_Of the Nature of several Waters and their use in Brewing. And first of
Well-waters_.
Water next to Malt is what by course comes here under Consideration as a
Matter of great Importance in Brewing of wholsome fine Malt-liquors, and
is of such Consequence that it concerns every one to know the nature of
the water he Brews with, because it is the Vehicle by which the nutritious
and pleasant Particles of the Malt and Hop are conveyed into our Bodies,
and there becomes a diluter of our Food: Now the more simple and freer
every water is from foreign Particles, the better it will answer those
Ends and Purposes; for, as Dr_.Mead_ observes, some waters are so loaded
with stony Corpuscles, that even the Pipes thro' which they are carried,
in time are incrusted and stopt up by them, and is of that petrifying
nature as to breed the Stone in the Bladder, which many of the _Parisians_
have been instances of, by using this sort of water out of the River
_Seine_. And of this Nature is another at _Rowel_ in _Northamptonshire_,
which in no great distance of time so clogs the Wheel of an overshot Mill
there, that they are forced with, convenient Instruments to cut way for
its Motion; and what makes it still more evident, is the sight of those
incrusted Sides of the Tea-kettles, that the hard Well-waters are the
occasion of, by being often boiled in them: And it is further related by
the same Doctor, that a Gentlewoman afflicted with frequent returns of
violent Colick Pains was cured by the Advice of _Van Helmont_, only by
leaving off drinking Beer brewed with Well-water; It's true, such a fluid
has a greater force and aptness to extract the tincture out of Malt, than
is to be had in the more innocent and soft Liquor of Rivers: But for this
very reason it ought not, unless upon meer necessity, to be made use of;
this Quality being owing to the mineral Particles and alluminous Salts
with which it is impregnated. For these waters thus saturated, will by
their various gravities in circulation, deposit themselves in one part of
the animal Body or other, which has made some prove the goodness of Water
by the lightness of its body in the Water Scales, now sold in several of
the _London_ Shops, in order to avoid the Scorbutick, Colicky,
Hypochondriack, and other ill Effects of the Clayey and other gross
Particles of stagnating Well-waters, and the calculous Concretions of
others; and therefore such waters ought to be mistrusted more than any,
where they are not pure clear and soft or that don't arise from good
Chalks or stony Rocks, that are generally allowed to afford the best of
all the Well sorts.
Spring-waters are in general liable to partake of those minerals thro'
which they pass, and are salubrious or mischievous accordingly. At
_Uppingham_ in _Rutland_, their water is said to come off an
Allum-rock, and so tints their Beer with its saline Quality, that it is
easily tasted at the first Draught. And at _Dean_ in _Northamptonshire_, I
have seen the very Stones colour the rusty Iron by the constant running of
a Spring-water; but that which will Lather with Soap, or such soft water
that percolates through Chalk, or a Grey Fire-stone, is generally
accounted best, for Chalks in this respect excell all other Earths, in
that it administers nothing unwholsome to the perfluent waters, but
undoubtedly absorps by its drying spungy Quality any ill minerals that may
accompany the water that runs thro' them. For which reason they throw in,
great Quantities of Chalk into their Wells at _Ailsbury_ to soften their
water, which coming off a black Sand-stone, is so hard and sharp that it
will often turn their Beer sour in a Week's time, so that in its Original
State it's neither fit to Wash nor Brew with, but so long as the Alcalous
soft Particles of the Chalk holds good, they put it to both uses.
River-waters are less liable to be loaded with metallick, petrifying,
saline and other insanous Particles of the Earth, than the Well or Spring
sorts are, especially at some distance from the Spring-head, because the
Rain water mixes with and softens it, and are also much cured by the Sun's
heat and the Air's power, for which reason I have known several so strict,
that they won't let their Horses drink near the first rise of some of
them; this I have seen the sad Effects of, and which has obliged me to
avoid two that run cross a Road in _Bucks_ and _Hertfordshire_: But in
their runnings they often collect gross Particles from ouzy muddy
mixtures, particularly near Town, that make the Beer subject to new
fermentations, and grow foul upon alteration of weather as the _Thames_
water generlly does; yet is this for its softness much better than the
hard sort, however both these waters are used by some Brewers as I shall
hereafter observe; but where a River-water can be had clear in a dry time,
when no great Rain has lately fell out of Rivulets or Rivers that have a
Gravelly, Chalky, Sandy or Stone-bottom free from the Disturbance of
Cattle, &c. and in good Air, as that of _Barkhamstead St. Peters_ in
_Hertfordshire_ is; it may then justly claim the name of a most excellent
water for Brewing, and will make a stronger Drink with the same quantity
of Malt than any of the Well-waters; insomuch that that of the _Thames_
has been proved to make as strong Beer with seven Bushels of Malt, as
Well-water with eight; and so are all River-waters in a proportionable
degree, and where they can be obtain'd clean and pure, Drink may be drawn
fine in a few Days after Tunning.
Rain-water is very soft, of a most simple and pure nature, and the best
Diluter of any, especially if received free from Dirt, and the Salt of
Mortar that often mixes with it as it runs off tyled Roofs; this is very
agreeable for brewing of Ales that are not to be kept a great while, but
for Beers that are to remain some time in the Casks, it is not so, well,
as being apt to putrify the soonest of any.
Pond-waters; this includes all standing waters chiefly from Rain, and are
good or bad as they happen; for where there is a clean bottom, and the
water lies undisturbed from the tread of Cattle, or too many Fish, in an
open sound Air, in a large quantity, and where the Sun has free access; it
then comes near, if not quite as good as Rain or River-waters, as is that
of _Blew-pot_ Pond on the high Green at _Gaddesden_ in _Hertfordshire_ and
many others, which are often prefer'd for Brewing, even beyond many of the
soft Well-waters about them. But where it is in a small quantity, or full
of Fish (especially the sling Tench) or is so disturbed by Cattle as to
force up Mud and Filth; it is then the most foul and disagreeable of all
others: So is it likewise in long dry Seasons when our Pond-waters are so
low as obliges us to strain it thro' Sieves before we can use it, to take
out the small red Worms and other Corruptions, that our stagnant waters
are generally then too full of. The latest and best Doctors have so far
scrutinized into the prime Cause of our _British_ malady the Scurvy, as to
affirm its first rise is from our unwholesome stagnating waters, and
especially those that come off a clayey surface, as there are about
_Londonderry_ and _Amsterdam_, for that where the waters are worst, there
this Distemper is most common, so that in their Writings they have put it
out of all doubt, that most of our complicated symptoms that are rank'd
under this general Name, if they don't take their beginning from such
water, do own it to be their chief Cause.