BREWING. This is the process of obtaining the saccharine solution from malt, or other mat ters, and converting this solution into Spirituous liquors, ale, porter, or beer. There is little doubt of the antiquity of this art. The Egyp tians are said to have been the inventors of beer. The early Germans and the Saxon forefathers were as fond of beer as the modern citizens. The English process is as follows: In the grind ing of the malt, as in many other parts of brew ing, some prefer it ground between atones, others crushed by rollers; some prefer a fine grist, others a coarse one. The mashing may be performed in a vessel of wood, with a false bot tom pierced full of holes; on this bottom the malt is laid; the water is then admitted, which, for pale ale, or pale spirits, should be of the temperature of from 170° to 185°, according to the quantity mashed; the heat being increased as the mass diminishes. For porter, not higher than 165°, or lower than 156'. For the second mash an increased temperature of 15° or 20° will be advisable. For the first mash, for every quarter, twenty-eight pounds of malt, a barrel and a half of water may be used, and the grist well mixed with the water. The mash is per mitted to rest for some time, and then allowed to run off into an under-tank, whence it is pumped into the boiler, where it is raised to the boiling temperature. When the wort is auf ficiently drained from the mash-tub, another portion of hot water is added for a second mash. The hops are next added, and the boiling is completed, which in general requires an hour and a half, or until the wort breaks bright from the hops, when a sample is taken from the cop per. The wort is let off into coolers—either of wood or iron—where, when sufficiently cooled, or else in proper fermenting tuns, the yeast or barm is added. The fermentation speedily be gins, and when it is thought that a sufficient quantity of alcohol is formed, the fermentation is stopped, and the yeast is separated by running it into smaller vessels, and skimming off the harm; or else by allowing it to run off from the bung-holes of the casks, which are, for this pur pose, kept filled. A small portion of salt is commonly added, and, occasionally, es pecially by the professional brewer, a portion of isinglass or other finings. In all these opera tions cleanliness is a most essential part, for without this it is impossible to have good beer. The quantity of hops to be added varies with the quality of the beer. Four pounds to the
quarter of malt is sufficient for beer forpresent use, and from this to twenty-eight pounds have been used for beer for long keeping. The tem perature of the fermentation should range be tween 56° and 62°. Not more than 60° for ale wort, nor more than 62° for porter. Great care should be taken to have good, sound, healthy, and new yeast, and of this about two pounds per barrel are commonly needed. Good malt and hops, of course, are requisite; but the qual ity of the water is not of so much consequence as is very often considered to, be the case. Some of the best ales in England are brewed either with soft or with hard water, and from rivers, or springs, or ponds. The quantity of alcohol, upon an average, in brown stout is about. 6.80, in ale 8.88, and in small beer from two to three per cent. The specific gravity of the'wort, when it is placed in the fermenting vessels, varies from 1.060, when it contains 14.25 per cent. of solid matter, to 1 127, when it contains 28.2 per, cent. That of small beer varies from 1.015 to 1.040, the first containing about 3.5 per cent. of solid matter, the latter about 9.5 per cent. The chief use of the hops is to communicate the peculiar bitter flavor from the oil which is contained is them; partly to hide the sweetness of the sac charine matter, and partly to counteract the tendency which wort has to run into acidity. Hops are by no means the only bitter which may be made use of for preparing and flavoring ales. Mixtures, in various proportions, of worm wood, powdered bitter oranges, gentian root, and the rind of Seville oranges, will afford an excellent bitter, and are often used in home brewing, as were grounding by the Saxons be fore the introduction of hops. Strasburg beer, which is much prized on the continent, owes much of its excellence to the use of ovens (Gem urbanism). A good beer can be produced from potatoes grated to a pulp, mixed with barley malt. In Ireland beer is made froth parsnips. Cane sugar or glucose (fourteen pounds of cane sugar dissolved in ten gallons of boiling water, with one and one-half pounds of hops) is said to make excellent beer. The beer made in this way is pale colored, but color may be given readily by scorched sugar (caramel). Beer has also been made from.mangel-wurzel 150 pounds, and one pound of hops in' sixteen gallons of water. It may also be made from the various cereal grains, and even from Indian corn.