Brewer

“ 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 ”

“ Nay, I have known some of the little Victualling Brewers so stupendiously ignorant, that they have thought they acted the good Husband, when they have squeezed the Hops after they have been boiled to the last in small Beer, to get out all their goodness as they vainly imagin'd, which is so reverse to good management, that in my Opinion they had much better put some sort of Earth into the Drink, and it would prove more pleasant and wholsome. ”

“ Brewer. "Brewer" means and includes any person who occupies, carries on, works or conducts any Brewery either by himself or his agent ;
Malt. "Malt" means and includes all preparations of grain or leguminous seeds that have been steeped in water, allowed to germinate and the germination checked by drying, or which is to be used for the production of Beer, or that may be malted for the purpose of distillation ”

“ No certain or invariable rules, therefore, can be laid down for any one particular system of brewing, as applicable in all cases. We must, in a great measure, be guided by circumstances and locality, combined with the scientific knowledge and experience of the brewer. ”

“ The intelligent brewer may, by the assistance of these observations, form a most accurate rule for the regulation of his future conduct in the management of fermentation, according as his beer or ale is to be weak or strong, or for present use or long keeping; for the accomplishment of which, the use of the hydrometer and thermometer claim his peculiar attention, and will undoubtedly answer his expectations, when joined to the certainty he is now at, of knowing when he is, or is not, to expect the development of fixed air and additional spirit, by which he can govern himself accordingly. ”

“ The intent of every brewer, when he forms his drink, is to extract the fermentable parts of the malt, in the most perfect manner; to add hops, in such proportion as experience teaches him will preserve and ameliorate the beer; and to employ just so much yeast as is sufficient to obtain a complete fermentation. ”

“ It has already been stated that a brewer, on going from one brewhouse to another, often finds it impossible to produce beer which is equally good in his new situation. This has been found to be the case even when all the materials have been furnished from the same stock. ”

“ If any common brewer shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, or strong worts with table beer or table worts, or with water in any guile or fermenting tun after the declaration of the quantity of such guile shall have been made ”

“ Another obstacle to improvement is, that almost every brewer in the course of his practice, persuades himself that he has made some discovery, by which he can make his beer better than that of his neighbour. ”

“ Altho' I have said an Hour and a half is requisite for boiling October Beer, and an Hour for Ales and small Beer; yet it is to be observed, that an exact time is not altogether a certain Rule in this Case with some Brewers; for when loose Hops are boiled in the wort so long till they all sink, their Seeds will arise and fall down again; the wort also will be curdled, and broke into small Particles if examin'd in a Hand-bowl, but afterwards into larger, as big as great Pins heads, and will appear clean and fine at the Top. ”

“ Brewing, like several other Arts is prostituted to the opinionated Ignorance of many conceited Pretenders, who if they have but seen or been concern'd in but one Brewing, and that only one Bushel of Malt, assume the Name of a Brewer and dare venture on several afterwards, as believing it no other Task, than more Labour, to Brew a great deal as well as a little ”

“ But, ignorant of the causes of most, if not all the defects they undertake to remedy, and unacquainted with the constituent parts of beers, it is not to be expected that their success should be constant and uniform. The brewer, earnest to do his duty, and to excel, ought to keep a particular account of every brewing; by this means he best can tell how he formed335 the drink, and ought consequently, in any disorder, to be prepared to direct the properest remedy. ”

“ Hops are an essential to the brewer, not only keeping the beer and giving it an exquisite flavour, but also assisting, if we may be pardoned for using a technical term in a work intended to be anything but technical, to break down the fermentation. ”

“ The author informs those persons who may feel disposed to engage in the brewing and malting trades, that he can furnish them with ground plans, and sections of elevation, both of breweries and malt houses, on different scales, whether intended to be erected together, or separately, as will be found to unite, economy, convenience, and effect, joined to a considerable saving to those who are not themselves judges of such erections, or how they should be disposed. ”

“ The production of good malt is, without question, the key-stone of the arch of brewing; therefore the brewer's attention should be invariably directed to this point, as the most difficult and important part of his operations. The process of making malt is an artificial or forced vegetation, in which, the nearer we approach nature in her ordinary progress, the more certainly shall we arrive at the perfection of which the subject is capable. ”

“ Having considered the produce of the brewery as it is connected with health, we may, with equal propriety, say it is not less so with morals; and its encouragement and extension, as an object of great national importance, cannot be too strongly recommended, as the most natural and effectual remedy to the too great use of ardent spirits, the baneful effects of which are too generally known, and too extensively felt, to need any particular description here. The farmer and the merchant will alike find their account in encouraging and improving the produce of the brewery. ”

“ Brewing without boiling. Brewing strong Beer with the extract only of the Hop, leaving out the substance. A simple method of giving new Beer all the qualities of age, thereby fitting it for the bottle before it is three weeks old. A simple method of preventing Beer bursting the bottle. An economical mode of constructing Vats above ground, possessing the temperature of the best cellars and thus rendered fireproof. An economical mode by which every Housekeeper may brew his own Beer. A method of brewing good Beer from Bran and Shorts, and of preserving it. ”

“ Cleanliness being as essential in the brewery as in the dairy, it is of the greatest importance, never to lose sight of it in every part of the operations, and particularly in selecting the ground and soil to place a brewery on. The situation to be preferred should be an elevated one, and the soil either sand or gravel, as it is of great importance in the preservation of beer that the cellars be dry and sufficiently ventilated by windows properly disposed. ”

