_Of the Nature and Use of Pale, Amber and Brown_ Malts.
The pale Malt is the slowest and slackest dryed of any, and where it has
had a leisure fire, a sufficient time allowed it on the Kiln, and a due
care taken of it; the flower of the grain will remain in its full
quantity, and thereby produce a greater length of wort, than the brown
high dryed Malt, for which reason it is sold for one or two shillings
_per_ Quarter more than that: This pale Malt is also the most nutritious
sort to the body of all others, as being in this state the most simple and
nearest to its Original Barley-corn, that will retain an Alcalous and
Balsamick quality much longer than the brown sort; the tender drying of
this Malt bringing its body into so soft a texture of Parts, that most of
the great Brewers, brew it with Spring and Well-waters, whose hard and
binding Properties they think agrees best with this loose-bodied Malt,
either in Ales or Beer's and which will also dispense with hotter waters
in brewing of it, than the brown Malt can. The amber-colour'd Malt is that
which is dryed in a medium degree, between the pale and the brown, and is
very much in use, as being free of either extream. Its colour is pleasant,
its taste agreeable and its nature wholsome, which makes it be prefer'd
by many as the best of Malts; this by some is brewed either with hard or
soft waters, or a mixture of both.
The brown Malt is the soonest and highest dryed of any, even till it is so
hard, that it's difficult to bite some of its Corns asunder, and is often
so crusted or burnt, that the farinous part loses a great deal of its
essential Salts and vital Property, which frequently deceives its ignorant
Brewer, that hopes to draw as much Drink from a quarter of this, as he
does from pale or amber sorts: This Malt by some is thought to occasion
the Gravel and Stone, besides what is commonly called the Heart-burn; and
is by its steely nature less nourishing than the pale or amber Malts,
being very much impregnated with the fiery fumiferous Particles of the
Kiln, and therefore its Drink sooner becomes sharp and acid than that made
from the pale or amber sorts, if they are all fairly brewed: For this
reason the _London_ Brewers mostly use the _Thames_ or _New River_ waters
to brew this Malt with, for the sake of its soft nature, whereby it agrees
with the harsh qualities of it better than any of the well or other hard
Sorts, and makes a luscious Ale for a little while, and a But-beer that
will keep very well five or six Months, but after that time it generally
grows stale, notwithstanding there be ten or twelve Bushels allowed to the
Hogshead, and it be hopp'd accordingly.
Pale and amber Malts dryed with Coak or Culm, obtains a more clean bright
pale Colour than if dryed with any other Fuel, because there is not smoak
to darken and sully their Skins or Husks, and give them an ill relish,
that those Malts little or more have, which are dryed with Straw, Wood, or
Fern, &c. The Coak or _Welch_ Coal also makes more true and compleat Malt,
as I have before hinted, than any other Fuel, because its fire gives both
a gentle and certain Heat, whereby the Corns are in all their Parts
gradually dryed, and therefore of late these Malts have gained such a
Reputation that great quantities have been consumed in most Parts of the
Nation for their wholsome Natures and sweet fine Taste: These make such
fine Ales and But-beers, as has tempted several of our Malsters in my
Neighbour-hood to burn Coak or Culm at a great expence of Carriage thirty
Miles from _London_.
Next to the Coak-dryed Malt, the Straw-dryed is the sweetest and best
tasted: This I must own is sometimes well Malted where the Barley, Wheat,
Straw, Conveniencies and the Maker's Skill are good; but as the fire of
the Straw is not so regular as the Coak, the Malt is attended with more
uncertainty in its making, because it is difficult to keep it to a
moderate and equal Heat, and also exposes the Malt in some degree to the
taste of the smoak.
Brown Malts are dryed with Straw, Wood and Fern, &c. the Straw-dryed is
not the best, but the Wood sort has a most unnatural Taste, that few can
bear with, but the necessitous, and those that are accustomed to its
strong smoaky tang; yet is it much used in some of the Western Parts of
_England_, and many thousand Quarters of this Malt has been formerly used
in _London_ for brewing the Butt-keeping-beers with, and that because it
sold for two Shillings _per_ Quarter cheaper than the Straw-dryed Malt,
nor was this Quality of the Wood-dryed Malt much regarded by some of its
Brewers, for that its ill Taste is lost in nine or twelve Months, by the
Age of the Beer, and the strength of the great Quantity of Hops that were
used in its Preservation.
The Fern-dryed Malt is also attended with a rank disagreeable Taste from
the smoak of this Vegetable, with which many Quarters of Malt are dryed,
as appears by the great Quantities annually cut by Malsters on our
Commons, for the two prevalent Reasons of cheapness and plenty.
At _Bridport_ in _Dorsetshire_, I knew an Inn-keeper use half Pale and
half Brown Malt for Brewing his Butt-beers, that, proved to my Palate the
best I ever drank on the Road, which I think may be accounted for, in that
the Pale being the slackest, and the Brown the hardest dryed, must produce
a mellow good Drink by the help of a requisite Age, that will reduce those
extreams to a proper Quality.