The London and Country Brewer | Page 4

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 Gage, who allows four Bushels in the Score for the Swell in this or the Cistern, then it must be work'd Night and Day in one or two Heaps as the weather is cold or hot, and turn'd every four, six or eight Hours, the outward part inwards and the bottom upwards, always keeping a clear floor that the Corn that lies next to it be not chill'd; and