SECTION XI.OF MALTING.
Thisprocess is intended to furnish proper means, for setting the constituent principles of the grain in motion: so that the oils, which before served to defend the several parts, may be enabled to take their proper stations.—This is effected by steeping the barley in water, where it strongly attracts moisture, as all dry bodies do; but it requires some time before the grain is fully saturated therewith.8Two or three days, more or less, are necessary, in proportion to the heat of the air; for vegetables receive the water only, by its straining through the outward skin, and absorbent vessels, and their pores are sovery fine, that they require this element to be reduced almost to a vapor, before it can gain admittance. Heat hath not only the property of expanding these pores, but perhaps also that of adding to the water a power more effectually to insinuate itself.
By the water gaining admittance into the corn, a great quantity of air is expelled from it, as appears from the number of bubbles which arise on its surface when in contact with the grain, though yet much remains therein. A judgment is formed that the corn is fully saturated, so as not to be able to imbibe any more water, from its turgidity and pulpousness, which occasions it readily to give way to an iron rod dropped perpendicularly therein. At this time the water is let to run, or drawn off, the grain taken out of the cistern, and laid in a regular heap, in height about two feet. We have before accounted why moist vegetables, when stacked together, grow hot; so doth this heap of barley. The heat, assisted by the moisture, puts in motion the acids, oils, and elastic air remaining in the corn, and these not only mollify and soften the radical vessels, but, with united power, force the juices from the glandular parts into the roots, which are thereby disposed to expand themselves, and impowered to convey nourishment to the embryo enveloped in the body of the grain. The corn in this heap, or couch, is however not suffered to acquire so great a degree of heat, as to carry on germination toofast, by which not only the finer but also the coarser oils would be raised and entangled together, and the malt when made become bitter and ill tasted; but before the acrospire is perceived to lengthen, the barley is dispersed in beds on the floor of the malt house, and, from being at first spread thin, gradually, as it dries, and as the germination is thereby checked in its progress, it is thrown into larger bodies; so that, at the latter part of this operation, which generally employs two days, much of the moisture is evaporated, its fibres are spread, and the acrospire near coming through the outward skin of the barley. By these signs the malster is satisfied that every part of the barley has been put in motion and separated. It is of great consequence, in making of malt, that the grain be dried by a very slow and gradual heat: for this purpose it is now thrown into a large heap, and there suffered to grow sensibly hot, as it will in about 20 or 30 hours: thus prepared for drying, in this lively and active condition, it is spread on the kiln; where, meeting with a heat superior to that requisite for vegetation, its farther growth is stopped; though, in all probability, from the gentleness of the first fire it ought to be exposed to, none of the finer vessels are, by this sudden change, rent or torn, but, by drying, only the cohesion of its parts removed, rendered inactive, and put in a preservative state. Often, to a fault, the drying of a kiln of malt is performed in 6 or 8 hours: it would be to the advantage of the grainthat more than double this time was employed for any intent whatever. It may here be observed, that those oils, which in part form the roots, being with them pushed out from the body of the corn, and dried by heat, are lost to any future wort, not being soluble in water; which is likewise true of those oils which are contained in the shoot or plume; so that the internal part of the malt has remaining in it a greater proportion of salts to the oils than before, consequently are less viscid, more saccharine, and easier to be extracted.
In this process, the acid parts of the grain, though they are the most ponderous, yet being very attractive of water, become weaker, and, by the continued heat of the kiln, are volatilized and evaporated with the aqueous steam of the malt. Thus, by malting, the grain acquires new properties, and these vary at the different stages of dryness; in the first it resembles the fruits ripened by a weaker sun, and in the last those which are the growth of the hottest climates.
When the whiteness of the barley has not been greatly changed by the heat it has been kept in, it is called pale malt, from its having retained its original color; but when the fire in the kiln has been made more vehement, or kept up a longer time, it affects both the oils and the salts of the grain, in proportion to the degree of the heat, and to the time it has been maintained, and thus occasions a considerable alteration in the color. Actualblackness seldom is, and ought never to be, suffered in malts; but in proportion to the intenseness of the fire they have been exposed to, the nearer do they come to that tinge, and from the different brown they shew, receive their several denominations.
