The London and Country Brewer | Page 4

abound with in which they grow; I therefore infer that all
Barley so imbibed, improves its productions by the ascension of those
saline spirituous particles that are thus lodged in the Seed when put into
the Ground, and are part of the nourishment the After-Crop enjoys; and
for this reason I doubt not, but when time has got the ascendant of
prejudice, the whole Nation will come into the practice of the
invaluable Receipt published in two Books, entituled, Chiltern and
Vale Farming Explained, and, The Practical Farmer; both writ by
William Ellis of Little Gaddesden near Hempstead in Hertfordshire, not
only for Barley, but other Grains.
But notwithstanding Barley may grow on a light Soil with a proper
Manure; and improved by the liquor of this Receipt, yet this Grain may
be damaged or spoiled by being mown too soon, which may afterwards
be discovered by its shrivelled and lean body that never will make right
good Malt; or if it is mown at a proper time, and if it be housed damp,
or wettish, it will be apt to heat and mow-burn, and then it will never
make so good Malt, because it will not spire, nor come so regularly on
the floor as that which was inned dry.
Again, I have known one part of a Barley-crop almost green at Harvest,
another part ripe, and another part between both, tho' it was all sown at
once, occasion'd by the several situations of the Seed in the Ground,

and the succeeding Droughts. The deepest came up strong and was ripe
soonest, the next succeeded; but the uppermost, for want of Rain and
Cover, some of it grew not at all, and the rest was green at Harvest.
Now these irregularities are greatly prevented and cured by the
application of the ingredients mentioned in the Receipt, which infuses
such a moisture into the body of the Seed, as with the help of a little
Rain and the many Dews, makes it spire, take root and grow, when
others are ruined for want of the assistance of such steeping.
Barley like other Grain will also degenerate, and become rank, lean and
small bodied, if the same Seed is sown too often in the Soil; 'tis
therefore that the best Farmers not only change the Seed every time, but
take due care to have it off a contrary Soil that they sow it in to; this
makes several in my neighbourhood every Year buy their Barley-seed
in the Vale of Ailsbury, that grew there on the black clayey marly
Loams, to sow in Chalks, Gravels, &c. Others every second Year will
go from hence to Fullham and buy the Forward or Rath-ripe Barley that
grows there on Sandy-ground; both which Methods are great
Improvements of this Corn, and whether it be for sowing or malting,
the plump, weighty and white Barley- corn, is in all respects much
kinder than the lean flinty Sorts.

CHAP. II
Of making Malts.
As I have described the Ground that returns the best Barley, I now
come to treat of making it into Malt; to do which, the Barley is put into
a leaden or tyled Cistern that holds five, ten or more Quarters, that is
covered with water four or six Inches above the Barley to allow for its
Swell; here it lyes five or six Tides as the Malster calls it, reckoning
twelve Hours to the Tide, according as the Barley is in body or in
dryness; for that which comes off Clays, or has been wash'd and
damag'd by Rains, requires less time than the dryer Grain that was
inned well and grew on Gravels or Chalks; the smooth plump Corn
imbibing the water more kindly, when the lean and steely Barley will

not so naturally; but to know when it is enough, is to take a Corn
end-ways between the Fingers and gently crush it, and if it is in all
parts mellow, and the husk opens or starts a little from the body of the
Corn, then it is enough: The nicety of this is a material Point; for if it is
infus'd too much, the sweetness of the Malt will be greatly taken off,
and yield the less Spirit, and so will cause deadness and sourness in Ale
or Beer in a short time, for the goodness of the Malt contributes much
to the preservation of all Ales and Beers. Then the water must be
drain'd from it very well, and it will come equal and better on the floor,
which may be done in twelve or sixteen Hours in temperate weather,
but in cold, near thirty. From the Cistern it is put into a square Hutch or
Couch, where it must lye thirty Hours for the Officer to take his