The London and Country Brewer

A >> Anonymous >> The London and Country Brewer

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I am very sensible that the Vulgar Error for many Years, has been a
standard Sign to the ignorant of boiling strong Worts only till they break
or curdle in the Copper, which sometimes will be in three quarters of an
Hour, or in an Hour or more, according to the nature of the Malt and
Water; but from these in some measure I dissent, and also from those that
boil it two or three Hours, for it is certain the longer worts boil, the
thicker they are made, because the watry or thin parts evaporate first
away, and the thicker any Drink is boiled, the longer it requires to lye
in the Barrel to have its Particles broke, which Age must be then the sole
cause of, and therefore I have fixed the time and sign to know when the
wort is truly enough, and that in such, a manner that an ordinary Capacity
may be a true judge of, which hereafter will prevent prodigious Losses in
the waste of strong worts that have often been boiled away to greater Loss
than Profit.

I have here also made known, I think, the true Method of managing the Hop
in the Copper, which has long wanted adjusting, to prevent the great
damage that longer boilings of them has been the sole occasion of to the
spoiling of most of our malt Drinks brewed in this Nation.

CHAP. X.

_The Nature and Use of the Hop_.

This Vegetable has suffered its degradation, and raised its Reputation on
the most of any other. It formerly being thought an unwholsome Ingredient,
and till of late a great breeder of the Stone in the Bladder, but now that
falacious Notion is obviated by Dr_.Quincy_ and others, who have proved
that Malt Drink much tinctured by the Hop, is less prone to do that
mischief, than Ale that has fewer boiled in it. Indeed when the Hop in a
dear time is adulterated with water, in which Aloes, etc. have been
infused, as was practised it is said about eight Years ago to make the old
ones recover their bitterness and seem new, then they are to be looked on
as unwholsome; but the pure new Hop is surely of a healthful Nature,
composed of a spirituous flowery part, and a phlegmatick terrene part, and
with the best of the Hops I can either make or mar the Brewing, for if the
Hops are boiled in strong or small worts beyond their fine and pure
Nature, the Liquor suffers, and will be tang'd with a noxious taste both
ungrateful and unwholsome to the Stomach, and if boiled to a very great
Excess, they will be apt to cause Reachings and disturb a weak
Constitution. It is for these Reasons that I advise the boiling two
Parcels of fresh Hops in each Copper of Ale-wort, and if there were three
for keeping Beer, it would be so much the better for the taste, health of
Body and longer Preservation of the Beer in a sound smooth Condition. And
according to this, one of my Neighbours made a Bag like a Pillow-bear of
the ordinary sixpenny yard Cloth, and boil'd his Hops in it half an Hour,
then he took them out, and put in another Bag of the like quantity of
fresh Hops and boiled them half an Hour more, by which means he had an
opportunity of boiling both Wort and Hops their due time, sav'd himself
the trouble of draining them thro' a Sieve, and secured the Seeds of the
Hops at the same time from mixing with the Drink, afterwards he boiled the
same Bags in his small Beer till he got the goodness of it out, but
observe that the Bags were made bigger than what would just contain the
Hops, otherwise it will be difficult to boil out their goodness. It's
true, that here is a Charge encreased by the Consumption of a greater
quantity of Hops than usual, but then how greatly will they answer the
desired end of enjoying fine palated wholsome Drink, that in a cheap time
will not amount to much if bought at the best Hand; and if we consider
their after-use and benefit in small Beer, there is not any loss at all in
their Quantity: But where it can be afforded, the very small Beer would be
much improved if fresh Hops were also shifted in the boiling of this as
well as the stronger worts, and then it would be neighbourly Charity to
give them away to the poorer Person. Hence may appear the Hardship that
many are under of being necessitated to drink of those Brewers Malt
Liquors, who out of avarice boil their Hops to the last, that they may not
lose any of their quintessence: Nay, I have known some of the little
Victualling Brewers so stupendiously ignorant, that they have thought they
acted the good Husband, when they have squeezed the Hops after they have
been boiled to the last in small Beer, to get out all their goodness as
they vainly imagin'd, which is so reverse to good management, that in my
Opinion they had much better put some sort of Earth into the Drink, and it
would prove more pleasant and wholsome. And why the small Beer should be
in this manner (as I may justly call it) spoiled for want of the trifling
Charge of a few fresh Hops, I am a little surprized at, since is the most
general Liquor of Families and therefore as great Care is due to as any in
its Brewing, to enjoy it in pure and wholsome Order.