The condition the barley was gathered in, whether green or ripe, is also clearly discernible when it is malted. If gathered green, it rather loses than gains in quantity; for the stock of oils in unripe corn being small, the whole is spent in germination, from whence the malt becomes of a smaller body, appears shrivelled, and is often unkindly, or hard. That, on the contrary, which hath come to full maturity, increases by malting, and if properly carried through the process, appears plump, bright, clean, and, on being cracked, readily yields the fine mealy parts, so much desired by the brewer.
The malts, when dried to the pitch intended by the maker, are removed from the kiln into a heap. Their heat gradually diminishes, and, from the known properties of fire, flies off, and disperses itself in the ambient air, sooner or later, as the heap is more or less voluminous; perhaps too in some proportion to the weight of the malt, and as the fire has caused it to be more or less tenacious. Nor can it be supposed that any of its parts are capable of retaining the fire in such a manner as not to suffer it to get away. So subtile an element cannot be confined, much less be kept in a state of inactivity, andimperceptible to our senses. Bars of iron, or brass, even of a considerable size, when heated red hot, cool and lose their fire, though their texture is undoubtedly much closer than that of malt or barley. The experiments made by Dr. Martine, on the heating and cooling of several bodies, leave no room to doubt of this fact, which I should not be so particular about, nor in some measure repeat, was it not to explain the technical phrase used by brewers, when they say,malts are full of fire, or want fire. Hence a prejudice hath by some been conceived against drinks made from brown malts, though they have been many months off the kiln, and have no more heat in them, either whole or ground, than the air they are kept in. The truth of the matter is, that, in proportion as malts are dried, their particles are more or less separated from one another, their cohesion is thereby broke, and, coming in contact with another body, such as water, strongly attract from it the uniting particles they want. The more violent this intestine motion is, the greater is the heat just then generated, though not durable. An effect somewhat similar to what happens on malt being united with water, must occur on the grain being masticated; and the impression made on the palate most probably gave rise to the technical expression just taken notice of.
The minute circumstances of the process of malting will be more readily conceived from what will hereafterbe said. The effects that fire will have, at several degrees, on what, from having been barley, is now become malt, are more particularly the concern of the brewer; and that these differ, both as to the color and properties, is certain. A determinate degree of heat produces, on every body, a certain alteration, and hence, as the action of fire is stronger or weaker, the effect will not be the same as what it would have been in any other degree.
Barleys, at a medium, may be said to lose, by malting, one fourth part of their weight, including what is separated from them by the roots being skreened off: but this proportion varies, according as they are more or less dried.
As the acrospire, and both the outward and inward skins of the grain are not dissoluble in water, the glandular or mealy substance is certainly very inconsiderable in volume and weight: but as in this alone are contained the fermentable principles of the grain, it deserves our utmost attention.
We have before seen, that wines, beers, and ales, after the first fermentation, are meliorated through age by the more refined and gentle agitations they undergo, and which often are not perceptible to our senses. To secure this favorable effect, we must form worts capable of maintaining themselves, for some time, in a sound state. This quality, however, if not originally in the malt, is not to be expected in the liquor. Some objections have been raised against this method of arguing, and these aided by prejudices, often more powerful than the objections themselves. It is therefore necessary, as malting may be esteemed the foundation of all our future success, to enquire after the best and properest methods of succeeding in this process. Let us, for this purpose, reassume the consideration of the grain, as it comes from the mow, trace it to the kiln, and observe every change it undergoes by the action of the fire, from the time that it receives the first degree of preservation, to that when it is utterly altered and nearly destroyed.
