worts out of them, are generally used for the
feeding of cattle; but I do not know that hops, after boiling, have
been employed to any purpose. Is there nothing more left in this
vegetable, after it has imparted the virtue wanted to the beer? All
plants burnt in open air yield alkaline salts, though in a greater or
less quantity, according to the quality of the plants. Boerhaave says
that those which are austere, acid, or aromatic, yield in their ashes
a great abundance of salts, and these being put in fusion, and mixed
with flint or sand, run into glass. Hops thrown, after decoction, in
no great quantity on the fire, cause the coals to vitrify, or as it
is generally termed, to _run into clinkers_. If therefore the remains
of the hops were burnt in open air, or in a proper furnace, it seems
most likely that no inconsiderable quantity of somewhat like pot ashes
might be obtained, and this, considering the many tun weight of hops
employed in large cities, and thrown away as useless, might become an
object of private emolument to the brewer, and of public benefit to the
kingdom.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Vide Dr. Pringle’s experiments in his book of observations on the
diseases of the army, p. 350, 351 & seq.
[2] There is a very singular exception in regard to iron itself, in
this respect. It is only a certain degree of heat that expands this
metal; (and that much less than any other either more or less dense)
when melted, it occupies a less space than when in a solid form. This
ought to caution us against an entire dependence on general rules,
by which nature doth not appear to be wholly restricted. See Mem. de
l’Acad. des Scienc. p. 273.
[3] See Dr. Lewis’s Philosophical Commerce of Arts, p. 42.
[4] See Martine’s Dissertation on Heat. What the degree of cold was
which fixed mercury at St. Petersburg, I do not recollect.
[5] It requires seven or eight days. (See Dissertation sur la glace par
Mons. de Mayran.) Paris edition, 1749. Page 191.
[6] Lately, indeed, by such intense cold as can only be procured with
the greatest art, and in the coldest climates, mercury is said to have
been stagnated, or fixed.
[7] By Dr. Hales’s experiments made for discovering the proportion
of air generated from different bodies, it appears that raisin wine,
absorbed, in fermenting, a quantity of air equal to nearly one third of
its volume; and ale, under the like circumstances, absorbed one fifth.
[8] In the northern part of England, the usual time of steeping barley
in the cistern is about 80 hours.
40 bushels of barley wetted 1 hour, will guage then in the couch 40 bushels, that
is, if drained from its exterior moisture.
40 bushels ---- 20 hours, ---- ---- 42-1/2 bushels.
40 bushels ---- 40 hours, ---- ---- 45 bushels.
40 bushels ---- 60 hours, ---- ---- 47-1/2 bushels.
40 bushels ---- 80 hours, ---- ---- 50 bushels.
Here the barley is supposed to be fully saturated with the water; and
these 40 bushels of barley, guaged (after 80 hours wetting in the
cistern) in the couch, will be 50 bushels; but when again guaged on
the floor, from the effect of the roots, and sometimes the shoots,
occasioning the corn to lie hollow, here the 40 bushels of barley will
shew as 80 bushels. Vide Ramsbottom, page 113, &c.
[9] Boerhaave Elem. of Chym. Vol. I. p. 195-199. Exp. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
and 13.
[10] When the medium heat of the dryness of the malt, and of the heat
of the extracts, are so high as to require the liquors to be forced
or precipitated, in order to become pellucid, part of the oils which
supported them sound, being carried down by the precipitant, they
will be less capable of preserving themselves, after having been
precipitated, than they were before.
[11] I chose this manner of expressing the quantity of moisture
received in ground malt from the air, as it is the most easy for the
direction of the first extract.
[12] Part I. Sect XII. p. 124.
[13] See page 56.
[14] For the properties answerable to the degrees, see page 124.
[15] It may be observed that, in the first and last degrees for drying
malt, sometimes we say one degree more, sometimes a degree less.--The
experiments we have made do not admit of a geometrical exactness,
nor does the practice of brewing require it; small errors in beers
are effectually removed by age, and these variations have often been
adopted in the tables, for the conveniency of dividing into whole
numbers.
