| Malt’s dryness. | Value of hops. | Medium of the whole. | Heat of first mash. | Heat of last mash. |
| 120 | 1 | 138 | 146 | 166 |
The time this liquor is intended to be kept, should entirely be governed by the quantity of hops used therein; for this ale being required to become spontaneously fine, the medium of the whole, or 138 degrees, cannot be exceeded. In and about London, and in some counties in England, these ales, by periodical fermentations, are made to become fine, sooner than naturally they would do, and often, in a shorter time than one week. The means of doing this, by beating the yeast into the drink, as it is termed, has by some been greatly blamed, and thought to be an ill practice. An opinion that the yeast dissolved in the drink, and thereby made it unwholesome, prevailed; and some brewers, erroneously led by this, and yet willing that their commodity should appear of equal strength with such as had undergone repeated fermentations, have been induced to add ingredients to their worts, if not of the most destructive nature, at least very unwholesome. The plain truth is, that, by returning the elastic air in the fermenting ale, the effects of long keeping are greatly imitated, though with less advantage as to flavor and to strength; but as this case relates to fermentation, we shall have hereafter an opportunity of explaining it more at large.
It is under this class, that the famous Burton ale may be ranked, and, if I do not mistake, it will be found, that its qualities and intrinsic value will be the same, when judiciously brewed in London, or elsewhere, from whence it may be exported at much cheaper rates to Russia and other parts, than when it is increased in price by a long and chargeable land-carriage.
When drinks are made so strong as these generally are, only two mashes can take place, by which the whole virtue of the malt not being expended, small beer is made after these ales. The purest and most essential parts of the grain being extracted, it is not to be expected, from an impoverished grist, that beers can be made to possess all their necessary constituent parts, or to keep so long, as where fresh malt is used; but the sort of small beer, which answers best to the brewer, and is most salubrious for the consumer, must be, by the addition of fresh hops, to form the remaining strength into keeping small beer, the greater quantity of hops necessary to be allowed, beside those boiled in the ale, is 2¼ pounds for every barrel intended to be made. As much more water must be employed, for this small beer, besides its length, as will steam away in two hours boiling, and 1/8 of a barrel per quarter of malt, for waste. The heat regulating the extract of small, will be found by the following rule.
| 138 | Medium heat intended for keeping small beer. |
| 2 | Value of hops. |
| —— | |
| 136 | Mean of malt’s dryness and heat of extract. |
| —— | |
| 120 | Malt’s dryness. |
| 152 | [18]Heat of the mash for keeping small after amber, one mash, and one wort. |
| —— | |
| 272 | |
| —— | |
| 136 | As above. |
All the hops after these two brewings, as those added for the keeping small beer have been boiled but in one wort, are in value, for the next guile of beer, equal to 1/10 of fresh hops.
We should now put an end to this section, but, as other drinks are brewed besides those here particularly treated of, we shall just mention them, to shew how their different processes are reducible to the rules just laid down.
Brown ale is a liquor, whose length is generally two barrels from one quarter of malt, and which is not intended for preservation. It is heavy, thick, foggy, and therefore justly grown in disuse. The hops used in this, differ in proportion to the heats of the season it is brewed in, but are generally nearly half the quantity of what is employed, at the same times, for common small beer. The system it ought to be brewed upon is not different from that of this last liquor; the medium of the malt’s dryness, and heat of the extracts, are the same for each degree of heat in the air, and it requires the same management when under fermentation. But though common pale small beer and brown ale are so much alike in their theory, yet, from the difference of the dryness of the malt, which, for brown ale, is constantly so high as 130 degrees, the practice will appear greatly different. Small beer is made after this ale, by the same rules as that made after pale ale or amber; the malt must, in that case, be valued according to its original dryness, and the medium governing the process be the same as for small beer, and as if no extract had been taken from the grain. No small beer brewed after ales can ever be equal in goodness to such as are brewed from entire grists; but that which is made after brown ale, from the grain being so highly dried, and nearly exhausted, is neither nourishing or fit to quench thirst.
Brown stout is brewed with brown malt, as amber is with pale; the system for brewing these liquors is the same, allowing for the difference in the dryness of the malt. The overstrength of this drink has been the reason of its being discontinued, especially since porter or brown beer has been brought to a greater perfection.—That which is brewed with an intent of being long kept, should be hopped in proportion to the time proposed, or the climate it is to be conveyed to.