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THE AMERICAN PRACTICAL BREWER AND TANNER:
IN WHICH IS EXHIBITED
THE WHOLE PROCESS OF
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.
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. (Highly important.)
BY JOSEPH COPPINGER.
Practical Brewer.
_NEW-YORK_:
PRINTED BY VAN WINKLE AND WILEY,
No. 3 Wall Street.
1815.
Transcriber's Note: Part of the last sentence in Footnote 6 is
illegible and has been marked [remainder of text is illegible]. In
addition, the Contents were moved from the rear to the front of this
text for the convenience of the reader.
CONTENTS.
Page.
Advertisement 3
Preface 5
The best position for placing a brewery and malt
house, also the best aspect, with different
arrangements of the vessels 11
A description of the form and plan of a brewery,
distribution of the vessels; the most judicious and
convenient manner of placing them, with a view
to economy, cleanliness, and effect 13
Malt house, the best construction of, with proper
barley lofts, dropping room, and flooring, how,
and in what manner made, and best likely to last 18
Wooden kilns, how constructed 23
A new and economical construction of vats for
keeping beer, which, in this way, may be rendered
fire proof, whilst at the same time possessing
the temperature of the best cellars, although
above ground 29
Grinding, how substituted for 31
Malting 33
Plain practical process of malting 44
Malting winter barley 50
Malting oats ib.
Malting rye ib.
Malting wheat ib.
Indian corn, how malted 51
Fermentation 54
Hops, how cultivated 99
Barley cultivation 109
Table beer 112
Small beer for shipping 113
Keeping table beer 114
Small beer of the best kind 116
Another method to brew small beer 118
Another process for brewing small beer 120
Single ale and table beer 123
Strong beer 126
Table beer, English method of brewing it 129
Unboiled beer 131
Strong beer, brewed with the extract of hops,
leaving out the substance 134
Table beer for housekeepers, well worth their
attention 136
Fermenting and cleansing in the same vessel 138
Plate of the worker 139
A new method of fermenting strong beer, that will
produce a pure and good liquor 140
Process of brewing Windsor ale, on a small scale 142
Reading beer, how brewed 145
Two-penny amber beer, as brewed in London 147
London ale, how brewed 149
Windsor ale, on a large scale 151
Welsh ale, how brewed 154
Wirtemberg ale 156
Hock 158
Scurvy grass ale 160
Dorchester ale 162
Porter 165
Porter process No. I. 167
Porter process No. II. 170
Porter process No. III. 172
Porter malt 174
Porter colouring 176
Strong beer 182
Filtering operation (with a Plate) 189
Returned beer, how to make the most of 193
To Bring several sorts of beer, when mixed,
to one uniform taste 194
Finings, the best method of preparing them 195
Heading 197
Bottling beer 198
Brewing coppers, the best method of setting them 202
Pumps, the best construction of, and how freed
from ice in winter 205
Cleansing casks 208
To make mead wine 210
To make ginger wine 212
To make currant wine 213
Yest, how prepared to keep good in any climate 214
To make a substitute for brewer's yest 217
Another method 218
Another method 220
Process of making and preparing claret wine
for shipping, as practiced in Bordeaux and
its neighbourhood 221
Brewing company 227
The author's notice about plans and sections of
elevation for breweries and malt houses 230
French mode of tanning 232
_Errata._
In the Advertisement, 4th page, 6th line, first word, for _wine_ read
_vine_; and in the next line, first word, for _it_ read _its produce_.
In page 25, 25th line, the last word should be omitted, and read thus,
_malt or grain intended to be dried on it, requiring less fuel_, &c.
In page 36, 25th line, first word, for _proportion_ read _preparation_.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, _ss._
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the fourteenth day of September, in the
fortieth year of the independence of the United States of America,
Joseph Coppinger of the said district, has deposited in this office
the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the
words and figures following, to wit:
"The American Practical Brewer and Tanner: in which is exhibited the
whole process of 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 rendering it fit 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; the Bordeaux method of making and preparing
Claret Wine for shipping, which may be successfully applied to the
vines 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 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--highly important.
By Joseph Coppinger, Practical Brewer."
In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States,
entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the
copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of
such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act
entitled "an act, supplementary to an act, entitled an act for the
encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and
books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times
therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of
designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."
THERON RUDD,
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.
ADVERTISEMENT.
