The London and Country Brewer | Page 8

dryed in a medium degree, between the pale and the brown,
and is very much in use, as being free of either extream. Its colour is
pleasant, its taste agreeable and its nature wholsome, which makes it be
prefer'd by many as the best of Malts; this by some is brewed either
with hard or soft waters, or a mixture of both.
The brown Malt is the soonest and highest dryed of any, even till it is
so hard, that it's difficult to bite some of its Corns asunder, and is often
so crusted or burnt, that the farinous part loses a great deal of its

essential Salts and vital Property, which frequently deceives its
ignorant Brewer, that hopes to draw as much Drink from a quarter of
this, as he does from pale or amber sorts: This Malt by some is thought
to occasion the Gravel and Stone, besides what is commonly called the
Heart-burn; and is by its steely nature less nourishing than the pale or
amber Malts, being very much impregnated with the fiery fumiferous
Particles of the Kiln, and therefore its Drink sooner becomes sharp and
acid than that made from the pale or amber sorts, if they are all fairly
brewed: For this reason the London Brewers mostly use the Thames or
New River waters to brew this Malt with, for the sake of its soft nature,
whereby it agrees with the harsh qualities of it better than any of the
well or other hard Sorts, and makes a luscious Ale for a little while, and
a But-beer that will keep very well five or six Months, but after that
time it generally grows stale, notwithstanding there be ten or twelve
Bushels allowed to the Hogshead, and it be hopp'd accordingly.
Pale and amber Malts dryed with Coak or Culm, obtains a more clean
bright pale Colour than if dryed with any other Fuel, because there is
not smoak to darken and sully their Skins or Husks, and give them an
ill relish, that those Malts little or more have, which are dryed with
Straw, Wood, or Fern, &c. The Coak or Welch Coal also makes more
true and compleat Malt, as I have before hinted, than any other Fuel,
because its fire gives both a gentle and certain Heat, whereby the Corns
are in all their Parts gradually dryed, and therefore of late these Malts
have gained such a Reputation that great quantities have been
consumed in most Parts of the Nation for their wholsome Natures and
sweet fine Taste: These make such fine Ales and But-beers, as has
tempted several of our Malsters in my Neighbour-hood to burn Coak or
Culm at a great expence of Carriage thirty Miles from London.
Next to the Coak-dryed Malt, the Straw-dryed is the sweetest and best
tasted: This I must own is sometimes well Malted where the Barley,
Wheat, Straw, Conveniencies and the Maker's Skill are good; but as the
fire of the Straw is not so regular as the Coak, the Malt is attended with
more uncertainty in its making, because it is difficult to keep it to a
moderate and equal Heat, and also exposes the Malt in some degree to
the taste of the smoak.

Brown Malts are dryed with Straw, Wood and Fern, &c. the
Straw-dryed is not the best, but the Wood sort has a most unnatural
Taste, that few can bear with, but the necessitous, and those that are
accustomed to its strong smoaky tang; yet is it much used in some of
the Western Parts of England, and many thousand Quarters of this Malt
has been formerly used in London for brewing the Butt-keeping-beers
with, and that because it sold for two Shillings per Quarter cheaper
than the Straw-dryed Malt, nor was this Quality of the Wood-dryed
Malt much regarded by some of its Brewers, for that its ill Taste is lost
in nine or twelve Months, by the Age of the Beer, and the strength of
the great Quantity of Hops that were used in its Preservation.
The Fern-dryed Malt is also attended with a rank disagreeable Taste
from the smoak of this Vegetable, with which many Quarters of Malt
are dryed, as appears by the great Quantities annually cut by Malsters
on our Commons, for the two prevalent Reasons of cheapness and
plenty.
At Bridport in Dorsetshire, I knew an Inn-keeper use half Pale and half
Brown Malt for Brewing his Butt-beers, that, proved to my Palate the
best I ever drank on the Road, which I think may be accounted for, in
that the Pale being the slackest, and the Brown the hardest dryed, must
produce a mellow good Drink by the help of a requisite Age, that will
reduce those extreams to a proper Quality.

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