After the Wort is cooled and put into the working Vat or Tub, some have
thrown fresh Hops into it, and worked them with the Yeast, at the same
time reserving a few Gallons of raw Wort to wash the Yeast thro' a Sieve
to keep back the Hop. This is a good way when Hops enough have not been
sufficiently boiled in the Wort, or to preserve it in the Coolers where it
is laid thick, otherwise I think it needless.

When Hops have been dear, many have used the Seeds of Wormwood, the they
buy in the London Seed Shops instead of them: Others _Daucus_ or wild
Carrot Seed, that grows in our common Fields, which many of the poor
People in this Country gather and dry in their Houses against their
wanting of them: Others that wholsome Herb _Horehound_, which indeed is a
fine Bitter and grows on several of our Commons.

But before I conclude this Article, I shall take notice of a Country Bite,
as I have already done of a _London_ one, and that is, of an Arch Fellow
that went about to Brew for People, and took his opportunity to save all
the used Hops that were to be thrown away, these he washed clean, then
would dry them in the Sun, or by the Fire, and sprinkle the juice of
_Horehound_ on them, which would give them such a greenish colour and
bitterish taste, that with the help of the Screw-press he would sell them
for new Hops.

Hops in themselves are known to be a subtil grateful Bitter, whose
Particles are Active and Rigid, by which the viscid ramous parts of the
Malt are much divided, that makes the Drink easy of Digestion in the Body;
they also keep it from running into such Cohesions as would make it ropy,
valid and sour, and therefore are not only of great use in boiled, but
in raw worts to preserve them sound till they can be put into the Copper,
and afterwards in the Tun while the Drink is working, as I have before
hinted.

Here then I must observe, that the worser earthy part of the Hop is
greatly the cause of that rough, harsh unpleasant taste, which accompany
both Ales and Beers that have the Hops so long boiled in them as to
tincture their worts with their, mischievous Effects; for notwithstanding
the Malt, be ever so good, the Hops, if boiled too long in them, will be
so predominant as to cause a nasty bad taste, and therefore I am in hopes
our Malt Liquors in general will be in great Perfection, when Hops are
made use of according to my Directions, and also that more Grounds will be
planted with this most serviceable Vegetable than ever, that their
Dearness may not be a disencouragement to this excellent Practice.

For I know an Alehouse-keeper and Brewer, who, to save the expence of Hops
that were then two Shillings _per_ Pound, use but a quartern instead of a
Pound, the rest he supplied with _Daucus_ Seeds; but to be more
particular, in a Mug of this Person's Ale I discovered three several
Impositions. _First_, He underboil'd his Wort to save its Consumption:
_Secondly_, He boiled this Seed instead of the Hop; and _Thirdly_, He beat
the Yeast in for some time to encrease the strength of the Drink; and all
these in such a _Legerdemain_ manner as gull'd and infatuated the ignorant
Drinker to such a degree as not to suspect the Fraud, and that for these
three Reasons: _First_, The underboil'd wort being of a more sweet taste
than ordinary, was esteemed the Produce of a great allowance of Malt.
_Secondly_, The _Daucus_ Seed encreased their approbation by the fine
Peach flavour or relish that it gives the Drink; and _Thirdly_, The Yeast
was not so much as thought of, since they enjoyed a strong heady Liquor.
These artificial Qualities, and I think I may say unnatural, has been so
prevalent with the Vulgar, who were his chief Customers, that I have known
this Victualler have more Trade for such Drink than his Neighours, who had
much more wholsome at the same time; for the _Daucus_ Seed tho' it is a
Carminative, and has some other good Properties, yet in the unboil'd Wort
it is not capable of doing the Office of the Hop, in breaking thro' the
clammy parts of it; the Hop being full of subtil penetrating Qualities, a
Strengthener of the Stomach, and makes the Drink agreeble, by opposing
Obstructions of the _Viscera_, and particularly of the Liver and Kidneys,
as the Learned maintain, which confutes the old Notion, that Hops are a
Breeder of the Stone in the Bladder.