Since writing the Preface, I have been induced to make an addition to
this little work, in order to increase its usefulness, by giving the
French mode of tanning, as practised by the famous Mr. Seguine. Of such
importance did the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Paris consider this
improvement, that they thought it worth while to appoint a committee of
their own members to go down to one of the provinces where this
gentleman resides, and there, on the spot, superintend his operations,
which they did with minute attention; and it is from the journal of
their reports to the academy, that the different processes of tanning
leather in this ingenious artist's way are here given; an improvement
that can, no doubt, be successfully applied to that important
manufacture in this country, affording the tanner the opportunity of
turning his capital twelve or fourteen times in a year, instead of
once. This single advantage alone so forcibly recommends its adoption,
particularly in a country like ours, where capital is scarce, that
further comment is unnecessary. I have also added the Bordeaux method
of making and preparing claret wine for shipping, as practised in that
city and its vicinity; which practice may possibly hereafter be
successfully applied to the red wines of this country. The more so,
when it is known that in the reign of Louis XVI., the merchants of
Bordeaux presented a memorial to that monarch, praying him to put a
stop to the importation of the wines of Kaskaskias into France, as
likely, if permitted, to be injurious to the trade of Bordeaux. There
was at that time a College of Jesuits established in that country, the
superiors of which caused the wine to be cultivated with great success,
and quantities of it were at that time sent to France. As that
territory is now in our possession, and its soil and climate peculiarly
favourable to the growth of the grape, which is indigenous there, may
it not be an object well worth the attention of our government, to
encourage and improve the growth of the wine in that section of the
union; which wise measure would, probably, in a few years, supply our
own consumption, and leave a considerable surplus for exportation. To
offer an apology for giving these subjects a place in this publication,
seems wholly unnecessary, when their importance is considered.
PREFACE.
Brewing, in every country, whose soil and climate are congenial to the
production of the raw materials, should be ranked among the first
objects of its domestic and political economy. If any person doubt the
truth of this position, I have only to request him to cast an eye on
England, where the brewing capital is estimated at more than fifteen
millions sterling; and the gross annual revenue, arising from this
capital, at seven million five hundred thousand pounds sterling,
including the hop, malt, and extract duties. Notwithstanding this
enormous excise of 50 per cent. on the brewing capital, what immense
fortunes have been made, and are daily making, in that country, as well
as in Ireland and Scotland, by the intelligent and judicious practice
of this _more than useful art_. Yet how much stronger inducements for
similar establishments in this country, where we have no duty on the
raw materials, or the extract;[1] and where the important article of
hops is raised in as high perfection as in any part of Europe, and
often for one third of the price paid in England. But a still more
important consideration is the health and morals of our population,
which appears to be essentially connected with the progress of the
brewing trade. In proof of this assertion, I will beg leave to state
a well known fact; which is, that in proportion as the consumption
of malt liquors have increased in our large towns and cities, in
that proportion has the health of our fellow citizens improved, and
epidemics and intermittents, become less frequent. The same observation
holds good as respects the country, where it is well known that those
families that brew their own beer, and make a free use of it through
the summer are, in general, all healthy, and preserve their colour;
whilst their less fortunate neighbours, who do not use beer at all, are
devoured by fevers and intermittents. These facts will be less doubted,
when it is known that yest, properly administered, has been found
singularly successful in the cure of fevers. This the practice of the
Rev. Doctor Townsend, in England, places beyond all doubt, where he
states, that in fifty fever cases that occurred in his own parish,
(some of which were of the most malignant kind,) he only missed a cure
in two or three, by administering yest. 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. The
farmer can raise no crop that will pay him better than hops; as, under
proper management, he may reasonably expect to clear, of a good year,
one hundred dollars per acre. Barley will also prove a good crop,
if proper attention be paid to seed, soil, and time of sowing. The
merchant will alike find his account in encouraging the brewery, from
the many advantages derivable from an extensive export of its produce
to the East and West Indies, South America, the Brazils, but
particularly to Russia, where good beer is in great demand; large
quantities are annually sent there from England, at a much higher rate,
it may be presumed, than we could afford to supply them from this
country. All these considerations united seem forcibly to recommend
giving the breweries of the United States every possible encouragement
and extension. Here, it is but justice to state, that the brewers of
New-York deserve much credit for the high improvement they have made in
the quality of their malt liquors within a few years, which seem to
justify the hope that they will continue these advances to excellence,
until they realise the opinion of Combrune and others, that it is
possible to produce a "_malt wine_."
[1] Save five per cent. on brewery sales--a war tax.
[Illustration:
A Malt House.
B Kiln.
C Dropping Room.
D Mill House.
E Brewery.
F Working Store.
G Vat House and Dry Store.
