BEER, derived from the German bier (see ALE), is the term applied to a fermented liquid which has not undergone the process of distillatixt. It may be prepared from many varieties of vegetable matter, but in 13ritaiu the raw material operated upon is generally barley, although pease, beans, wheat, etc., might be employed. In other countries, 11. is often prepared from other sources, to which allusion is made at the close of this article. The process followed in the manufacture of B. is divided into two parts —viz., malting and broring; and so distinct are these, that very often the malting pro ceeds in a building at some distance from that in which the brewing is conducted, and in many cases the malting is superintended and accomplished by a maitster, as his partic ular and only branch of trade, the malt thus prepared being afterwards purchased by the brewer.
The variety of barley preferred for the preparation of the finer kinds of B. is tho chevalier; but other varieties are extensively used. See BARLEY.
The process of malting, or the conversion of barley into malt, is accomplished in four successive steps. 1st. Seeping of the barley, which consists in introducing the grain into a lar,ge wooden or stone cistern, and adding thereto as much water as will cover it. On being thus treated for 24 hours, the grains of barley absorb the water, and the con tents of the cistern, near the top. even begin to feel dry. The barley swells up much, se as to increase considerably 111 bulk, and the excise officers, if they choose, can gauge or measure the grain at this stage, and charge by the bulk thus indicated. The amount of water which barley takes up in the steeping. affords barley, evidence of the excellence of the grain for brewing. Thus, the better kinds of barley, on the average, take up stiffieient water to increase their weight by one half. Occasionally, however, the increase is not more titan a tenth. The time during which the grain lies in the steeping-cistern is about 40 hours, when the excess of water is drained off; but a regulation exists that the cistern cannot have a second charge of barley till four days have elapsed after the introduction of the first charge. 2d. C'ouelting.—The grain is thrown out of the steeping cistern in a heap on the floor. At this stage the barley is soft, and when pressed between the fingers it is readily bruised. It lies in the couch or heap for 26 hours or so, and during that time it rises in temperature about 10° F., and gives out some of its extra
water. This .creating, as it is called, is the result of the germination or growth of the barley: and little rootlets or fibrils of the radicle, and a primitive stem (plumula or nerospirc) begins to form and present themselves. As the temperature rises, the radicles lengthen rapidly; and means are then taken to cheek the germination. 3d. Flooring.—The heated barley is spread by the workmen with spades on the floor to the depth of about 15 in. at first. It is repeatedly turned and respread over a larger area, with a thickness of layer decreasing to 6 incites. At this stage the radicles have attained their greatest length. 4th. Kan-drying.—The half germinated barley is now introduced into a kiln, on the perforated floor of which it is spread. The apartment beneath the kiln-room is fitted up with stoves or ehoffers, which evolve much heat; and this, rising and passing through the slits or perforations in the floor of the kiln, necessarily dries any moist barley laid thereon, and the steam escapes at the roof. The heat which the barley is subjected to in the kiln is, at the commencement, 90° F., but this gradually is raised to about 150° F. While drying. the radicles—called corninps or carnmings—break off from the grain. and are afterwards removed by a wire-sieve. The color which the barley assumes as it becomes dry malt in the kiln is determined by the heat to which it is sub jected. the higher temperature yielding the dark-colored malt. Pale and anther colored molt are used in the brewing of the lighter varieties of B., such as bitter-beer, table-beer, and small-beer; whilst a darker kind of malt is used in sweet ale, and a very dark malt in the preparation of porter. During the conversion of barley into malt a loss of material occurs. Thus, 100 parts of barley yield 80 parts of malt; but as the 100 parts of barley contain 12 of water, it follows that there are present only 88 parts of dry matter, and these yield 80 parts of dry malt, giving a loss of 8 per Cent of the original weight of the The principal chemical change is, therefore, the transformation of much hordcin form of starch) into starch, gum, and sugar. The mechanical condition of the contents of the grain is also altered; the grain is now of a fine mealy nature, and is readily broken between the fingers, when the flour in the interior is found to be soft and dis tinctly sweet to taste.