SECTION II.OF GRINDING.
Maltmust 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 withthe 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 whenit 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.