Chapter 2
But there is an abuse sometimes committed by a necessitous Malster, who to come by Malt sooner than ordinary, makes use of Barley before it is thoroughly sweated in the Mow, and then it never makes right Malt, but will be steely and not yield a due quantity of wort, as I knew it once done by a Person that thrashed the Barley immediately from the Cart as it was brought out of the Field, but they that used its Malt suffered not a little, for it was impossible it should be good, because it did not thoroughly Chip or Spire on the floor, which caused this sort of Malt, when the water was put to it in the Mash-tub, to swell up and absorb the Liquor, but not return its due quantity again, as true Malt would, nor was the Drink of this Malt ever good in the Barrel, but remain'd a raw insipid beer, past the Art of Man to Cure, because this, like Cyder made from Apples directly off the Tree, that never sweated out their phlegmatick crude juice in the heap, cannot produce a natural Liquor from such unnatural management; for barley certainly is not fit to make Malt of until it is fully mellowed and sweated in the Mow, and the Season of the Year is ready for it, without both which there can be no assurance of good Malt: Several instances of this untimely making Malt I have known to happen, that has been the occasion of great quantities of bad Ales and Beers, for such Malt, retaining none of its Barley nature, or that the Season of the Year is not cold enough to admit of its natural working on the Floor, is not capable of producing a true Malt, it will cause its Drink to stink in the cask instead of growing fit for use, as not having its genuine Malt-nature to cure and preserve it, which all good Malts contribute to as well as the Hop.
There is another damage I have known accrue to the Buyer of Malt by Mellilet, a most stinking Weed that grows amongst some Barley, and is so mischievously predominant, as to taint it to a sad degree because its black Seed like that of an Onion, being lesser than the Barley, cannot be entirely separated, which obliges it to be malted with the Barley, and makes the Drink so heady that it is apt to fuddle the unwary by drinking a small quantity. This Weed is so natural to some Ground that the Farmer despairs of ever extirpating it, and is to be avoided as much as possible, because it very much hurts the Drink that is made from Malt mixed with it, by its nauseous Scent and Taste, as may be perceived by the Ointment made with it that bears its Name: I knew a Victualler that bought a parcel of Malt that this weed was amongst, and it spoiled all the Brewings and Sale of the Drink, for it's apt to cause Fevers, Colicks and other Distempers in the Body.
Darnel is a rampant Weed and grows much amongst some Barley, especially in the bad Husbandman's Ground, and most where it is sown with the Seed-barley: It does the least harm amongst Malt, because it adds a strength to it, and quickly intoxicates, if there is much in it; but where there is but little, the Malster regards it not, for the sake of its inebriating quality.
There are other Weeds or Seeds that annoy the Barley; but as the Screen, Sieve and throwing will take most of them out, there does not require here a Detail of their Particulars. Oats malted as Barley is, will make a weak, soft, mellow and pleasant Drink, but Wheat when done so, will produce a strong heady nourishing well-tasted and fine Liquor, which is now more practised then ever.
CHAP. III.
_To know good from bad_ Malts.
This is a Matter of great Importance to all Brewers, both publick and private, for 'tis common for the Seller to cry all is good, but the Buyer's Case is different; wherefore it is prudential to endeavour to be Master of this Knowledge, but I have heard a great Malster that lived towards _Ware_, say, he knew a grand Brewer, that wetted near two hundred Quarters a Week, was not a judge of good and bad Malts, without which 'tis impossible to draw a true length of Ale or Beer. To do this I know but of few Ways, _First_, By the Bite; Is to break the Malt Corn across between the Teeth, in the middle of it or at both Ends, and if it tasteth mellow and sweet, has a round body, breaks soft, is full of flower all its length, smells well and has a thin skin, then it is good; _Secondly_, By Water; Is to take a Glass near full, and put in some Malt; and if it swims, it is right, but if any sinks to the bottom, then it is not true Malt, but steely and retains somewhat of its Barley nature; yet I must own this is not an infallible Rule, because if a Corn of Malt is crack'd, split or broke, it will then take the water and sink, but there may an allowance be given for such incidents, and still room enough to make a judgment. _Thirdly_, Malt that is truly made will not be hard and steely, but of so mellow a Nature, that if forced against a dry Board, will mark and cast a white Colour almost like Chalk. _Fourthly_, Malt that is not rightly made will be part of it of a hard Barley nature, and weigh heavier than that which is true Malt.
CHAP. IV.
_Of the Nature and Use of Pale, Amber and Brown_ Malts.