H Bed Room.
I Office.
K Dwelling House.
L Hop Room.
M Stable.
N Brewing Yard.
O Cooper's Shed.
P Steep.]
THE AMERICAN PRACTICAL BREWER AND TANNER
_The best position for placing a Brewery and Malt house, also the
best aspect, with different arrangements of the Utensils._
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. If the cellars of the brewery
be under ground, it would be very desirable to have them kept sweet and
clean by properly constructed sewers, without which, pumping by a hand
or a horse power is a poor substitute, as by this means (which we find
too common in breweries) the washings of the cellars have time to
become putrid, particularly in summer, emitting the most offensive and
unwholesome effluvia, contaminating the atmosphere, and frequently
endangering both the health and lives of the workmen. This is a serious
evil, and should in all cases, as much as possible, be avoided. It is
true, there are times, when a choice of situation cannot be made; in
that case, circumstances must be submitted to, and people do the best
they can. The cellars and coolers of the breweries in this country
should have a northern aspect, and the cellars principally ventilated
from east to west. The windows on the south side of cellars should be
always close shut in summer, and only occasionally opened in winter;
the floors of cellars should be paved with either tile or brick, these
being more susceptible of being kept clean than either pavement or
flags, and not so subject to get out of order. Supposing the brewery to
have all its cellars above ground, which I conceive to be not only
practicable, but, in many cases, preferable to having them under, as
more economical, and more cleanly, particularly where vats for keeping
strong beer are constructed on the plan herein after recommended, in
which it is expected the temperature necessary for keeping beer will be
as securely preserved above, as under ground, and the erections so
constructed, as not only to be air, but fire proof. (See description of
these vats.)
_A description of the form and plan of a Brewery, distribution of the
Vessels, the most judicious and convenient manner of placing them, with
a view to economy, cleanliness, and effect._
The best plan of a well-constructed brewery I conceive to be that of a
hollow, or oblong square, where all is enclosed by one or two gateways,
(the latter the most complete,) parallel to each other. The first
gateway, forming the brewery entrance, to pass through the dwelling
house; the second, or corresponding gateway, to pass through the
opposite side of the square, into an outer yard, well enclosed with
walls and sheds, containing cooper's shop, &c. where all the empty
casks might be securely preserved from the injury of wind and weather.
This yard should be further sufficiently large to afford room for a hay
reek, firewood, dung, &c. The brewery office should be placed in the
passage of the outer gateway, so that every thing going in and out
might be seen by those who are in the office. The dwelling house, vat
house, and working store, to form one side of the brewery. The malt
house, another. The kiln house, dropping room, and stable, a third
side. The brewery, mill house, and hop room, to form the fourth side;
thus completed, it would form a square, and afford security to whatever
was contained within it, when the gates are locked. The sky cooler is,
generally, the most elevated vessel in the brewery, and when properly
constructed, is of great importance in facilitating both brewing and
malting operations, as it usually supplies the whole quantity of water
wanted in both. It commands the copper, and, of course, all the other
vessels of the brewery: it may be so constructed as to form a complete
roof to the mill loft, and in that situation be most conveniently
placed for being filled from the water cistern, which should be placed
contiguous to the mill walk, and so raised to the sky cooler by one or
more pumps worked by the mill, with a one, two, or three horse power,
according to the length of the lever, and the diameter of the mill.
