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THE LONDON and COUNTRY BREWER

Containing an Account,

To which is added,

The SECOND EDITION, Corrected.

LONDON

THE PREFACE.

The many Inhabitants of Cities and Towns, as well as Travellers, that have for a long time suffered great Prejudices from unwholsome and unpleasant Beers and Ales, by the badness of Malts, underboiling the Worts, mixing injurious Ingredients, the unskilfulness of the Brewer, and the great Expense that Families have been at in buying them clogg'd with a heavy Excise, has moved me to undertake the writing of this Treatise on Brewing, Wherein I have endeavour'd to set in sight the many advantages of Body and Purse that may arise from a due Knowledge and Management in Brewing Malt Liquors, which are of the greatest Importance, as they are in a considerable degree our Nourishment and the common Diluters of our Food; so that on their goodness depends very much the Health and Longevity of the Body.

This bad Economy in Brewing has brought on such a Disrepute, and made our Malt Liquors in general so odious, that many have been constrain'd, either to be at an Expence for better Drinks than their Pockets could afford, or take up with a Toast and Water to avoid the too justly apprehended ill Consequences of Drinking such Ales and Beers.

Wherefore I have given an Account of Brewing Beers and Ales after several Methods; and also several curious Receipts for feeding, fining and preserving Malt Liquors, that are most of them wholsomer than the Malt itself, and so cheap that none can object against the Charge, which I thought was the ready way to supplant the use of those unwholsome Ingredients that have been made too free with by some ill principled People meerly for their own Profit, tho' at the Expence of the Drinker's Health.

I have here observed that necessary Caution, which is perfectly requisite in the Choice of good and the Management of bad Waters; a Matter of high Importance, as the Use of this Vehicle is unavoidable in Brewing, and therefore requires a strict Inspection into its Nature; and this I have been the more particular in, because I am sensible of the great Quantities of unwholsome Waters used not only by Necessity, but by a mistaken Choice.

So also I have confuted the old received Opinion lately published by an Eminent Hand, that long Mashings are the best Methods in Brewing; an Error of dangerous Consequence to all those who brew by Ladings over of the hot Water on the Malt.

The great Difficulty and what has hitherto proved an Impediment and Discouragement to many from Brewing their own Drinks, I think, I have in some measure removed, and made it plainly appear how a Quantity of Malt Liquor may be Brewed in a little Room and in the hottest Weather, without the least Damage by Foxing or other Taint.

The Benefit of Brewing entire Guile small Beer from fresh Malt, and the ill Effects of that made from Goods after strong Beer or Ale; I have here exposed, for the sake of the Health and Pleasure of those that may easily prove their advantage by drinking of the former and refusing the latter.

There is likewise another reason that has brought a disreputation on some of the Chiltern-barley, and that is, the too often sowing of one and the same piece of Ground, whereby its spirituous, nitrous and sulphureous qualities are exhausted and worn out, by the constant attraction of its best juices for the nutriment of the Grain: To supply which, great quantities of Dungs are often incorporated with such Earths, whereby they become impregnated with four, adulterated, unwholsome qualities, that so affect the Barley that grows therein, as to render it incapable of making such pure and sweet Malts, as that which is sown in the open Champaign-fields, whose Earths are constantly rested every third Year called the Fallow-season, in order to discharge their crude, phlegmatick and sour property, by the several turnings that the Plough gives them part of a Winter and one whole Summer, which exposes the rough, clotty loose parts of the Ground, and by degrees brings them into a condition of making a lodgment of those saline benefits that arise from the Earths, and afterwards fall down, and redound so much to the benefit of all Vegetables that grow therein, as being the essence and spring of Life to all things that have root, and tho' they are first exhaled by the Sun in vapour from the Earth as the spirit or breath thereof, yet is it return'd again in Snows, Hails, Dews, etc. more than in Rains, by which the surface of the Globe is saturated; from whence it reascends in the juices of Vegetables, and enters into all those productions as food, and nourishment, which the Creation supplies.

