Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/266

 260 BREWING the case may be, and the requisite quantity of hops is added. The remainder of the water is then run into the mash tun at the same, or perhaps a little higher temperature, and the mash stirred and allowed to stand about half an hour. The wort, which has little strength, is then drawn off, and when introduced into the boiler the remainder of the hops is turned in also. The boiling, which has been going on for an hour or more, is continued two and a half or three hours longer. The quantity of hops that should be added varies with the kind of beer which is brewed. In making stock ale, from five to eight pounds, but for the lighter ales and for lager and schenkbier, from two to three pounds to the barrel are used. The addition of hops to the wort is an operation about which there is a variety of opinions. Some suppose that the hop is merely added to flavor the beer, but it possesses quite as much value in preserving the beer as it does in flavor- ing it. The tannin contained in the scales aids in clarifying the wort, by combining with the albuminous matter that may have remained undecomposed. The other principles also, as the lupuline and the odorant oil, exert an in- fluence during the cooling process in checking premature fermentation ; and during fermenta- tion the hop moderates the action in such a way as greatly to improve the quality of the beer. A perfectly satisfactory explanation of the manner in which the hop acts has not yet been given, nor has any substitute for it ever been found. The continued boiling of the hop being regarded as necessarily involving a great waste of the odorant principle, attempts have been made to extract its virtues and add them to the wort after it has been boiled; but thus far success has not attended the experiment. The flavor of the beer is good, and if it has been very carefully brewed from the best materials perhaps it has been improved, but its keeping qualities are inferior. Perhaps the addition of a little tannin to the wort during boiling might remedy the defect, but it is questionable, as the hop has other preserving qualities besides the tannin. It is found, moreover, that although in boiling hopped wort a strong odor is per- ceived, the loss is not as great as is often sup- posed. It has also been attempted to extract the virtues of the hop in the wort without bringing it to the boiling point, but this experi- ment has also been unsuccessful. Although the beer had a fine appearance and flavor, it would not keep as well as that made from boiled worts. In fact, the most practical brewers have found it necessary thus far to boil their worts, to arrive at satisfactory re- sults. It is probable that the easily decomposed azotized matters cannot be with certainty eliminated in any other way without injury to the beer. The boiling is known to have continued long enough if the coagulated flocks are distinctly separated from the perfectly clear liquid in which they are suspended ; or if they are found collected together in considerable quantity at the bottom of the boiler. "When the boiling is finished, the hopped wort is drawn off into another tun, called a hop back (hop vessel), which has a perforated false bot- tom, or strainer, for the purpose of retaining the hops. From the hop back the wort is pumped up into the coolers, which are placed in the tipper story of the brewery. These coolers are wide, shallow pans, six or eight inches in depth and fifty or more feet square ; they cause rapid cooling in consequence of the great amount of surface exposed to the cooler atmosphere and the great evaporation which takes place. In this country, however, this form of cooler is only used for cooling the wort of lagerbier ; an apparatus called a refrigera- tor being used to cool the wort of ale or strong beer. This is not fermented at so low a temperature as lagerbier is, and the necessary cooling can be performed with much greater facility by means of the refrigerator, which is simply a coil or layer of pipe through which a stream of cold water may be made to pass with any required rapidity. A form of hydrometer called a saccharometer is used to measure the degree of concentration of the worts while they are passing through the various stages of preparation. When the wort reaches the cool- er or the refrigerator it usually has a tempera- ture of about 200 or more, according to the rapidity with which it has been pumped. It is desirable to have it cool as quickly as possi- ble, so that no premature fermentation may take place before the yeast is added in the fer- menting tun. Wort which is to be subjected to the ordinary top or rapid fermentation should be brought to a temperature of 60 or 63. As soon as it is run into the fermenting tun, yeast is added to induce the vinous fermentation. The quantity used depends upon the extent to which it is desired to carry the fermentation, and also upon the amount of saccharine matter in the wort. For the fermentation of Bavarian beer much less is used, and that of a different kind, than for the ordinary English ale. For the stronger kind about one gallon of yeast is used in fermenting 100 gallons of wort, but for lighter ales one part to 150 or 200 is sufficient. The yeast is taken from the last preceding fer- mentation, and should have been produced from similar beer. It is generally prepared a short time before using by mixing it with a por- tion of wort and putting it in a warm place till it begins to ferment. This mixture, which is called lobb, is then stirred into the wort. Too much yeast will cause excessive action, con- sume too much of the sugar, and make the process more unmanageable. The principal constituents of the wort, or gyle (as it is termed by the English brewers after reaching the fer- menting tun), are grape sugar, dextrine which has not yet passed into sugar, gluten, lupuline (the bitter principle of the hop), and other odo- rant principles. The brewer's problem now is, to produce in this infusion, from the ele- ments it contains, a certain quantity of alcohol