Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/373

Rh soft, and is full of flour from one end to the other, it is good; which may also be known by its swimming on the surface, when put into the water. The best way of grinding it, is to bruise it in a mill composed of two iron cylinders. These break the malt without cutting its husk, so that the hot water instantly pierces its whole substance, and soon draws forth a rich tincture, with much less mashing than in the common way.

3. Of Hops. Experience has proved, that hops slack-dried, or kept in a damp place, are pernicious ingredients for making beer; and likewise, that they yield their aromatic bitter more efficaciously, when boiled in wort than in water: hence, to impregnate the extracts from malt with a due proportion of hops, their strength, as well as that of the extract, should previously be ascertained. The newer the hops are, the better they always prove; the fragrance of their flavour being in some degree lost by keeping, notwithstanding the care used in preserving them. Private families, who regard only the flavour and salubrity of their malt liquors, should use from six to eight bushels of malt to the hogshead of their strongest beer. The quantity of hops must be suited to the taste of the drinker, and to the time the liquor is intended to be kept. From two to three pounds will be sufficient for a hogshead, though some go as far as six pounds.—Mr. is of opinion, that small beer should always be brewed by itself; in which case, two bushels and a half of malt, and a pound and a half of hops, are sufficient to make a hogshead.

4. Of the Vessels used in Brewing. The brew-bouse ibelf, and every vessel in it, ought to be perfectly clean and sweet; for if the vessels are in the least degree tainted, the liquor put into them will contract a disagreeable scent and taste. A vessel of the most simple and excellent contrivance, among the multiplicity of brewing utensils adapted to family purposes, is that of Mr. J. B., an ingenious American, who has described it in his "Essays and Notes on Husbandry and Rural Affairs;" (Philadelphia, 1799) He terms his process, by way of distinction, a tripartite method of brewing; because the kettle-apparatus, represented in the subjoined cut is worked in three divisions. The whole vessel is 40 inches long, 20 broad, and 24 deep: namely, division a, is thirteen; b, nine; and c, two inches deep. The dotted lines are marked, where the perforated moveable bottoms are placed.—In a, is the water or wort; b, contains the malt; and into c, the hot water is pumped up, or poured over from a to c, by means of the small pump, d; and thus passes through every particle of the malt; so that, by frequent agitation, the water in a manner washes out its whole substance, and extracts all its farinaceous and saccharine ingredients. This operation is repeated, occasionally stirring up the grains, till the liquor becomes clear; when it should be briskly boiled (see the