The bulk of the malt is usually greater than that of the barley from which it was obtained. But this varies a good deal, according to the goodness of the grain, and the mode of drying the malt. In our trials, made all in the same way, 100 bushels of the different kinds of grain gave, on an average, the fol lowing results : English barley, - - 109 Scotch barley, - 103 Scotch big, - - 100.6 The greatest quantity in bushels obtained from 100 bushels of English barley was 111, the least 106 bushels. The greatest quantity obtained from 100 bushels of Scotch barley was 109, and the least 98 bushels. The greatest quantity obtained from 100 bushels of big was 103 bushels, the least 97 bushels. Hence it appears that, on making English barley, there is a profit of 9 per cent., while big yields scarcely any thing more than its bulk before malting. The English maltster makes more bushels of malt than he pays duty for ; but the maltster of big, on the contrary, obtains fewer.
We shall subjoin here two Tables, which exhi bit in one view the result of a considerable num ber of trials made by the author of this article, on malting different varieties of grain. The barley is distinguished by the name of the county where it grew. To understand the first table, the reader must know that Excisemen estimate the quantity of malt by subtracting one-fifth from the best or highest gauge in the steep or couch, and charge the duty accordingly.
and the soluble part of the malt extracted by hot Brewing water, the residues weighed : Thus 'it appears that the process of malting is nothing else than causing the barleycorns to germi nate, and stopping that process before the green leaf makes its appearance. A quantity of roots are are afterwards rubbed of and sepa rated, and the weight of which amounts to about 4 per cent. of the grain malted. The kernel of the grain undergoes a remarkable change by this pro cess. It consists almost entirely of starch ; but it was agglutinated in the grain, so as to make a solid and very firm mass; whereas, in the malt, it is quite loose and mealy. Hence it would appear that the glutinous and mucilaginous matter of the barley corn is chiefly employed in forming the roots ; and that this is the purpose for which it was laid up in the grain. How far the starch is altered does not appear. It is probable that it has undergone some change. Malt has a slightly sweet taste, much more
agreeable than the taste of the raw grain, without any of that strong and cloying sweetness which dis tinguishes wort. But the most distinguishing cha racter of the starch of malt is the ease with which it dissolves in hot water ; though cold water does not act upon it sensibly. Whether this property be pe culiar to the starch of barley' or be induced by the malting, we cannot say. We conceive it pro bable that barley starch is more easily soluble in water than wheat starch, from the ease with which raw grain is constantly employed by distillers to form their worts. In its other chemical characters, the starch of barley malt agrees with that of wheat starch.
We would err very much, however, were we to suppose that the whole kernel or starchy part of the malt is dissolved by the hot water used in brewing. At least one half of the malt still remains after the brewing is over, constituting the grains, which are known to constitute a most nourishing article of food for cattle, and therefore to contain much more than the husks or skin of the malt corn. One hun dred lbs. of malt, from different kinds of grain, after being exhausted as much as usual of the soluble part of the kernel by hot water, were found to weigh as follows Hence we see that, in all these cases, the bulk of the malt was very nearly the same as the previous bulk of the barley before it was malted.
In another set of experiments, 100 lbs. of malt left the following residues : 100 lbs. of the raw grain being converted into malt, and the soluble part of the malt being extracted by hot water, the residues weighed : Here also the bulk of the malt differed but little from that of the raw grain. The first of these sets of experiments was made with grain of the best quality, the second with grain of the middling quali ty, and the third with grain of the third quality.
It is probable that additional portion of the kernel would be dissolved if the malt were ground finer than it is customary to do. The reason for grinding it only coarsely is to render it less apt to set. But this object might be accomplished equally well by bruising the malt between rollers, which would reduce the starchy part to powder, without destroying the husk. This method, indeed, is prac tised by many brewers, but it ought to be followed by all.