CHAP. XI.

_Of Boiling Malt Liquors_.

Altho' I have said an Hour and a half is requisite for boiling _October_
Beer, and an Hour for Ales and small Beer; yet it is to be observed, that
an exact time is not altogether a certain Rule in this Case with some
Brewers; for when loose Hops are boiled in the wort so long till they all
sink, their Seeds will arise and fall down again; the wort also will be
curdled, and broke into small Particles if examin'd in a Hand-bowl, but
afterwards into larger, as big as great Pins heads, and will appear clean
and fine at the Top. This is so much a Rule with some, that they regard
not Time but this Sign to shew when the Wort is boiled enough; and this
will happen sooner or later according to the Nature of the Barley and its
being well Malted; for if it comes off Chalks or Gravels, it generally has
the good Property of breaking or curdling soon; but if of tough Clays,
then it is longer, which by some Persons is not a little valued, because
it saves time in boiling, and consequently the Consumption of the Wort.

It is also to be observed, that pale Malt Worts will not break so soon in
the Copper, as the brown Sorts, but when either of their Worts boil, it
should be to the purpose, for then they will break sooner and waste less
than if they are kept Simmering, and will likewise work more kindly in the
Tun, drink smoother, and keep longer.

Now all Malt Worts may be spoiled by too little or too much boiling; if
too little, then the Drink will always taste raw, mawkish, and be
unwholsome in the Stomach, where, instead of helping to dilute and digest
our Food, it will cause Obstructions, Colicks, Head-achs, and other
misfortunes; besides, all such underboil'd Drinks are certainly exposed to
staleness and sowerness, much sooner than those that have had their full
time in the Copper. And if they are boiled too long, they will then
thicken (for one may boil a Wort to a Salve) and not come out of the
Copper fine and in a right Condition, which will cause it never to be
right clear in the Barrel; an _Item_ sufficient to shew the mistake of all
those that think to excel in Malt Liquors, by boiling them two or three
Hours, to the great Confusion of the Wort, and doing more harm than good
to the Drink.

But to be more particular in those two Extreams, it is my Opinion, as I
have said before, that no Ale Worts boiled less than an Hour can be good,
because in an Hour's time they cannot acquire a thickness of Body any ways
detrimental to them, and in less than an Hour the ramous viscid parts of
the Ale cannot be sufficiently broke and divided, so as to prevent it
running into Cohesions, Ropyness and Sowerness, because in Ales there are
not Hops enough allowed to do this, which good boiling must in a great
measure supply, or else such Drink I am sure can never be agreeable to the
Body of Man; for then its cohesive Parts being not thoroughly broke and
comminuted by time and boiling, remains in a hard texture of Parts, which
consequently obliges the Stomach to work more than ordinary to digest and
secrete such parboiled Liquor, that time and fire should have cured
before: Is not this apparent in half boil'd Meats, or under-bak'd Bread,
that often causes the Stomach a great fatigue to digest, especially in
those of a sedentary Life; and if that suffers, 'tis certain the whole
Body must share in it: How ignorant then are those People, who, in tipling
of such Liquor, can praise it for excellent good Ale, as I have been an
eye-witness of, and only because its taste is sweetish, (which is the
nature of such raw Drinks) as believing it to be the pure Effects of the
genuine Malt, not perceiving the Landlord's Avarice and Cunning to save
the Consumption of his Wort by shortness of boiling, tho' to the great
Prejudice of the Drinker's Health; and because a Liquid does not afford
such a plain ocular Demonstration, as Meat and Bread does, these deluded
People are taken into an Approbation of indeed an _Ignis fatuus_, or what
is not.

