The many Inhabitants of Cities and Towns, as well as Travellers, that have
for a long time suffered great Prejudices from unwholsome and unpleasant
Beers and Ales, by the badness of Malts, underboiling the Worts, mixing
injurious Ingredients, the unskilfulness of the Brewer, and the great
Expense that Families have been at in buying them clogg'd with a heavy
Excise, has moved me to undertake the writing of this Treatise on Brewing,
Wherein I have endeavour'd to set in sight the many advantages of Body
and Purse that may arise from a due Knowledge and Management in Brewing
Malt Liquors, which are of the greatest Importance, as they are in a
considerable degree our Nourishment and the common Diluters of our Food;
so that on their goodness depends very much the Health and Longevity of
the Body.
This bad Economy in Brewing has brought on such a Disrepute, and made our
Malt Liquors in general so odious, that many have been constrain'd, either
to be at an Expence for better Drinks than their Pockets could afford, or
take up with a Toast and Water to avoid the too justly apprehended ill
Consequences of Drinking such Ales and Beers.
Wherefore I have given an Account of Brewing Beers and Ales after several
Methods; and also several curious Receipts for feeding, fining and
preserving Malt Liquors, that are most of them wholsomer than the Malt
itself, and so cheap that none can object against the Charge, which I
thought was the ready way to supplant the use of those unwholsome
Ingredients that have been made too free with by some ill principled
People meerly for their own Profit, tho' at the Expence of the Drinker's
Health.
_I hope I have adjusted that long wanted Method of giving a due Standard
both to the Hop and Wort, which never was yet (as I know of) rightly
ascertain'd in Print before, tho' the want of it I am perswaded has been
partly the occasion of the scarcity of good Drinks, as is at this time
very evident in most Places in the Nation. I have here also divulg'd the
Nostrum of the Artist Brewer that he has so long valued himself upon, in
making a right Judgment when the Worts are boiled to a true Crisis; a
matter of considerable Consequence, because all strong Worts may be boiled
too much or too little to the great Loss of the Owner, and without this
Knowledge a Brewer must go on by Guess; which is a hazard that every one
ought to be free from that can; and therefore I have endeavor'd to explode
the old Hour-glass way of Brewing, by reason of the several Uncertainties
that attend such Methods and the hazard of spoiling both Malt and Drink;
for in short where a Brewing is perform'd by Ladings over of scalding
Water, there is no occasion for the Watch or Hour-glass to boil the Wort
by, which is best known by the Eye, as I have both in this and my second
Book made appear.
I have here observed that necessary Caution, which is perfectly requisite
in the Choice of good and the Management of bad Waters; a Matter of high
Importance, as the Use of this Vehicle is unavoidable in Brewing, and
therefore requires a strict Inspection into its Nature; and this I have
been the more particular in, because I am sensible of the great Quantities
of unwholsome Waters used not only by Necessity, but by a mistaken Choice.
So also I have confuted the old received Opinion lately published by an
Eminent Hand, that long Mashings are the best Methods in Brewing; an Error
of dangerous Consequence to all those who brew by Ladings over of the hot
Water on the Malt.
The great Difficulty and what has hitherto proved an Impediment and
Discouragement to many from Brewing their own Drinks, I think, I have in
some measure removed, and made it plainly appear how a Quantity of Malt
Liquor may be Brewed in a little Room and in the hottest Weather, without
the least Damage by Foxing or other Taint.
The Benefit of Brewing entire Guile small Beer from fresh Malt, and the
ill Effects of that made from Goods after strong Beer or Ale; I have here
exposed, for the sake of the Health and Pleasure of those that may easily
prove their advantage by drinking of the former and refusing the latter.
By the time the following Treatise is read over and thoroughly considered,
I doubt not but an ordinary Capacity will be in some degree a better Judge
of good and bad Malt Liquors as a Drinker, and have such a Knowledge in
Brewing that formerly he was a stranger to; and therefore I am in great
Hopes these my Efforts will be one Principal Cause of the reforming our
Malt Liquors in most Places; and that more private Families than ever will
come into the delightful and profitable Practice of Brewing their own
Drinks, and thereby not only save almost half in half of Expence, but
enjoy such as has passed thro' its regular Digestions, and is truly
pleasant, fine, strong and healthful.
I Question not but this Book will meet with some Scepticks, who being
neither prejudiced against the Introduction of new Improvements, or that
their Interests will be hereby eclipsed in time; To such I say I do not
write, because I have little hopes to reform a wrong Practice in them by
Reason and Argument. But those who are above Prejudice may easily judge of
the great Benefits that will accrue by the following Methods, I have here
plainly made known, and of those in my Second Book that I have almost
finished and hope to publish in a little time, wherein I shall set forth
how to Brew without boiling Water or Wort, and several other Ways that
will be of considerable Service to the World._
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