[16] See p. 124.
[17] _Purl_, is pale ale, in which bitter aromatics, such as wormwood,
orange peel, &c. are infused, used by the labouring people, chiefly in
cold mornings, and a much better and wholesomer relief to them, than
spiritous liquors.
[18] 152, to which 2 degrees must be added, for what is lost in the
extracts coming away, or 154 degrees, being the heat of the mash for
keeping small beer, after amber; as this number is less than 166
degrees, the last mash of the amber, consequently, in the computation
made, to find how much of the quantity of the liquor used, is to be
made to boil, to give the true degree of heat to the mash of small,
the difference of heat required in this mash, 154, and the heat of the
goods 162 or 8, is to be multiplied by the volume of the goods, and
the product in this case subtracted; whereas, in the operations for
brewing, whose heat gradually increased every mash, it is to be added.
[19] We had rather attribute to this cause, the inferior quality of
the Worcestershire hops, than to what is reported. That some planters
in that county suffer their hops to be so ripe on the poles, that they
become very brown before they are gathered: to recover their color, on
the fire of the kiln they strew brimstone, which brings them to a fine
yellow; the dryness and harshness this acid occasions, they correct by
sprinkling the hops with milk, from whence they bag closer, and require
little straining, but two ingredients more pernicious to the forming
good beers, perhaps, could not have been thought of, than milk and
brimstone.
[20] This rule only takes place for such climates as are of the same
heat with ours; for when drinks are brewed to be expended in more
southern countries, or to undergo long voyages, twenty pounds of hops
to one quarter of malt have been used with success.
[21] If, of the whole quantity of hops grown in one year, one half is
put into bags, whose tare is one tenth of their whole weight, and the
other half is put in pockets, whose tare is one fortieth of their whole
weight; if the excise office allows one tenth for tare upon the whole,
and the excise or weighing officers, are content with one ninth, as by
their marks, and the weight when sold to the brewer, appears to be the
fact; then somewhat like one twentieth part more hops are grown, than
what pays duty, or than the excise officers report to be the case.
[22] Forty shillings per hundred weight, are supposed to be the mean
difference between new and old hops, and ought to be estimated in
proportion to the quantity of old left in hand, and that of new hops
grown, in order to ascertain the value of the last.
[23] B. stands for Barrels, F. for Firkins, G. for Gallons.
[24] When there are but two worts in brown strong, keeping strong,
keeping pale small, or common small, the boiling is to be observed as
marked for the second and third worts.
[25] The small cask, called a _pin_, is one eighth part of a barrel.
[26] By new malt, I understand such, as has not lost the whole of the
heat received on the kiln, and by old, such as is of equal heat with
the air, or such which has laid a sufficient time to imbibe part of its
moisture.
[27] At the time when the first edition of this work was published,
porter or brown beers were brewed with very high dried malts;
experience has shewn to the generality of the trade and to the author,
this practice to be erroneous, the reasons why have before, and perhaps
hereafter will again, be spoken of. In compliance with this improvement
(though between the two proposed brewings, so great a variety will not
appear) I have founded my calculations for porter, on malts dried so as
best will answer this purpose.
[28] B. stands for barrels, F. for firkins, G. for gallons, and the
numbers past the comma, where the inches are expressed, for decimals;
34 gallons are here allowed to the barrel, in compliance to the excise
gauging, as these calculations were made without the bills.
[29] The half degree omitted in this mash will be added to the next.
[30] Different quantities of water are differently affected by the same
portion of fire; when the ebullition is just over, and the surface
of the liquor is become smooth; if some of it is, by a cock, drawn
from the bottom of the copper, where the coldest water always is, the
remaining part, having a greater proportion of fire than before, again
begins to boil, though not affected by any increase of heat.
[31] See page 267.
[32] G. C. stands for great copper, L. C. stands for little copper.
[33] Deduction from the first mash for heat created by effervescence
and hard corns. See the calculation above.
[34] Additions to the mashes on account of heat lost, by the liquor
coming from little copper, and by mashing and standing. See page 293.
