E. Hughes

“ If you want to hasten your beer for drinking, put the hops into the casks when they are warm; if your beer is for a long standing, put the hops in your casks when they are cold, giving them a stir to separate them in the beer.
Take care not to be under the necessity of tapping your ale or small beer before it has actually done working, for by so doing you will prevent it from becoming fine: new beer may be classed with new bread; for the newer you draw your beer the more there will be consumed; new beer is not so satisfying as it is when come to a more mature age. ”

“ You should feed your tun with yeast by adding a little at a time, as occasion may require, for by so doing you will always be master of your tun of beer, by having it in what state of fermentation you please; as the quality of malt and waters differ, it will require more or less yeast to ferment it, and by adding the yeast at different times you will be enabled to form such a judgment as never to over-yeast your tun. Every time you add more yeast you should stir your beer with a bowl or bucket. ”

“ Many persons very much prefer Pond Waters, such that are frequently disturbed by horses and other cattle, which generally causes it to be in a thick muddy state; but the sediments of this thick muddy water must be found prejudicial; for when the wort is emptied out of the cooling tubs into the working tun, or running from the coolers into the tun, a part of the sediment, from the foulness of the water, will follow the wort into the tun, consequently the yeast will be in a foul state and cannot be of that utility in baking, as though the brewing had been from pure clean water. ”

“ If a guile of beer is made from under dried malt it will not be of a fine bright colour, and an extra boiling of the worts will not have the desired effect: then you are under the necessity of using finings and other nostrums, which are only temporary, for no other ingredients whatever can be so beneficial to beer as malt and hops, and if those two commodities are in a good and genuine state, you will not have occasion to seek for any other art or device whatever. ”

“ As soon as the wort is in the copper it should be made to boil as quick as possible, and a brisk fire should be kept under the copper to cause the wort to boil as fast as possible, for fast boiling will cause the wort to break and fine itself much sooner than it would if kept in a slow boiling state. Thirty or forty minutes will be sufficient to boil ale, and one hour if strong beer. This quick boiling will cause a saving of one gallon in twenty, at least, which must be acknowleged a great advantage, considering the present high price of malt. ”

“ Small beer should be let down into the tun much warmer than ale; and as soon as it shews an inclination to work it should be cleansed; it will then work well in the casks, and will have a quick, lively taste. Small beer, not having a sufficient strength, cannot support a long fermentation in the tun: for if it is worked cold, and left too long in the tun, it will drink flat and unpleasant. ”

“ Hops are found to be of such excellent utility in the bittering of beer, that common brewers and innkeepers are forbidden by law to use any other bitter ingredient whatever in brewing of beer and ale. ”

“ In the hop countries most hop-planters keep those hops which are most disfigured in their quality, separate and apart, when picking, from those of a brighter colour; those which are of an inferior colour are kept for their own use, and disposed of to their neighbours, it being their opinion that they answer the purpose in brewing nearly as well as those of a brighter colour, provided they are in full condition, that is, if they are full of seeds ”

“ I have seen very fine malt dried with straw, it being less subject to smoak than malt dried with wood; but this mode of drying is very tedious, because a person must always attend the fire. In those countries where it is straw-dried, wood and coal is dear, therefore straw is used as a substitute for coal, &c. However, if care be taken, malt may be well cured with a straw or wood fire, but not to equal welch coal, or coke, because the fire may always be kept up so as to produce a regular heat. ”

“ It is a practice with many people to keep their beer in the tun from four to six days; by that time the yeast will fall to the bottom of the tun, and the beer will be in a flat, dead state; it will always be heady beer, being kept so long before it is cleansed; it will not be inclined to work in the casks, nor will it drink with a pleasant, lively taste. ”

“ Brown spots are frequently to be seen on hops; these are, in general, hops that came to a full ripeness before they were gathered. High winds and rain frequently happen about the middle or latter end of the hop season, which will disfigure them in their colour in a few hours, so that the colour is not at all times to direct you as to their goodness. ”

“ Brewing is generally left to the care of servants, particularly in farm houses, who frequently have at the same time other business to perform, which too frequently causes the brewing to be neglected, particularly in its first stage. The mash in this first stage determines the whole of the brewing, for the malt ought to be well mixed up with the water, which will cause some time and labour ”

“ Attending your beer when working, by filling up the casks, will be found to be of the greatest utility, as you will have no occasion to use any device to fine your beer, which will only attend to adulteration. ”

“ If malt is dried with a wood fire it greatly depends on the wood being housed in a dry season; for if the wood is dry it will produce a clear fire, free from smoak, and the malt will be of a bright colour; but if the wood is wet and sugged, the fire will not be fierce, but will be smoaky, and will certainly cause the malt to be of a dull colour ”

“ The reader will observe that brewing in warm weather ought to be avoided as much as possible; for the coolers or tubs in warm weather being in a very dry state, and the worts being a long time cooling, that, at least, one gallon in forty will exhaust itself. ”

“ Now to prevent the use of all these small utensils, a brew-house, though ever so small, will admit of two coolers being erected; for two coolers will take up nearly the same room in the brew-house as if only one were to be erected; for one cooler should be nearly underneath the other, so that the second cooler may receive the wort from the first. Care must be taken in fixing the coolers, so as to admit the working tun underneath the coolers, to receive the wort: but this need not be consulted where there is a conveniency to convey the worts and work them in the cellar. ”

“ Well Waters ought not to be used only in cases of necessity, when waters of a softer quality cannot be procured: the well water should be pumped into tubs, or any convenient vessel that is clean and sweet. ”

“ From these improvements the brewing will be more expeditiously performed, as the worts will, of course, from this conveniency, much sooner make way for the small beer, and totally prevent its being left in the copper all night, which is too often practised, to the injury of those who drink it, as it will not be fine, but remain in a thick wey colour, which is owing to its being in the copper too long, and not being kept in a boiling state ”

“ There is one very great object to the interest of the brewer;—Beer, brewed with rain or river water, will be stronger than beer brewed with well water from an equal quantity of Malt, because it will have a freer access to the Malt ”

“ A victualler is compelled by law not to alter the position of his coolers without giving notice to the excise officer;—now private families have the advantage,—they may have their coolers fixed in the brew-house, or to lay on trestles, and move them to any part, as occasion may require. ”