But notwithstanding Barley may grow on a light Soil with a proper Manure; and improved by the liquor of this Receipt, yet this Grain may be damaged or spoiled by being mown too soon, which may afterwards be discovered by its shrivelled and lean body that never will make right good Malt; or if it is mown at a proper time, and if it be housed damp, or wettish, it will be apt to heat and mow-burn, and then it will never make so good Malt, because it will not spire, nor come so regularly on the floor as that which was inned dry.

Again, I have known one part of a Barley-crop almost green at Harvest, another part ripe, and another part between both, tho' it was all sown at once, occasion'd by the several situations of the Seed in the Ground, and the succeeding Droughts. The deepest came up strong and was ripe soonest, the next succeeded; but the uppermost, for want of Rain and Cover, some of it grew not at all, and the rest was green at Harvest. Now these irregularities are greatly prevented and cured by the application of the ingredients mentioned in the Receipt, which infuses such a moisture into the body of the Seed, as with the help of a little Rain and the many Dews, makes it spire, take root and grow, when others are ruined for want of the assistance of such steeping.

CHAP. II

There are several methods used in drying of Malts, as the Iron Plate-frame, the Tyle-frame, that are both full of little Holes: The Brass-wyred and Iron-wyred Frame, and the Hair-cloth; the Iron and Tyled one, were chiefly Invented for drying of brown Malts and saving of Fuel, for these when they come to be thorough hot will make the Corns crack and jump by the fierceness of their heat, so that they will be roasted or scorch'd in a little time, and after they are off the Kiln, to plump the body of the Corn and make it take the Eye, some will sprinkle water over it that it may meet with the better Market. But if such Malt is not used quickly, it will slacken and lose its Spirits to a great degree, and perhaps in half a Year or less may be taken by the Whools and spoiled: Such hasty dryings or scorchings are also apt to bitter the Malt by burning its skin, and therefore these Kilns are not so much used now as formerly: The Wyre-frames indeed are something better, yet they are apt to scorch the outward part of the Corn, that cannot be got off so soon as the Hair-cloth admits of, for these must be swept, when the other is only turned at once; however these last three ways are now in much request for drying pale and amber Malts, because their fire may be kept with more leisure, and the Malt more gradually and truer dyed, but by many the Hair-cloth is reckoned the best of all.

Straw is the next sweetest Fuel, but Wood and Fern worst of all.

Some I have known put a Peck or more of Peas, and malt them with five Quarters of Barley, and they'll greatly mellow the Drink, and so will Beans; but they won't come so soon, nor mix so conveniently with the Malt, as the Pea will.

I knew a Farmer, when he sends five Quarters of Barley to be Malted, puts in half a Peck or more of Oats amongst them, to prove he has justice done him by the Maker, who is hereby confin'd not to Change his Malt by reason others won't like such a mixture.

But there is an abuse sometimes committed by a necessitous Malster, who to come by Malt sooner than ordinary, makes use of Barley before it is thoroughly sweated in the Mow, and then it never makes right Malt, but will be steely and not yield a due quantity of wort, as I knew it once done by a Person that thrashed the Barley immediately from the Cart as it was brought out of the Field, but they that used its Malt suffered not a little, for it was impossible it should be good, because it did not thoroughly Chip or Spire on the floor, which caused this sort of Malt, when the water was put to it in the Mash-tub, to swell up and absorb the Liquor, but not return its due quantity again, as true Malt would, nor was the Drink of this Malt ever good in the Barrel, but remain'd a raw insipid beer, past the Art of Man to Cure, because this, like Cyder made from Apples directly off the Tree, that never sweated out their phlegmatick crude juice in the heap, cannot produce a natural Liquor from such unnatural management; for barley certainly is not fit to make Malt of until it is fully mellowed and sweated in the Mow, and the Season of the Year is ready for it, without both which there can be no assurance of good Malt: Several instances of this untimely making Malt I have known to happen, that has been the occasion of great quantities of bad Ales and Beers, for such Malt, retaining none of its Barley nature, or that the Season of the Year is not cold enough to admit of its natural working on the Floor, is not capable of producing a true Malt, it will cause its Drink to stink in the cask instead of growing fit for use, as not having its genuine Malt-nature to cure and preserve it, which all good Malts contribute to as well as the Hop.