Barley in the mow, though there its utmost heat should not much exceed 100 degrees, may be extracted or brewed without malting. This the distiller’s practice daily evinces; but then the extracts, made from this unchanged corn, are immediately put in the still after the first fermentation, else they would not long remain in a sound state. Nor is this method practicable in summer time, as the extracts would turn sour, before they were sufficiently cooled to ferment. It is true, by this means, all the charge of the malt duty is saved; but our spirits thereby are greatly inferior to those of the French.—Boerhaave recommends the practice of that nation, which is to let the wines ferment, subside, and be drawn off fine from the lees, before they are distilled. Was this rule observed in England, distillation would be attempted onlyfrom malted grain, which, if properly extracted for this purpose, the difference in the spirit would soon shew how useful and necessary it is to give wines (either from grapes or corn) time to be softened, and to gain some degree of vinosity before they are used to this intent.
But might not barleys be dried without being germinated? Undoubtedly they might; but as they abound with many acids and strong oils, they would require a heat more intense than malt does, before they were sufficiently penetrated, and then the oleaginous parts would become so compact, and so resinous, as nearly to acquire the consistence of a varnish, scarcely to be mollified by the hottest water, and hardly ever to be entirely dissolved by that element.
Barley then ungerminated, either in its natural state or when dried, is not fit for the purpose of making wines; but when, by germination, the coarser oils are expelled, and the mealy parts of the grain become saccharine, might not this suffice, and where is the necessity of the grain being dried by fire? I shall not dwell on the impossibility of stopping germination at a proper period, without the assistance of fire, so that sufficient quantities of the grain, thus prepared, may always be provided for the purposes of brewing; nor even insist upon the difficulty of grinding such grain, as, in this case, it would be spongy and tough. I think it sufficient to mention solely the unfitness of this imperfect malt, forthe purpose it is to be applied to, that of forming beers and ales capable of preserving themselves for some time. We should find so many acids blended with the water still remaining in the grain, that, in the most favorable seasons for brewing, they would often render all our endeavors abortive, and, in summer time, make it impracticable to obtain from them sound extracts in any manner whatever.
I have heard of a project of germinating grain, and drying it by the heat of the sun, in summer time, in order, by this means, to save the expence of fuel. Though the hottest days in England may be thought sufficient for this act, as well as for making hay, yet, as barley and grass are not of equal densities, the effects would not be the same. This, however, is not the only objection: as the corn, after a sufficient germination, should be made inactive, this very hot season, favorable, in appearance, to one part of the process, would rather forward, than stop or retard, vegetation; for the barley, by this heat, would shoot and come forward so fast as to entangle too much the constituent principles of the grain with one another, and drive the coarser ill-tasted oils among the finer sweet mealy parts, which alone, in their utmost purity, are the subject required for such as would obtain good drinks.
There often appears in mankind a strange disposition to wish for the gifts of Providence, in a different manner than they have been allotted to us. The various schemes I have just now mentioned, if I mistake not, have sprung from the desire of having beers and ales of the same appearance with white wines. But as they are naturally more yellow or brown, when brewed from malts dried by heats equal or superior to that which constitutes them such, all such projects, by which we endeavour to force some subjects to be of a like color with others, are but so many attempts against nature, and the prosecution of them must commonly be attended with disappointments. It is true, that though the germinated grain be dried slack, yet; if they are speedily used, and brewed in the most proper season, they may make a tolerable drink, which will preserve itself sound for some time: but the proportion, which should be kept between the heat which dried the malt, and that which is to extract it, cannot, in this case, be truly ascertained; and, as the grain will be more replete with air, water, and acids, than it ought to be, the drink, even supposing the most fortunate success, and that it does not soon turn acid, will still be frothy, and therefore greatly wanting in salubrity; for an excess in any of the fermentable principles must always be hurtful.
Barley then, to be made fit for the purpose of brewing, must be malted; that is, it must be made to sprout or germinate with degrees of heat nearly equal to those which the seed should be impressed with when sown inthe ground; and it must be dried with a heat superior to that of vegetation, and capable of checking it. How far germination should be carried on, we have already seen; the law seems to be fixed universally, as to the extent of the acrospire: the degree of dryness admits of a larger latitude, the limits of which shall be the subject of our next enquiry.