[35] The charge of the first liquor is for 11 barrels, with a deduction
of 2 inches, according to the gauges of the coppers, page 221. These
two inches answer to the 8 degrees of heat for the effervescence, hard
corns, and new malt. See computation above.
[36] The second and following mashes are to be charged with as many
more inches of boiling water, as answer to the fourth part of the
number of degrees of heat lost by the refrigeration of the mashes. See
page 294.
[37] In beers intended for long keeping, the fermentation is to be
governed by the heat of the worts or musts, more than by that of the
exterior air.
[38] A must or wort, when under fermentation, from its internal motion,
increases in heat 10 degrees, and no keeping beers, when under this
act, should exceed a heat of 60 degrees; for this reason, worts of this
sort should at first be set to ferment at a heat of 50 degrees, and 50
degrees is nearly the mean of the heats these liquors are impressed
with, when deposited in cellars, from the time of their being formed,
to that of their coming into use. Their long continuance in this
state is the reason why six pints of yeast per quarter of malt is a
sufficient quantity to be used when the heat of the air is at or below
50 degrees. If, through necessity, processes of this sort are to be
carried on when the mean heat of the natural day is more than this, the
quantities indicated in the table will be the fittest rule.
[39] Though the air bubbles produced from malt liquors are more
uniform, as to their size or consistence, than those of natural
wines, yet they are not perfectly so; for this reason, and because it
requires a greater power to cause a wort or must of malt to ferment,
than it does to keep this act continued, after it is once begun, it
is necessary, at first, to apply such a sufficient quantity of yeast
as will obtain this purpose; therefore, one half of the remaining six
gallons of yeast is put to the wort on its first coming down.
[40] The yeast or air bubbles produced from natural wines, vary not
only in their consistence, but also in their volume; so that, in their
act of fermentation, a progressive effect is the consequence of this
want of uniformity. The yeast or air bubbles of barley wines are more
uniform; to imitate nature, it is necessary to apply this principle of
fermentation by degrees, to cause a progressive effect only. Feeding
of drink is the only means to gain this end; thereby the newly applied
yeast maintains the drink in its required agitation, in a similar
manner as the increased heat and action raised by fermentation causes
the air bubbles in natural wines to act and explode, in proportion
to their consistence, and to the quantity of elastic air the bubbles
contain; and so requisite it is periodically to apply more yeast to
this sort of liquor, or regularly to feed it with this enlivening
principle, that, in very hot weather, when this, through carelessness,
has been omitted, I have known this ale to become foxed or putrefied,
and could attribute this accident to no other cause but to a neglect
of this sort, as the worts had been regularly brewed, laid thin in the
coolers, received all the cold the night could give them, and the tun
in which the drink was worked was perfectly clean.
[41] I confess this chapter is rather a matter of curiosity, an
effusion of fancy, than of any use to me known; if I have suffered it
to remain, it has been to shew that when we have long reflected upon
a subject, our ideas often lead us beyond power of practice; and with
this farther view, that, perhaps, it may become of service in the
hands of some more ingenious and more penetrating artist than myself.
However, if I trouble my reader with it, it may be said to be in
imitation of an author far superior to myself in rank and knowledge.
[42] It must be observed, the wines of France in general make the best
brandies, and of these, such which justly are termed green wines, (and
soon would become acid) this leads us to the nature of the grain, and
of the extractions to procure an equal, pure, nutty spirit. Barley,
dried scarcely to the denomination of malt, and extracted with the
lowest medium, or perhaps one inferior to this, most likely would
answer this purpose. I have tried the experiment in a very imperfect
manner, and found it answer beyond expectation.
INDEX.
A.
Page
Acids, what, 2
Air, principal agent in fermentation, 19, 23
---- why it slacks malt, 20
---- is not easily expelled from bodies, 21
---- expelled from worts by long boiling, 84
---- heat of, relative to brewing, 145
Alcohol, what, 2
---- most effectually dissolves resins, 38
Algebraic rules of proportion for mixing cold and hot water, 271-285
Alkali, what, 2
---- its great power as a solvent, 37
B.
