The American Practical Brewer and Tanner | Page 9

prevent sinking, or swagging, from the
weight of the covering that will be necessarily placed over them, which
will be from six to ten inches thick.

Grinding, how substituted for.
Malt, for brewing, may be prepared in three different ways, by grinding,
bruising, or pounding; modern practice, however, almost universally
gives the preference to bruising between metal rollers. This preference,
where malt is of the very first quality, may be justified; but where it is

of an inferior quality, which is but too generally the case, grinding with
stones is preferable, as more capable of producing a fine grist, which,
with indifferent malt, is important, as it will always produce a richer
extract, by being finely, rather than coarsely ground; and it is more
soluble in water of suitable temperature than that malt which is only
bruised or cracked, and for this simple reason, that all imperfect-made
malt has a great proportion of its bulk unmalted, and, of course, in a
crude hard state, which will partially dissolve in water if ground fine,
but will not dissolve at all if only cracked or bruised. A further object
of the brewer's attention should be to prevent the dispersion, or waste,
of the finer parts of the malt, so apt to fly off in the grinding, if not
prevented by having the malt bin close covered, as well as the spout
leading into it from the stones; trifling as this precaution may seem, it is
well worth the brewer's attention. Here it may not be improper to
observe, that in all cases of horse, or cattle mills, where the shaft of the
main wheel is perpendicular, no better ingredient can be placed in the
chamber of the lower box than quick silver, which is far superior to oil
or grease, and will not require renewing for a long time. The brass of a
mill, managed in this way, might be expected to last twenty years, and
the movement smoother and easier. This economical substitute for oil
and grease can, with equal advantage, be applied to water mills,
whether their shafts be horizontal or perpendicular; in a word, to all
kinds of machinery, where the preservation of the gudgeons and brasses
are an object.

Malting.
The production of good malt is, without question, the key-stone of the
arch of brewing; therefore the brewer's attention should be invariably
directed to this point, as the most difficult and important part of his
operations. The process of making malt is an artificial or forced
vegetation, in which, the nearer we approach nature in her ordinary
progress, the more certainly shall we arrive at the perfection of which
the subject is capable. The farmer prefers a dry season to sow his small
grain, that the common moisture of the earth may but gently insinuate
itself into the pores of the grain, and thence gradually dispose it for the

reception of the future shower, and the action of vegetation. The
maltster cannot proceed by such slow degrees, but makes an immersion
in water a substitute for the moisture of the earth, where a few hours
infusion is equal to many days employed in the ordinary course of
vegetation, and the grain is accordingly removed as soon as it appears
fully saturated, lest a solution, and, consequently, a destruction of some
of its parts should be the effect of a longer continuance in water,
instead of that separation, which is begun by the introduction of watery
particles into the body. Were it to be spread thin after this removal, it
would become dry, and no vegetation would ensue; but being thrown
into the couch, a kind of vegetative fermentation commences, which
generates heat, and produces the first appearance of a vegetation. This
state of the barley is nearly the same with that of many days
continuance in the earth after sowing, but being in so large a body, it
requires occasionally to be turned over and spread thinner; the former,
to give the outward parts of the heap their share of the acquired warmth
and moisture, both of which are lessened by exposure to the air; the
latter, to prevent the progress of the vegetative to the putrefactive
fermentation, which would be the consequence of suffering it to
proceed beyond a certain degree. To supply the moisture thus
continually decreasing by evaporation and consumption, an occasional,
but sparing, sprinkling of water should be given to the floor, to recruit
the languishing powers of vegetation, and imitate the shower upon the
cornfield; but this should not be too often repeated; for, as in the field,
too much rain, and too little sun, produces rank stems and thin ears, so
here would too much water, and, of course, too little dry warmth,
accelerate the growth of the malt, so as to