Sky, or water coolers, in general, are square vessels, made of the best
two inch pine plank, properly jointed, from twenty to twenty-five feet
square, laid on strong joists sufficiently close, and trunneled down
(after pressing) with wooden trunnels from end to end, to prevent
starting or warping; the joists are supported by a couple of strong
beams, equally spaced; the sides of these coolers are generally raised
from eighteen inches to two feet; in Europe they are generally leaded
on their inside, but this expense may be saved, if they are properly
made at first, and afterwards kept constantly full of water. In
constructing these coolers, all the joints should be paid with white
paint before laying, and the sides bolted, and screwed down; the better
and easier to effect which, the thickness of the sides may be three
inches after the saw; there should be a roofing all round the sides, to
protect them from the weather; the bottom of the sky cooler should
command the copper back, which should be made to form the cover of the
copper, and to hold a complete charge of the same. These vessels, when
properly constructed, are extremely useful in preventing waste and
accidents by boiling over, also affording to the brewer, the
opportunity of boiling his wort as fiercely as he pleases--a very
important advantage in brewing porter and strong beer. A description of
this back is not necessary, as every set cooper, who knows his
business, is well acquainted with the proper construction of this
vessel. The stuff it is made of should be two inches thick, well
seasoned, and of the best pine plank. Thus placed on the copper, it
should form a complete cover, water and steam tight, so that when the
copper boils over, it will run into the back, and return again by a
plug hole into the copper. The copper cock should be sufficiently
elevated to command the hop cooler; the latter the wort coolers, No. 1
and 2. By thus running the worts from one cooler to another, you afford
them the opportunity of depositing in each their feculencies, and
coming nearly fine to the fermenting tuns, which should be sufficiently
elevated above the troughs and casks to be filled, so that the
operation of cleansing may be easily performed by one or more leaders,
to communicate with a two or three piped tun dish, capable of filling
two or three casks at a time. The mill stones, or metal rollers, should
be sufficiently elevated to grind into the malt bin, placed over the
mash tun, which bin should be sufficiently capacious to hold the whole
grist of malt when ground; this bin is generally constructed in the
form of a hopper, with a slide at the bottom, to let the malt into the
mash tun when the water is ready, by being cooled down to its proper
temperature. I would recommend making the mash tun shallow, so that the
diameter shall be three times as long as the staff of the sides, above
the false bottom. To the mash tun there should be a cover, in two or
more pieces, according to size. The receiver, or underbank, which is
placed under the mash tun, should be sufficiently elevated above
ground, so as to enable the dirty or washing water to run off from its
bottom by a plug hole. The fermenting tuns should be placed in a room
where there is a fireplace, so as to raise the temperature in cold
weather; each tun should be cribbed on its sides, with a stationary
cover on the top. The cribs should be made to answer the sweep of the
vessel, and to be put on or off as occasion, or the temperature of the
season, may require. In one corner of the working store, I would
recommend to have placed a set of drains, two in number, one over the
other; the lower drain should be sufficiently elevated to get a bucket
under it, so as to draw off its contents by a plug hole, placed at one
corner of each drain. These drains will soon pay for themselves, by the
quantity of yest that will be deposited on them, at each time of
drawing them off, while the liquor will get fine, and may be applied in
a variety of ways, to answer the purposes of the brewer, what in
filling, starting in the tun, vatting, &c.
_Malt House, the best construction of, with proper Barley Lofts,
Dropping Room, and Flooring, how, and in what manner made, and best
likely to last._
Malt houses intended to be annexed to breweries, should not be on a
less scale than sixty feet long, by twenty-five feet wide. Unless there
be a proper proportion of flooring to work the grain kindly and
moderately, good malt is not to be expected. Two-floored houses are
generally preferred to any other construction; would recommend placing
the steep outside the house, to be communicated with from the lower
floor by means of an arch way or window; the steep so placed should be
covered with a tight roof; the best materials for making a steep are
good brick, well grouted; the wall should be fourteen inches thick at
least; this kind of steep will be found far superior to wood, as not
liable to leak, or be worked on by rats; the sides and ends of this
steep should be carefully plastered with tarrass mortar; the bottom may
be laid with flag, tiles, or brick.[2] Two barley lofts, the whole
length of the malt house, will be found highly convenient, as affording
sufficient room to different large parcels of barley, and screening the
same from loft to loft as it descends into the steep over wire screens;
a contrivance I have found of great advantage in the malting operation,
as finishing the cleaning of the barley before getting into the steep,
a precaution that should never be omitted. The bottom of the screen
should be cased with wood, communicating from loft to loft with a sack
fastened to hooks at the lower end to receive all the dirt and
screenings that may pass through the screens. The Dutch and German
maltsters generally prefer having their lower or working floor under
ground; but this I take to be a bad plan, unless in elevated
situations, or where the soil is dry and gravelly; for if any spring of
water or damp arises in the malt-house floor, or walls so placed, the
injury to the malt is very great, and should be carefully guarded