The pale Malt is the slowest and slackest dryed of any, and where it has had a leisure fire, a sufficient time allowed it on the Kiln, and a due care taken of it; the flower of the grain will remain in its full quantity, and thereby produce a greater length of wort, than the brown high dryed Malt, for which reason it is sold for one or two shillings _per_ Quarter more than that: This pale Malt is also the most nutritious sort to the body of all others, as being in this state the most simple and nearest to its Original Barley-corn, that will retain an Alcalous and Balsamick quality much longer than the brown sort; the tender drying of this Malt bringing its body into so soft a texture of Parts, that most of the great Brewers, brew it with Spring and Well-waters, whose hard and binding Properties they think agrees best with this loose-bodied Malt, either in Ales or Beer's and which will also dispense with hotter waters in brewing of it, than the brown Malt can. The amber-colour'd Malt is that which is dryed in a medium degree, between the pale and the brown, and is very much in use, as being free of either extream. Its colour is pleasant, its taste agreeable and its nature wholsome, which makes it be prefer'd by many as the best of Malts; this by some is brewed either with hard or soft waters, or a mixture of both.
The brown Malt is the soonest and highest dryed of any, even till it is so hard, that it's difficult to bite some of its Corns asunder, and is often so crusted or burnt, that the farinous part loses a great deal of its essential Salts and vital Property, which frequently deceives its ignorant Brewer, that hopes to draw as much Drink from a quarter of this, as he does from pale or amber sorts: This Malt by some is thought to occasion the Gravel and Stone, besides what is commonly called the Heart-burn; and is by its steely nature less nourishing than the pale or amber Malts, being very much impregnated with the fiery fumiferous Particles of the Kiln, and therefore its Drink sooner becomes sharp and acid than that made from the pale or amber sorts, if they are all fairly brewed: For this reason the _London_ Brewers mostly use the _Thames_ or _New River_ waters to brew this Malt with, for the sake of its soft nature, whereby it agrees with the harsh qualities of it better than any of the well or other hard Sorts, and makes a luscious Ale for a little while, and a But-beer that will keep very well five or six Months, but after that time it generally grows stale, notwithstanding there be ten or twelve Bushels allowed to the Hogshead, and it be hopp'd accordingly.
Pale and amber Malts dryed with Coak or Culm, obtains a more clean bright pale Colour than if dryed with any other Fuel, because there is not smoak to darken and sully their Skins or Husks, and give them an ill relish, that those Malts little or more have, which are dryed with Straw, Wood, or Fern, &c. The Coak or _Welch_ Coal also makes more true and compleat Malt, as I have before hinted, than any other Fuel, because its fire gives both a gentle and certain Heat, whereby the Corns are in all their Parts gradually dryed, and therefore of late these Malts have gained such a Reputation that great quantities have been consumed in most Parts of the Nation for their wholsome Natures and sweet fine Taste: These make such fine Ales and But-beers, as has tempted several of our Malsters in my Neighbour-hood to burn Coak or Culm at a great expence of Carriage thirty Miles from _London_.
Next to the Coak-dryed Malt, the Straw-dryed is the sweetest and best tasted: This I must own is sometimes well Malted where the Barley, Wheat, Straw, Conveniencies and the Maker's Skill are good; but as the fire of the Straw is not so regular as the Coak, the Malt is attended with more uncertainty in its making, because it is difficult to keep it to a moderate and equal Heat, and also exposes the Malt in some degree to the taste of the smoak.
Brown Malts are dryed with Straw, Wood and Fern, &c. the Straw-dryed is not the best, but the Wood sort has a most unnatural Taste, that few can bear with, but the necessitous, and those that are accustomed to its strong smoaky tang; yet is it much used in some of the Western Parts of _England_, and many thousand Quarters of this Malt has been formerly used in _London_ for brewing the Butt-keeping-beers with, and that because it sold for two Shillings _per_ Quarter cheaper than the Straw-dryed Malt, nor was this Quality of the Wood-dryed Malt much regarded by some of its Brewers, for that its ill Taste is lost in nine or twelve Months, by the Age of the Beer, and the strength of the great Quantity of Hops that were used in its Preservation.
The Fern-dryed Malt is also attended with a rank disagreeable Taste from the smoak of this Vegetable, with which many Quarters of Malt are dryed, as appears by the great Quantities annually cut by Malsters on our Commons, for the two prevalent Reasons of cheapness and plenty.
At _Bridport_ in _Dorsetshire_, I knew an Inn-keeper use half Pale and half Brown Malt for Brewing his Butt-beers, that, proved to my Palate the best I ever drank on the Road, which I think may be accounted for, in that the Pale being the slackest, and the Brown the hardest dryed, must produce a mellow good Drink by the help of a requisite Age, that will reduce those extreams to a proper Quality.
