In modern language, is termed essentia bina. This is made from brown sugar, and is now generally substituted by the London brewers for porter malt, as more economical, and full as well calculated to answer all the purposes of flavour and colouring. Muscovado, or raw sugar, with lime water, are the usual ingredients of this colouring matter. Another kind, of inferior quality, is prepared from molasses, boiled until it is considerably darker, bitter, and of a thicker consistence; and when judiciously made, at the close of the boiling, it is set on fire and suffered to burn five or six minutes, then it is extinguished, and cautiously diluted with water to the original consistence of treacle. The burning or setting on fire gives it the greater part of its flavour, which is an agreeable bitterness, and burns out the unassimilating oil. Muscovado, or raw sugar, when treated in a similar manner, and diluted to the same consistence before it sets, obtains a bitterness that more nearly strikes the porter flavour on the palate; it is of a deep dark colour, between black and red. To prepare it to advantage, take three pounds, or three hundred weight of Muscovado sugar, for every two pounds, or two hundred pounds, of essentia bina intended to be made, put it into an iron boiler set in brick work, so that the flue for conveying the smoke of the fire into the chimney, rises but about two thirds of the height of the boiler in its passage to the chimney. The boiler should have a socket or pivot in the centre of its bottom to receive the spindle of wrought iron, with a crank in it, above the brim of the boiler, the upper end of which turns on a corresponding pivot in an iron bar fixed across several feet above the boiler, with a transverse iron arm to reach from the crank for some feet over the boiler for a man to stand, and turn it with its scraper of iron also, which works on the bottom of the boiler to keep the sugar from burning on the bottom before the upper part melts; this arm may be placed in a wooden handle at the end, and held by the man, lest it become too hot for his hand. Put one gallon of pure water into the boiler with every hundred weight of sugar to be employed, that is, one pint to every fourteen pounds weight of sugar, then add the sugar, light the fire, and keep it stirring until it boils, regulating the fire so as not to suffer it to boil over; as it begins to lessen in quantity, dip the end of the poker into it, to see if it candies as it cools, and grows proportionably bitter to its consistence; mark the height of the sugar in the boiler when it is all melted, to assist in judging of its decrease; when the specimen taken out candies, or sets hard pretty quickly, put out the fire under the boiler, and set the vapour or smoke arising from the boiler on fire, which will communicate to the boiling sugar, and let it burn for ten or twelve minutes, then extinguish it with a cover ready provided for the purpose, and faced with sheet iron, to be let down on the mouth of the boiler with a chain or rope, so as exactly to close the boiler.
As soon as it is extinguished, cautiously add strong lime water by a little at a time, working the iron stirrer well all the time the water is adding, so as to mix and dilute it all alike to the consistence of treacle; before it sets in the boiler, which it would do, as the heat declined, in a manner that would give a great deal of trouble to dilute it after, and be imperfectly done then, it is easy to conceive this kind of work requires to be done in an open place, or out-house, to prevent accidents from fire. If the essentia bina is neither burned too little nor too much, it is a rich, high-flavoured, grateful bitter, that preserves and gives an inimitable flavour and good face to porter; to be added in proportion as the nature and composition of the grist is varied with a greater or less proportion of pale malt. To convert old hock into brown stout, it will take three pounds of essentia bina of middling or ordinary kind, and but two pounds of the best made from Muscovado raw sugar as directed, it should weigh ten pounds to the gallon. The essentia bina should be mixed with some finings, and roused into the tun soon after the yesty head gathers pretty strong, in order to undergo the decomposing power of fermentation, part of it being prone to float on the surface of the beer under the form of a flying lee. When employed in the usual way of colour, with this precaution, the colouring and preserving parts unite with the beer, and the gross charry parts precipitate with the lees, and other feculencies in the tun, previous to cleansing, adding a firm and keeping quality to the beer. Lime water for diluting the burnt sugar, in the proportion of essentia bina: thirty pounds of lime will make one puncheon, or one hundred and twenty gallons of lime water: put fresh lime from the kiln, previously slaked into coarse powder, into an airtight cask, gradually add the water, stirring up the lime to expose a fresh surface to the solvent powers of the water, which will rarely dissolve more than one ounce troy weight in the gallon, or retain so much when kept ever so closely excluded from the external air. If Roche lime was first grossly pounded, and slaked in the cask, the lime water might be made still stronger; the reason for directing the water to be slowly and cautiously added at the first, is for the more conveniently mixing the lime with the water, which otherwise would not be properly wet. Do not fill the vessel within a few gallons of the bung-hole, that it may be rolled over and over with effect, fifteen or twenty different times before left to settle, in order to have the water fully saturated with the lime; when settled it should be perfectly clear. It is important, as well at necessary to state, that when the lime water is about to be added to the essentia bina in the kettle, it should be hot, otherwise there would be danger of cracking the cast iron, of which the kettle is composed, as well as causing a partial explosion and waste of the sugar when coming in contact with the cold medium of the lime water; this precaution should be carefully attended to.
