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18th Century Brewing

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THE LONDON and COUNTRY BREWER 1736

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.

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