Malt dried in so low a degree, as that the vegetative power is not entirely destroyed, on laying together in a heap, will generate a considerable degree of heat, germinate afresh, and send forth its plume or acrospire quite green. The ultimate parts of the nourishing principles are then within each other’s power of acting, else this regermination could not take place; and such grain cannot be said to be malted, or in a preservative state. Bodies, whose particles are removed, by heat, beyond their sphere of attraction, can no more germinate; but, coming in contact with other bodies, as malt with water, they effervesce. The grain we are now speaking of first shews this act of effervescence, when it has been thoroughly impressed with a heat of 120 degrees, and a little before its color, from a white, begins to incline to the yellow. Such are the malts, which are cured in a manner to be able to maintain themselves sound, though in this state, and at this degree of dryness, they possess as much air, and as many acid and watery particles, as their present denomination can admit of. This therefore may be termed the first or lowest degree of drying this grain for malt.
To discover the last or greatest degree of heat it is capable of enduring, the circumstance to guide us to it, though equally true, is not so near at hand as effervescence, which helped us to the first. We must therefore have recourse to the observation of that heat, which wholly deprives the grain of its principal virtues. Dr. Shaw observes,alcohol is one of the most essential parts of wine; when absent, the wine loses its nature, and, when properly diffused, it is a certain remedy for most diseases incident to wines, and keeps them sound and free from corruption; from whence was derived the method of preserving vegetable and animal substances.—The same excellent author had before this observed, thatno subjects but those of the vegetable kingdom are found to produce this preserving spirit. Is alcohol, then, a new body, created by fermentation and distillation; or did it originally, though latently, reside in the vegetable?I have for a good while been satisfied, by experiments, says Boerhaave,that all other inflammable bodies are so only as they contain alcohol in them, or, at least, something that, on account of its fineness, is exceedingly like it; the grosser parts thereof, that are left behind, after a separation of this subtile one, being no longer combustible.
Now, as the same author has clearly proved9that fire, by burning combustible bodies, as well as by distilling them, separates their different inflammable principles, according to their various degrees of subtilty, the alcohol residing in the barley, when exposed to such a degree of heat as would cause it to boil, i. e. 175 degrees, must make great efforts to disengage itself from the grain. Is it not, therefore, natural to conclude, that, in a body like malt, whose parts have been made to recede from one another, (from whence it is porous, and easily affected by fire,) prepared for fermentation, or the making a vinous liquor, this event will probably happen at the same time when the body of the grain has been ultimately divided by fire, or that malt charrs? and if this is true, may not charring be termed the last degree of dryness, when, even somewhat before it takes place, the acid parts and finest oils, which are necessary for forming a fermentable must, fly off, and cannot be recovered.—Charring seems to be a crisis in solid bodies, somewhat analogous to ebullition in fluids; both being thereby perfectly saturated with fire, their volatile and spiritous parts tend to fly off. In charring, the subject being ultimately divided by fire, the constituent principles areset at liberty, and escape in the atmosphere, in proportion to their several degrees of subtilty, and to the fire which urged them. In boiling they are equally divided, and incline to disperse; but, even the more volatile, being surrounded with water, a medium much denser than themselves, they are caught up therein, and, by the violent motion caused in boiling, entangled with it, and with other parts it contains, so as not to be extricated or divided therefrom except by the act of fermentation. Now, as liquors boil with a greater or less fire in proportion to their tenacity and gravity, solid bodies may likewise be charred by various proportions of heat. The whole body of the barley, as its different parts are of different texture, cannot, at the same instant, become black, nor, where any quantity of the grain is under similar circumstances, if not equally germinated, can the whole charr with the same degree.
To the several reflections, before made, I thought proper to add the surer help of experience. I therefore made the following trial, with all the care I was capable of. If the effects of it appear satisfactory, by gaining two limited and distant degrees, we may determine and fix the properties of the intermediate spaces, in proportion to their expansion.
In an earthen pan, of about two feet diameter, and three inches deep, I put as much of the palest malt, unequally grown, as filled it on a level to the brim. ThisI placed over a little charcoal, lighted in a small stove, and kept continually stirring it from bottom to top.