Process for brewing strong beer, alleged to be the practice in Switzerland, by which it is asserted that an excellent and preserving beer will be produced. I would recommend a small experiment to be made at first, in order to establish its character and success on a more extended scale. At a first view, there appears to be one serious objection to this process, and that is, that it requires but a small quantity of oily or fatty matter to destroy the fermentation of any guile of beer. In answer, it may perhaps be truly said, that the precaution of skimming off the fatty matter, as it rises on the surface of this beer while in the copper, as well as the time allowed it there to settle, also, its straining through the hops before getting on the cooler, gives another chance to deposite this matter in the hops, if any should remain in the copper after the skimming off.
process as follows:
- 60 Bushels of Pale Barley Malt.
- 20 Bushels of Pale Wheat Malt.
- 80 Bushels.
- 170 lb. of the best Hops, to be rubbed, salted, and steeped in one or more close vessels before mashing, or the evening before brewing, still better.
- 54 lb. of lean Beef to be put into the copper with the worts, this will average two pounds to the barrel.
- 7 lb. of Rice, also, to be put in with the Beef.
- 1 lb. of ground Mustard to be put in with the Hops.
- Cleansed 27 Barrels.
These worts are to be boiled one hour without the hops, in order to afford the greater facility of skimming the fat off the surface. After they have boiled the first half hour, the fire is damped, the boil left to subside, and the copper to be then carefully skimmed. (This points out the necessity of an open copper for this operation.) After which, the fire is started again, and the worts made to boil another half hour, and skimmed a second time in the same way; after which the hops and mustard are added with three gallons of the essentia bina, and then boiled for one hour and a half, as hard as the copper will allow without boiling over or wasting; the fire is then drawn, ash-pit and copper doors left open, the copper covered, and suffered to stand two hours, then struck off on the hop back. The temperature of the external air at the time you brew this quality of beer should not be higher than fifty degrees. Your first, or mashing liquor, should boil, then run your whole complement into your mash tun, which when cooled down to one hundred and sixty-five, begin putting in your malt, one sack at a time, and mash for one hour and a quarter, stand one hour, run down as fine as you can, yet smartly; second mash one hundred and eighty-five, need not boil, but when brought to that heat in your copper, begin mashing, and mash well for three quarters of an hour, stand two hours; boil, skim, and hop, as already directed. It is to be understood that the produce of these two mashes are to be boiled together, forming a clear length, when cleansed, of twenty-seven barrels; pitch your worts at sixty, previously mixing in a tub, fifteen gallons of your wort at seventy, with one gallon of solid yest, some time before pitching, which will give it time to catch before adding to the remainder of the wort. Twelve hours after another gallon of pure yest is to be added, and the tun well roused, then covered; the attenuation suffered to proceed to eighty degrees, but not higher. This mode of pitching worts might be successfully applied to other qualities of beer and ale, and will be found a safe and good process.