against. It is also very important to lay a solid foundation for your
lower floor with stones, brick bats, or coarse gravel, which should be
solidly compacted by ramming for the whole length, then levelled off by
stakes, with a ten-foot level, to the thickness you would wish to give
your floor--say three or four inches: the former thickness, say three
inches, will be found sufficient. Lay your first coat on two inches
thick with hair mortar; when this coat becomes sufficiently stiff,
which will happen within twenty-four hours, you are to begin to lay
your second or last coat of one inch thick over the first, to be
prepared as follows: Take Roche, or unslaked lime, one part, by
measure; fine pit sand, one part; clinker, or forge dust, finely
powdered, two parts; clay or lome, by measure also, one part: let these
different ingredients (taking the precaution of first slaking the Roche
lime) be well mixed together, and then screened by a wire screen,
carefully keeping out of the mixture all lumps and stones; the whole
may be then worked up with a due proportion of water, observing that
this kind of mortar cannot be too much worked or mixed together, nor
too little wetted, just sufficient to work freely with the plastering
trowel; the whole floor should, if possible, be laid in one day, and
for this purpose several hands should be employed; in which case it
will dry more equally and firmly. As soon as the floor begins to set,
and that it will bear a board on it, without sinking in, you should
begin to pound it in all directions, from end to end, with pounders
made of two-inch plank, sixteen inches long, and from nine to twelve
inches wide, with a long handle reaching breast high, and to be placed
in the middle of this board; thus the operation of pounding will
proceed without stooping or much labour. One or two men, with
plastering trowels, should follow the pounders, wetting it with skimmed
milk as they go, and set the floor as even and close as possible. If
these two operations be well conducted there will not be found a single
crack in the whole floor from end to end, which is of great importance
to secure the making of good malt. Each loft should have uprights under
the centre of all the beams from end to end of the house; this
precaution is necessary to prevent the swagging or cracking of the
upper floor. Trap doors should be placed at proper distances in the
upper malt-house floor, to facilitate the shovelling of the couches
from the lower to the upper floor. A well constructed kiln is of great
importance to insure a successful result to the malting operation, and
if large enough to dry off each steep at _one cast_ so much the better.
The most approved covering for malt kilns in England (although not the
most economical) is hair cloth, as it is asserted, it dries the palest
and sweetest malt. Many prefer tiles, as less expensive and more
lasting; others dry on boarded floors, and if this construction be well
managed, I take it to be as good as any, and much cheaper than either
tiles or hair cloth. (See description page 23.) The dropping room for
receiving the malt as it comes off the kiln may be constructed
different ways; but I take it that a ground floor covered with a two
inch plank well jointed, and properly laid, is preferable to a loft for
keeping malt, and in this situation might be heaped to any depth
without injury or danger of breaking down. Malt thus kept, if well
dried before coming off the kiln, is never in danger of heating or
getting slack. The common mode of keeping malt is in bins situated on
upper lofts, often injured by leaks from the roof, and at all times
liable to the depredations of rats, which in the other way can be
effectually guarded against, and is a highly important object of
precaution to be taken by the brewer. Should weevils at any time get
into, or generate in your malt, which is common when held over beyond
twelve or eighteen months, the simplest and easiest way of getting rid
of them, is to place four or five lobsters on your heap of malt, the
smell of which will soon compel the weevils to quit the malt, and take
refuge on the walls, from which they can be swept with a broom into a
sheet or table cloth laid on the malt, and so taken off. It is
asserted, that by this simple contrivance not one weevil will remain in
the heap. Malt intended for brewing should be always screened before
grinding; and for this purpose it is a good contrivance to screen it by
means of the horse mill, as it runs from the hopper to the rollers or
stones to be ground, the expense of which apparatus is comparatively
nothing when compared to the advantages arising from it.
[2] By some this construction of a steep may be thought too dear;
in that case, a rough wooden one may be substituted, which,
instead of placing outside the house, I would place on the upper
floor of the malt house, so as to afford the opportunity of
getting down its contents to the lower floor by means of a plug
hole, which will save the labour of shovelling; but in summer,
when this steep is not employed, it should be filled with lime
water to prevent leaking, and to keep it sweet.
_Wooden Kilns, how constructed._
The best form for these kilns is the circular. I will suppose the
diameter sixteen feet; you construct your fire-place suitably to the
burning of wood at about ten feet outside your kiln house, sufficiently
elevated on iron bars to secure the draft of the fire place, from which
runs a proportionate sized flue into the kiln, communicating with a
circular flue which is close covered at top, and rounds the kiln on the
inside at the distance of two feet from the wall; on both sides of this
circular flue holes are left, at the distance of twelve or sixteen
inches apart, on both sides, to let out the smoke and heat; the
platform or floor of this kiln is raised about four or five feet above
the top of the flue, and is made of three quarter inch boards, tongued
and grooved, supported by joists two inches broad, and nine inches
deep, placed at proportioned distances, to give solidity to the floor.
