A TABLE of the elements for forming common small beer, at every degree of heat in the air, with the allowance of two degrees of heat, in the first and last extractions.
| Heat of air. | Malt’s dryness. | Value of hops. | Medium heat of the processes. | First heat. | Last heat. |
| 35 | 122 | 1 | 135 | 138 | 158 |
| 40 | 124 | 1 | 137 | 140 | 160 |
| 45 | 125 | 1 | 140 | 145 | 165 |
| 50 | 127 | 1 | 143 | 149 | 169 |
| 55 | 129 | 1½ | 146 | 152 | 172 |
| 60 | 130 | 2 | 148 | 154 | 174 |
From due observation of this table, it appears, how necessary it is for brewers to be acquainted, not only with the daily temperature of the air, but also with the medium heat of such spaces of time, wherein a drink like this is expected to preserve itself. This I have estimated for every 14 days; (page 150) but as the event may not always exactly correspond with our expectations, an absolute perfection in this drink, as to its transparency and soundness, is not to be expected. It greatly depends on the care and attention given to it, and on the temperature and quiescent state of the cellars it is placed in. The first of these circumstances is often neglected, and the other hardly ever obtained, as the places, where common small beer is kept, are generally the worst of the kind.
In keeping beers, every circumstance is assistant to form them so as to obtain elegance in taste, strength, and pellucidity, either spontaneously or by precipitation, but in common small beer; from the shortness of its duration; and from the many complicated incidents that occur; only the medium of the effect of these can be attended to; which governing medium, in general, differs so much from those which form more exact fermentable proportions, that in these extracts, there cannot be expected that near resemblance to natural wines, which, under more favorable management, it is capable of.
The fourth mode of extraction is that, which, by conveying a heat, equal to what is practised for keeping pale strong, and keeping pale small beers, to the liquors commonly known by the names of pale ale, amber, or twopenny, the softest and richest taste malt can possibly yield, and which makes them resemble wines formed from grapes ripened by the hottest sun, though by artfully exciting periodical fermentations, they are, in a very short time, made to become transparent.
As wines have, in general, been named from the town or city, in the neighbourhood of which the grapes, from which they are made, are found growing, this has, though with less reason, been the case, with our numerous class of soft beers and ales. These topical denominations can indeed constitute no real, at least no considerable difference, since the birth-place of any drink is the least of all distinctions, where the method of practice, the materials employed, and the heat of the climate, are nearly the same.
Ales are not required to keep a long time; so the hops bestowed on them, though they should always be of the finest color, and best quality, are proportionably fewer in the winter than in the summer. The reason is, that the consumption made of this liquor in cold weather, is generally for purl[17], whereas, in summer, as it is longer on draught, it requires a more preservative quality.
The properties of this liquor are, that it should be pale; its strength and taste principally depend on the malt, and its transparency should be the effect of fermentation, accelerated by every means, which will not be hurtful to it. Malt capable of yielding the strongest extracts, is such whose dryness does not exceed 120 degrees; and 138 we have seen to be the highest mean of the extracts, and of the dryness of the malt to admit of pellucidity, without precipitation; the hops used, being only so many as are necessary to resist the heat of the seasons the ale is brewed in, may in general be estimated in value, one degree; from these premises, the elements for brewing this drink, will be found by the same rules as before, where 10 degrees are supposed to be equal to the whole of the constituent parts, and the whole of these are employed to accelerate its coming to perfection.
The elements for brewing pale ale or amber, with the allowance of 2 degrees for the heats lost in the extracts.