_METHOD OF CALCULATING THE HEIGHT IN THE COPPER AT WHICH WORTS ARE TO
GO OUT._
The expected quantities, or lengths of beer and ale, can only be found
by determining at what height in the copper the worts must be when
turned out.
Brewers have several methods of expressing to what part they would have
the worts reduced by boiling. _Brass_, is the technical appellation
for the upper rim of the copper; it is a fixed point, from which the
estimation generally takes place, either by inches, or by the nails,
which rivet the parts of the copper together. These last are not very
equal, either in the breadth of their heads, or their distances from
each other. Inches then, though not specified on the copper, but
determined by the application of a gauge, on which they are marked,
claim the preference. The necessity of coppers being gauged, and the
contents of what they contain on every inch, both above and below
brass, must appear in a stronger light, the nearer we bring the art to
exactness. The following tables will shew the most useful manner in
which I conceive this gauging should be specified.
_Gauges of Coppers._
Great Copper, set up Nov. 30, | Little Copper, set up Aug. 3,
1750. | 1753.
|
[23]B. F. G. | B. F. G.
17 15 3 4 Full | 15 11 2 7
16 15 2 1 | 14 11 1 5
15 15 0 5 | 13 11 0 3
14 14 2 8 | 12 10 3 1
13 14 1 4 | 11 10 1 7
12 13 3 7 | 10 10 0 6
Inches 11 13 2 3 |Inches 9 9 3 4
Above 10 13 0 6 |Above 8 9 2 2
Brass. 9 12 3 2 |Brass. 7 9 0 8
8 12 1 5 | 6 8 3 6
7 12 0 1 | 5 8 2 5
6 11 2 4 | 4 8 1 3 Current
5 11 0 8 | 3 8 0 1
4 10 3 3 Current | 2 7 2 7 of
3 10 1 7 | 1 7 1 5
2 10 0 2 of | Brass 7 0 5 Little
1 9 2 6 | 1 6 3 5
Brass 9 1 1 Great | 2 6 2 5 Copper
1 8 3 8 | 3 6 1 5
2 8 2 6 Copper | 4 6 0 5 Allowed.
Inches 3 8 1 4 |Inches 5 5 3 5
Below 4 8 0 2 Allowed. |Below 6 5 2 5
Brass. 5 7 2 8 |Brass. 7 5 1 5
6 7 1 6 | 8 5 0 5
7 7 0 4 | 9 4 3 4
8 6 3 3 | 10 4 2 5
9 6 2 2 | 11 4 1 6
By the foregoing table, it is seen that my great copper holds nearly
nine barrels of water to brass, and as the difference of the volume
between boiling worts, of most denominations, and cold water, is
nearly as 7 to 9, the quantity it will yield of boiling worts will
be but seven barrels. The diameter of this copper, just above brass,
is sixty-eight inches, at a medium, and at that mean it holds twelve
gallons seven pints of cold water, or nearly eleven gallons of boiling
worts, upon an inch.
Hops macerated, by being twice boiled, take up for every six pound
weight a volume, in the copper, equal to four gallons and a half of
water, or a _pin_.
In a copper, the gauges of which have just been set down, it is
required to know what number of inches a length of twenty-four barrels
must go out at, with fifteen pounds of hops, the guile of beer to be
brewed at two worts.
24 Barrels, length of beer.
14 Barrels, for two full brass,
----
10
34 Numbers of gallons to a barrel accounted
by the excise, out of the
bills of mortality.
----
40 Hops twice put in 15lb. is 30
30 ----
---- 6lb. [ 30
340 ----
Gallons of 22 5
boiling wort ---- Equal to gallons 4-1/2
upon an inch 11 [362 ----
---- 22
----
33 Inches above brass, the two worts
to go out together.
When three worts are boiled, the amount of three full brasses must be
deducted from the length; and as the hops go into the copper three
times, they become more macerated, and take up much less room. The
proportion is then nearly thirteen or fourteen pounds of hops for each
four gallons and a half.
Thus in coppers, which have never been tried or used, we are able,
by the gauges alone, to determine our lengths; but, as their
circumferences are not always exact, and the worts are of very
different strengths, we should never neglect such trials as may bring
us nearer to accuracy and truth.