SECTION III.OF EXTRACTION.
Fireimpressed 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 manyother 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.
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 toperform 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, becausebrewed 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 affectthe 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 table12shewing 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 observed13, 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 properties14, 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.
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 allpale keeping strong, and allpale keeping smallbeers.
From its name, regard must be had to the color of the malt, and such only used, as is dried the least, or by 11915degrees 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.
Mean of malt’s dryness, heat of extracts, and value of hops.
Half the number of the constituent degrees, answerable to 138 degrees, the mean heat of the whole process, to be subtracted16.
Half the number of the constituent degrees, to be added, to find
The elements for forming pale strong and pale small beers, intended to be kept, are therefore as follows:
The proof of this is as follows:
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 toporterorbrownbeer, 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, whosecolor 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 newguiles. 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 comprehendedcommon 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 whatmayhappen, 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 proportionof these two extremes, shew the color of the grain for every season of the year.
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,
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, fromthe above table, to fix the medium heat that should govern the several processes for making common small beer in every season of the year.
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
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 thisdrink, 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.
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.
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 TABLEof 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.
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, wherecommon 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 ofpale ale,amber, ortwopenny, 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 topicaldenominations 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 purl17, 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 estimatedin 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.
The elements for brewing pale ale or amber, with the allowance of 2 degrees for the heats lost in the extracts.
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. Themeans 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 famousBurton alemay 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 2¼ 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.
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.
Brownale 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 stoutis 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 hockrequires 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 isabout 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.