The floor or platform of this kiln should be carefully laid, and well
nailed; in this floor should be placed a wooden chimney, nine inches
square, on the most convenient part of the inside next the wall, with a
wooden register at a convenient distance: this chimney is intended to
let off the great smoke that arises in the kiln at first lighting fire,
particularly if the wood be moist or green. When this has gone off, and
the fire burns clear, the register may be shut within a few inches, in
order to keep up a small draft. It would have been proper to state that
joists, intended to support the floor of this kiln, should be levelled
off to one inch, top and bottom, so as give the fire a better chance to
act upon the malt; these joists should be further paid as soon as, or
before, laying down, with a strong solution of alum water; as also the
bottom face of the boards laid on them, which should be first planed;
the inside of the chimney and register should be also paid with the
alum solution. On the top of the kiln should be placed a ventilator to
draw off the steam of the malt, this may be done by means of a loover
or cow; the latter turns with the wind, the former is stationary.
There should be skirting boards, nine inches deep, to lie close to the
floor and walls of the kiln, plastered with hair mortar on the top.
This construction of kiln has been introduced by the Dutch, and will be
found the most economical of any, joined to the peculiar advantage of
being capable of drying malt with any kind of fuel, without danger of
communicating any sort of bad flavour to the grain, while the heat can
be securely raised to 120 degrees without any danger of ignition or
burning; a higher heat is not wanted to dry pale malt. Of this,
however, I have some doubts, as wood is a non-conductor of heat, and
possibly is not susceptible of transmitting such a heat to the malt
without danger of ignition. I should think that thin metal plates, one
foot square, cast so as to lap on each other, or tiles, of the same
make or form, would be a better covering; they certainly would convey
the heat more rapidly and securely to the malt or grain intended to be
dried on it, never requiring less fuel than the wooden covering, and
precluding all danger of fire.
[Illustration:
A A A A A ground section of the vats.
B the section of elevation.]
_A new and economical construction of Vats for keeping Beer, which,
in this way, may be rendered fire proof, whilst, at the same time, it
secures a temperature for the liquor equal, it is expected to the best
vaults: it further affords the convenience of having them above
ground._
These vats may be constructed in different forms, either square, oval,
or round; the latter I should prefer, as stronger, and less liable to
leak. These circular vats, to save expense, may be bound with wood
hoops instead of iron ones the splay to be given them as little as
possible barely sufficient to have the hoops tight, and the vessel
staunch. The bottoms of these vats should be elevated at least three
and a half, or four feet from the ground, and solidly bedded in clay,
earth, or sand; the clay, if convenient, to be preferred. As the earth
rises, at every five or six inches, around these vats, it should be
firmly pounded down and compressed, as in the case of tanners' vats;
and this mode of surrounding the vats with dry earth well pounded and
rammed is continued to the top; a stout, close, well-fitted cover of
two inch plank is then placed on each vat, with a hole sixteen inches
square, to let a man down occasionally; this hole should have a short
trunk of an inch and a half plank firmly nailed to its sides, and about
fourteen inches high; then a covering of earth, twelve inches deep,
should be placed all over the tops of these vats, and this earth well
rammed and compacted together; and when levelled off, covered with
composition or a floor of tiles. Each of the trap doors should have a
well-fitted, wooden cover on the top, with a ring of iron in the
centre; this cover should be made fire proof on the outside. The brick
wall in front of these vats need not, I apprehend, exceed fourteen
inches thick, if of brick, just sufficient to resist the force of
pressure from ramming the clay; vats thus placed, with their contents,
may be considered fire proof, and possessing as cool a temperature as
if placed fifteen feet under ground; joined to this, they will last six
times as long as those in cellars or vaults, although bound in iron, at
a considerable higher expense. Two ranges of these vats may be placed
in one house, leaving a sufficient space for a passage in the centre,
with a window at each end to light it. I have never before either heard
or read of this construction; but I have little hesitation in saying it
will in many cases be found preferable to the present mode of placing
vats--it being more convenient, cleanly, economical, and secure, and,
to all intents and purposes, as effectual in point of temperature as
those expensively placed deep under ground. Under the inside of the
head of these vats, and across the joints, should run a piece of
scantling six inches wide, and four inches deep, with an upright of the
same dimensions in the centre, in order to support the covering on the
head, and to prevent sinking, or swagging, from the weight of the
covering that will be necessarily placed over them, which will be from
six to ten inches thick.
_Grinding, how substituted for._
Malt, for brewing, may be prepared in three different ways, by
grinding, bruising, or pounding; modern practice, however, almost
universally gives the preference to bruising between metal rollers.