There is another damage I have known accrue to the Buyer of Malt by Mellilet, a most stinking Weed that grows amongst some Barley, and is so mischievously predominant, as to taint it to a sad degree because its black Seed like that of an Onion, being lesser than the Barley, cannot be entirely separated, which obliges it to be malted with the Barley, and makes the Drink so heady that it is apt to fuddle the unwary by drinking a small quantity. This Weed is so natural to some Ground that the Farmer despairs of ever extirpating it, and is to be avoided as much as possible, because it very much hurts the Drink that is made from Malt mixed with it, by its nauseous Scent and Taste, as may be perceived by the Ointment made with it that bears its Name: I knew a Victualler that bought a parcel of Malt that this weed was amongst, and it spoiled all the Brewings and Sale of the Drink, for it's apt to cause Fevers, Colicks and other Distempers in the Body.

Darnel is a rampant Weed and grows much amongst some Barley, especially in the bad Husbandman's Ground, and most where it is sown with the Seed-barley: It does the least harm amongst Malt, because it adds a strength to it, and quickly intoxicates, if there is much in it; but where there is but little, the Malster regards it not, for the sake of its inebriating quality.

There are other Weeds or Seeds that annoy the Barley; but as the Screen, Sieve and throwing will take most of them out, there does not require here a Detail of their Particulars. Oats malted as Barley is, will make a weak, soft, mellow and pleasant Drink, but Wheat when done so, will produce a strong heady nourishing well-tasted and fine Liquor, which is now more practised then ever.

Next to the Coak-dryed Malt, the Straw-dryed is the sweetest and best tasted: This I must own is sometimes well Malted where the Barley, Wheat, Straw, Conveniencies and the Maker's Skill are good; but as the fire of the Straw is not so regular as the Coak, the Malt is attended with more uncertainty in its making, because it is difficult to keep it to a moderate and equal Heat, and also exposes the Malt in some degree to the taste of the smoak.

The Fern-dryed Malt is also attended with a rank disagreeable Taste from the smoak of this Vegetable, with which many Quarters of Malt are dryed, as appears by the great Quantities annually cut by Malsters on our Commons, for the two prevalent Reasons of cheapness and plenty.

Rain-water is very soft, of a most simple and pure nature, and the best Diluter of any, especially if received free from Dirt, and the Salt of Mortar that often mixes with it as it runs off tyled Roofs; this is very agreeable for brewing of Ales that are not to be kept a great while, but for Beers that are to remain some time in the Casks, it is not so, well, as being apt to putrify the soonest of any.

In a great Brewhouse that I was concern'd in, they wetted or used a considerable Quantity of Malt in one Week in Brewing Stout-beer, common Butt-beer, Ale and small Beer, for which purpose they have River and Well Waters, which they take in several degrees of Heat, as the Malt, Goods and Grain are in a condition to receive them, and according to the Practice there I shall relate the following Particulars, viz.

This is the strongest Butt-Beer that is Brewed from brown Malt, and often sold for forty Shillings the Barrel, or six Pound the Butt out of the wholesale Cellars: The Liquor in the Copper designed for the first Mash, has a two Bushel Basket, or more, of the most hully Malt throw'd over it, to cover its Top and forward its Boiling; this must be made very hot, almost ready to boil, yet not so as to blister, for then it will be in too high a Heat; but as an indication of this, the foul part of the Liquor will ascend, and the Malt swell up, and then it must be parted, look'd into and felt with the Finger or back of the Hand, and if the Liquor is clear and can but be just endured, it is then enough, and the Stoker must damp his fire as soon as possible by throwing in a good Parcel of fresh Coals, and shutting his Iron vent Doors, if there are any; immediately on this they let as much cold Liquor or Water run into the Copper as will make it all of a Heat, somewhat more than Blood-warm, this they Pump over, or let it pass by a Cock into an upright wooden square Spout or Trunk, and it directly rises thro' the Holes of a false Bottom into the Malt, which is work'd by several Men with Oars for about half an Hour, and is called the first and stiff Mash: While this is doing, there is more Liquor heating in the Copper that must not be let into the mash Tun till it is very sharp, almost ready to boil, with this they Mash again, then cover it with several Baskets of Malt, and let it stand an Hour before it runs into the Under-back, which when boiled an Hour and a half with a good quantity of Hops makes this Stout. The next is Mash'd with a cooler Liquor, then a sharper, and the next Blood-warm or quite Cold; by which alternate degrees of Heat, a Quantity of small Beer is made after the Stout.

They take the Liquors from the brown Ale as for the Stout, but draw a greater Quantity from the Malt, than for Stout or Stitch, and after the fifth and second Mash they Cap the Goods with fresh Malt to keep in the Spirit and Boil it an Hour; after this, small Beer is made of the same Goods. Thus also the common brown Starting Butt-Beer is Brewed, only boiled with more Hops an Hour and a half, and work'd cooler and longer than the brown Ale, and a shorter Length drawn from the Malt. But it is often practised after the brown Ale, and where a Quantity of small Beer is wanted, or that it is to be Brewed better than ordinary, to put so much fresh Malt on the Goods as will answer that purpose.

As the brown Malts are Brewed with River, these are Brewed with Well or Spring Liquors. The Liquors are by some taken sharper for pale than brown Malts, and after the first scalding Liquor is put over, some lower the rest by degrees to the last which is quite Cold, for their small Beer; so also for Butt-Beers there is no other difference than the addition of more Hops, and boiling, and the method of working. But the reasons for Brewing pale Malts with Spring or hard Well waters, I have mentioned in my second Book of Brewing.

On the first Liquor they throw some hully Malt to shew the break of it, and when it is very sharp, they let in some cold Liquor, and run it into the Tun milk warm; this is mash'd with thirty or forty pulls of the Oar, and let stand till the second Liquor is ready, which must be almost scalding hot to the back of the Hand, then run it by the Cock into the Tun, mash it up and let it stand an Hour before it is spended off into the Under-back: These two pieces of Liquor will make one Copper of the first wort, without putting any fresh Malt on the Goods; the next Liquor to be Blood-warm, the next sharp, and the next cool or cold; for the general way in great Brewhouses is to let a cool Liquor precede a sharp one, because it gradually opens the Pores of the Malt and Goods, and prepares the way for the hotter Liquor that is to follow.

His Copper holds twenty four Gallons, and the Mash Tub has room enough for four and more Bushels of Malt. The first full Copper of boiling water he puts into the Mash Tub, there to lye a quarter of an Hour, till the steam is so far spent, that he can see his Face in it, or as soon as the hot water is put in, throws a Pail or two of cold water into it, which will bring it at once into a temper; then he lets three Bushels of Malt be run leisurely into it, and stirred or mash'd all the while, but as little as can be, or no more than just to keep the Malt from clotting or balling; when that is done, he puts one Bushel of dry Malt on the Top to keep in the Vapour or Spirit, and so lets it stand covered two Hours, or till the next Copper full of water is boiled hot, which he lades over the Malt or Goods three Hand-bowls full at a time, that are to run off at the Cock or Tap by a very small stream before more is put on, which again must be returned into the Mash Tub till it comes off exceeding fine, for unless the wort is clear when it goes into the Copper, there are little hopes it will be so in the Barrel, which leisure way obliges him to be sixteen Hours in brewing these four Bushels of Malt. Now between the ladings over he puts cold water into the Copper to be boiling hot, while the other is running off; by this means his Copper is kept up near full, and the Cock spending to the end of brewing his Ale or small Beer, of which only twenty one Gallons must be saved of the first wort that is reserved in a Tub, wherein four Ounces of Hops are put and then it is to be set by. For the second wort I will suppose there are twenty Gallons of water in the Copper boiling hot, that must be all laded over in the same manner as the former was, but no cold water need here be mixed; when half of this is run out into a Tub, it must be directly put into the Copper with half of the first wort, strain'd thro' the Brewing Sieve as it lies on a small loose wooden Frame over the Copper, to keep back those Hops that were first put in to preserve it, which is to make the first Copper twenty one Gallons; then upon its beginning to boil he puts in a Pound of Hops in one or two Canvas or other coarse Linnen Bags, somewhat larger than will just contain the Hops, that an allowance may be given for their swell; this he boils away very briskly for half an Hour, when he takes the Hops out and continues boiling the wort by itself till it breaks into Particles a little ragged, and then it is enough and must be dispers'd into the cooling Tubs very thin: Then put the remainder of the first and second wort together and boil that, the same time, in the same manner, and with the same quantity of fresh Hops the first was. The rest of the third or small Beer wort will be about fifteen or twenty Gallons more or less, he mixes directly with some cold water to keep it free of Excise, and puts it into the Copper as the first Liquor to begin a second Brewing of Ale with another four Bushels of Malt as he did before, and so on for several Days together if necessary; but at last there may be some small Beer made, tho' some will make make none, because the Goods or Grains will go the further in feeding of Hogs.

The first Copper of twenty four Gallons of water is but sufficient to wet three Bushels of Malt, and by the additions of cold water as the hot is expended, it matters not how much the Malt drinks up: Tho' a third part of water is generally allowed for that purpose that is never returned.

This Brewer reposes such a Confidence in the Hops to preserve the wort from fixing even in the very hottest time in Summer, that he puts all his first running into one Tub, till he has an opportunity of boiling it, and when Tubs and Room are so scarce that the wort is obliged to be laid thick to cool, then the security of some fresh Hops may be put into it, which may be got out again by letting the Drink run thro' the Cullender, and after that a Hair Sieve to keep the Seeds of the Hop back as the Drink goes into the Barrel: But this way of putting Hops into the cooling Tubs is only meant where there is a perfect Necessity, and Tubs and Room enough can't be had to lay the wort thin.

I am very sensible that the Vulgar Error for many Years, has been a standard Sign to the ignorant of boiling strong Worts only till they break or curdle in the Copper, which sometimes will be in three quarters of an Hour, or in an Hour or more, according to the nature of the Malt and Water; but from these in some measure I dissent, and also from those that boil it two or three Hours, for it is certain the longer worts boil, the thicker they are made, because the watry or thin parts evaporate first away, and the thicker any Drink is boiled, the longer it requires to lye in the Barrel to have its Particles broke, which Age must be then the sole cause of, and therefore I have fixed the time and sign to know when the wort is truly enough, and that in such, a manner that an ordinary Capacity may be a true judge of, which hereafter will prevent prodigious Losses in the waste of strong worts that have often been boiled away to greater Loss than Profit.

I have here also made known, I think, the true Method of managing the Hop in the Copper, which has long wanted adjusting, to prevent the great damage that longer boilings of them has been the sole occasion of to the spoiling of most of our malt Drinks brewed in this Nation.

After the Wort is cooled and put into the working Vat or Tub, some have thrown fresh Hops into it, and worked them with the Yeast, at the same time reserving a few Gallons of raw Wort to wash the Yeast thro' a Sieve to keep back the Hop. This is a good way when Hops enough have not been sufficiently boiled in the Wort, or to preserve it in the Coolers where it is laid thick, otherwise I think it needless.

Hops in themselves are known to be a subtil grateful Bitter, whose Particles are Active and Rigid, by which the viscid ramous parts of the Malt are much divided, that makes the Drink easy of Digestion in the Body; they also keep it from running into such Cohesions as would make it ropy, valid and sour, and therefore are not only of great use in boiled, but in raw worts to preserve them sound till they can be put into the Copper, and afterwards in the Tun while the Drink is working, as I have before hinted.

Here then I must observe, that the worser earthy part of the Hop is greatly the cause of that rough, harsh unpleasant taste, which accompany both Ales and Beers that have the Hops so long boiled in them as to tincture their worts with their mischievous Effects; for notwithstanding the Malt, be ever so good, the Hops, if boiled too long in them, will be so predominant as to cause a nasty bad taste, and therefore I am in hopes our Malt Liquors in general will be in great Perfection, when Hops are made use of according to my Directions, and also that more Grounds will be planted with this most serviceable Vegetable than ever, that their Dearness may not be a disencouragement to this excellent Practice.

It is also to be observed, that pale Malt Worts will not break so soon in the Copper, as the brown Sorts, but when either of their Worts boil, it should be to the purpose, for then they will break sooner and waste less than if they are kept Simmering, and will likewise work more kindly in the Tun, drink smoother, and keep longer.

For strong brown Ale brew'd in any of the Winter Months, and boiled an Hour, one Pound is but barely sufficient for a Hogshead, if it be Tapp'd in three Weeks or a Month.

If for pale Ale brewed at that time and for that Age, one Pound and a quarter of Hops; but if these Ales are brewed in any of the Summer Months, there should be more Hops allowed.

And here I shall mention the great Value of the Hop in preventing and curing the Fox in Malt Liquors. When the Wort is run into the Tub out of the mashing Vat, it is a very good way to throw some Hops directly into it before it is put into the Copper, and they will secure it against Sourness and Ropyness, that are the two Effects of fox'd Worts or Drinks, and is of such Power in this respect, that raw Worts may be kept some time, even, in hot weather, before they are boiled, and which is necessary; where there is a large Quantity of Malt used to a little Copper; but it is certain that the stronger Worts will keep longer with Hops than the smaller Sorts: So likewise if a Person has fewer Tubs than is wanting, and he is apprehensive his Worts will be Fox'd by too thick lying in the Coolers or working Tubs, then it will be a safe way to put some fresh Hops into such Tubs and work them with the Yeast as I have before hinted; or in case the Drink is already Foxed in the Fat or Tun, new Hops should be put in and work'd with it, and they will greatly fetch it again into a right Order; but then such Drink should be carefully taken clear off from its gross nasty Lee, which being mostly Tainted, would otherwise lye in the Barrel, corrupt and make it worse.

Some will sift quick Lime into foxed Drinks while they are working in the Tun or Vat, that its Fire and Salts may break the Cohesions of the Beer or Ale, and burn away the stench, that the Corruption would always cause; but then such Drink should by a Peg at the bottom of the Vat be drawn off as fine as possible, and the Dregs left behind.

Others again for Butt or Stout Beer will, when they find it works up towards a thick Yeast, mix it once and beat it in again with the Hand-bowl or Jett; and when it has work'd up a second time in such a manner, they put it into the Vessel with the Yeast on the Top and the Sediments at Bottom, taking particular Care to have some more in a Tub near the Cask to fill it up as it works over, and when it has done working, leave it with a thick Head of Yeast on to preserve it.

But for Ale that is not to be kept very long, they Hop it accordingly, and beat the Yeast in every four or five Hours for two Days successively in the warm weather, and four in the Winter till the Yeast begins to work heavy and sticks to the hollow part of the Bowl, if turned down on the same, then they take all the Yeast off at Top and leave all the Dregs behind, putting only up the clear Drink, and when it is a little work'd in the Barrel, it will be fine in a few Days and ready for drinking. But this, last way of beating in the Yeast too long, I think I have sufficiently detected, and hope, as it is how declining, it will never revive again, and for which reason I have in my second Book encouraged all light fermentations, as the most natural for the Malt Liquor and the human Body.

ANOTHER.

Take one Pound of Treacle or Honey, one Pound of the Powder of dryed Oyster-shells or fat Chalk, mix them well and put it into a Butt, as soon as it has done working or some time after, and Bung it well, this will both fine and preserve the Beer in a soft, smooth Condition for a great while.

ANOTHER.

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