Backs _being set_, reason, 306
Barley, defined, 89
---- viscous and replete with acids, 90
---- consequence of its germinating, 90
---- its state in the field, 91
---- Effect of heating in the mow, 92
---- heat which destroys its vegetative power, 92, 93
---- mow-burned, unfit for malting, 93
---- how much it loses by malting, 100
---- may be dried without germinating, 102
Beers, why deposited in cellars, 47
---- best brewed in pure air, 85, 86
Bird, Mr. his thermometer, 43
Body of a wort _not opened_, what, 320, 321
Boiling, how effected, 3
---- necessary for worts, and management, 224
Brandies of France and Spain compared, 353
Brown ale, what, 198
---- stout, what, 199
Burton ale, what, 196
C.
Cellars, temperature, 156, 186
---- management of beer, 331
Cleansing keeping beers, 319
---- common small, 321
---- amber, 325
Cloudy beer, how to be treated, 337
Cocculus Indicus, infamous practice of using it, 340
Cold greatest, at London, 145
Cooling-in explained, 254
Coppers, method of calculating heights, 220
D.
Division of water for a brewing, 235-239
Dorchester beer, what, 200
E.
Earths defined, 33
---- sometimes used in precipitation, 33
Effervescence, whence, 79
Elements, for forming pale beers, 172
---- brown do., 177
---- porter, 178, 180, 245
---- small beer, 190, 248
---- purl, 194
Elements for forming amber, 195, 251
---- keeping small beer, 197
---- pale keeping strong and small, 239
Expansion, singular exception in, 14
---- differs in different fluids, 18
---- of water just boiling, 26
Experiments on Thames, New River, and Hampstead water, 31
Extraction defined, 160
---- four different modes, 163
---- 1st mode, 169
---- 2d ----, 173
---- 3d ----, 181
---- 4th ----, 192
Extracts under and over-heated shew similar signs, 29
F.
Feeding drink, what, 323
Fermentation, what, 6, 66
---- its several stages, 66-73
---- its effects, 78
---- term too generally applied, 78
---- artificial, defined, 80
---- signs and effects, 318
Ferments, what, 84
Fining beers, 336
Fire, nature and properties, 13
---- expands all bodies, 14
---- how it strengthens some bodies, 15
---- loosens the texture of malt, 15
---- preserves bodies, 15
---- how to regulate its degrees, 16
Flowers of wine, what, 311
Foxed, what, 7
G.
Germinating heats of France, Spain, &c., 57-59
---- England, 59
Grapes, their taste in different states, 51
---- under what heat produced and ripened, 51, 55
---- why not produced at Jamaica, 54, 60
---- how to discover their properties, 64
Grey beer, how to be treated, 337
Grinding malt, 157
H.
Hard corns, heat they cause in mashes, 295
Heat, medium of London, 17, 145, 148, 150
---- dissolves more parts than water can contain, 26
---- difference in shade and sun, 52, 156
---- greatest at London, in the shade, 145
Hops, nature and properties, 201
---- whence difference of Worcestershire & Kentish, 203
---- useful in extraction, 213
---- calculation to regulate purchasing, 13
---- imposition on purchasers, 216
---- volume estimated when boiled, 222
---- perhaps useful after being boiled, 356
I.
Incidents causing heat of extracts to vary from calculation, 289
Isinglass, what, 7
---- use and application, 336
L.
Lees of wine, what, 311
Lengths in brewing, explanation, 217
M.
Malting, process, 94, 126
Malts, alter in color the more they are dried, 48
---- incapable of retaining more fire than is in external air, 99
---- cannot be made in hot weather, 103
---- first degree of heat that constitutes them, 105
---- degree which charrs them, 107
---- effect different degrees has upon them, 108-112
---- properties, 113
---- defective, 131-137
---- their virtue in wort contained in amazing small space, 270
Mashes, four, their different heats, 62
---- last heat, 293
Mashing, 286
Maturating and germinating heats, 57-59
Menstruums, doctrine of, 34-38
---- water, oils, and salts, the principal in brewing, 35
Must from grapes, constituent parts, 66
O.