This preference, where malt is of the very first quality, may be
justified; but where it is of an inferior quality, which is but too
generally the case, grinding with stones is preferable, as more capable
of producing a fine grist, which, with indifferent malt, is important,
as it will always produce a richer extract, by being finely, rather
than coarsely ground; and it is more soluble in water of suitable
temperature than that malt which is only bruised or cracked, and for
this simple reason, that all imperfect-made malt has a great proportion
of its bulk unmalted, and, of course, in a crude hard state, which will
partially dissolve in water if ground fine, but will not dissolve at
all if only cracked or bruised. A further object of the brewer's
attention should be to prevent the dispersion, or waste, of the finer
parts of the malt, so apt to fly off in the grinding, if not prevented
by having the malt bin close covered, as well as the spout leading into
it from the stones; trifling as this precaution may seem, it is well
worth the brewer's attention. Here it may not be improper to observe,
that in all cases of horse, or cattle mills, where the shaft of the
main wheel is perpendicular, no better ingredient can be placed in the
chamber of the lower box than quick silver, which is far superior to
oil or grease, and will not require renewing for a long time. The brass
of a mill, managed in this way, might be expected to last twenty years,
and the movement smoother and easier. This economical substitute for
oil and grease can, with equal advantage, be applied to water mills,
whether their shafts be horizontal or perpendicular; in a word, to all
kinds of machinery, where the preservation of the gudgeons and brasses
are an object.
_Malting._
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. The farmer prefers a dry season to sow his
small grain, that the common moisture of the earth may but gently
insinuate itself into the pores of the grain, and thence gradually
dispose it for the reception of the future shower, and the action of
vegetation. The maltster cannot proceed by such slow degrees, but makes
an immersion in water a substitute for the moisture of the earth, where
a few hours infusion is equal to many days employed in the ordinary
course of vegetation, and the grain is accordingly removed as soon as
it appears fully saturated, lest a solution, and, consequently, a
destruction of some of its parts should be the effect of a longer
continuance in water, instead of that separation, which is begun by the
introduction of watery particles into the body. Were it to be spread
thin after this removal, it would become dry, and no vegetation would
ensue; but being thrown into the couch, a kind of vegetative
fermentation commences, which generates heat, and produces the first
appearance of a vegetation. This state of the barley is nearly the same
with that of many days continuance in the earth after sowing, but being
in so large a body, it requires occasionally to be turned over and
spread thinner; the former, to give the outward parts of the heap their
share of the acquired warmth and moisture, both of which are lessened
by exposure to the air; the latter, to prevent the progress of the
vegetative to the putrefactive fermentation, which would be the
consequence of suffering it to proceed beyond a certain degree. To
supply the moisture thus continually decreasing by evaporation and
consumption, an occasional, but sparing, sprinkling of water should be
given to the floor, to recruit the languishing powers of vegetation,
and imitate the shower upon the cornfield; but this should not be too
often repeated; for, as in the field, too much rain, and too little
sun, produces rank stems and thin ears, so here would too much water,
and, of course, too little dry warmth, accelerate the growth of the
malt, so as to occasion the extraction and loss of such of its valuable
parts as, by a slower process, would have been duly separated and left
behind. By the slow mode of conducting vegetation here recommended, an
actual and minute separation of the parts takes place; the germination
of the radicles and acrospire carries off the cohesive properties of
the barley, thereby contributing to the preparation of the saccharine
matter, which it has no tendency to extract, or otherwise injure, but
to increase and meliorate, so long as the acrospire is confined within
the husk; and by as much as it is wanting of the end of the grain, by
so much does the malt fall short of perfection; and in proportion as it
is advanced beyond, is that purpose defeated.
This is very evident to the most common observation, on examining a
kernel of malt, in the different stages of its progress. When the
acrospire has shot but half the length of the grain, the lower part
only is converted into that mellow saccharine flour we are solicitous
of, whilst the other half exhibits no other signs of it than the whole
kernel did at its first germination: let it advance to two thirds of
the length, and the lower end will not only have increased its
saccharine flavour, but will have proportionably extended its bulk, so
as to have left one third part unmalted. This, or even less than this,
is contended for by many maltsters, as a sufficient advance of the
acrospire, which, they say, has done its business, so soon as it has
passed the middle of the kernel. But we need seek no further for their
conviction of error, than the examination here alluded to.
