Page:The English housekeeper, 6th.djvu/361

Rh The utensils necessary are: a copper, a mash-tub and stand, an under-back, to stand under the edge of the mash-tub, when the malt is put in, two buckets, a strainer, a cooler, a tun-tub, and a cask to put the beer in.

Having these utensils, the next thing is, materials for making the beer. These are, soft water, malt, and hops. The water should be soft, because hard water does not so well extract the goodness of the malt; but if you have none but hard water, soften it by letting it stand two days in some open vessel in the air. The malt should be (or, at least, usually is) ground or bruised into a very coarse meal. The hops should be fresh, of a bright yellow, and highly scented. Farnham hops are the cleanest and best. I give receipts for finings, but do not recommend them, though they certainly will make beer clear which might not be so without them.

The process is this: if you mean to make about a hogshead of beer, take 120 gallons of water (soft, or softened by exposure to the air), and put it into the copper. When it has boiled, pour it into the malt. This is rather a nice matter; if you put in the malt too soon, it cakes and becomes dough. The old-fashioned rule is, to let the steam keep flying off till you can see your features in the water; but as the weather frequently renders this an uncertain criterion, take your thermometer, and plunge it into the water now and then, and when the quicksilver stands at 170, the heat is about right. Pour the malt in gently, taking care to stir it about as it goes in, so as to separate it, and make every particle come in contact with the water; when it is all in, stir it for twenty minutes or half an hour; then put your stirring-stick across the mash-tub, and cover cloths all over to keep in the heat. Let this, which is called mashing, go on for four or five hours. It cannot well be too long about. When the malt has remained soaking all this time, draw off the liquor by means of your buckets, and put it into the copper again. This liquor is called the "sweet wort." Light the fire under the copper, and pour into it, for every bushel of malt that you have mashed, ¾ lb. of hops, or, if not very good, 1 lb. for every bushel. Stir these well into the wort, and keep it on a good hard boil for an hour, being very particular to make it boil all the while. This being done, you have now to cool the beer: