The American Practical Brewer and Tanner Part 2

Heat of the air 50 degrees.

Cleansed or tunned 30 Barrels of Single Ale; with 16 Barrels of Table Beer after.

First, or mas.h.i.+ng liquor, 168, run your whole quant.i.ty of boiling liquor into your mash tun, and when it cools down to the above point of 168, begin to run in your malt gradually from your malt bin; this quant.i.ty will require four or five hands to mash it well, which will generally take three quarters of an hour; when sufficiently mashed, cover your tun, let it stand two hours; run down this first mash smartly by two c.o.c.ks within the hour; let your hops be rubbed, steeped, and salted, as before directed; added to these worts, as they began to boil, three gallons of the essentia bina or liquid colouring, with one pound and a half of ground mustard, and one pound of liquorice root finely powdered, boiled the whole two hours as hard as possible, there being a second copper for this operation, there was liquor prepared for the small beer and run on the keeve at the heat of 185; mashed well a second time, and stood two hours; by this time the first wort was let run into the hop back, and so on the cooler. After which, ran down the small beer, got it into the small copper, adding about six hand buckets of the hops that had been boiled on the single ale; these answered to preserve the beer, with one pound of ground mustard to a.s.sist flavour, and two gallons of the essentia bina to give colour; boiled the small beer one hour smartly. The strong worts were let into the tun in three portions, there being three coolers; the first division, at 65, had two gallons and a half of yest given to it; the second, at 66, the same quant.i.ty of yest; the third, at 65, was let down without yest, when all were in the tun made up at 64; in thirteen hours the tun had a handsome appearance of work; came on regularly, and attenuated to 76, having gained 12 degrees within sixty hours, then cleansed and filled the casks every three hours for the first eight fillings. Thus managed, this single ale was fit to send out the fifth day after brewing. When this ale is racking off the b.u.t.ts, to be sent out, would recommend putting two ounces of ground rice into each barrel which will create briskness, and much improve the beer. Ran the small beer into the hop back of the strong beer, and so on the coolers, thereby giving it a chance to lick up all the strong ale it met with in its progress to the tun, which it entered at 65 with three gallons of yest, and was cleansed within thirty-six hours. The quant.i.ty of beer here mentioned would be much improved by the addition of six or seven pounds of brown sugar or mola.s.ses; but if good table beer is wanted, it can be only obtained from whole grists of malt, and is well worth the difference of expense to those who can afford it, and appreciate quality.

Strong Beer.

Brewed, November, 1810, the following materials. Heat of the air 50 degrees.

40 Bushels of Pale Malt.

20 Bushels of Amber Malt.

60 40 lb. of Hops, the best quality.

Cleansed 20 Barrels of Beer.

Rubbed, salted, and steeped the hops, as already directed, in a close vessel, ran a sufficient quant.i.ty of boiling water on the mash tun for the first mash, which was suffered to cool down to 165; mashed well for nearly one hour, stood two hours; ran down smartly, boiled the first wort one hour very hard, with about half the hops; mashed a second time at about 185: took about half an hour in the operation, ran down smartly after two hours' standing, got up this second mash smartly into the copper, taking the necessary precaution of rincing the copper out clean, for the reception of the second wort, which was boiled two hours very hard, with the remainder of the hops; these two worts were run together on the same cooler; after standing a few hours, were run on a second cooler, and there suffered to remain till they came down to 65; were then let into the tun, with two gallons of solid yest, by a large plug hole in a few minutes so as to have scarcely suffered any diminution of their heat; in twelve hours after, there was added two gallons more of yest, roused the tun a second time, came on gradually, and attenuated within 56 hours ten degrees, and so was cleansed at the heat of 75, this beer was filled every two hours, for the first twenty-four, and in a few days more became transparently fine; this beer should have added to it, before sending out, four ounces of steeped hops, and two ounces of ground rice to each barrel; the five pounds of hops wanted for this operation is previously put to steep in a clean tub with some of the beer. This beer, if thus brewed with good materials, and treated as directed, will be found to give satisfaction. During the winter half year, the fermenting tun should be always covered; in summer, only partially so; the less strong beer is attempted to be brewed in that season the better, as it will not keep, necessity alone should compel the brewer to work, in this country, during the summer months; and then at small beer only.

Table Beer, English method of brewing it.

Take 8 bushels of Malt, and 6 lb. of Hops.

This quant.i.ty of materials should deliver four barrels of beer.

First liquor 161; mash the first time one hour.

Second liquor 170; mash the second time half an hour.

Third liquor 152; mash the third time twenty minutes.

Boil the three runnings together for two hours in a close covered copper; three pints of good solid yest will be sufficient to pitch this quant.i.ty, mixing it, before adding, with about one gallon of the wort, then add this to the rest; a low attenuation for this kind of beer will not answer, the specific gravity being too light, the fermentation rarely exceeding 30 hours in the tun. It being generally wanted for immediate use; it is pitched high, and worked quick. It is further important to bung it down close as soon as it has done working. This kind of beer may be securely and advantageously administered to fever patients, instead of other drink: I have known it to be attended with the happiest consequences.

Unboiled beer, how Brewed.

The following process, I confess, I never myself tried, but, from the manner it was spoken of by the party giving it, I would strongly recommend a trial of it on a small scale, at first, until its advantages and superiority was well ascertained over the old and long established mode of boiling wort. Mash your full complement of malt, or rather one third more, and that in the usual way, (suppose you are brewing strong beer,) and while your mash stands, let your copper have as much cold water run into it as will save it from burning; rouse your fire, salt and rub your hops, as recommended in previous processes; let their quant.i.ty be increased one third more than if brewed in the ordinary way; and when got into your copper, cover close, and let these hops simmer for two hours, but not boil; then run down your first wort in sufficient quant.i.ty as, when added to the water and the extract of the hops, will give you the length you contemplate; you will observe the malt is increased to meet the quant.i.ty of water in the copper; but this cannot be considered a loss, as the second mash will answer for single ale, or good table beer; the hops in the same way. When you have got your intended complement of strong wort in your copper, rouse it well, cover close, and let your copper stand two hours more, keeping up a moderate fire just enough to make it simmer but not boil; during this time your second mash may be going on with water from your second copper; this, as already stated, will make single ale, or good table beer; if the latter, it may be boiled in the usual way, but not longer than half an hour, on account of the increased quant.i.ty of hops; which hops should be all retained in the copper after the first worts are run off, by means of a strainer placed at the mouth of the c.o.c.k hole; one hour strong boiling will be sufficient for the succeeding wort, if single ale be wanted; the remainder of the process for both worts is the same as already directed for such quality of drinks. It was further stated to me that unboiled beer will appear very turbid and unpromising for some time after it is brewed, and will take three months at least to come round; but that after that period it will improve rapidly, and become transparently fine; when second worts are found too weak, they may be a.s.sisted with good Muscovado sugar, of which eight pounds is considered equivalent to one bushel of malt. In fact, pleasant beer might be made from sugar alone, without any malt.

Strong Beer, of an excellent quality and flavour, brewed from the extract of the Hop only, rejecting the substance.

This extract was obtained by the hot infusion, in a close covered wooden vessel set to infuse the evening before brewing; in this process one third more hops should be allowed; these hops need not be wasted, as they will answer well for table beer, or single ale, brewed according to the preceding processes; but, in either case, one hour's strong boiling will answer for single ale, half an hour for table beer will be sufficient, on account of the increased quant.i.ty of hops.

When you have got up your first wort in your copper, that you intend to preserve with extract, boil the first half hour without it, and one hour with it, very hard in both instances. It should have been mentioned that, in preparing your first, or mas.h.i.+ng liquor, two pounds of rice is to be added to your water in the copper before boiling, supposing the length of your brewing 20 barrels, or in that proportion.

Strong beer brewed with the extract alone, as here recommended, has turned out remarkably well, and if the hops are good, will be found more delicately flavoured than other beer; supposing the malt alike good. Pitching, cleansing, and filling, to be conducted as already recommended in preceding processes, with the tun close covered during the fermentation.

Table Beer.

Table beer, of a superior quality, may be brewed in the following manner, a process well worth the attention of the brewer, the gentleman and the farmer, whereby the beer is altogether prevented from working out of the cask, and the fermentation conducted without any apparent admission of the external air. I have made the scale for one barrel, in order to make it more generally useful to the community at large; however, the same proportions will answer for a greater or less quant.i.ty, only proportioning the materials and utensils. Take one peck of good malt ground, one pound of hops, put them in twenty gallons of water, and boil them for half an hour, then run them into a hair cloth bag, or sieve, so as to keep back the hops and malt from the wort, which, when cooled down to 65 degrees by Fahrenheit's thermometer, add to them 2 gallons of mola.s.ses, with one pint, or a little less, of good yest, mix these with your wort, and put the whole into a clean barrel, and fill it up with cold water to within four inches of the bung hole, (this s.p.a.ce is requisite to leave room for fermentation,) bung down tight, and if brewed for family use, would recommend putting in the c.o.c.k at the same time, as it will prevent the necessity of disturbing the cask afterwards; in one fortnight this beer might be drawn, and will be found to improve to the last.

Fermenting and Cleansing in the same Vessel.

The following recommendation to brewers is well worth their attention, that is, to ferment their strong, or what they call their stock beer, in the vat they propose to keep it in, until fit to turn out; this practice will be found advantageous to the flavour and preserving quality of such beer, as close fermentation has a decided preference over what is termed open. One or more workers may be placed in the side of such vat, a few inches above the surface of the enclosed liquor; thus the head as it rises will have the opportunity of running off; such fermentation should further be conducted coolly and slowly, the pitching heat, in this case, should not exceed 60 degrees of Fahrenheit, and the yest one third in quant.i.ty less than if applied in open vessels, but the yest should be mixed with a double quant.i.ty of the wort at 65, in a separate vessel before pitching. When vats are wanting, the operation may be conducted in hogsheads or b.u.t.ts, allowing a tin or wooden worker to each cask. In brewing small quant.i.ties of strong beer, this contrivance supersedes the necessity of fermenting tuns, or troughs, no small saving of expense, whilst it makes the beer more spiritous and preserving. The annexed plate shows the form and application of the worker, whether of tin or wood.

Another Method of fermenting Strong Beer that might be expected to produce a pure and excellent liquor.

Mash, run down, and boil in the usual way, suffer your worts, after drawing your fire, to remain on your copper two hours, doors and hatch open. If in winter, the deeper your worts lie on the cooler the better; when they have come down to the proper heat of pitching, give your yest to them on the cooler, mixing it gently with the whole guile, and when properly headed with yest, which will probably happen within twenty-four hours, run off your worts gently into barrels, leaving your top and bottom yest on the cooler undisturbed, till all the cooler is cleared; but previous to running your worts into the barrels, put half a pint of good solid yest into each, and when full, clap your tin workers into the bung holes, and so let it finish its fermentation for about a week longer, filling the casks occasionally as they work. When done working, bung down or vat them; if you wish to add any kind of flavouring substance to this beer, the best time to do it is at commencing the second fermentation, experience teaching that all fermented liquors should have such substances added to them during, or at the commencement of their fermentation, which is preferable to adding these substances in the boil; I mean spices, and delicate flavouring substances.

Process of Brewing Windsor Ale on a small scale.

Windsor ale is a very pale, light, agreeable ale, as fine as wine, and unquestionably the best fermented of any malt liquor sent to the London market.

Length drawn, three barrels per quarter of eight bushels, the malt pale, with two pounds of hops of the first quality; heat of the first liquor 182, two barrels of which is generally allowed to each quarter of malt, for the first mash; one barrel per quarter for the second; the same quant.i.ty for the third is as little liquor as can be dispensed with in three mas.h.i.+ngs; for short liquor and stiff mashes are essential to this quality of ale, in order to leave as little as possible in the copper for evaporation on account of the short boiling. Mash quick, run down quick, get your wort as fine as possible into your underbank; let your first mash stand two hours, your second one hour and three quarters. Give your second mas.h.i.+ng liquor at 190; if you mash a third time, give your liquor at 175; stand half an hour; these worts should be pitched from 52 to 60, but not higher. The mode of doing so is also different from the generality of other malt liquor; your yest should be fresh, smooth, and solid. Begin yesting this ale a few barrels at a time, and when that has caught, add the remainder gradually, in about 48 hours, or from that to 60. This guile of ale will a.s.sume a close head of yest, which should be carefully skimmed off as fast as it forms after the first skimming: by this is not meant the first or worty head formed soon after the yest has taken, but the close yesty head already mentioned, which usually takes the time stated, say from 48 to 60 hours, when no more yest rises, and the guile remains quite flat; you will find the heat you pitched at, say 56, 58, or 60 degrees will by this time have increased to 80, or even more, and the specific gravity of the wort diminished from 26 or 27 pound per barrel, to six or seven pound per barrel; this attenuation will give it all the pungency and spirituosity it stands in need of. At this time your cleansing operation commences; after which it will work but little in the casks. It should be filled regularly every two or three hours, after cleansing, for the first twenty-four. After it has done working, you should immediately start it into an air-tight vat, with about one pound of hops well rubbed to every three barrels of ale in your brewing; if you use spent hops, such as has been boiled on the first mash, you may use a greater quant.i.ty, say half a pound more to each three barrels of beer, taking the precaution that they are become quite cool. This ale, thus treated, will be found gla.s.s fine in the course of a fortnight, and fit to be racked off into hogsheads or barrels. It will improve by age both in flavour and quality. But it should not be boiled more than fifteen minutes.

Reading Beer, how made.

Reading beer is made in a town of that name about thirty miles distant from London; the quality of its beer is much spoken of, the mode of brewing it is stated to be as follows: Scale of Brewing, suppose 22 Barrels.

80 Bushels of Pale Malt.

98 lb. of Hops.

3 lb. of Grains of Paradise, pounded or ground.

5 lb. of Coriander Seed, do.

14 lb. of the best brown Sugar.

Your malt should be some days ground, and if exposed on an open loft, after grinding, so much the better. Boil your first copper, run on your mash tun till you have your complement, then occasionally rouse your water with your mas.h.i.+ng oars, or dashers, till you get it down to 175: put your malt in slowly, for fear of setting; keep mas.h.i.+ng all the time, which should be continued full one hour, stand two hours, run your worts, when you set tap, as fine as you can get them into your underbank; this you will effect by drawing off successively five or six buckets of the first run, and throwing them over your grains in the mash tun; when you perceive they come off gla.s.s fine, lay by your bucket. Give your second mas.h.i.+ng liquor at 178 degrees, mash three quarters of an hour, stand one hour. Give your third liquor at 158, mash half an hour, stand one hour; boil your first copper of worts, which should take the half of your three runs, one hour as hard as you can; your second, two hours in the same way; run the two boilings into one cooler, and pitch at 64, giving one gallon of solid smooth yest; skim off the yest, as in the case of Windsor ale, until the attenuation rises to 80 degrees, which will have advanced it, from the pitching heat of 64, sixteen degrees. Before you commence the operation of cleansing, mix one quarter of a pound of bay salt, with half a peck of malted bean flour, scatter this mixture over the surface of your tun, rouse well, cleanse, and fill in the usual way.

Two-penny Amber Beer, as brewed in London.

This beer is in great demand, and large quant.i.ties of it consumed, and is supposed more profitable to the brewer than any other species of malt liquor, it being generally brewed, drank, and paid for within the fortnight.

process.

200 Bushels of Pale Malt.

112 lb. of Hops.

20 lb. of Liquorice Ball 30 lb. of Mola.s.ses, 4 lb. of Grains of Paradise, ground.

Cleansed 81 Barrels.

Heat of first mas.h.i.+ng liquor 169; mash one hour, stand two hours, run down smartly; specific gravity of this wort 26 pound per barrel; second mash 170, mash half an hour, stand one hour, run down as before; specific gravity of this wort 11 pound and a half per barrel; third mash 160, mash twenty minutes, stand half an hour; gravity six pound per barrel; divide these three runnings into two boilings; boil the first copper for three quarters of an hour, the second one hour, in both cases as hard as possible; the hops and other ingredients should be put in at the first boil, and so retained in the copper by means of a strainer; pitch these worts at 64 degrees, giving two gallons of solid yest at first, with two gallons more in twelve hours after: remained in the tun about 60 hours, or until its attenuation reached 80 degrees; used over the surface of the tun, before cleansing, four pound of ground ginger, half a pound of bay salt, and about half a peck of wheaten flour, mixed all together, and scattered over the surface of the tun; roused well, and cleansed 81 barrels. This quality of beer, when brewed from good materials, and managed as directed, makes a wholesome and a pleasant beverage; but, to do it justice, should have more time allowed it for coming to perfection.

London Ale, how brewed.

Ale is, of all other malt liquor, the most delicate, and will bear less tampering with. It will therefore require your nicest care through every part of the process. Transparency, pungency, and flavour, are qualities that highly recommend this liquor, and should be particularly aimed at by the brewer. Hard water is, by some, supposed to be more favourable for making this kind of ale than soft.

Heat of the air 60 degrees.

200 Bushels of Pale Malt 206 lb. of Hops.

4 lb. of Grains of Paradise, pounded or ground.

4 lb. of Coriander Seed, do.

1 lb. of Orange Powder, do.

Cleansed 65 Barrels of Beer.

First mash 173, mashed one hour, stood one hour, ran down smartly; specific gravity of this wort 32 pounds per barrel; the heat appears more favourable for obtaining the whole sweet of the mash than the preceding one by six pounds per barrel, an object well worth the attention of the brewer; second mash 172, specific gravity of this wort 22 pounds per barrel; mas.h.i.+ng, standing, &c., the same as in the preceding process; boiled the first wort one hour; the second wort two hours, very hard in both instances; pitched the tun at 62 degrees giving two gallons of yest at first, and two gallons twelve hours after.

Remained in the tun about 80 hours, or until it attenuated to 74, or twelve degrees over the heat it was pitched at; used over the surface of the tun, at cleansing, four pound of ground ginger, half a pound of bay salt, with half a peck of wheat flour well mixed, roused the tun well.

You should observe, in working amber beer, to cleanse with the sweets on, but in ale you should work it low in order to get the sweets off. This ale should be carefully filled as it works and closely attended to until done working; then put into each cask, if of a large size, two handfuls of spent hops, that have been previously cooled, and but a short time boiled; then bung down, and it will be fit to send out.

Windsor Ale, brewed on a large Scale.

This ale has experienced so great a demand in London and its vicinity for a few years back, as materially to affect the London pale beer brewery; it is a liquor better calculated for winter than the summer season. The London brewers have been induced to brew on the same principle, and in many instances they exceed the original. Here follows the London process for brewing this kind of beer, which, I apprehend, will be well worth the American brewers' imitation, as good ale is a species of malt liquor rarely met with in this country.

200 Bushels of Pale Malt.

224 lb. of Hops.

40 lb of Honey.

4 lb. of Coriander Seed, ground.

2 lb. of the Grains of Paradise, ground.

65 Barrels Cleansed.

Procure your hops of the best quality, rub them in one or more large tubs, pour cold water on them in sufficient quant.i.ty to wet them all over, and so let them infuse till the next day, which should be the day on which you brew. When your first copper has just boiled, run a sufficient quant.i.ty of water into your mash tun for your first mash; and when this has cooled down to 176 degrees, run in your malt slowly, and mash well for one hour and a quarter; after which, let your mash tun stand two hours, run down smartly and fine; keep your mash tun close covered from the time you have done mas.h.i.+ng till you begin to set tap; give your second mas.h.i.+ng liquor at 186, mash one hour, stand one hour, run down as before; give your third liquor for the last mash at 160, mash one hour, stand one hour run down as before; divide these three worts into two parts, boil your first copper one hour, putting in your ingredients with your hops, save the 40 pounds of honey, which should be reserved to be put into the copper a few minutes before striking off; rouse your copper well at the time of putting in the honey, and continue the same till run off, otherwise, it will pitch to the bottom of the copper, and likely be the cause of burning; your second worts should boil two hours on the same hops and ingredients, which should be retained in the copper by a strainer, pitch your tun at 62 degrees, giving two gallons of good yest at first, and two gallons more in twelve hours after; let your fermenting heat rise to 80 degrees; thus your attenuation will have gained 18 degrees, which will probably cause your guile to remain in the tun from 60 to 80 hours. Use salt and bean meal flour as directed in the preceding process, and in the same proportion, before cleansing; fill, &c., as already directed.

Welsh Ale, how brewed.

This it a luscious and richly flavoured ale, much liked, but very heady.

process.

72 Bushels of Pale Malt.

70 lb. of Hops.

20 lb. of best brown Sugar.