Brewing

“ Whoever is attentive to the practical part of brewing, will soon be convinced that heat, or fire, is the principal agent therein, as this element, used in a greater or less degree, or differently applied, is the occasion of the greatest part of the variety we perceive. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And first, I shall observe that the great Brewer has some advantages in Brewing more than the small one, and yet the latter has some Conveniences which the former can't enjoy; for 'tis certain that the great Brewer can make more Drink, and draw a greater Length in proportion to his Malt, than a Person can from a lesser Quantity, because the greater the Body, the more is its united Power in receiving and discharging, and he can Brew with less charge and trouble by means of his more convenient Utensils. ”

“ Brewing, which has run through eleven editions, after having stated the various ingredients for brewing porter, observes, "that however much they may surprise, however pernicious or disagreeable they may appear, he has always found them requisite in the brewing of porter, and he thinks they must invariably be used by those who wish to continue the taste, flavour, and appearance of the beer. ”

“ From the investigation of so extensive a business, some benefit, it is hoped, must accrue to the public; from the process of brewing being carried on in a just and uniform manner, our malt liquors, probably, will in time better deserve the name of wine. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I hope it is by this time understood, that my views are to raise the Process of Brewing above the vulgar error that tyrant custom has entailed on it, and by the free exercise of the brewer's abilities, both in a scientific and tradesman-like manner, so as advantageously to preserve flavour and quality, with almost any proportions of every sort of malt he may occasionally be obliged to use.
The world is continually exclaiming that experience is better than theory. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The brewing of malt liquors has hitherto been conducted by such vague traditional maxims, that an attempt to establish its practice on truer and more fixed principles must, like every new essay, be attended with difficulties. ”

“ 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 ”

“ A TABLE, shewing nearly the times the first and last worts of common small beers should be let down in the working tuns, supposing the first mash of the brewing to be made at four o’clock in the morning, and no uncommon change happens in the heat of the air. ”

“ See Malt, Hops, Brewing, &c.
Purity. The leading characteristics of good beer are transparency, a fine colour, an agreeable semi-vinous flavour, and the property of remaining for several hours exposed in a glass or cup without becoming ‘flat’ or insipid. If the materials used were good, if the brewing was skilfully conducted, if the liquor has been carefully stowed in perfectly sweet casks or vessels, in a suitable cellar, for a sufficient time, and has not been tampered with, this will almost always be the case. ”

“ There is no specie of beer, in brewing of which it is requisite the artist should be more attentive to alter his process in proportion to the change of heat in the air, than common small beer, which, though brewed in every season, is constantly expected to be in an uniform order for use. ”

“ Here I am to treat of the main Article of shewing the difference between brewing our own Ales and Beers, and buying them, which I doubt not will appear so plain and evident, as to convince any Reader, that many Persons may save well towards half in half, and have their Beer and Ale strong, fine and aged at their own Discretion: A satisfaction that is of no small weight, and the rather since I have now made known a Method of Brewing a Quantity of Malt with a little Copper and a few Tubs, a Secret that has long wanted Publication ”

“ Greyness undoubtedly at all times denotes an imperfection either in the materials used, or in some part of the brewing process, for which no after remedy has, as far as we know, been yet discovered, at least without destroying the beer. ”

“ BREWING is the art of preparing an exhilarating or intoxicating beverage by means of a process of fermentation. In the modern acceptation of the word, brewing is the operation of preparing beer and ales from any farinaceous grain (chiefly from barley) , which is first malted and ground, and its fermentable substance extracted by warm water. This infusion is evaporated by boiling, hops having been added to preserve it. ”

“ By the formulæ already given, any one capable of making common calculations may conduct a brewing with any quantity of malt, from one quarter to four hundred, on precisely the same plan. They, however, who are in the practice of brewing on a great scale, need no instructions for calculating. ”

“ Howbeit, as the beer well sodden in the brewing, and stale, is clear and well coloured as muscadel or malvesey, or rather yellow as the gold noble, as our pot-knights call it, so our ale, which is not at all or very little sodden, and without hops, is more thick, fulsome, and of no such continuance, which are three notable things to be considered in that liquor. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many brewers make it an invariable rule, both in summer and winter, to commence brewing at a very early hour in the morning. A little reflection, however, will convince them that in hot weather, it is much better to commence at a much later period of the day; by so doing they will have the advantage of night for cooling their worts, and with the assistance of fans or blowers, they can at all events, with few exceptions, get their worts to a temperature of 60° before letting them run into the gyle-tun. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Our knowledge of the essential chemical constituents of brewing waters enables brewers in many cases to treat an unsatisfactory supply artificially in such a manner as to modify its character in a favourable sense. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They do not possess hops, or any other substance that will preserve the beer, and in consequence they are obliged to consume the whole brewing within a day or two. When, therefore, a chief has a great brew of beer, the people assemble, and by day and night they continue drinking, drumming, dancing, and feasting, until the whole of the beer is gone. ”

“ Mills is of opinion, that small beer should always be brewed by itself; in which case, two bushels and a half of malt, and a pound and a half of hops, are sufficient to make a hogshead.
4. Of the Vessels used in Brewing. The brew-bouse ibelf, and every vessel in it, ought to be perfectly clean and sweet; for if the vessels are in the least degree tainted, the liquor put into them will contract a disagreeable scent and taste. A vessel of the most simple and excellent contrivance, among the multiplicity of brewing utensils adapted to family purposes, is that of Mr. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many brewers suppose that, by exposing water to the action of the atmosphere for a certain period, they soften it, and make it more fit for the purposes of brewing, and others even prefer stagnant water, even when they have an abundant supply of fine pump-water at command. Exposing spring-water to the atmosphere can do very little harm in winter, and perhaps as little good ”

“ 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. ”

“ But we must add to it a second explanation of beer, which is applied to a fermented extract, not from any farinaceous grain, but from the roots and other parts of various plants, as ginger, spruce-sap, beet, molasses, and many more. The scientific inquirer may learn the mysteries of malting and brewing, which are very nearly distinct trades, in the many treatises on beer-making which have adorned the literature of this and other countries. In these he may read as much as he wills of the steeping of the barley, its extension, its absorption of water, and the time occupied in this process ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now is the great brewing time for those who have to provide large households, or gangs of labourers, with beer. The best beer for keeping, the farmers say, is made in October, and hence the name of our ancestors’ best ale. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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! ”

“ Then strain them through a hair-sieve without breaking the fruit; put the liquor on two pounds more fruit, and, after straining it in the same manner, add to each pint of juice half a pound of loaf sugar; put it in a stone vessel, and let it stand in boiling water until the sugar is dissolved; when cold, take off the scum, and bottle it.
1277. Cheap and easy method of Brewing.—One bushel of malt and three-quarters of a pound of hops will, on an average, brew twenty gallons of good beer. ”