Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/372

340] the hands. Then make a brisk fire under your copper, till the liquor boils; let it continue to boil till the hops sink; then damp the fire, and strain the liquor into coolers. When it is about as warm as new milk, mix some yeast or barm with it, and leave it to work till the surface appears in curls; then stir and mix the whole properly with a hand-bowl, and let it again ferment. Repeat the stirring with the bowl three times, then tun it, and leave it to work in the hogshead. When it has nearly done working, fill up the cask, and bung it, but let the vent-hole remain open.

Beer thus brewed, though brown, will be as clear as rock-water, and will keep for any length of time.

Set the second wort aside for the next brewing, which, as far as wetting the mash, must be managed exactly in the same manner as the first; but afterwards, instead of water, heat the second wort of the first brewing, and lade it on the mash, which will give the new wort additional strength and softness. Make the second wort of the second brewing with water, and save it for the first wort of the third; and so on for as many brewings as you please. A third wort may be taken from the first brewing, which should be heated and laded on the mash of your second brewing, after taking off the second wort; and thus an additional hogshead of very good mild beer may be procured.

On taking a review of the above process, and the multiplicity of circumstances to be attended to, it is easy to see that the operation of brewing is of a very precarious nature; and requires great skill and dexterity to manage it with complete success. The goodness of the beer will depend on the quality of the malt from which it is made; on the peculiar properties of the water with which it is infused; on the degree of heat applied in the mashing; on the length of time the fusion is continued; on the due manner of boiling the wort, together with the quantity and quality of the hops employed; and on the proper degree of fermentation: to ascertain all which particulars, with precision, constitutes the great mystery of brewing, and can only be learnt by experience and repeated observation.

Mr., in his "System of Practical Husbandry," and Mr. , in his "Theory and Practice of Brewing," give the following directions for the choice of materials used in brewing, and for conducting the whole process:

1. Of the Water. Pure rain-water, as being the lightest, is esteemed the most proper. Well and spring waters are commonly hard, and consequently unfit for drawing the tincture completely from any vegetable. River-water, in point of softness, is next to rain-water: and even pond-water, if pure, is equal to any other for brewing.

2. Of Malt. Those malts are to be preferred for brewing, which have been properly wetted and germinated, then dried by a moderate heat, till all the adventitious moisture is evaporated, without being blown, vitrified, or scorched, by too hot or hasty fires. For, the better the malt is dried, the sounder will be the beer brewed from it, and the longer it will keep. In order to ascertain the quality of this article, bite a grain of it asunder, and if it tastes mellow and sweet, breaks soft,