To come then to the _Crisis_ of the Matter, both Time and the Curdling or
Breaking of the Wort should be consulted; for if a Person was to boil the
Wort an Hour, and then take it out of the Copper, before it was rightly
broke, it would be wrong management, and the Drink would not be fine nor
wholsome; and if it should boil an Hour and a half, or two Hours, without
regarding when its Particles are in a right order, then it may be too
thick, so that due Care must be had to the two extreams to obtain it its
due order; therefore in _October_ and keeping Beers, an Hour and a
quarter's good boiling is commonly sufficient to have a thorough cured
Drink, for generally in that time it will break and boil enough, and
because in this there is a double Security by length of boiling, and a
quantity of Hops shifted; but in the new way there is only a single one,
and that is by a double or treble allowance of fresh Hops boiled only half
an Hour in the Wort, and for this Practice a Reason is assigned, that the
Hops being endowed with discutient apertive Qualities, will by them and
their great quantity supply the Defect of underboiling the Wort; and that
a further Conveniency is here enjoyed by having only the fine wholsome
strong flowery spirituous Parts of the Hop in the Drink, exclusive of the
phlegmatick nasty earthy Parts which would be extracted if the Hops were
to be boiled above half an Hour; and therefore there are many now, that
are so attach'd to this new Method, that they won't brew Ale or _October_
Beer any other way, vouching it to be a true Tenet, that if Hops are
boiled above thirty Minutes, the wort will have some or more of their
worser Quality. The allowance of Hops for Ale or Beer, cannot be exactly
adjusted without coming to Particulars, because the Proportion should be
according to the nature and quality of the Malt, the Season of the Year it
is brew'd in, and the length of time it is to be kept.

For strong brown Ale brew'd in any of the Winter Months, and boiled an
Hour, one Pound is but barely sufficient for a Hogshead, if it be Tapp'd
in three Weeks or a Month.

If for pale Ale brewed at that time and for that Age, one Pound and a
quarter of Hops; but if these Ales are brewed in any of the Summer Months,
there should be more Hops allowed.

For _October_ or _March_ brown Beer, a Hogshead made from Eleven Bushels
of Malt, boiled an Hour and a quarter to be kept Nine Months, three Pounds
and a half ought to be boiled in such Drink at the least.

For _October_ or _March_, pale Beer made from fourteen Bushels, boiled an
Hour and a quarter, and kept Twelve Months, six Pound ought to be allowed
to a Hogshead of such Drink, and more if the Hops are shifted in two Bags,
and less time given the Wort to boil.

Now those that are of Opinion, that their Beer and Ales are greatly
improved by boiling the Hops only half an Hour in the Wort, I joyn in
Sentiment with them, as being very sure by repeated Experience it is so;
but I must here take leave to dissent from those that think that half an
Hour's boiling the Wort is full enough for making right sound and well
relished Malt Drinks; however of this I have amply and more particularly
wrote in my Second Book of Brewing in Chapter IV, where I have plainly
publish'd the true Sign or Criterion to know when the Wort is boiled just
enough, and which I intend to publish in a little time.

CHAP. XII.

_Of Foxing or Tainting Malt Liquors_.