Let the kernel be slit down the middle, and tasted at either end whilst
green, or let the effects of mastication be tried when it is dried off;
when the former will be found to exhibit the appearances just
mentioned, the latter to discover the unwrought parts of the grain, in
a stony hardness, which has no other effect in the mash tun, than that
of imbibing a large proportion of the liquor, and contributing to the
retention of those saccharine parts of the malt which are in contact
with it; whence it is a rational inference, that three bushels of malt,
imperfect in their proportion, are equal but to two of that which is
carried to its utmost perfection. By this is meant the farthest advance
of the acrospire, when it is just bursting from its confinement, before
it has effected its enlargement. The kernel is then uniform in its
internal appearance, and of a rich sweetness, in flavour equal to any
thing we can conceive obtainable from imperfect vegetation. If the
acrospire be suffered to proceed, the mealy substance melts into a
liquid sweet, which soon passes into the blade, and leaves the husk
entirely exhausted. The sweet thus produced by the infant efforts of
vegetation, and lost by its more powerful action, revives, and makes a
second appearance in the stem, but is then too much dispersed and
altered in its form to answer any of the known purposes of art.
The periods of its perfect appearance are in both cases remarkably
critical. It is at first perfect at the instant the kernel is going to
send forth the acrospire, and form itself into the future blade; it is
again discovered perfect when the ear is labouring at its extrication,
and hastening the production of the yet unformed kernels; in this it
appears, the medium of nature's chemistry, equally employed by her in
her mutation of the kernel into the blade, and her formation thus of
other kernels, by which she effects the completion of that circle to
which the operations of the vegetable world are limited. Were we to
inquire by what means the same barley, with the same treatment,
produces unequal portions of the saccharine matter in different
situations, we should perhaps find it principally owing to the
different qualities of the water used in malting, some of which are so
much better suited to the quality of the grain than others, that the
difference is truly astonishing. Hard water is very unfit for every
purpose of vegetation, and soft will vary its effects according to the
predominating quality of its impregnations. Pure elementary water is in
itself supposed to be only the vehicle of the nutriment of plants,
entering at the capillary tubes of the roots rising into the body, and
here depositing its acquired virtues, perspiring by innumerable fine
pores at the surface, and thence evaporating by the purest distillation
into the open atmosphere, where it begins anew its rounds of collecting
fresh properties, in order to its preparation for fresh service. This
theory leads us to the consideration of an attempt to increase the
natural quantity of the saccharum of malt by adventitious means; but it
must be observed, on this occasion, that no addition to water will rise
into the vessels of plants, but such as will pass the filter, the pores
of which appearing somewhat similar to the fine strainers of absorbing
vessels employed by nature in her nicer operations; we by analogy
conclude, that properties so intimately blended with water as to pass
the one, will enter and unite with the economy of the other, and vice
versa.
Supposing the malt to have obtained its utmost perfection, according to
the criterion here inculcated, to prevent its further progress, and
secure it in that state, we are to call in the assistance of a heat,
sufficient to destroy the action of vegetation, by evaporating every
particle of water, and thence leaving it in a state of preservation fit
for the present or future purpose of the brewer. Thus having all its
moisture extracted, and being by the previous process deprived of its
cohesive property, the body of the grain is left a mere lump of flour,
so easily divisible that, the husk being taken off, a mark may be made
with the kernel, as with a piece of soft chalk. The extractable
qualities of this flour are saccharum, closely united with a large
quantity of the farinaceous mucilage peculiar to bread corn, and a
small portion of oil enveloped by a fine earthy substance, the whole
readily yielding to the impression of water, applied at different
times, and different degrees of heat, and each part predominating in
proportion to the time and manner of its application. In the curing of
malt, as nothing more is requisite than a total extrication of every
watery particle, if we had in the season proper for malting a sun heat
sufficient to produce perfect dryness, it were practicable to produce
beer nearly colourless; but that being wanting, and the force of custom
having made it necessary to give our beers various tinctures and
qualities resulting from fire, for the accommodation of various tastes,
we are necessitated to apply such heats in the drying as shall not only
answer the purpose of preservation, but give the complexion and
property required; to effect this with certainty, and precision, the
introduction of the thermometer is necessary, but the real advantages
of its application are only to be known from experiment, on account of
the different construction of different kilns, the irregularity of the
heat in different parts of the same kiln, the depth of the malt, the
distance of the bulb of the thermometer from the floor; for though
similar heats will produce similar effects in the same situation, yet
the distribution of heat in every kiln is so irregular, that the medium
spot for the local situation of the thermometer as a standard, cannot
be easily fixed for ascertaining effects upon the whole. That done, the
several degrees, necessary for the purposes of porter, amber, pale
beers, &c. are easily discovered to the utmost exactness, and become
the certain rule of future practice.
Though custom has laid this arbitrary injunction of variety on our malt
liquors, it may not be amiss to intimate the losses we often sustain,
and the inconvenience we combat in our obedience to her mandates.