The grist, if possible, is at no time to be left with less water than what will cover the malt, to put all its parts in action. In the first mashes for strong beer, an allowance is to be made for nearly as much water as the grist will imbibe; and, lastly, the whole quantity of water used in brewing should be divided, in a proportion analogous to that of the degrees of heat.

Processes for brewing are carried on either with one copper or with two. Though the first of these methods is almost out of use, it may be necessary to give an example or two of the division of the water used in this case, the doing which will point out the absurdity of this practice.

In brewing with one copper, scarcely more than three mashes can be made; otherwise the time taken up in boiling the worts, and preparing the subsequent waters for extraction, would be so long, as to cause the grist to lose great part of its heat, and, in warm weather, perhaps, to become sour. The whole water required might naturally be divided into three equal parts, was it not for the quantity at first imbibed by the grist; but as, in this way of brewing, the best management is to make the first wort of one mash, and the second wort of the other two, it will be found necessary to allow, for the first extracting water, four parts out of seven of the whole quantity required, and to divide the remainder equally for the other two mashes. Thus, if the whole quantity of water required was fifty-one barrels, the lengths of the extracting waters would be as follow:

1 Liquor2 Liquor3 Liquor
291111 Barrels.
1 Wort.╰━━━━━━━━⌄━━━━━━━━╯
2 Wort.

The water imbibed and retained by the malt is allowed for in this computation, which will be found just to every purpose, for small beer brewed in one copper only.

But in strong beers and ales, with three mashes, whether brewed at one, two, or three worts, the case will be somewhat different, as care should always be taken to reserve for every mash a sufficient quantity of water to apply to the grist. For this reason, no greater proportion ought to be used in the first mash than that of three parts out of seven, as the volume of the malt is in a greater proportion to the quantity of water than in the preceding case. If, therefore, the whole quantity of water used was thirty-five barrels, the length of the liquors would be:

1 Liquor2 Liquor3 Liquor
151010 Barrels.

Employing only one copper, must from hence appear, and is allowed to be, bad management; for, in some part or other of the process, however well contrived, the business must stand still, and consequently the extracts be injured, by the air continually affecting them. The best and most usual practice, and that which here will be set in example, is to brew with two coppers. Other rules consequently are necessary to be observed, and I shall be more particular in the explanation of them.

To preserve order, and to convey our ideas in the clearest manner, we shall make use of the four modes of brewing we mentioned, in the fourth section.

The first of these, which implies keeping pale strong and keeping pale small beers to become spontaneously fine, are best brewed with two worts and four mashes, to allow for what is imbibed by the grist, and what is steamed away during the first part of the process, four sevenths of the whole of the water employed, and consequently a like proportion of the number of the degrees which constitute the difference between the first and last heats of the whole brewing, are required for the first wort, and the remainder to the last or second. The proportion as to the water is permanent, but having now only a division of heat in a progressive state, for the temperature to be given to the extracts, to put in practice the principles laid down in pages 64, 65; the first wort, however, composed of several mashes, must be of one uniform heat, though less than that of the second, whose extracts, though more powerful, must, notwithstanding, be of equal heat among themselves.