CHAP. V.
_Of the Nature of several Waters and their use in Brewing. And first of Well-waters_.
Water next to Malt is what by course comes here under Consideration as a Matter of great Importance in Brewing of wholsome fine Malt-liquors, and is of such Consequence that it concerns every one to know the nature of the water he Brews with, because it is the Vehicle by which the nutritious and pleasant Particles of the Malt and Hop are conveyed into our Bodies, and there becomes a diluter of our Food: Now the more simple and freer every water is from foreign Particles, the better it will answer those Ends and Purposes; for, as Dr_.Mead_ observes, some waters are so loaded with stony Corpuscles, that even the Pipes thro' which they are carried, in time are incrusted and stopt up by them, and is of that petrifying nature as to breed the Stone in the Bladder, which many of the _Parisians_ have been instances of, by using this sort of water out of the River _Seine_. And of this Nature is another at _Rowel_ in _Northamptonshire_, which in no great distance of time so clogs the Wheel of an overshot Mill there, that they are forced with, convenient Instruments to cut way for its Motion; and what makes it still more evident, is the sight of those incrusted Sides of the Tea-kettles, that the hard Well-waters are the occasion of, by being often boiled in them: And it is further related by the same Doctor, that a Gentlewoman afflicted with frequent returns of violent Colick Pains was cured by the Advice of _Van Helmont_, only by leaving off drinking Beer brewed with Well-water; It's true, such a fluid has a greater force and aptness to extract the tincture out of Malt, than is to be had in the more innocent and soft Liquor of Rivers: But for this very reason it ought not, unless upon meer necessity, to be made use of; this Quality being owing to the mineral Particles and alluminous Salts with which it is impregnated. For these waters thus saturated, will by their various gravities in circulation, deposit themselves in one part of the animal Body or other, which has made some prove the goodness of Water by the lightness of its body in the Water Scales, now sold in several of the _London_ Shops, in order to avoid the Scorbutick, Colicky, Hypochondriack, and other ill Effects of the Clayey and other gross Particles of stagnating Well-waters, and the calculous Concretions of others; and therefore such waters ought to be mistrusted more than any, where they are not pure clear and soft or that don't arise from good Chalks or stony Rocks, that are generally allowed to afford the best of all the Well sorts.
Spring-waters are in general liable to partake of those minerals thro' which they pass, and are salubrious or mischievous accordingly. At _Uppingham_ in _Rutland_, their water is said to come off an Allum-rock, and so tints their Beer with its saline Quality, that it is easily tasted at the first Draught. And at _Dean_ in _Northamptonshire_, I have seen the very Stones colour the rusty Iron by the constant running of a Spring-water; but that which will Lather with Soap, or such soft water that percolates through Chalk, or a Grey Fire-stone, is generally accounted best, for Chalks in this respect excell all other Earths, in that it administers nothing unwholsome to the perfluent waters, but undoubtedly absorps by its drying spungy Quality any ill minerals that may accompany the water that runs thro' them. For which reason they throw in, great Quantities of Chalk into their Wells at _Ailsbury_ to soften their water, which coming off a black Sand-stone, is so hard and sharp that it will often turn their Beer sour in a Week's time, so that in its Original State it's neither fit to Wash nor Brew with, but so long as the Alcalous soft Particles of the Chalk holds good, they put it to both uses.
River-waters are less liable to be loaded with metallick, petrifying, saline and other insanous Particles of the Earth, than the Well or Spring sorts are, especially at some distance from the Spring-head, because the Rain water mixes with and softens it, and are also much cured by the Sun's heat and the Air's power, for which reason I have known several so strict, that they won't let their Horses drink near the first rise of some of them; this I have seen the sad Effects of, and which has obliged me to avoid two that run cross a Road in _Bucks_ and _Hertfordshire_: But in their runnings they often collect gross Particles from ouzy muddy mixtures, particularly near Town, that make the Beer subject to new fermentations, and grow foul upon alteration of weather as the _Thames_ water generlly does; yet is this for its softness much better than the hard sort, however both these waters are used by some Brewers as I shall hereafter observe; but where a River-water can be had clear in a dry time, when no great Rain has lately fell out of Rivulets or Rivers that have a Gravelly, Chalky, Sandy or Stone-bottom free from the Disturbance of Cattle, &c. and in good Air, as that of _Barkhamstead St. Peters_ in _Hertfordshire_ is; it may then justly claim the name of a most excellent water for Brewing, and will make a stronger Drink with the same quantity of Malt than any of the Well-waters; insomuch that that of the _Thames_ has been proved to make as strong Beer with seven Bushels of Malt, as Well-water with eight; and so are all River-waters in a proportionable degree, and where they can be obtain'd clean and pure, Drink may be drawn fine in a few Days after Tunning.