“ I trust I may be excused in drawing the attention of the meeting of the British Association to a short notice of the injurious influence which electricity exerts on the fermentation of the worts of the brewer and the wash of the distiller. The powerful and injurious effects produced by this agent in the manufacture of beer, I endeavoured to point out, in a little work, lately published, on Brewing; which, although it has excited some notice among a few practical men, yet the subject has not received that attention which its great importance deserves. ”

“ In several of the Northern Counties of England, where they have good Barley, Coak-dryed Malt, and the Drink brewed at Home, there are seldom any bad Ales or Beers, because they have the Knowledge in Brewing so well, that there are hardly any common Brewers amongst them: In the West indeed there are some few, but in the South and East Parts there are many ”

“ Breweries are multiplied throughout its streets, lager beer saloons abound, beer gardens, with their flowers and music and cleanly arbor-shaded tables, attract the tired and thirsty in various quarters. ”

“ Relying too much on malted grain in the operation of fermentation, we are presented with some of the most pleasing and instructive phenomena of nature; the resolutions and combinations that are formed during the process of the vinous and acetous stages of fermentation, are interesting, beyond comparison, to the brewer, malt and molasses distillers, vintager, cider and vinegar maker, &c. ”

“ Where brewing is needful, be brewer thyself, what filleth the roofe will helpe furnish the shelfe;32 In buying of drinke by the firkin or pot the tallie ariseth, but hog amendes not.33 Well brewed, worth cost, Ill used, halfe lost. One bushell well brewed, outlasteth some twaine, and saveth both mault, and expenses in vaine, Too new is no profite, too stale is as bad, drinke deade, or else sower, makes laborer sad. ”

“ A good reason why, sir; who can brew without malt and hops? who can make bricks without straw? I hear some of the great London brewers do without either malt or hops, but I wouldn’t drink their brewings, I know; their brewings won’t do for us at Newcastle Emlyn! ”

“ In the first place, owing to the high pressure of steam, which must necessarily take place before the weight can be raised to allow of its escape, the evaporation of the worts in boiling is so trifling as to prevent the necessary increase of gravity, so as to enable the brewer to turn the proper quantity of liquor over his malt in the mash-tun, for producing the best extracts, particularly for beers of high gravities. ”

“ ASSING on to modern times and bidding adieu to the old brewers, brewsters, ale-wives, and tapsters, it behoves us to devote ourselves to giving some account of the brewing of the present day, thereby bringing our history up to date. ”

“ The Bordeaux method of making and preparing Claret Wine for shipping, which may be successfully applied to the wines of this country, particularly those of Kaskaskias. The best method and season for malting Indian Corn, from which alone good Beer can be made, a process highly important to Brewers. The best mode of raising Hops. The best mode of preparing Seed Barley for sowing. Best construction and aspect of Breweries and Malt Houses in this country. The French mode of tanning the heaviest Soal Leather in twenty-one days, and Calf Skins in three or four. ”

“ Brewing Operations.—The general scheme of operations in an English brewery will be readily understood if reference be made to fig. 1, which represents an 8-quarter brewery on the gravitation system, the principle of which is that all materials to be employed are pumped or hoisted to the highest point required, to start with, and that subsequently no further pumping or hoisting is required, the materials (in the shape of water, malt, wort or hops, &c.) being conveyed from one point to another by the force of gravity. ”

“ To begin with, there is the Brewery. You cannot escape from a big brewery if it belong to you. You cannot hide it away. Messenger, Marsden & Company's Stout, their XXX, their Old and Mild, their Bitter, their Family Ales (that particularly at eight-and-six the nine-gallon cask, if paid for on delivery) , their drays, their huge horses, their strong men, whose very appearance advertises the beer, and makes the weak-kneed and the narrow-chested rush to Whitechapel—my dear, these things stare one in the face wherever you go. ”

“ In some Parts of the North, they take one or more Cinders red hot and throw some Salt on them to overcome the Sulphur of the Coal, and then directly thrust it into the fresh Malt or Goods, where it lies till all the water is laded over and the Brewing done, for there is only one or two mashings or stirrings at most necessary in a Brewing: Others that Brew with Wood will quench one or more Brands ends of Ash in a Copper of wort, to mellow the Drink as a burnt Toast of Bread does a Pot of Beer ”

“ Arthur. I thought brewers made beer?
Mr. Mansfield. You were right. Brewers buy malt. They grind it, and then pour hot water upon it, to get out its strength and goodness. The [51] liquor thus obtained, which is sweet-wort, becomes the most valuable part of the commodity; for the malt has lost its virtue, and is called grains, and is only used to feed pigs and cattle. The wort is afterwards boiled with hops, which give it a bitterish taste instead of a sickly sweet, and keep it wholesome and good. ”

“ We thus reduce the different kinds of water to the same condition, and the products will also be the same.
While brewers and others are continually speaking of the water with which they brew being preferable to any other water, they never think of the difference of the soils on which the barley is grown. ”

“ Similarly, in various parts of Europe, it is still believed that if a woman in her courses enters a brewery the beer will turn sour; if she touches beer, wine, vinegar, or milk, it will go bad; if she makes jam, it will not keep; if she mounts a mare, it will miscarry; if she touches buds, they will wither; if she climbs a cherry tree, it will die. ”

“ We now come to the actual process of brewing, or the art of making the materials we have described into beer. While brewing cannot bo considered a difficult or a mys terious art, good materials, a good method, and strict attention being the secrets of success there is no process in which rules are of less avail. To obtain complete success, it is necessary that the brewer shall have formed an opinion of his materials from personal observation, and that he should be thoroughly acquainted with the brewery in which they are to be used. ”