Foxing is a misfortune, or rather a Disease in Malt Drinks, occasioned by
divers Means, as the Nastiness of the Utensils, putting the Worts too
thick together in the Backs or Cooler, Brewing too often and soon one
after another, and sometimes by bad Malts and Waters, and the Liquors
taken in wrong Heats, being of such pernicious Consequence to the great
Brewer in particular, that he sometimes cannot recover and bring his
Matters into a right Order again under a Week or two, and is so hateful to
him in its very Name, that it is a general Law among them to make all
Servants that Name the word _Fox_ or _Foxing_, in the Brewhouse to pay
Sixpence, which obliges them to call it _Reynards_; for when once the
Drink is Tainted, it may be smelt at some Distance somewhat like a _Fox_;
It chiefly happens in hot weather, and causes the Beer and Ale so Tainted
to acquire a fulsome sickish taste, that will if it is receive'd in a
great degree become Ropy like Treacle, and in some short time turn Sour.
This I have known so to surprize my small Beer Customers, that they have
asked the Drayman what was the matter: He to act in his Master's Interest
tells them a Lye, and says it is the goodness of the Malt that causes that
sweetish mawkish taste, and then would brag at Home how cleverly he came
off. I have had it also in the Country more than once, and that by the
idleness and ignorance of my Servant, who when a Tub has been rinced out
only with fair Water, has set it by for a clean one but this won't do with
a careful Master for I oblige him to clean the Tub with a Hand-brush,
Ashes, or Sand every Brewing, and so that I cannot scrape any Dirt up
under my Nail. However as the Cure of this Disease has baffled the Efforts
of many, I have been tempted to endeavour the finding out a Remedy for the
great Malignity, and shall deliver the best I know on this Score.

And here I shall mention the great Value of the Hop in preventing and
curing the Fox in Malt Liquors. When the Wort is run into the Tub out of
the mashing Vat, it is a very good way to throw some Hops directly into it
before it is put into the Copper, and they will secure it against Sourness
and Ropyness, that are the two Effects of fox'd Worts or Drinks, and is of
such Power in this respect, that raw Worts may be kept some time, even, in
hot weather, before they are boiled, and which is necessary; where there
is a large Quantity of Malt used to a little Copper; but it is certain
that the stronger Worts will keep longer with Hops than the smaller Sorts:
So likewise if a Person has fewer Tubs than is wanting, and he is
apprehensive his Worts will be Fox'd by too thick lying in the Coolers or
working Tubs, then it will be a safe way to put some fresh Hops into such
Tubs and work them with the Yeast as I have before hinted; or in case the
Drink is already Foxed in the Fat or Tun, new Hops should be put in and
work'd with it, and they will greatly fetch it again into a right Order;
but then such Drink should be carefully taken clear off from its gross
nasty Lee, which being mostly Tainted, would otherwise lye in the Barrel,
corrupt and make it worse.

Some will sift quick Lime into foxed Drinks while they are working in the
Tun or Vat, that its Fire and Salts may break the Cohesions of the Beer or
Ale, and burn away the stench, that the Corruption would always cause; but
then such Drink should by a Peg at the bottom of the Vat be drawn off as
fine as possible, and the Dregs left behind.

There are many that do not conceive how their Drinks become Fox'd and
Tainted for several Brewings together; but I have in Chapter VI, in my
Second Book, made it appear, that the Taint is chiefly retain'd and lodged
in the upright wooden Pins that fasten the Planks to the Joists, and how
scalding Lye is a very efficacious Liquor to extirpate it out of the
Utensils in a little time if rightly applied; and one other most powerful
Ingredient that is now used by the greatest Artists for curing of the
same.

CHAP. XIII

_Of fermenting and working of Beers and Ales, and the pernicious Practice
of Beating in the Yeast detected_.