At first it did not feel so damp as it did about half an hour after. In about an hour more, it began to look of a bright orange color on the outside, and appeared more swelled than before. Every one is sensible that a long-continued custom makes us sufficient judges of colors, and this sense in a brewer is sufficiently exercised. Then I masticated some of the grain, and found them to be nearly such as are termed brown malts. On stirring, and making a heap of them, towards the middle, I placed therein, at about half depth, the bulb of my thermometer; it rose to 140 degrees: the malt felt very damp, and had but little smell.
At 165 degrees, I examined it in the same manner as before, and could perceive no damp; the malt was very brown, and on being chewed, some few black specks appeared.
Many corns, nearest the bottom, were now become black, and burnt; I placed my thermometer nearly there, and it rose to 175 degrees: but, as the particles of fire, ascending from the stove, act on the thermometer, in proportion to the distance of the situation it is placed in, through the whole experiment an abatement of five degrees should be allowed, as near as I could estimate.—Putting, a little after, my thermometer in the same position, where about half the corns were black, it shewed180 degrees. I now judged that the water was nearly evaporated, and observed the heap grew black apace.
Again, in the centre of the heap, raised in the middle of the pan, I found the thermometer at 180 degrees; the corn tasted burnt, the surface appeared, about one half part a full brown, and the rest black. On being masticated, still some white specks appeared, which I observed to proceed from those barley-corns which had not been thoroughly germinated, and whose parts cohering more closely together, the fire, at this degree, had not penetrated. The thermometer was now more various, as it was nearer to, or farther from, the bottom; and, in my opinion, all the true-made malt was charred, for their taste was insipid, they were brittle, and their skins parting from the kernel.
I, nevertheless, continued the experiment, and, at 190 degrees, still found some white specks on chewing the grain; the acrospire always appearing of a deeper black, or brown, than the outward skin; the corn, at this juncture, fried at the bottom of the pan.
I still increased the fire; and the thermometer, placed in the middle, between the bottom of the pan, and the upper edge of the corn, shewed 210 degrees. The malt hissed, fried, and smoked abundantly. Though, during the whole process, the grain had been kept stirring, yet, on examination, the whole was not equally affected by the fire. A great part thereof was reduced to perfectcinders, easily crumbling to dust between the fingers, some of a very black hue, without gloss, some very black, with oil shining on the outside. Upon the whole, two thirds of the corn were perfectly black, and the rest of a deep brown, but more or less so, as the grains were hard, steely, or imperfectly germinated. This was easily discovered by the length of the shoot: most of the grains seemed to have lost their cohesion, and had a taste resembling that of high-roasted coffee.
In the last stage of charring the malt, I placed over it a wine glass inverted, into which arose a pinguious oily matter, and tasted very salt. It may, perhaps, not be unnecessary to say, that the length of time this experiment took up, was four hours, and that the effect it had, both on myself, and on the person who attended me, was such as greatly resembled that of inebriation.
Though, from this experiment, the degree of heat at which malt charrs, is not fixed with the utmost precision, yet we see that black specks appeared, when the thermometer was at 165 degrees; some of the corns were entirely black at 175, others at 180. In proportion as fire causes a deficiency of color, it must occasion a want of fermentable properties, the whole of which are certainly dispersed, when the grain becomes of an absolute black. Thus we may conclude, with an exactness surely sufficient for the purposes of brewing, that true germinated malts are charred in heats, at about 175 degrees:as these correspond to the heat at which pure alcohol, or the finest spirit of the grain itself, boils, it seems to require this heat, wholly to extricate itself from the more tenacious parts of the corn; which, when deprived of this etherial enlivening principle, remains inert, incapable of forming a fermentable must or wort, and indicates to us, that the constituent parts of vegetables may be resolved by heats, equal to those between the first degree which formed them, and the last, which ultimately destroys their properties; though the extracts will possess different qualities or virtues, according to the determinate heat which is applied.