Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/315

Rh penalties incurred by the workman unless lie prosecute his servant within a month of the offence, and show the Com missioners a certificate of such conviction. Some maltsters have a notice put up in their mailings to the effect that their men will be prosecuted if they commit the offences mentioned in the Act. In America there are no internal taxes on materials used in brewing as such, but there is an import duty on hops and barley, five cents per Ib on the former, and 15 cents on the latter per bushel. The barley mostly used comes from Canada, the import duty being equal to about Is. 4d. on an American barrel of beer. The duty is levied in the form of a stamp-tax on the beer fermented, completed, and in barrel, at the rate of $1 per barrel of 31 gallons, and 2 per barrel of not less than G3 gallons. No restric tions are imposed as to the materials of which it shall be made. In Bavaria the duty is raised on malt, but not assessed till the malt is brought to the mill to be crushed. It .is made without licence or permission, and may be sold without restriction ; but traffic in ground malt is strictly forbidden. The case is the same whether the malt is used by brewers or distillers. The consumption of beer and spirits is untaxcd, except through the impost on malt. The means adopted for preventing fraud consist exclusively in the control exercised in the public mills by the Govern ment inspectors. Private mills for crushing malt are only allowed when the proprietors have their mills furnished with the regulation self-acting measuring apparatus, together with the Government automatical counter. This apparatus is sealed officially, and thus it is impossible for an ounce of malt to be crushed which has not first been measured and checked, Besides these means for preventing fraud, there exists a regulation that no malt, whether tax- free or not, may be brought to any mill, or be found there, for which a certificate (polette) has not been given specifying the date, the quality, and the mill. Americans are now making beer largely from maize meal and maize malt. The experience the writer has had of the use of the latter leads him to doubt its economy ; the ex tract is small, and the fine flavour of the ale impaired. However, a small quantity can be used with advantage where the fermentations are sluggish or inactive, maize being the most powerful stimulant of this process that we possess. Barley has always been considered, and with good reason, a better, and in favourable seasons a cheaper, grain than any other for malting. The reasons for this are, first, that whilst the husk permits the steep-water to pass through to the starch it effectually precludes the escape of the starch; secondly, the acrospire grows under the husk in barley, and so is protected from injury during malting, whereas in wheat, maize, &c., the acrospire forces its way out with and at the same end as the rootlets, and therefore runs the risk of being damaged by turning on the floors; these damaged grains become mouldy, and mould being propa gated by means of spores, one mouldy grain may send out thousands of these spores among the good grain, and infect the previously healthy ones ; and thirdly, barley contains a large ready-made proportion of grape-sugar and starch. It is, therefore, only in bad barley seasons that there will be much demand for malt made from other grain. The average price of barley from 1872 to 1875 has been 43s., and Tn 1874 the average was as high as 49s. This high price, which means a material increase in the cost of manufacture, has naturally made a great inquiry for a cheaper sugar-forming product ; and there is no doubt that if the duty on malt were either taken off or laid on the manufactured article, beer, large quantities of other grain dried on a kiln at from 230 to 240 would be used in bad barley seasons. In Germany the grain is steeped before kiln-drying for three or four hours, to remove from the husk the unpleasant flavour it sometimes imparts to ales ; the materials used to a considerable extent there are wheat, oats, rice, maize, and even potato starch. Beer made from rice is of a very clear pale colour, of an extremely pleasant, mild taste, foaming strongly, and yet retaining its carbonic acid. Dr Graham, in his instructive lectures on the chemistry of brewing, at the Society of Arts in 1874, explained how raw grain might be used to obtain a beer either alcoholic in its nature, as brewed in England, or dextrinous, like the Bavarian beer. Mr John Prior, of the firm of Truman and Hanbury, in his examination before a committee of the House of Commons, says, &quot; If the malt Acts were not in the way, numerous substitutes for malt might be employed,&quot; and that, amongst these, mangel- wurzel might be used to any extent ; and he goes on to say, &quot; I have tasted as good beer brewed from that alone as any home-brewed beer I have ever tasted in my life.&quot; The only substitute for malt allowed in Great Britain is sugar. Of this, in its different forms, there was used in the year ending September 30, 1874—

Cwts. London .............................. 283,736 Provinces ........................... 422,136 In E 705,872 In Scotland 7,3 23 lu Ireland 54,825 768,020 being an increase over 1873 of 204,528 cwt. Sugar may be used in brewing to the extent of one-third, two cwt. being equal to a quarter of malt; the duty is lls. 6d. per cwt. It is either boiled with the wort, or dissolved in the underback. Ordinary cane-sugar contains a large amount of dangerous putrefying albuminous matter. It may also be said to cause two distinct fermentations, having to bo converted, by the action of the ferment, into glucose before it is broken up into alcohol ; it is, therefore, only good for ales of quick consumption. For store ales it is as well to destroy one of these fermentations, and at the same time convert the cane into grape-sugar or glucose. This is done by treating it with dilute sulphuric acid, the acid being afterwards got rid of by means of chalk or lime, which combines with and carries it down. This is effected very rapidly if the temperature be increased by pressure to 250 or 300, 1 Ib of acid mixed with 600 Ib of water converting 100 Ib of starch or cane-sugar into glucose in three hours. This action of acids upon cane-sugar has formed the subject of a patent (Garton s), which is being worked on a large scale at Southampton, and the product is sold under the name of saccharine ; it has found great favour with brewers, as it gives a rounder flavour, and more permanent character, to the beers -than when brewed from malt alone, and at the same time masks the acidity where any exists, better than starch or cane-sugar. Saccharinehas beencarefullyanalysed, and the analysis shows the whole of the raw sugar to have been converted into glucose with a certain percentage of water. The best mode of distinguishing grape from cane- sugar is by adding to the solution to be tested, in a flask, a few drops of an alkaline solution of tartrate of copper, and then gently boiling it. If any grape-sugar is present a bright red metallic-looking precipitate of suboxide of copper is shortly thrown down ; if no grape-sugar is present the solution remains clear, with a slight blue tinge, from the addition of the copper solution. It does not appear that the best judge can, from the taste alone, distinguish between a beer made from malt and one browed from a mixture of malt and sugar. This is not surprising, when it is borne in mind that brewing from malt consists in subjecting the malt to those condi- 