Part 2

Small beer should be let down into the tun much warmer than ale; and as soon as it shews an inclination to work it should be cleansed; it will then work well in the casks, and will have a quick, lively taste. Small beer, not having a sufficient strength, cannot support a long fermentation in the tun: for if it is worked cold, and left too long in the tun, it will drink flat and unpleasant.

Now, as I said before, there will be no more _good_ small beer consumed in a family, than if it were ever so _bad_; for when a workman or servant has occasion for a pot of small beer, if bad, he will, perhaps, drink a part of it, and throw the remainder away, and, very likely, carelessly leave the cock dropping, in order to get rid of such a bad commodity the sooner. Now, on the other hand, if the small beer was _good_, the consumers would take care to leave the cock, &c. secure, well knowing they should not have a better substitute.

_Cleanliness in the Cellar._

Care should be taken to keep the cellar clean, (especially those who are situated near the south aspect; or shallow, where the sun has any power,) by scraping the yeast from the bung-holes of the casks; else in warm weather it will smell offensive, and insects will breed therein, which must be injurious to the beer, if the bung-holes are open.

The dropping of the cock, tap tubs, &c. will cause fulsome smells in the cellar, which frequently require to be washed down; for washing and cleaning your cellar often, will keep your beer in a cool state, and will be the means of preventing mild ale from becoming stale.

Put some hops into your ale and small beer casks a few days before you want to tap them for use; even those hops that have already been used in brewing will be found serviceable in fining your beer, and will not cause it to be too bitter, but will prevent your small beer from becoming sour. Notwithstanding their being used in brewing, they will be found by experience to be very serviceable for the purpose before mentioned. Another advantage will arise, they will serve the use of fresh hops, which, when dear, will be found to be a considerable saving.

_Note._ They are recommended for beer that is for present drinking, as they cannot be expected to be sufficient for beer intended for a long standing.

Another advantage will be found when a length of ale is brewed, and no small beer made, the hops will then be found of greater utility, as they will contain the same quality as the ale they were brewed with; consequently the ale and small beer they are put into will receive a greater advantage therefrom.

This may not seem consistent, as mild ales and small beer seldom have any hops put into the casks; but when a cask of beer is a considerable time at tap, it will certainly want something to feed on; this is one cause why small beer generally turns sour when it is nearly out; now by using the before mentioned hops it will be found to be a considerable remedy to prevent both mild ales and small beer from being hard and unpleasant.

The reader will observe, these hops having performed their duty, they are of no expense, only the trouble of putting them into the casks. The small beer must derive a considerable advantage from those hops when a guile of ale was only brewed from them. Take care to put them into the casks as soon as they are cold, for by being too long exposed to the air they will lose their virtue.

I should not have said so much concerning small beer, but the price of malt is so considerably advanced, to what it was formerly, that small beer is become an expensive article, where there is a numerous family.

If you observe the before mentioned directions you will not have your small beer so unpleasant, particularly when your cask is nearly out.

The most wholesome small beer is made from an intire guile of small, for then you have the whole of the spirit and sweetness of the malt; it will keep better and drink much fresher than if it were to be made from the goods after a length of ale.

If you rack your beer, fail not to put some hops into the casks, wetting them first with some of the same beer, or rather wet the hops with some wort when brewing. If you want to hasten your beer for drinking, put the hops into the casks when they are warm; if your beer is for a long standing, put the hops in your casks when they are cold, giving them a stir to separate them in the beer.

Take care not to be under the necessity of tapping your ale or small beer before it has actually done working, for by so doing you will prevent it from becoming fine: new beer may be classed with new bread; for the newer you draw your beer the more there will be consumed; new beer is not so satisfying as it is when come to a more mature age.

Beware, lest you forget to pay attention to your beer which is at tap; for, "as the eye of the master maketh his horse fat," so the head of a family, now and then giving a look into his cellar, may be the cause of beer drinking more agreeable to his palate, by taking care the vent-holes are kept closely stopped, and the cocks secure.

Do not fail to stoop your cask when the beer is about two parts in three out; this should be done whilst the tap is spending, for then you will not disturb the sediment. By stooping the cask when the beer is about two parts in three out will prevent it from becoming flat and sour; when, on the other hand, it is too frequently to be observed when a person is drawing a pot of beer, the stream is impeded; for the beer, being so nearly out, will not run till it is stooped. Now before this, the cock discharging the beer but slowly, the air is admitted into the cask, which causes the beer to drink flat, and, perhaps, turn sour: therefore this will enforce the necessity of stooping your cask before it be so nearly out.

This is a fault with many publicans, not paying attention to their cellars; even many of those who brew their own beer are neglectful, notwithstanding their own interest and credit is concerned. Tis not uncommon for the vent-peg, and even the bung, to be left out of those casks which are actually on draught.

Publicans, who retail common brewer's beer, and neglect their cellars, have this excuse, if their customers find fault with the beer, by saying "tis such beer as my brewer sends me," so it may be; but let a publican be served with beer of the first quality, it entirely depends on the management of the retailer thereof, whether the beer shall be of a good or bad quality. This is proved by persons in the same town, each being served with beer from one and the same brew-house; there will be generally a disparity in the quality after it comes into the stock of the respective retailers thereof, which proves it to be the good or bad management in the cellar.

I am convinced I shall not offend the _attentive_ publican by what I have said respecting the cellar; but should this fall into the hands of the _inattentive_, it may offend; but that I will excuse, if, by the reading of this, he should be convinced of his error, and pay more attention to his cellar; that he may be enabled to draw a pot of beer to please those useful and valuable men, the labourer and the mechanic; and where they used to drink but one pot of beer with him, they may, from finding his ale much better than usual, perhaps, drink two.