Rain-water is very soft, of a most simple and pure nature, and the best Diluter of any, especially if received free from Dirt, and the Salt of Mortar that often mixes with it as it runs off tyled Roofs; this is very agreeable for brewing of Ales that are not to be kept a great while, but for Beers that are to remain some time in the Casks, it is not so, well, as being apt to putrify the soonest of any.
Pond-waters; this includes all standing waters chiefly from Rain, and are good or bad as they happen; for where there is a clean bottom, and the water lies undisturbed from the tread of Cattle, or too many Fish, in an open sound Air, in a large quantity, and where the Sun has free access; it then comes near, if not quite as good as Rain or River-waters, as is that of _Blew-pot_ Pond on the high Green at _Gaddesden_ in _Hertfordshire_ and many others, which are often prefer'd for Brewing, even beyond many of the soft Well-waters about them. But where it is in a small quantity, or full of Fish (especially the sling Tench) or is so disturbed by Cattle as to force up Mud and Filth; it is then the most foul and disagreeable of all others: So is it likewise in long dry Seasons when our Pond-waters are so low as obliges us to strain it thro' Sieves before we can use it, to take out the small red Worms and other Corruptions, that our stagnant waters are generally then too full of. The latest and best Doctors have so far scrutinized into the prime Cause of our _British_ malady the Scurvy, as to affirm its first rise is from our unwholesome stagnating waters, and especially those that come off a clayey surface, as there are about _Londonderry_ and _Amsterdam_, for that where the waters are worst, there this Distemper is most common, so that in their Writings they have put it out of all doubt, that most of our complicated symptoms that are rank'd under this general Name, if they don't take their beginning from such water, do own it to be their chief Cause.
CHAP. VI.
_Of Grinding_ Malts.
As trifling as this Article in Brewing may seem at first it very worthily deserves the notice of all concern'd therein, for on this depends much the good of our Drink, because if it is ground too small the flower of the Malt will be the easier and more freely mix with the water, and then will cause the wort to run thick, and therefore the Malt must be only just broke in the Mill, to make it emit its Spirit gradually, and incorporate its flower with the water in such a manner that first a stout Beer, then an Ale, and afterwards a small Beer may be had at one and the same Brewing, and the wort run off fine and clear to the last. Many are likewise so sagacious as to grind their brown Malt a Fortnight before they use it, and keep it in a dry Place from the influence of too moist an Air, that it may become mellower by losing in a great measure the fury of its harsh fiery Particles, and its steely nature, which this sort of Malt acquires on the Kiln; however this as well as many other hard Bodies may be reduced by Time and Air into a more soluble, mellow and soft Condition, and then it will imbibe the water and give a natural kind tincture more freely, by which a greater quantity and stronger Drink may be made, than if it was used directly from the Mill, and be much smoother and better tasted. But the pale Malt will be fit for use at a Week's end, because the leisureness of their drying endows them with a softness from the time they are taken off the Kiln to the time they are brewed, and supplies in them what Time and Air must do in the brown sorts. This method of grinding Malt so long before-hand can't be so conveniently practised by some of the great Brewers, because several of them Brew two or three times a Week, but now most of them out of good Husbandry grind their Malts into the Tun by the help of a long descending wooden Spout, and here they save the Charge of emptying or uncasing it out of the Bin (which formerly they used to do before this new way was discovered) and also the waste of a great deal of the Malt-flower that was lost when carryed in Baskets, whereas now the Cover of the Tun presents all that Damage In my common Brewhouse at _London_ I ground my Malt between two large Stones by the Horse-mill that with one Horse would grind [blank space] quarters an Hour, But in the Country I use a steel Hand-mill, that Cost at first forty Shillings; which will by the help of only one Man grind six or eight Bushels in an Hour, and will last a Family many Years without hardning or cutting: There are some old-fashion'd stone Hand-mills in being, that some are Votaries for and prefer to the Iron ones, because they alledge that these break the Corn's body, when the Iron ones only cut it in two, which occasions the Malt so broke by the Stones, to give the water a more easy, free and regular Power to extract its Virtue, than the Cut-malt can that is more confin'd within its Hull. Notwithstanding the Iron ones are now mostly in Use for their great Dispatch and long Duration. In the Country it is frequently done by some to throw a Sack of Malt on a Stone or Brick-floor as soon as it is ground, and there let it lye, giving it one turn, for a Day or two, that the Stones or Bricks may draw out the fiery Quality it received from the Kiln, and give the Drink a soft mild Taste.
CHAP. VII.
_Of Brewing in general_.