This Subject in my Opinion has, long wanted a Satyrical Pen to shew the
ill Effects of this unwholsome Method, which I suppose has been much
discouraged and hindered hitherto, from the general use it has been under
many Years, especially by the _Northern_ Brewers, who tho' much famed for
their Knowledge in this Art, and have induced many others by their Example
in the _Southern_ and other Parts to pursue their Method; yet I shall
endeavour to prove them culpable of Male-practice, that beat in the Yeast,
as some of them have done a Week together; and that Custom ought not to
Authorize an ill Practice. _First_, I shall observe that Yeast is a very
strong acid, that abounds with subtil spirituous Qualities, whose
Particles being wrapped up in those that are viscid, are by a mixture with
them in the Wort, brought into an intestine Motion, occasion'd by
Particles of different Gravities; for as the spirituous Parts of the Wort
will be continually striving to get up to the Surface, the glutinous
adhesive ones of the Yeast will be as constant in retarding their assent,
and so prevent their Escape; by which the spirituous Particles are set
loose and free from their viscid Confinements, as may appear by the Froth
on the Top, and to this end a moderate warmth hastens the Operation, as it
assists in opening the viscidities in which some spirituous Parts may be
entangled, and unbends the Spring of the included Air: The viscid Parts
which are raised to the Top, not only on account of their own lightness,
but by the continual efforts and occursions of the Spirits to get
uppermost, shew when the ferment is at the highest, and prevent the finer
Spirits making their escape; but if this intestine Operation is permitted
to continue too long, a great deal will get away, and the remaining grow
flat and vapid, as Dr. _Quincy_ well observes. Now tho' a small quantity
of Yeast is necessary to break the Band of Corruption in the Wort, yet it
is in itself of a poisonous Nature, as many other Acids are; for if a
Plaister of thick Yeast be applied to the Wrist as some have done for an
Ague, it will there raise little Pustules or Blisters in some degree like
that Venomous! (As I have just reason in a particular Sense to call it)
Ingredient _Cantharide_, which is one of the Shop Poisons. Here then I
shall observe, that I have known several beat the Yeast into the Wort for
a Week or more together to improve it, or in plainer terms to load the
Wort with its weighty and strong spirituous Particles; and that for two
Reasons, _First_, Because it will make the Liquor so heady, that five
Bushels of Malt may be equal in strength to six, and that by the
stupifying Narcotick Qualities of the Yeast; which mercenary subtilty and
imposition has so prevailed to my Knowledge with the Vulgar and Ignorant,
that it has caused many of them to return the next Day to the same
Alehouse, as believing they had stronger and better Drink than others: But
alas, how are such deceived that know no other than that it is the pure
Product of the Malt, when at the same time they are driving Nails into
their Coffins, by impregnating their Blood with the corrupt Qualities of
this poisonous acid, as many of its Drinkers have proved, by suffering
violent Head-achs, loss of Appetite, and other Inconveniencies the Day
following, and sometimes longer, after a Debauch of such Liquor; who would
not perhaps for a great reward swallow a Spoonful of thick Yeast by
itself, and yet without any concern may receive for ought they know
several, dissolved in the Vehicle of Ale, and then the corrosive
Corpuscles of the Yeast being mix'd with the Ale, cannot fail (when
forsaken in the Canals of the Body of their Vehicle) to do the same
mischief as they would if taken by themselves undiluted, only with this
difference, that they may in this Form be carried sometimes further in the
animal Frame, and so discover their malignity in some of the inmost
recesses thereof, which also is the very Case of malignant Waters, as a
most learned Doctor observes.

_Secondly_, They alledge for beating the Yeast into Wort, that it gives it
a fine tang or relish, or as they call it at _London_, it makes the Ale
bite of the Yeast; but this flourish indeed is for no other reason than to
further its Sale, and tho' it may be agreeable to some Bigots, to me it
proves a discovery of the infection by its nauseous taste; however my
surprize is lessen'd, when I remember the _Plymouth_ People, who are quite
the reverse of them at _Dover_ and _Chatham_; for the first are so
attach'd to their white thick Ale, that many have undone themselves by
drinking it; nor is their humour much different as to the common Brewers
brown Ale, who when the Customer wants a Hogshead, they immediately put in
a Handful of Salt and another of Flower, and so bring it up, this is no
sooner on the Stilling but often Tapp'd, that it may carry a Froth on the
Top of the Pot, otherwise they despise it: The Salt commonly answered its
End of causing the Tiplers to become dryer by the great Quantities they
drank, that it farther excited by the biting pleasant stimulating quality
the Salt strikes the Palate with. The Flower also had its seducing share
by pleasing the Eye and Mouth with its mantling Froth, so that the Sailors
that are often here in great Numbers used to consume many Hogsheads of
this common Ale with much delight, as thinking it was intirely the pure
Product of the Malt.

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