_On the drying and qualities of Malt._

I shall here give a few observations on malt, which was my principal reason for introducing this work to the public, well knowing that many who profess the art of brewing have very little knowlege of the nature and quality of the malt and hops they brew with.

Malt is dried with coke, coal, wood, furze, and straw. The best and sweetest malt is dried with coke, or welch coal; because the coke, or coal, gives a regular and gradual heat. Malt dried with coke, or coal, will be of a bright, clean colour, because the fire is free from smoak. It is also to be observed that malt dried with coal, or coke, is generally well cured, that is, sound dried, because the coke or coal fire is fierce and strong.

If malt is dried with a wood fire it greatly depends on the wood being housed in a dry season; for if the wood is dry it will produce a clear fire, free from smoak, and the malt will be of a bright colour; but if the wood is wet and sugged, the fire will not be fierce, but will be smoaky, and will certainly cause the malt to be of a dull colour; and the beer brewed from such malt will consequently have a smoaky taste: therefore it depends on the attention of the maltster, in housing his wood in good order, for without that attention he cannot serve his customers with good, bright, well cured malt.

I have seen very fine malt dried with straw, it being less subject to smoak than malt dried with wood; but this mode of drying is very tedious, because a person must always attend the fire. In those countries where it is straw-dried, wood and coal is dear, therefore straw is used as a substitute for coal, &c. However, if care be taken, malt may be well cured with a straw or wood fire, but not to equal welch coal, or coke, because the fire may always be kept up so as to produce a regular heat.

Fuel being much dearer than formerly many maltsters are too sparing of their fire; and here arises the principal cause why we have so much bad beer; for if malt is not well cured, that is, sound dried, it will not produce good and wholesome beer.

Malt may appear to be of a fine amber colour, and this may be done by making a strong fire a few minutes before the kiln is shifted, therefore the colour is not at all times a rule for its being well dried. No malt should be used till it has been off the kiln a month, at least; at the end of that time, if the malt bites quick and crisp, you may conclude it is well dried.

It will be very necessary when you give orders for a brewing of malt, to request your maltster to send the malt well dried; this caution may induce him to pay more attention in the drying of his malt.

When a brewing of malt is ordered by private families, perhaps no order is given respecting any particular sort, that is to say, whether pale, amber, or brown, for these are the three sorts of malt; but many retail maltsters in the country have but one sort of malt, and, in fact, one sort is sufficient, provided care is taken to dry their malt sound, of a fine amber colour.

Now I again repeat that the principal reason of our having so much hard and sour beer, is owing to the malt being under dried; for malt is the fundamental article in brewing. If a guile of beer is made from under dried malt it will not be of a fine bright colour, and an extra boiling of the worts will not have the desired effect: then you are under the necessity of using finings and other nostrums, which are only temporary, for no other ingredients whatever can be so beneficial to beer as malt and hops, and if those two commodities are in a good and genuine state, you will not have occasion to seek for any other art or device whatever. Another considerable advantage will arise, for each bushel of sound dried malt will produce a gallon of wort more than slack or under dried malt; this is proved by brewing two sorts of malt, that is, malt perfectly dried will discharge the wort freely, and the grains will be dry and light; when, on the other hand, if a brewing of beer is made from under dried malt, the grains will be clammy and heavy, owing to the raw state of the malt, therefore a part of the wort cannot discharge itself, which is a sufficient voucher that the perfectly dried malt will produce a greater quantity of wort of an equal degree of strength.

I hinted before that malt should not be brewed till it has been off the kiln a month; but if malt is six or seven months old it will be the better, because it will become mellow, and your beer will be much softer and better than if used immediately from the kiln.

Between michaelmas and christmas the retail maltster's stock of old malt generally lays in a small compass, and will be slack; I should at this season recommend part old and part new, for the one will help the other.

_On Hops._

Many professed brewers are particularly attached to the colour of the hops, that is, they are partial to those of a fine green colour; these are certainly to be prefered, if they were ripe when gathered:--to prove their goodness, rub them between your fingers, if they are in full condition they will stick to your fingers, will have a good strong scent, and the seeds will appear full and yellow.

Brown spots are frequently to be seen on hops; these are, in general, hops that came to a full ripeness before they were gathered. High winds and rain frequently happen about the middle or latter end of the hop season, which will disfigure them in their colour in a few hours, so that the colour is not at all times to direct you as to their goodness.

In the hop countries most hop-planters keep those hops which are most disfigured in their quality, separate and apart, when picking, from those of a brighter colour; those which are of an inferior colour are kept for their own use, and disposed of to their neighbours, it being their opinion that they answer the purpose in brewing nearly as well as those of a brighter colour, provided they are in full condition, that is, if they are full of seeds; for in the seeds is the virtue and strength of the hop.

The quantity of hops used in brewing is generally half a pound to a bushel of malt, and so in proportion to a greater quantity; if mild ale, for present drinking, a lesser quantity will do; but this must be left to the discretion of the brewer, or master of a family, as some are more partial to the taste of the hop than others.

Hops are found to be of such excellent utility in the bittering of beer, that common brewers and innkeepers are forbidden by law to use any other bitter ingredient whatever in brewing of beer and ale. I have taken the liberty to insert this as a caution to the unwary.

As to the quantity of beer each bushel of malt should produce, it must rest on the option or circumstances of the brewer, or the head of a family. A bushel of malt will produce ten gallons of good ale; but the greater the quantity of malt, brewed at one time, the better will be your beer.