The Theory and Practice of Brewing
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 -------