Oils, constituent principles, 35
Old hock, what, 199
P.
Precipitation, what, 9
---- a remedy for diseased beer, 334
Processes of two brewings computed, 271
---- reduced to one point of view, 297-303
Purl, what, 193
Putrefaction, whence, 78
R.
Rain, which most fruitful, 53, 54
Remedies for diseased beer, 334
S.
Salts, a principal menstruum, 36, 37
---- their nature, 37, 38
Sealing hermetically, how performed, 7
Sick beers, how to be treated, 338
Signs general, directing the processes in brewing, 327
Spirits’ pungent, exhaling from a fermenting must, 350, 351
---- of malt might equal those of wine, 352
Spontaneous pellucidity, how produced, 319
Stale beers, how to be treated, 339
Steeping barley, how practised in the north, 94
Stock of beer proper, 331
Stubborn beers, how to be treated, 337
T.
Table of changes of color in malt by heat, 115
---- shewing the age beers will require with medium heats, 119
---- shewing the tendency beers have to become fine, 124
---- shewing medium heat at London at eight in the morning, 148
Table shewing medium heat of the air at London, 150
---- of incidents affecting heat in brewing, 155
---- shewing proper dryness of malt, 162
---- shewing the quantity of fermentable principles residing in malt, 168
---- to determine heat of first and last extract, 170
---- ditto for porter, 175
---- shewing color of grain, 184
---- shewing medium heat of each process, 185
---- shewing heat of first and last extracts in common small beer, 191
---- shewing value of hops in degrees, 208
---- shewing the quantity of hops to a quarter of malt in porter, 209
---- ditto common small beer, 210
---- ---- amber, 211
---- ---- Burton ale, 212
---- shewing the medium price hops should bear, 215
---- of lengths, 219
---- of gauges of coppers, 221
---- of time of boiling each beer, 228
---- of volume of malt to reduce grist to liquid measure, 254
---- shewing great evaporation of water in brewing, 256
---- shewing volume of malt equal to one barrel of water, 267
---- of effervescence of malt, 292
---- shewing the _times_ worts should be let down, 308
---- shewing _heat_ at which they should be let down, 309
---- shewing depth of head in cleansing small beer, 321
---- determining taste of malt liquors, 345
Taste, reason of the difference in malt liquors, 342
Technical terms explained, 1-12
Thermometer, when first known in England, 39
---- its improvements, 40-43
---- assists to discover the heat of bodies when blended, 45
---- discovers the strength of a wort, 47
---- ---- quality of hops, 48
---- absurdity of brewers to reject it, 49
Times proper for brewing, 146
Two brewings, circumstances relating to them brought into one point of view, 297-303
V.
Vegetables, why fit for wines, 74-76
Vinegar of beer equal to that of wine, 355
---- best made from strongest liquors, 355
W.
Waste water in brewing each beer, 230-233
Water, its expansion by boiling, 14
---- becomes of equal heat with the air, 21
---- at what degree it changes to ice, 21
---- boiled, its appearance when froze, 21
---- which makes the strongest extracts, 22
---- being light, a good property, 24
---- great quantities evaporated in brewing, 25
---- its ultimate parts less than those of air, 25
---- necessary to fermentation, 27
---- excellency of drinks too often attributed to, 29
---- how examined, 30
---- its division into worts and mashes, 234-252
Water, boiling--the proper state and time for cooling in, 290
Wines, general definition, 50
---- Tockay and Canary, 52
---- Madeira, 63
---- the most certain signs of their wholesomeness, 86
---- their basis, 160
Worts, sometimes over-hopped, 27
---- height in coppers cast up to fix the length, 223
---- cooling-management, 304
Y.
Yeast, replaces the air lost by boiling worts, 22
---- heat at which it acts, 305
---- nature and contents, 311
---- quantity for small beer, 315
---- ---- strong beer and porter, 316
---- ---- ales and amber, 317
---- bitten, what, 320
